Recent content by rtc35

My boiler is supposed to be maintained at a year-round minimum temperature of 160 F, and I was quite surprised to see how much oil was being used even in the summer. A few years ago, I decided to start turning it off in the summer months and just try and tighten the bolts once the system cooled...

I'm using a duct fan (Model # 1950103 found here - http://www.waterlineproducts.com/Instructions/powerair%20main%20WEB.pdf) for an unconventional use. The heart of my question is, can I connect it to a dimmer so I can control its speed. I don't know much about wiring and current. I have one...

Thanks to both of you for your replies back in February. I decided to take your advice and leave the water in it and it does come in handy to run it when the wood stove is inconvenient. My concern now is this: I was once told by a plumber not to turn the power to the furnace off completely...

It turns out, it was the PEX that split and I found a simple fitting that connects PEX without crimping tools. I posted a detailed explanation of how this was resolved in a related post here...

I've sorted out the problem and it turned out to be much easier to fix than I thought. Hopefully somebody out there who also knows as little about plumbing as I do can be saved some time and money by reading this. One day in February, the shower lines seemed to have frozen, as no water was...

I'm not sure - I haven't coordinated with somebody else to turn the water on while I look. I just know it's the cold water pipe and the actual copper portion of the line is only about 6 inches long. I'm presuming it's not anywhere in the PEX pipe. I'm seeing another option. The last time I...

I can't afford a plumber and I don't have the tools to work with PEX pipe, but I have done a fair bit of soldering. What are the chances I'd be able to heat this up enough to disconnect the copper corner fitting from the copper pipe, replace the little bit of copper piping in between (it froze...

I don't know how to distinguish check values from spool values but perhaps a picture will help. While we're at it, I'm wondering what the purpose of these things are that I've pointed to. I'm just curious. Thanks!

I thought the pipes had frozen when no water came out of the shower one day (it was -15 C or 5 F), but I left it open and ran a blow dryer over it until the pipes warmed up. It began to trickle a bit faster so I let it run until it was warm water, so obviously there wasn't ice in the pipes by...

I'm just wondering what the implications are for draining my boiler for an unknown length of time. It's about 15 years old, running perfectly fine, but we heat with wood now and I keep it on just to maintain it's own internal temperature so the gaskets don't shrink. Are there other...