Best Of
Re: repairing a neglected chimney, flue, thimble, liner, and leaks
What happened to the beast with the 9" flue gas outlet?
Is this a listed ss chimney liner or just pipe cemented into the base of the rotten chimney? If not a ss liner, must have a cleanout within 12" of breaching.
FYI, tape not allowed over joints on vent connector.
Still no 18" clearance to combustible ceiling or the mudsill over the CMU block wall.
I tried….
Re: Best system for Duplex I’m purchasing
I'm wondering what is wrong with a 20 year old steam boiler that someone with a little knowledge of Steam systems can't solve for much less than the price of a "new system". But that is water over the skim tapping at this point.
Re: Best system for Duplex I’m purchasing
KEEP THE STEAM!
Tightening the envelope is your biggest return on investment!
pecmsg
Re: Mixed freon
you can still buy r22. probably could take the exam and buy a 30# tank for what people seem to be gouging for it and have a lifetime supply.
shouldn't really need more than a couple pounds for the next 30 years or so if it is repaired properly.
Re: Large Shower Riser
Yup- and they probably had "Re-Nu Barrels" inside, to make maintenance easier.
Its hot in here 84deg but I am a lot hotter
😓😓😓
At the condo we have slide out wall mounted ACs in a sleeve. 1 Upstairs 8000 btu and 1 downstairs 12000 btu.
All the appliances in this place were originally GE. In fact, I replaced the original GE dishwasher last year 1990 model, still worked fine but the plastic soap dispenser broke and even if the part was available, I wouldn't have bothered with it. The AC wall sleeves I think are GE as well.
During Covid the upstairs AC quit. I have no idea how old it was, but it wasn't original. I searched online and not much available during Covid, but I found a GE and ordered it and put it in. It worked for about 4 years great until the compressor quit. Some kind of foreign rotary compressor R-410. Put a line tap valve on it and the compressor ran but wouldn't pump. No warranty left. Tossed it and bought another one and installed it last year. Started it today and it runs ok……so far.
Now to the downstairs. This one had an Emerson quiet Cool. At least 20 years ago it quit. Took it out and it had no charge. R-22. Leaked tested with an electronic and couldn't find the leak but it had one. Cut the tubing and pulled out the evaporator coil. Found the tubing on the bottom chafed. Brazed it up put the coil back and recharged and it ran the last 20 years.
Last year it still worked but the fan was getting noisy. Time to replace the unit as it was at least 30 years old.
Bought a Friedrich 12000 btu (R-32) and installed it last year. Worked fine all year. Today I fired it up fan runs no cooling at all. No TD on evap with my Fluke 52 and no condenser heat.. At my age I ain't pulling it out of the sleeve myself the bottom of the AC is about 6' off the floor.
Finally, I put it on "fan only" with the fan on high speed. I went downstairs and pulled the CB panel cover and put an amprobe on the dedicated circuit and the fan draws 1 1/2 amps.
Went up and put it on cooling. The amps went up to 6 amps so now I know the fan and compressor are on. Still no cooling. Compressor amps is low so no gas most likely
I bought this online some place. Called Friedrich tech support and luckily there was only one call in front of me. Talked with a really nice guy. Told him how I checked it and he agreed it was toast. They don't repair anything under 1 ton.
He gave me the name of a local appliance dealer whom I know (we bought a refrigerator and dishwasher from them). I have to have them come and do a "diagnostic report" $139 which he sends to Friedrich to confirm the diag and they will ship me a new one😊😊😊😊
After that, I was out in my 2007 F-150 and the AC isn't doing much, cools a little. I had a bone yard engine dropped in last Feb and ran the AC after that to make sure it was ok and it was fine.
I leaked tested it quickly with my electronic and found nothing……..until I pulled the plastic Schrader caps and found both of them leaking a little.
Maybe when they recharged it after the engine change the old Schrader valves didn't like being disturbed
🤔🤔🤔🤔 It's been quite a day
Oh, the other spare bedroom upstairs has a 6000 btu Frigidaire window AC that is 39 years old and was my mothers and still rrruns fine.
All China Junk!!
Re: Boiler Heats House and Pool
I thought this link may be of interest here. It has information about how Energy Kinetics Smart Pool Heater uses the excess capacity of boilers in the summer to heat pools. The plate heat exchanger is non-stick and corrosion resistant Sealix® coated (silicon dioxide), making it extremely robust in pool water applications. The flyer has a basic piping diagram and references how quickly various pool sizes will heat up with boilers ranging from 100,000 BTU/hr to 300,000 BTU/hr (with minimal heat loss). We'd recommend a bypass and properly setting the hydronic flow to prevent the return from condensing while pool heating.
The heat exchanger should be installed outdoors, so if the pool piping every breaks/leaks, you do not end up with an indoor pool…
Best,
Roger
Roger
Re: H/W Coil replacement
After about 300 hours of operation snug them again.
Then again at one year.
The bolts won't move much but you just want to see if it does… Those gaskets seem to shrink over time. No one ever checks them so in about 3 years they start to leak and in 5 years they look like they are 30 years old. I think 25 foot pounds are tight enough if you need to do the torque wrench thing.

