Recent content by Bill Arden

  1. Bill Arden

    AC Refrigerant lines: Braze or Solder?

    The reason they are not soldered with lead solder is that the lead solder causes problems in the system. You can still use low temp brazing solders and a map torch, however you can't use plumbing solder.
  2. Bill Arden

    safety question - keep pushing the auxillary switch and turning off electricity

    My furnace would do that if I set the firebox "fan off" temp too low, but My furnace is an old unit with a mechanical firebox temperature dial that has adjustable set-points. I'm not sure how the newer ones are set.
  3. Bill Arden

    Can I use a 37° flare tool for a 45° fitting?

    It might work... or it might cause the copper to crack from the dual bending.
  4. Bill Arden

    Solar Attic Fan (Replace Wired One)

    Ask this question... Is direct solar voltaic a low priced way to generate electricity? The answer is no... This means the only reason to use a more expensive solar voltaic product is to avoid the cost of running a wire. It's also better to use shingles that reflect IR heat than to try and keep...
  5. Bill Arden

    Water Source Heat Pump Discharge

    Sending water down a well is not allowed here in Minnesota. I would chock it up to bad construction and rip it up and replace with ones with more fabric.
  6. Bill Arden

    Confused!! Should we vent bath fan through roof, soffit, gable end?

    The soffit route is not a good idea due to the way the moisture can flow back up into the attic. :eek: Personally I used insulated flexible pipe from a local big box store (see heating isle) and routed it back down into the utility room. From there I could send it out a drier vent or into...
  7. Bill Arden

    Moving main panel to detached garage

    The gray puddy just goes on the ends where the wires go into the box. It's code here as part of the house vapor seal rules to seal up the ends to prevent moisture from getting into the meter socket as well. In your case it's to prevent water laying in the pipe and then freezing... then again...
  8. Bill Arden

    Moving main panel to detached garage

    Not all panel types support a 100 amp breaker. >Remove green screw bonding neutral to ground in the house. yep. you need 4 wires (including ground) >Install 2" rigid galvanized conduit between garage and house underground Why use galvanized underground and then plastic above ground...
  9. Bill Arden

    Solar & Wind Power Kits

    It looks like the $200 is just for the books *smirks* The closest I have came up with for a under $200 design involves a modified UPS and used large sat dish with concentrated solar... and that only is under $200 in parts, not time. :rolleyes: Let me tell you some of the "secrets" that...
  10. Bill Arden

    Are LED Lights ready for Home Use?

    There are two types of LED lights, the sapphire frequency conversion type are the most common and are actually slightly less efficient than florescent lights in term of total lumens. Where LED's really shine is in spot lights. The LED lights cast a tight narrow beam. I use two of the ones...
  11. Bill Arden

    Attic Vent Fan

    I put in a 2 foot wide powered attic fan and it did very little, I then put lawn sprinklers up on the roof and the temps dropped from around 120f to 95F. I would not recommend doing this to a house you planing on keeping due to the moss it grows. I'm only doing it since I don't have any...
  12. Bill Arden

    Did you know?

    I don't know about the standards in question... or even if they exist. However a +/- 10% operation is harder to meet since that means you have a higher worse case voltage. Then again those few extra volts won't make any difference in the unit's operation, it's just a certification issue.
  13. Bill Arden

    Sine wave monitor

    I once wrote a program that uses the PC sound card and a AC wall wart and a resistor divider, however most sound cards have a bit of phase distortion at 60hz. As for better equipment there are lots of USB based scope boards. Most of the scope boards accept low voltage voltages. You can drop...
  14. Bill Arden

    Solar Hot water

    The ~65F well water is sent threw radiators and then it's sent to a sprinkler on the roof. I also run a dehumidifier and window AC units to remove moisture.
  15. Bill Arden

    Solar Hot water

    I've had a dual-fuel/off-peak heating system for 14 years. It has been helpful in that I pay less to heat and it also gives me a backup source of heat. I've also looked into using large UPS's, however the PUC won't allow it yet. :( I did save quite a bit electric when I upgraded my tube...
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