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Before I bought the electronic hygrometer I used to use an oven probe type thermometer with a piece of wet cord over the probe.

Have you ever heard this expression? "There is more than one way to skin a cat?" It refers to having the ability to understand the problem at hand and looking for alternate solutions to the problem. Another way to look at things for example, like the quote from Mother Superior in the movie version of The Sound of Music when she says "When God Closes a door, he often opens a window".

See how I added that "opening the window" quote for your too much heat problem. L🤣L

We can look at how heat is transferred from the gas or fuel oil flame in the basement to the room in your apartment. Heat can travel 3 different ways. Conduction, Convection, and Radiation.

Conduction is when one mass is hotter and that heat moves through the mass to a colder mass that it is connected to. Think of an iron frying pan.  You heat the iron where you want to cook stuff but eventually the handle gets too hot to touch.  (that is why they invented pot holders).  You don’t want to heat the handle but conduction causes the handle to get hot anyway.  

Convection is another way that heat is moved from one place to another. This is where you heat a fluid like air or water in one location and move that heated fluid to another location. This form of moving heat is how the boiler gets the heat from the basement to the radiators. What happens is that the flame inside the boiler heats the water in the boiler, then pumps or gravity causes the hot water to move (with all the stored heat) to another location (the radiator) where you can use the heat. 

Another form of convection happens inside the room where the radiator is located. The air close to the radiator is absorbing the heat from the radiator and becomes less dense (hot air is lighter than cold air) so that heated air rises above the radiator towards the ceiling of the room. As this happens the air that is already near the ceiling is pushed out of the way.   At The same time, the air that is leaving the radiator is replaced by the colder air that is on the floor just in front of the radiator.  When that happens that colder air is then heated by the radiator, and we already know what happens to the heated air near the radiator. Since this moving of cold air across the floor and warm air across the ceiling continues to “circulate” around the room, the entire room ends up being a little warmer as a result of convection air currents that move so slowly that you don't even notice.  

Finally, Radiation is the way the sun heats the earth.  It is said the heat rises but that is not the correct way to make that statement.  Hot air rises is the correct way to say it.  And the reasonI know this is because the sun is hot and it is above us, but somehow the heat from the sun gets DOWN to us on earth.  Radiation travels in all directions using infrared light to heat objects and people without actually heating the atmosphere (the air) in between the source and the object. This accounts for about 20% of the heat you are getting from your radiator.  

Now if we look at the problem from another angle, one that you can actually control, then we may be able to get you comfortable this upcoming winter.  Let me know it that is of interest to you. 

This is the 6 minute introduction to my one day seminar the professional plumbers, and HVAC technicians pay hundreds of dollars to learn. It goes rather fast in most cases because we all should already know this, it is just good to refresh this point so we are all on the same page when if comes time to refer to radiant heat later on in the seminar.

So you are getting little bits and pieces of what the Pros paid for back in the day.

I hope this helps.

you are all very smart

I should’ve slowed down and put a real wrench on it yesterday. But you know how it goes when things are moving quickly.

The Titan HD caps say right on the label "MADE IN USA".

I would think it would be kind of a big issue if they were actually made in Mexico, no?

Best picture I have of two of mine…. They definitely say Made In USA.

😓😓😓

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!!