Coffee 10-13-2012

009to090 wrote:Rob, is your brother building his own house? or is it contracted out? Great idea keeping it warm with coal. That'll make the interior work get done soooo much faster.

He did all the excavation, drainage, septic, etc...but the rest is being done by a local contractor. Radiant heat in the basement floor, hot water baseboard in the rest. I am in charge of the boiler, which is an EFM 520.

What happened to the summer? Did it get erased by accident on the dvr? Sometimes I pause a show I want to watch, yell at people on the politics section for a while, then come back and can zip through the obnoxious commercials that seem to be getting longer and longer all the time. Then I carelessly hit the "live" button instead of ff, and lose all that precious entertainment.
I dropped a big dead oak branch last week, seasoned on the stem, burned real nice last night and I threw a pile of coal on the fire after a while. still hanging on in there this AM. That was the last bucket from last season, first of this one.

Smitty I know how it is, the roof repair I made a month ago is not working out and I have to address it again. I pointed and sealed the lady's chimney, roof vent, worked in patch sheathing, aluminum flashing, took the gutter down, checked everything out; still brown water spots are appearing on the new fascia. WTF. I don't know how rainwater can run uphill. I power washed a bat off the back of a shutter last week, took the little guy home to dry out and wake up, before I could try to put it in a box of rags to warm up, it flew off, hope he finds a new place to live.

I got this damn pink-eye conjunctivitis again, not terrible, just annoying. Went to the local pharmacy yesterday. Bunch of housewives in there, and a big display of free women's make-up samples on the counter . That's one wat it spreads hahahhah. They kicked me out of there like a leper! I asked about Visine, they said ohhh noooo that'll make it worse!!! Now on to the folk remedy of a chamomile tea bag or boric acid solution.

A huge cup of coffee for me this morning thanks Freddie,
I haven't slept in 3 days now, not much anyway. I bent over to get a tool off the bottom shelf of my trailer and wrenched my back somethin' fierce!! Saw the Chiropractor twice on Thursday and once on Friday. Amazing how an otherwise typical movement can cause so much pain. So much to do around here and being laid up is making me crazy!!!! I have my cabinets almost finished for the new kitchen and I just can't get to it. Thanksgiving is closing in and I am going to be going crazy to make it all work! Even though the back is out the AHS was making a sound like a baseball card in the spokes of a tire. The belt for the fan drive was just about to let go! After about 15 calls I found 2 at the local hardware store which seems to have everything I need when no one else does. You pay a stiff premium but it is worth it! The unit is less then a year old seems too quick to burn up a belt, must have been poorly adjusted from the factory. Just a thought anyway. 24 here this am so I am glad I worked through the pain and have that baby hummin along. Enjoy the weekend everyone!!

Mornin' folks. Coffee and cinny buns were awesome! Thanks. I had to go help my neighbor out early this morning before he left for the day. The other day I replaced the light in his bathroom because his old one broke. It had a molex connector on the wires. It was the same light that he had in there originally so I didn't bother replacing the connector. When I plugged it in it didn't feel right but the light worked when I left. Well, I guess because it wasn't together all the way one of the pins worked itself out and the light stopped working. So, I had to go back over this morning and figure out what was going on. Turns out, the manufacturer switched the plugs around between last year and this. Last there it was female on the light. So, the part in the wall was male. Well, when I put the new light up the connector on the light was male. Luckily he didn't throw away the old light, I just took the connector off the old light and used it on the new.

Now I'm waiting for a load of coal. Got two tons of Nut coming. So exciting. Woke up this morning and it was about 30º out but it was a nice 72º inside. I turned the stove up to 350º last night because it was supposed to hit 27º; I don't know that it ever did though. Other than that, I've got nothing going on today. Which is weird. I do need to rake the stone out in my driveway though, maybe me and the lazy 13 year old will go out today and do it.

NWBuilder wrote:Even though the back is out the AHS was making a sound like a baseball card in the spokes of a tire. The belt for the fan drive was just about to let go! After about 15 calls I found 2 at the local hardware store which seems to have everything I need when no one else does. You pay a stiff premium but it is worth it! The unit is less then a year old seems too quick to burn up a belt, must have been poorly adjusted from the factory.

The same thing happened to mine a few years ago. Take a close look at the pulleys. One of mine had the belt grove cut so it caused premature belt wear. AHS offered to replace it but it was just cheaper to buy one locally than ship the defective one back.

Yanche wrote:The same thing happened to mine a few years ago. Take a close look at the pulleys. One of mine had the belt grove cut so it caused premature belt wear. AHS offered to replace it but it was just cheaper to buy one locally than ship the defective one back.

Thanks for the input, I will check on that in a few days, I hope! Every have any problems with your hopper, mine is rusting out after less then a year. Seems premature as well. I need to call AHS on this as well.

Busy day for everyone!

009to090 wrote:My wife's cat....

Awwww, poor kitty! It sure sounds like she is using 4 or 5 or her nine lives. I hope she makes it.

SMITTY wrote:Maybe I'll MAKE it metric!

Wouldn't be the first time that was done. Sometimes the hard way IS the easy way.

009to090 wrote: LIttle tiny anntena pointed towards Raliegh (65 miles away) gives us 30 some-odd free channels with all the majors.

After mother in law passed away we decided to quit DISH. The $65 a month just wasn't worth it to us, BUT, we didn't like the idea of not having the "pause live TV". I looked into TIVO. For $20ish a month you get whatever comes over the air for free, and get to pause live TV. I phoned Dish to cancel & they asked if I'd stay with them if they could complete with TIVO. I said "Of course". So, we stayed with Dish and for $21 a month we got all the local channels but also the History channel and a few others. If/when Uncle Billy leaves us I'm sure we'll drop back to whatever $20 a month gets us.

Dann757 wrote:I carelessly hit the "live" button instead of ff, and lose all that precious entertainment.

I've learned to hit "record" when playing that game. Then you don't lose what you have up to that point. *smile*

Man! That sucks about the cat Chris! They're pretty tough little guys - one of the reasons I respect them so much. Sounds like he's gettin by ok. Definitely want to keep that infection-free like you said though - kitty won't like it very much but it's for his own good.

Dan, one leak I had on this roof drove me nuts here - ended up being fixed with the installation of a chimney cap! The water was going thru the mortar at the jog! First I'd seen of that. Haven't had a leak since.

I've had Dish Network for almost 10 years now. They are great! Cheaper than anything I can get around here, reception is always perfect except in REAL bad storms, and their customer service is friendly and KNOWLEGEABLE ... unlike our local gestapo cable TV company. I swear you'd think they're state-run ... Bonus with Dish for me is I get The Blaze TV for FREE on channel 212 now! I have America's Top 250 package - after state taxes it's under $74 a month, but I've got endless channels. Love it. Cable sucks!


Just ordered another seal. $23 at Advance after tax - better than having to do this a 3rd time. I swear I'd be posting pics of a burned-out hulk in the driveway if that happened ...

Turns out the reason it got f'ed up is I took the "no oil" thing too far -- I guess I SHOULD oil the O.D. and NOT the I.D. ... Expensive mistake, but even still I've never had that happen to ANY seal before ...

Dan, one leak I had on this roof drove me nuts here - ended up being fixed with the installation of a chimney cap! The water was going thru the mortar at the jog! First I'd seen of that. Haven't had a leak since.

Dann & Smitty, I have had this happen to many times to count. On new construction even with new roof and chimney. Of course they always blame my roof work and I went crazy tearing roofing off and flashing and sealing etc. I found that spraying the chimney with Thoroseal 777 if available is best and if not use Thompsons water seal. I had to wrap one chimney with shrink wrap to prove it was the chimney to one customer. It got so I just figured on doing it no matter which mason built the chimney to just eliminate the hassle and problems.

Kevin

KLook wrote:

Dan, one leak I had on this roof drove me nuts here - ended up being fixed with the installation of a chimney cap! The water was going thru the mortar at the jog! First I'd seen of that. Haven't had a leak since.

Dann & Smitty, I have had this happen to many times to count. On new construction even with new roof and chimney. Of course they always blame my roof work and I went crazy tearing roofing off and flashing and sealing etc. I found that spraying the chimney with Thoroseal 777 if available is best and if not use Thompsons water seal. I had to wrap one chimney with shrink wrap to prove it was the chimney to one customer. It got so I just figured on doing it no matter which mason built the chimney to just eliminate the hassle and problems.

Kevin

I agree with Kevin,

This has happened to me on a couple of occasions and it turned out to be the brick. Brick is a very porous product and it will "wick" moisture into a structure or in your case just past the flashing. It may be getting into the house as well and just hasn't presented itself. I would recommend staying away from any silicon based sealers as they require more frequent applications and just don't seem to work as well. Best of luck,Ken

NWBuilder wrote:

Yanche wrote:The same thing happened to mine a few years ago. Take a close look at the pulleys. One of mine had the belt grove cut so it caused premature belt wear. AHS offered to replace it but it was just cheaper to buy one locally than ship the defective one back.

Thanks for the input, I will check on that in a few days, I hope! Every have any problems with your hopper, mine is rusting out after less then a year. Seems premature as well. I need to call AHS on this as well.

Did you ever get your S130 to stay running through the summer? I remember you were having some big problems with outfires and unburned coal in the ash.

Here's that chimney, some of the bricks were spalled; neglected for prolly 20 years. I try to save my customers money so I made a modest repair on it. Any mason on earth would have sold the lady a rebuild. I sealed the whole thing with acrylic masonry sealer and it looks plastic coated now. About four or five courses up from the edge, the timberlines look a little saggy, all along that course. I got under them and ran a bead of clear caulk in case water is running back up under that course.
I initially thought the visible rot on the fascia and the rot under the shingles on the sheathing was from the chimney. It's kind of in line with the bad spots. But the rot seemed to have begun up about those same four courses. I'm just worried that the brown drip spots I have seen appear are from water that is getting under the shingles still and carrying stains with it. Will get back up there and do what I can.
The whole damn roof was a botch. They came in and just covered really rotty shingles, paid no attention to the sheathing. Gutter screens may have something to do with this I dunno.

Rob R. wrote:

NWBuilder wrote:

Yanche wrote:The same thing happened to mine a few years ago. Take a close look at the pulleys. One of mine had the belt grove cut so it caused premature belt wear. AHS offered to replace it but it was just cheaper to buy one locally than ship the defective one back.

Thanks for the input, I will check on that in a few days, I hope! Every have any problems with your hopper, mine is rusting out after less then a year. Seems premature as well. I need to call AHS on this as well.

Did you ever get your S130 to stay running through the summer? I remember you were having some big problems with outfires and unburned coal in the ash.

I did get it to stay mostly running but it took a lot of effort. I tried lots of different settings that various people suggested and it seemed to do ok with an operating temp of 182 with ashing at 108 with a 5 degree differential. It still burned a lot more coal then I think it should have with probably as much as 50% unburnt or not complete burn. I tried 3 different coal supplies with no noticeable difference. I have different coal coming in 2 weeks so I will see what happens then. I am not terribly mechanically inclined but I would have to say that AHS is a fairly tempermental unit. I am not sure I would travel this road again given the choice. The latest issue is the pressure release valve letting go 3 times in one day. It was not an uunusual day in any sense so I have no idea what brought that on. Dropped the operating temp down 5 degrees and hoping that helps.

The PRV letting off sounds like a potential DHW coil leak.

I wonder if you are getting coal bridging in the firetube, whereby the coal bridges and can't feed the burning coal below it and therefore it burns out? I recall someone mentioning that this can occur if the coal is too large overall. Another thought is that perhaps the observation port cover plate is sticking shut and starving the fire of air during the lengthy periods when the fan is not running to induce a draft? A third thought is insufficient draft overall.

In regards to the relief valve opening, I suspect your expansion tank is waterlogged. It could be a leak in the coil like Larry suggested, but it is much more common for expansion tanks to require draining or replacement.