|
We've got an electric heater that blows air that is hardly warm at all. Should I try taking the heating elements out to see if they are broken or something? The brand is evcon, model EB15B, and I've found a wiring diagram and parts list for it online. It looks like I just need to remove the front panel on the heater itself to reach the 3 heating elements. This is where I found the diagram: http://www.managemylife.com/mmh/lis_pdf/INSTL/L0611481.pdf I don't know what to look for to spot a faulty element other than something obvious like it being physically broken.
|
#
?
Dec 26, 2012 20:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 21:41 |
|
|
Account_Username posted:We've got an electric heater that blows air that is hardly warm at all. Should I try taking the heating elements out to see if they are broken or something? Generally, you can check a heating element by ensuring it has continuity between the the points where power is supplied to it. If continuity is poor or non-existent, the element is no good. A cheap multimeter should be able to do a continuity test. (I'm not by any means an expert on this, but I've diagnosed 3 different heating elements this way)
|
|
#
?
Dec 26, 2012 21:31
|
|
|
So I had a thought the other day and I cannot seem to reason the answer. My goal is to use as little hot water as possible, and have the shower at a comfortable temperature. If I step into the shower and it is too hot, will I save hot water by closing the hot side, or is the same amount of hot water consumed if I opened the cold side?
|
|
#
?
Dec 26, 2012 23:16
|
|
|
Both will save hot water Try turning down the thermostat on your hot water heater, can save a lot of energy that way. I've been meaning to replumb all my hot lines to 3/8" PEX one of these days. Would mean a lot less time waiting for hot water to come out and less waste
|
|
#
?
Dec 26, 2012 23:36
|
|
|
I always assumed that you close the hot side to use less hot water, but seconding the long term: lowering the temperature on the water heater will save the most money. Plumbing to 3/8" may save water but your shower flow will suck and every time someone draws off with something else while you are showering (such as flushing the toilet) you will pay a heavy price.
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 00:53
|
|
|
dwoloz posted:Both will save hot water I do have the heater set on just about its lowest setting, wrapped in batting, and I have the entire run insulated form the heater to shower. It was more of a pressure equalization/all things being equal kind of question.
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 01:47
|
|
|
PainterofCrap posted:Plumbing to 3/8" may save water but your shower flow will suck and every time someone draws off with something else while you are showering (such as flushing the toilet) you will pay a heavy price. I run 1.5gpm shower heads, 3/8 is plenty. For running a tub though, you'd want at least 1/2; would take a longgg time to fill otherwise. I'll install a manifold and run several lines direct to each device instead of branching. That way you have the least amount of water possible in the line to the device
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 02:07
|
|
|
If you already have copper pipes, why would you want to run PEX? I get the home run thing but the maintenance trade off versus copper seems not worth it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 02:12
|
|
|
What maintenance tradeoff is that?
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 03:24
|
|
|
Hed posted:If you already have copper pipes, why would you want to run PEX? I get the home run thing but the maintenance trade off versus copper seems not worth it. I still have galvanized so it's a no brainer. If I had copper and really really wanted fast hot water, I might still put in PEX; it's cheap and quick to install (yet my lazy rear end still hasn't done it). No maintenance that I'm familiar with
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 03:49
|
|
|
dwoloz posted:I run 1.5gpm shower heads, 3/8 is plenty. For running a tub though, you'd want at least 1/2; would take a longgg time to fill otherwise. Just stick with the low-flow outlets & save your money; you'll achieve the same result. (edit) galv? That sucks. Still & all: if it's not blowing rust all the time & the flow is good, leave it be. Mine was galv too (with lead drains!) when we bought our house in '92, but it was all shot: replaced it with copper. Ran 3/4" to my water heater, which seemed to end the foul language from my showering wife when I flushed the toilet. I like a strong flow from the showerhead so I drilled mine out. I picked up a NOS monster Speakman head at a yard sale...loved it, but it emptied the water heater way too fast. I still don't trust PEX, or PVC, for water. Probably irrational, I know. Polybutylene recalls didn't help. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Dec 27, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 04:13
|
|
|
dwoloz posted:Electric ignition? Can you see any spark? Can you manually light it? Update: HVAC tech came out today and decided it was the "breaker board" (as I am told by my GF) that was bad/going out and causing the sporadic ignition issues. The unit was still under warranty (the tech just called some magical number to find out) and so the part was covered (at least a few hundred) and she had to pay $100 for labor.
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 04:22
|
|
|
I bought a small wood lathe that is missing a knob but I can easily make a new one with the lathe! I want to match the original but, I believe wood would be too weak in the crossgrain due to the shape; plastic would be ideal but is stupidly expensive for turning blanks. I'm trying to think of a cheaper source for a big hunk of plastic and came up with rolling pins, not sure if they are solid though. Anyone have other ideas for cheap hunks of plastic? (roughly 2"x3") Pic of knob below, you can see why wood might be fragile. wormil fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Dec 27, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 05:42
|
|
|
The kind of plastic that butter tubs and maybe cheap plastic flower pots are made of melts and remolds easily. If you can find some small metal cylinder to heat with a plumbers torch, grease the inside, then cut the plastic into little strips and feed it in. A redbull can might be about the right size. That's basically how we made useless golf tees in junior high industrial tech class 
eddiewalker fucked around with this message at 05:59 on Dec 27, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 05:56
|
|
|
Use/adapt a knob from a hose bib from a big box hardware store.
PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Dec 27, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 06:05
|
|
|
eddiewalker posted:The kind of plastic that butter tubs and maybe cheap plastic flower pots are made of melts and remolds easily. If you can find some small metal cylinder to heat with a plumbers torch, grease the inside, then cut the plastic into little strips and feed it in. A redbull can might be about the right size. Interesting, I'll look into that. My experiments into melting plastic usually turned into a hideous, glassy, burnt, mess; or went up in flames. I guess this is a feasible idea: http://www.instructables.com/id/HomemadePlastic/ PainterofCrap posted:Use/adapt a knob from a hose bib from a big box hardware store. That's funny, they do look similar.
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 07:22
|
|
|
dwoloz posted:I still have galvanized so it's a no brainer. If I had copper and really really wanted fast hot water, I might still put in PEX; it's cheap and quick to install (yet my lazy rear end still hasn't done it). No maintenance that I'm familiar with Gotcha. I was under the impression that PEX needed to be bleached every so often and then flushed for anti-microbial purposes but after some quick searching I can't find those maintenance recommendations I thought I'd seen. Maybe I envisioned them or the stuff has turned out to not need it after all.
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 07:24
|
|
|
Replacing a fan in a wine refrigerator. The origional part is no longer available so I ordered a new fan with the same size and power ratings. What I was hoping for some insight on is hooking the new fan up. The refrigerator doesn't mark the terminals where the fan plugs in with a + or -. The fan runs off of 110-120V AC so would it matter which way I hook it up? I googled the question and most of the answers said it didn't matter except in some cases for safety reasons if the device malfunctioned, which for a basic 120mm fan I doubt its complex enough to matter.
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 20:11
|
|
|
wormil posted:Pic of knob below, you can see why wood might be fragile. You know that you can buy threaded knobs, right? What are the dimensions on that? What are the screw threads? And which side is the nut on, in the handle or in the top piece? kid sinister fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Dec 27, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 22:19
|
|
|
wormil posted:I want to match the original kid sinister posted:You know that you can buy threaded knobs, right? I have threaded knobs in a parts bin up in my shop. And actually it has a perfectly serviceable knob attached to a home-made banjo/tool rest that happens to be as ugly as a hat full of assholes. Really I want to make something on the lathe and matching the existing knob seems like a good project. In all likelihood I will just make it out of wood while I try to locate an original banjo/tool rest. Hell I might even use the ugly knob, it's sturdy as gently caress. kid sinister posted:What are the dimensions on that? What are the screw threads? And which side is the nut on, in the handle or in the top piece? I don't know because the original banjo/tool rest assembly is missing. The home made one has a 3/4" bolt embedded in a wood handle going up through a 2x4 into a thin piece of sheet metal.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2012 05:09
|
|
|
wormil posted:Really I want to make something on the lathe and matching the existing knob seems like a good project. I'm trying to think of a fastener type that you could put in that knob that couldn't potentially come loose or unscrewed from the knob while you're unscrewing it: threaded inserts, hanger bolts, and T-nuts all wouldn't be ideal.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2012 08:30
|
|
|
kid sinister posted:Define "match". You can't cut lobes with a lathe. You could maybe knurl it if it were metal. I would just Dremel the lobes or use a file, they aren't very deep. All that has taken a backseat though to building the stand, setting up, buying tools and looking for a real tool rest/banjo that will fit. At this point it will probably never happen.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2012 07:21
|
|
|
This loving Furnace. Subtitle: The joys of buying a home built in 1880. Last year this loving thing needed two repairs, a main blower and a new board. Now, my uneducated guess is that the loving pilot light keeps going out. I noticed it the other day, it was freezing balls, so I went downstairs and everything looked cool, but I switched the furnace on and off came back up and hey! Hot air again. Cool, all good. 2 or 3 hours later I'm freezing again, repeat, for a few days until now. I need to figure this bitch out, I'm going to have my home warranty people send a guy over, but it wont be for a few days until I can get a guy out here. Is there anything specific I can do to keep my hot air flowing? THE SPICE MUST FLOW. I've taken pictures of this piece of poo poo: This is the front, supposedly this is the brand:  This is where I assume my pilot light is hiding:  This is the magnificent, perfectly obvious place to put the circuit board! Good idea guys (its at the lowest spot it could be, exposed, which is why last year some poo poo froze and melted all over it):  (side note, I'm putting in a new thermostat and at my wall unit there's no C wire, but in that picture there appears to be one... should I strip the outer tube/rubber at the wall terminal a little more and see if there's a C wire hiding in there before I move my G wire to the C spot?) This is the switch that I get dressed, walk outside through the cold, down into a dank cellar, and flip every two hours:  These are stickers and poo poo that someone more knowledgeable than I might want to see:   Then I have a side question, these pipes go outside and blow hot & cold air outside, heating the loving neighborhood. What are they for and why are they wasting my precious hot air?  e; and I have ridiculously high res photos of these if you want them, like 7k x 4k pixels. e; looking at these photos it looks like an electricians nightmare, and even my nightmare, but I didn't do any of this work, I can make your photos pretty and fix and a computer and make a logo, but I can't make wires look that loving bad. RizieN fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Dec 31, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2012 23:31
|
|
|
That furnace is too new to use a pilot light. That one will use an electronic ignition. What about that GFCI? What's plugged into it? Do you have to reset it to get the furnace to come back on? Those pipes are your intake and exhaust pipes. Modern furnaces suck in cold air from the outside so that they don't use up the oxygen in your house, making everyone tired. As for the exhaust, modern furnaces are so efficient and extract so much heat from exhaust gas that it won't rise that much anymore and needs a second fan to push the exhaust out of your house. Go outside and look at those pipes. Are they blocked? Did a critter build a nest in either entrance/exit? Is there any metal grating over either pipe that got it completely iced over? And don't worry about the wire job. They all look like that on the inside.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2012 23:45
|
|
|
The exhaust pipes are all clear and flowing fine. Good to know about the intake/exhaust. There's a sump pump plugged into the GFCI because the water heater (not pictured because we replaced it) leaked into the 12" hole the furnace sits in (I have no idea why), and I had to get that water out asap. edit; and I'm keeping it there just in case something happens again. All I do is flip the switch down, wait 15 seconds, and flip it back on, then go upstairs and bask in the hour of warm air until I have to get up again. Thanks for the quick response! RizieN fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Dec 31, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2012 23:52
|
|
|
OK, how about this. Does that board have diagnostic LEDs on it? There should be a label on the inside of the bottom cover that explains the blink codes. Oh yeah, about that C wire... That wire is a relatively new addition to HVAC. The C is for Common aka neutral. Old thermostats were just mechanical devices. Depending on where the function slider switches were positioned, the temperature arm was and where the mercury switch thermometer was currently bending, the power being sent all the time to the thermostat would get diverted down various circuits to turn those functions on. That was it: old thermostats didn't need power for themselves. Now HVAC uses 24v AC for signal calls, and with any AC power you also need a neutral. New thermostats have fancy features like digital displays, clock shedulers and touchscreens that require constant power. Thermostats have power going to them all the time. The problem is that in the past they didn't have a dedicated neutral for themselves. That's what the C wire is for. If your current wiring doesn't have it, then you have 2 options: 1. upgrade your wiring from the control board to the thermostat 2. get a thermostat that uses batteries instead kid sinister fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Jan 1, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2012 23:58
|
|
|
Just double checked, no LEDs  Would a thermostat have anything to do with controlling the electric ignition? I bought a new one but haven't put it in yet, it'd be so awesome if I could get two birds stoned at once. If not, is there a way to check and see if my ignition thing is all hosed up and only works when the furnace turns back on? I'd imagine my home warranty wouldn't give me any guff replacing that.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2013 00:07
|
|
|
See my previous post, I edited it about your lack of C wire. And there is a way to check if your thermostat is causing problems. You wouldn't happen to have a multimeter would you? If not, try this. Next time you have to go down and reset it, don't touch switch. Instead, open up the bottom, hold down the cover tamper button with one hand and use a pair of needlenose pliers to touch both the R and W terminals together. Does the furnace come on? edit: woops, wrong terminals kid sinister fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Jan 2, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2013 00:21
|
|
|
I can run by the office and grab a multimeter, but I'll try the pliers trick first, thanks. The only reason I want to use this thermostat is to control my temperature from my phone, my old one uses batteries. I'm going to go get whiskey drunk now, and get back at this tomorrow. Thanks a lot man!
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2013 01:04
|
|
|
What happens when you turn the thermostat on? My furnance had a similar problem that was usually fixed by turning off the power to it too. What was happening with mine was that sometimes it would start the burners and then turn them off like 30 seconds later. Turns out the flame sensor just needed to be cleaned.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2013 01:17
|
|
|
Thermostat acts like it works, but cold air comes out. I've got a home warranty claim in and some guy is supposed to call me in 30 minutes to schedule. So I guess I'll update the thread with whatever he says it is just in case someone has the same problem later.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2013 18:10
|
|
|
Quick question regarding rough opening size. I'm planning on framing out an opening for a closet, probably using two 30x80" bifold doors. What size do I want the rough opening? I'll be using "one bys" for the jamb. 1" on each side? More? 1" with the jambs already installed?
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2013 19:10
|
|
|
dreesemonkey posted:Quick question regarding rough opening size. I'm planning on framing out an opening for a closet, probably using two 30x80" bifold doors. If you're going with prehung doors, check their box for the rough-in size.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 00:01
|
|
|
dreesemonkey posted:Quick question regarding rough opening size. I'm planning on framing out an opening for a closet, probably using two 30x80" bifold doors. You want about a 1/4" gap to shim on all sides. So if its 3/4" jamb the opening would be approx 32x82
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 05:45
|
|
|
Make sure the opening is absolutely square and plumb, too. 1/4" is not a lot of tolerance, so best to frame the 2x4 rough opening about 1" larger than you think you'll need so that you have plenty of space to shim out the jamb. The gap will be hidden by the door trim.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 11:56
|
|
|
RizieN posted:Thermostat acts like it works, but cold air comes out. I've got a home warranty claim in and some guy is supposed to call me in 30 minutes to schedule. So I guess I'll update the thread with whatever he says it is just in case someone has the same problem later. If I had to guess(I'm licensed for this stuff) I'd say it's your flame rectifier. There's a little plate inside the burner, probably near or part of the ignition, clean it with a bit of steel wool. The reason you didn't see any LEDs is you opened your furnace, which turns it off. I really, really hate it when people do that, it comes right after pushing the red button on an oil furnace.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 17:09
|
|
|
grover posted:Make sure the opening is absolutely square and plumb, too. 1/4" is not a lot of tolerance, so best to frame the 2x4 rough opening about 1" larger than you think you'll need so that you have plenty of space to shim out the jamb. The gap will be hidden by the door trim. I'm with grover. You want lots of room to adjust if necessary. Shims are cheap and with door trim they help cover for any gently caress ups.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 17:20
|
|
|
Aggressive pricing posted:If I had to guess(I'm licensed for this stuff) I'd say it's your flame rectifier. There's a little plate inside the burner, probably near or part of the ignition, clean it with a bit of steel wool. The reason you didn't see any LEDs is you opened your furnace, which turns it off. I really, really hate it when people do that, it comes right after pushing the red button on an oil furnace. Ah, I thought the LEDs would be on the board itself. I'll have to remember that. Apparently it was a faulty filter sensor... I guess it got stuck and didn't know that I had changed the filters. Heat has been on non stop since I paid a guy 75 dollars to un stick some sensor.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 19:33
|
|
|
RizieN posted:Ah, I thought the LEDs would be on the board itself. I'll have to remember that. They're usually on the board but there's a chance of seeing them through the peephole or it's possible(sometimes) to get the cover off with out openning the door switch. $75 isn't bad at all, most places will charge at least that much just to show up. The heat running like that is normal, it won't really stop until the walls have warmed up.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2013 03:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 21:41 |
|
|
Yea, $75 isn't so bad, it's through the warranty place so the company might charge more on their own. But the heat was off again this morning, I guess at least we got a full day out of it. I went down to look at it, but I couldn't get on my knees and actually look through the peep hole because I'm wearing my work clothes and can't get old dirt floors on my knees right before work. I'll try to look into the hole when I get home and see if I can see any LEDs, but I had the lights off and couldn't see any ambient light at all. I seriously might just buy a new furnace.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2013 16:28
|
|