Bill Kibbel

...and it's called a concentric vent termination. Before assembly: Click to Enlarge 4.06 KB

It doesn't matter what the temp is outside - it's how most heat pumps operate. When the heat pump system "sees" that the room temp is 2 degrees below the t-stat setting, it "thinks" that it is not keeping up and kicks on the back up heating to catch up. Pull the cover off one of the older style mercury heat pump t-stats and watch the 2 bi-metal and mercury bulbs. As you raise the temp 1 degree, the first bulb engages the heat pump. Usually, at the 2nd degree rise, the mercury in the second bulb flows down to the contacts engaging the back-up heating mode.

It would be unusual if the back up heat did not kick in when raising the t-stat 2 degrees.

Elevated radon levels and mitigation systems are common here. Pressurization as a reduction method is not. I've seen only 4. Two were pressurization systems for basements, another for a partial crawlspace. The fourth, I was told was a "whole-house pressurization" system, but I think it was intended to be a "forced ventilation" system used to dilute the indoor air. How could consistent whole house pressurization be obtained if someone opened a window or 5? All were done after prior sub-slab suction systems failed to reduce the level enough. According to my AARST guy, pressurization systems should only pressurize the part of the building in contact with the ground at a pressure only slightly higher than the air/gas in the ground. It's usually done by forcing air from the living areas into the basement or sealed crawl.

I have a pile of cut-offs laying on the ground for over 12 years. They only have the factory primer and have untreated field-cut ends. I could pick up any of these scraps and install it like it was a new piece without concern.

That piping configuration was called "flat coil", "wall coil" and "box coil". It is specifically installed as a radiation surface. It's either to heat the space or may have been added to further reduce the temp of the return as there may have been some remaining steam that had not condensed.

1980s through late 1990s. Plywood was only used at the corners. Fiberboard was installed everywhere else only as a backer to the siding. Pieces that got busted up were set aside and then installed at the gable ends. When wrb (Housewrap) was installed, it was often omitted from the gable ends.

I believe it should sound as long at its exposed to the threshold level of particulates. Ok break that down for me in kindergarten terms? The sound should continue as long as there's smoke in the air.

Bingo! That looks like the solution - and thanks for the Manufacturer info as well. May i quote you in my "Narrative" for these insulators? Sure.

Both solid and split porcelain knobs were used for securing interior wiring. The split knobs are the more common in residential. The solid knobs required securing the wire with and additional wire twisted on and wrapped on the opposite side of the knob. It was short lived as the split-knob installation was much quicker. Click to Enlarge 44.16 KB According to the Pub, Insulators: Crown Jewels of the Wire, The knobs in the OP were manufactured by the Wisconsin Porcelain Co. in Sun Prairie, WI.

Before '92 the Coleman serial numbers had 9 digits. Yours has only 8, so the first digit is probably missing.

Here's a very good explanation from someone who knows (and can explain) HVAC issues better than anyone I know: "This is pretty basic. You can't take a 2" water line, reduce it to 1/4" and then reconnect it to a 2" line and expect great water flow. Supply air and return air need to be properly sized. If the return air is undersized you're starving the unit for air. Numerous nasty side effects occur when you start to restrict air flow. In the heating cycle the lack of air flow could be causing the high limit to start turning the burners on and off as there is not enough air flow to carry the heat away from the heat exchanger. Obviously this isn't a desirable condition as one of the side effects is adding a lot of stress to the heat exchange (overheating and cooling down repeating itself numerous times during a heating cycle) which it wasn't designed for. Efficiencies of the furnace tank, outlying rooms, farthest from the furnace, do not warm properly etc. What you show in your picture is cause for concern. You can see how much the R/A has been reduced from the size of the R/A opening on the furnace itself. If the manufacturer wanted a 12x12 duct attached to the furnace they wouldn't provide a 24x24 opening. If you knew the CFM of the unit it would be easy to calculate proper return air using a simple Trane Ductulator however, for the purpose of home inspector discussion, flag it as a possible defect and recommend (insert boilerplate here)".

Yeah, that "nice place" is a maintenance nightmare with a horrible indoor atmosphere. Fonthill was an early 18th century stone farmhouse and carriage house. Mercer encased them in concrete and then kept adding on until he thought everyone was impressed. That farm is just one small piece of Bucks County's heritage he either destroyed or altered for his own amusement.

Why? Click to Enlarge 46.56 KB

Garden Village of the Anthracite Regoin http://www.itsveryeasytoremember.com/Pe ... _city.html

Was there any ant body parts in the debris?

Amen Jeebus! Makes work for the folks reading and trying to extract the important bits of info out of it too.

The second image might have started as HDR but then was heavily tone mapped. In my opinion, most tone mapped images are over-processed. They become over-textured and the colors excessively saturated. The pure HDR folks call it "burnt".

HDR imaging. (high dynamic range) At the most basic level, it's layering several photos of the same scene that were taken with different exposure levels. Using software, the photos are blended together to form a single image that shows a wide range of detail found in real scenes. Greater detail can be seen in the areas in direct sunlight and in the deep shadows. Check out Trey Ratcliff's stuff. he does it for a living. http://stuckincustoms.smugmug.com/

Waterlox Marine

Like I stated in my post, from dug wells. My last home had a cistern under a patio and a hand-dug well. Also, many cisterns were installed where the homes were already supplied with city water.

Documentation from throughout the 19th century mostly indicate the water from a cistern was used for "tasks" and not drinking, unless some type of filtering system was installed. I find many cisterns at homes that are/were served by hand-dug wells. Here's a pic of the downspout diverter: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/blog/cistern ... servation/

It's great to get to see one that actually still works. Thanks for taking the time to record and post that, Joe.

I don't have a reference in front of me, but that external terminal is for bonding, not grounding. The motor should be grounded with the cable's ground conductor. Hydromassage pump motors are to be bonded to associated metal parts and metal piping systems. If there's no metal for supply and drain or other tub parts, there's nothing to bond.

The screens (pre-filters) get vacuumed. The cells get run through the dishwasher. These electronic air cleaners are very common here. Is that not the case elsewhere?