Best Of
Re: Indirect Water Heater not level ?
Only if you have OCD. It will work just fine 1/2 a bubble off
Re: Refurbished radiator making bird noises. Not vent?
Kinda late now, but moving a small mirror around it and seeing where it fogs could help you find the leak. Also a mechanic's stethoscope or a piece of small tubing in your ear.
mattmia2
Re: Oversized overtall chimney?
That oiler have a draught hood on it? Atmospheric — it should. If so, you really have two separate issues: draught through the boiler, which should be controlled by the boiler's dampers, and draught up the chimney
It's the draught up the chimney which needs to be controlled. The stack damper is really the simplest (and cheapest) way to do that, but as you have found it isn't set and forget — or, actually, it is: you set it for adequate draught on warmer days, and on nice cold days off it goes. Bad news: any fixed restriction on the chimney will do exactly the same thing — stack damper, reduced size liner, you name it. That's the way chimneys behave…
Re: Need some advice for a vintage Peerless radiator valve hookup
You have to remove the spud and replace it with the spud that comes with the new valve. If your plumber doesn't know how to do that without breaking the radiator, find a better plumber.
mattmia2
Re: Thin Tube Steam/Hot water in Barre VT
someone already mentioned this, but flood the boiler(fill it up to the riser out of the top of the boiler) to make sure it isn't leaking above the water line
mattmia2
Re: Thin Tube Steam/Hot water in Barre VT
The comments on handling water in the "basement" (quotes are because it is more or an underground something or other I don't have a word for!) are right on.
I once knew a house which was on a bit of a hillside near a stream in Vermont. In fact, I lived in it. All field stone foundation. In the spring, when groundwater was high, the uphill side of the foundation wall simply was a waterfall. Free running water (not bad quality, either).
There are only two possible ways to handle that.
The first, and much the most expensive, is to dig all around the foundation and install drain tile in a big trench, with adequate capacity to handle the flow (you may need 6 or 8 inch perforated pipe, and the backfill will need to be 1 1/2 inch to 2" graded stone). Assuming the foundation doesn't collapse when you dig the trench, and you can get the pipe to daylight well below the basement level, that works.
The other — and much the cheaper and less invasive — is to figure out how to live with the water. Let it come in one side and arrange for it to drain out the other freely. Place equipment so that it doesn't get actively wet, and arrange for adequate ventilation so you don't have damp problems.
A sump pump to handle small amounts of seepage which doesn't get too high is… ok. Until the power goes out.
Don't even think about trying to put waterproofing on either side of the foundation wall. Not only will it inevitably leak, but there is a good chance that the water pressure will crack or even collapse the wall…
Re: Biological control for filler station
I would use a straight chlorine bleach, such as Clorox. BUT. You don't need much. The concentration of bleach you are shooting for is between 1 and 5 mg/l. Now that's not much help, is it? Simple translation: you need (more or less) about 3 parts of liquid bleach to 1,000 parts of water. It's a simple ratio.
So, for example, if your system volume of water is around 20 gallons, you need to add 0.06 gallons — or about 1 cup of bleach. It will need to be mixed thoroughly in the system.
That, incidentally, is also the concentration of chlorine in public drinking water. So if you are on a municipal or other public system, it's already there unless you have aerated the water or distilled it — or have an activated carbon filter.
It will, however, gradually leave an open container. It will NOT leave a closed system, even when heated, but if there is significant organic matter in the water, it will be used up by breaking that down.