David Meiland

This house has T1-11 siding on it. It was apparently first finished with oil stain, and later washed/primed/painted with latex after mildew appeared and kept recurring. There are horizontal band boards at 8' OC, and vertical battens at 2' OC, nailed over the siding. There is no metal flashing. What are the chances that this is an accurate reading? I'm not sure how well this tool meters plywood, and of course the finish adds more uncertainty. Click to Enlarge 102.54 KB

I wanna know about the asteroid. What if it lands in the water, are we still screwed?

Customers of mine had a dishwasher supply hose burst and put water on the kitchen floor. Somehow it made a path directly to the nearest floor register, so damage to the wood flooring was minimal but quite a bit of the ductwork under the floor got wet. New ducts and a refinished floor and there's no sign of what happened.

My casual observation is that a breaker under continuous load near its rating might be in the 110-120F range. Seen a lot that aren't even 100F.

A while back I ordered a Testo 610. Nice unit, very small, found it for $110 on eBay. Then later, for no apparent reason, I ordered a completely different item and a Fluke 971 came in the same box as a freebie. I always get them both out and turn them on together. They often start as much as 5 degrees apart and 5% or more off on RH, and then migrate to readings that are very close, but never exactly the same. It can take several minutes. The Fluke is advertised as having a response time of under a minute, but I'm not so sure.

I'd go to Everett....

Aube makes one that is very affordable. A good source is efi.org You can get the Fluke, Testo, and others for around $100 if you watch eBay.

A wheelbarrow tire installed as a universal pipe adapter?

pic....... Click to Enlarge 83.89 KB

We recently removed a pair of propane water heaters (one for radiant, one for DHW). They were side by side and wye'd together at the ceiling to a single pipe thru the roof. Combination of B vent and this shiny single-wall aluminum stuff. The long piece of shiny AL went down inside the B vent. Not real impressive. What is the AL pipe actually made for?

Kurt, I get what you're saying now. If Carbonite backs up a file I worked on this morning, and then I work on it again this evening, it may not back it up again within 24 hours of the first backup, but it will the next day. I have never seen 3-4 day delay on anything. What Cary is talking about doesn't apply to SmartView files, of which I have many on Carbonite, but it does seem to apply to my QuickBooks Pro company file. That's a file type that is modified without a "save" command in the software, i.e. every time you enter a transaction to QB it changes the file. Carbonite for some reason doesn't handle those well. What I do is backup QuickBooks to a folder on my C drive... not the folder where the "live" QB file is. Carbonite can then handle that one fine.

Kurt, I have been using Carbonite for several years and sometimes I use the "Back Up ASAP" command on the interface screen. I don't have to select any files to do that, just open the interface and click the link.

One of my customers has one of those. I've been there in the middle of August, and it's sitting there making the kitchen way too hot, and the propane company really happy. I believe they used to be somewhat of a status symbol, but have been replaced in that role by the 8-burner 6-foot Wolf range with the nuclear burners.

Mike, there are some fairly easy-to-find numbers on the cost of running a HRV--both electrical usage AND the loss of indoor heat--vs. the cost of having an average leaky house and losing heat that way. Martin Holladay is the first guy to ask about that, I'm sure you know where to find him. The better HRV systems cost very little to operate and they recover a surprising amount of heat. As far as having an always-on balanced ventilation system with NO heat recovery... that's ridiculous. Once you have all the ductwork and fans and whatever else installed, why wouldn't you install the HRV? I don't get it. Sounds like someone had part of the "tight house" concept down, but was missing another equally important part.

Maybe someone stuck a combustion analyzer in there? Not sure why you'd go in the attic to do that, though.

The tankless heaters I've installed do not use B vent? Are there models that can be connected to the existing B vent when a tank heater is removed?

Possible they just stripped a little too much wire?

From what I gather reading this site, some home inspectors verify/evaluate hot water flow at the fixtures. I would start two hot showers, hot at the kitchen sink, and see what you have. It will probably be marginal. Start filling the washing machine and it will probably be completely unacceptable. If the plumber ran 1/2" lines thru the whole house, he has caused a huge problem--a sensible plumber is going to plan and install one or more 3/4" (or larger) lines from the heater that branch off and feed the house in a way such that enough hot water flow can be had at all of the fixtures even when there are several running. The exception would be a home run system, where small lines go to each room, but in that case a manifold would be fed by a 3/4" or larger line. That house probably has a very significant plumbing issue, regardless of the type of heater installed. Even a large tank wouldn't be able to send enough BTUs thru 1/2" lines to keep everyone happy.

I would take into account the number of fixtures served and how far they are from the heater. If that heater only serves a kitchen and a bath, 1/2" might be enough. And, the plumber may know that with the time it takes for the heater to get to full fire PLUS the time it takes for the hot line to flush, the 1/2" will result in a more satisfied customer. Of course, if that unit serves a kitchen, three baths, a laundry room, and whatever else, the 1/2" is ridiculously inadequate. Maybe the installer was nearly out of 3/4" PEX that day.

Notice how he had the Fluke on the desk in front of the camera... unbelievably well handled!

I think you're safe using housewrap under fiber-cement siding but only if you install the siding over a rainscreen, with at least a 3/8" air gap behind it. You need impeccable flashing and other details to avoid problems. I would not use Tyvek, I would use Typar.

Seems like an easy "worst case depressurization" test. Get a manometer and some hose, turn on all the various air-exhaust devices in the house (radon fan, bath fans, range hood, dryer, possibly the air handler, etc.), and see if you can pull a vacuum in the basement relative to wherever you think the smoke might have come from. It can take a little experimenting to figure out which devices have an effect, and what it is, and you may also need to check which interior doors are open or shut to establish the worst case. You also need to consider whether wind outside is contributing.

You could also have warm air entering the can light and condensing somewhere in that cantilever, but I would rule out the plumbing and the roof jack first.

I'm aware of a retrofit project on which a product called Tripolymer 105 is being used. It is apparently a urea-formaldehyde product and possibly even illegal in some states and/or Canada. I haven't been able to find out much more of the what & why. Anyone have specific info on this?

Got any larger photos?