Like our furnace? Its an old American Standard Arcoliner. The thing works pretty decent, operating at about 84% as stated on the last inspection/cleaning in 2004.
When I was doing the home inspection with my agent and the seller's agent, one of them stated that the furnace was converted from coal. The pipes for the radiators we previously insulated with asbestos, which has since been removed but they left the pipes bare. Lots of heat loss there, I know but this year we'll use as our base to compare with the results of the improvements.
Over the spring and summer, I will be playing with lots of stuff all over the house. This is on my list. All the hot water pipes will be insulated and the furnace will be wrapped in one of those blankets. I've been reluctant about wrapping the water pipes because I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to need to replace when I redo the shower.
Anyway, here is the point: since we moved here, we've run the furnace out of water a few times. The most recent time was this past weekend. I filled it like I was showed how, but suddenly the pressure shot to 30psi and the system stopped.
I forget now exactly which Realtor told us how to fill it up or, in all honestly, if I even remembered correctly - my wife thought she was told the same way, so I'll blame them.On the side of the furnace are a set of knobs with a water tube - that's not how I was told how. There is a supply line that comes into the, I guess, return line of the radiators. They said to turn that knob and leave on until the low level light goes out.
On Sunday, after a long night spent in a brisk 60-degree house, I discovered the proper way to level off the water. Basically, open the bottom knob on the side of the furnace. Then open the top one. The water level in the glass tube should moved. Leave about two inches on top and you're all set. If it doesn't fill up THEN use the supply line. I think I've got it now.
The device is simple enough to understand. There are sensors that say either "I'm comfy, comback later," or "Hey, losing the buzz - crank it up!" Then basically it boils water which is either stored for home use, like the shower or washing dishes or keeps boiling and creates the steam to heat the house.
Too much water in the system, sure it boils, but the steam doesn't get enough pressure to go through the system. That's what happened on Sunday. Hot water - oh boy, plenty of hot water - but no room for the steam to be created and move around. I was stumped at first but then bled the system for thirty minutes and now its working great again.
It only took about 3 months to figure out the system myself. Sheesh. One of the previous owners of the house must have lost the real manual because they only left us with a little sheet with general information on what to due if it won't start.
Heat is the kind of thing you don't miss until it's gone.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
The joy of heat & hot water...
Cross posted from the HGENCO Home Blog. If I only posted it there, no one would see it. I don't get much traffic there. If it wasn't a password protected site it would be the #1 Henry family site on the Internets but since it is, robots don't like it. So unless you search for "hgenco" you wont find it. But why would you want to anyway? The site contains a ton pictures celebrating the minutia of raising a child, being married, being with family and now it has a blog that documents the joys and headaches of home ownership.
Like our furnace? Its an old American Standard Arcoliner. The thing works pretty decent, operating at about 84% as stated on the last inspection/cleaning in 2004.
When I was doing the home inspection with my agent and the seller's agent, one of them stated that the furnace was converted from coal. The pipes for the radiators we previously insulated with asbestos, which has since been removed but they left the pipes bare. Lots of heat loss there, I know but this year we'll use as our base to compare with the results of the improvements.
Over the spring and summer, I will be playing with lots of stuff all over the house. This is on my list. All the hot water pipes will be insulated and the furnace will be wrapped in one of those blankets. I've been reluctant about wrapping the water pipes because I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to need to replace when I redo the shower.
Anyway, here is the point: since we moved here, we've run the furnace out of water a few times. The most recent time was this past weekend. I filled it like I was showed how, but suddenly the pressure shot to 30psi and the system stopped.
I forget now exactly which Realtor told us how to fill it up or, in all honestly, if I even remembered correctly - my wife thought she was told the same way, so I'll blame them.On the side of the furnace are a set of knobs with a water tube - that's not how I was told how. There is a supply line that comes into the, I guess, return line of the radiators. They said to turn that knob and leave on until the low level light goes out.
On Sunday, after a long night spent in a brisk 60-degree house, I discovered the proper way to level off the water. Basically, open the bottom knob on the side of the furnace. Then open the top one. The water level in the glass tube should moved. Leave about two inches on top and you're all set. If it doesn't fill up THEN use the supply line. I think I've got it now.
The device is simple enough to understand. There are sensors that say either "I'm comfy, comback later," or "Hey, losing the buzz - crank it up!" Then basically it boils water which is either stored for home use, like the shower or washing dishes or keeps boiling and creates the steam to heat the house.
Too much water in the system, sure it boils, but the steam doesn't get enough pressure to go through the system. That's what happened on Sunday. Hot water - oh boy, plenty of hot water - but no room for the steam to be created and move around. I was stumped at first but then bled the system for thirty minutes and now its working great again.
It only took about 3 months to figure out the system myself. Sheesh. One of the previous owners of the house must have lost the real manual because they only left us with a little sheet with general information on what to due if it won't start.
Heat is the kind of thing you don't miss until it's gone.
Like our furnace? Its an old American Standard Arcoliner. The thing works pretty decent, operating at about 84% as stated on the last inspection/cleaning in 2004.
When I was doing the home inspection with my agent and the seller's agent, one of them stated that the furnace was converted from coal. The pipes for the radiators we previously insulated with asbestos, which has since been removed but they left the pipes bare. Lots of heat loss there, I know but this year we'll use as our base to compare with the results of the improvements.
Over the spring and summer, I will be playing with lots of stuff all over the house. This is on my list. All the hot water pipes will be insulated and the furnace will be wrapped in one of those blankets. I've been reluctant about wrapping the water pipes because I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to need to replace when I redo the shower.
Anyway, here is the point: since we moved here, we've run the furnace out of water a few times. The most recent time was this past weekend. I filled it like I was showed how, but suddenly the pressure shot to 30psi and the system stopped.
I forget now exactly which Realtor told us how to fill it up or, in all honestly, if I even remembered correctly - my wife thought she was told the same way, so I'll blame them.On the side of the furnace are a set of knobs with a water tube - that's not how I was told how. There is a supply line that comes into the, I guess, return line of the radiators. They said to turn that knob and leave on until the low level light goes out.
On Sunday, after a long night spent in a brisk 60-degree house, I discovered the proper way to level off the water. Basically, open the bottom knob on the side of the furnace. Then open the top one. The water level in the glass tube should moved. Leave about two inches on top and you're all set. If it doesn't fill up THEN use the supply line. I think I've got it now.
The device is simple enough to understand. There are sensors that say either "I'm comfy, comback later," or "Hey, losing the buzz - crank it up!" Then basically it boils water which is either stored for home use, like the shower or washing dishes or keeps boiling and creates the steam to heat the house.
Too much water in the system, sure it boils, but the steam doesn't get enough pressure to go through the system. That's what happened on Sunday. Hot water - oh boy, plenty of hot water - but no room for the steam to be created and move around. I was stumped at first but then bled the system for thirty minutes and now its working great again.
It only took about 3 months to figure out the system myself. Sheesh. One of the previous owners of the house must have lost the real manual because they only left us with a little sheet with general information on what to due if it won't start.
Heat is the kind of thing you don't miss until it's gone.
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