Tom Raymond

They do have their limitations, but they were specifically designed for applications where space is at a premium like small yachts and high end RVs. Cramming a stackable unit into a linnen closet qualifies as close quarters. There is always the option of relocating the laundry to the basement, but having to cart the stuff to and from the third floor would suck. If they must go in the basement then I'd suggest installing multiple machines to limit the number of trips. My baby brother has spent the last six or seven years living on the road and has become so accustomed to the weekly trip to the laundromat that he is building his basement laundry room to handle two washers and driers. All the comforts of the road conveniently located at home. Tom

Replace the stackable with one of these: http://www.lgwasherdryer.com/combos/wm3431hw.htm Add a shelf for soap and such. She'll have a space to fold, and she'll be able to reach over the thing to get to the shut offs. Tom

Microwave leak detector? No way. I give appliances a cursory glance at best. Does the range have an anti tip bracket? Is the dishwasher attached to the counter top? Did the light come on when I opened the fridge door? Was it cold inside and colder in the freezer? All that assumes that they aren't old enough to vote, old appliances get written off and I report that they should be replaced. Vintage appliances on the otherhand are well worth the look. Tom

Besides the shaft size and mounting considerations you will want to closely match the RPM. Spin too fast and the coils will cool too quickly or the air will move too fast to gain heat as it passes the coil and it could be noisy, too slow and you will not move a sufficient volume of air to heat the house. Also if given a choice, take a more powerful motor. 1/4 HP is probably fine, but 3/8 or 1/2 will last longer and comparably priced. Tom

Graingers probably has a motor that will fit that blower, but it would surprise me if they didn't have that exact model. They sell wholesale, so you may not be able to buy directly from them but their site is searchable. If that fails you could always have your motor rebuilt. Find an electric shop that specializes in industrial or construction equipment, or a shop that rebuilds automotive electrics like starter motors. It may take a few days but rebuilding is often less expensive than replacing, and Durham is usually warm enough to go a few days without heat although you wouldn't know it from this winter. Tom

Has anyone else noticed that the vast majority of 'the Bubba way' posts come from 'Bamma? I think Phillip has an unfair advantage when it comes to finding that kind of stuff[:-dev3] Tom Or maybe it's just that we Yankees don't call 'em Bubba

Yes the loom was woven. I was not aware that tin coated copper was still in use that late. I could only see what looked like a manufacturers name on the loom but it was virtually illegible, it didn't help any that the bottom of the panel is nearly six feet above the floor. I will recommend a 200 amp upgrade all the way to the weatherhead. Tom

I looked at the service equipment at my brothers house yesterday and need some help to make sure I'm on the right track. The house was built mid 60's and the equipment is original, except for newer triplex overhead with crappy splices at the weather head wrapped in electrical tape (utility does really nice work huh?). I'm pretty sure the SEC is 2AWG aluminum (I'm sure about the aluminum). Outside the cable is painted, and there is only about 16" visible on the interior and I could not find any sizing on it. I'm estimating 2ga based on conductor diameter and my charts. The panel is a GE split, rated 125 amps, and the main disconnect consists of three 50 amp double pole breakers. I think I have a 100 amp service here, right? I was looking at this because he recently had a breaker melt do to an arc at a power strip that got squished by his desk, and he wants to finish a portion of his basement including a mini laundromat (two washers and driers) and needs to add several circuits as well as repair the one that faulted. I can clean up the mess in the existing panel and add a sub for the extra circuits, but I'm thinking a new 150 amp panel (with 100 amp disco) might be a better approach, and a 200 amp upgrade the best. Any suggestions? Tom

Back when I did A lot of roofing I nailed by hand. I could do over a square an hour using a 22 oz framing hammer, I never did like the balance of a roofing hatchet, with a gun I might have done an extra bundle or two in a day. It's really hard to misplace nails when you hand nail, then there's the bonus of not tripping over hoses all day or listening to noisy compressors. Staples suck. If they didn't the manufacturers that allow them wouldn't need the additional requirements to honor their warranties. Tom

"Civil engineers by far are the most knowledgable. But the ones who are comfortable in their own skin freely admit they pretty much know nothing about residential construction." That's funny. When I built log homes the boss was a civil engineer who pretty much knew nothing about residential construction. His drawings were pretty horrendous too. Tom

In my area the gas supply mains are riddled with holes. Drive on a country road in almost any small town around here and you will encounter a gas leak that you can smell for 1/2 mile or more. The result is that the supply is full of debris, water vapor and liquid water. It is very common to find small amounts of water (up to an inch or so in 1/2" pipe) in drip legs sediment traps here, or enough rust to indicate the high water mark. I have a customer (day job) that works for the gas company. He carries a list of 'known' leaks for his route that number in the thousands. Tom

My guess was pool light until he said it was a driveway. Tom

That is in fact a seal failure. The blotchy patch you see is the result of moisture reacting with the metals in the soft coat low e coating. Early hard coat low e glass is made by evenly distributing a liquid solution of zinc tin oxide onto a semi molten piece of glass making a hard durable coating that is partly imbedded in the glass surface, and as such is unaffected by moisture. Soft coat low e is made by applying single molecule thick layers of silver oxide, titanium oxide, or indium oxide metalic solids in specific overlapping grid patterns to fully cured glass under vacuum. The resulting coating is fragile and dust, hair, and fingerprints will spoil large areas of it, and moisture corrodes the metals quite quickly. Contact Milgard directly for their warranty, but most vinyl windows are covered for as long as the original purchaser owns the home they were installed in and many are transferable. Tom

It ain't a flange, it's an escutcheon. Trim rings go on recessed light cans and automobile hubcaps; it ain't a trim ring. When we start mixing up definitions in this extremely "part description" intensive gig that we do, we confuse everyone, including our customers and ourselves. If it's OK to change words around, then it's OK to call a GEC a wiring safety device, or a window sash a frame. It's not OK to make up our own words; if we do that, then nothing means anything, and we're behaving like all those doof's that we excoriate on a daily basis. And, I do exactly what Wayne does. That's a smart HI. "Words mean things".............Walter Jowers I totally agree, but I can't even begin to count how many times the use of the word escutcheon specifically has gone right over people's heads, including people who sell the damn things. It elicits the 'deer in the headlights' look, or the giggles like I just said a dirty word in the company of children. Most people don't know what an escutcheon is, and except for us HI's, the rest don't care. Tom

You sport a name tag on your transom?[:-monkeyd Tom

Thanks, The payback on PV just isn't there yet (except maybe to power a heat dump), Western NY is too cold for an air source heat pump and my heat is all hydronic. My entire house is natural gas, so to isolate my DHW I averaged my bills for June thru August to account for estimated usage and to rule out the use of other gas appliances, we line dry laundry and use the grill a lot in summer. I then converted CCF's into therms by multiplying by 1.024 and then by 12 to get my annual DHW consumption, and it is exactly half my total usage. I think my math is pretty good, but I don't like the outcome. What is a normal DHW BTU load? I have space constraints that limit me to a 40 gallon short tank, which meant a less efficient heater 8 years ago when I put it in. An 80 gallon electric might fit, but then I'd have the same crappy recovery rate and a more expensive fuel source, but it would be a good choice for a simple solar system with a dip tube heat exchanger. Tom

"I did a home a couple of weeks ago with relatively new insulated glass windows. All the ones on the front of the house had excessive condensation because the installer never caulked around any of the windows within the brick veneer openings." What you describe will allow a significant amount of humidity to escape to the exterior, actually preventing condensation, and in fact when I see significant condensation on service calls I advise my clients to unlock their windows (increasing the air infiltration rate) until it clears. Of course I run down the cause first, which is usually humidifiers set to nuclear. " But, I never really gave a thought to the source of the moisture beyond normal stuff like cooking and showers. (I honestly don't recall now if it even had gas equipment.)" I didn't either until it happened in my own house. Loosely assembled vent pipe and missing screws in the draft hood on my water heater led to the entire stack falling off. I have no idea how long it ran like that, but the result was enough moisture in the house that every window facing north had mad condensation on it. Tom

I love these silly semantics discussions. Our job is to effectively communicate with our clients, so you could call it a do-hicky as long as they know what the hell you are talking about. That said I would, and do so regularly, use escutcheon. I recently had a builder return a patio door handle that he received damaged. I called my supplier and told the factory rep that the escutcheon was dented, there were several seconds of silence before he asked,"so you need a new handle?" Even people who should know this stuff don't. Tom Oh yeah, baby moons and trim rings are sweet!

Happy Birthday! Just don't party too hard, remember you're old now[:-dev3] Tom I'll crack a cold one for ya, I'm sure I'll need it after lead hazard class tomorrow.

That's ok, there's enough asbestos in the vermiculite to compensate[:-bigeyes Tom

That made me laugh. I have a Werner 21', 300lb rated, and it is heavy. The boy and I had it out Friday to retrieve a model rocket from a tree, and while I was toting it across the lawn he's reading the label and says, "300 pounds! Wow that's pretty heavy huh?" Tom

Thanks Richard. So, has it made a dent in your propane usage? I have been pondering a bigger system with storage to essentially replace my DHW and provide some heat, around 50-60% solar fraction. While isolating my DHW from the rest of my fuel consumption I've come across some puzzling (and disturbing) numbers, DHW and heating consumption are identical at 615 therms per year each (isolation factors for the range and dryer not considered). It seems a DHW system will get me to a 40-50% solar fraction for far less money, effort, and Goldbergian complexity. Looks like I need to do more homework. Tom

Richard, care to give a brief description of your system? I am seriously considering one. Sorry for the drift. Mods, feel free to move this to it's own topic. Tom

By monitoring your usage between billing cycles, or by not replacing the batteries? Tom

We have a Black & Decker unit installed at the day job. It was very easy to install, although it did take a few tries to get the reader aligned properly on the meter (the boss's son, our C.E.Uh-Oh, did it so go figure). Several customers a day check it out and are amazed at how little it takes to effect the juice we are using, turn off a bank of lights and in 10 seconds the usage updates with a measurable change. We have nearly 12,000 SF of conditioned space so it's tough to isolate a single appliance or fixture, but the customers seem to get it. Tom