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I think our boiler is cycling too much. Right now the first floor is 66 and I set the Nest to 68. The second floor is it's own zone I have set to 62. If I go down to the boiler it will kick on, you hear the water boiling for about 40 seconds then the boiler kicks off. A few minutes later rinse repeat. I checked the boiler thermostat and it reads 80 degrees @ 20 PSI. I checked the aquastat and it is set for 190 degrees. Anything I can do or should I just call a technician?
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# ? Mar 7, 2018 20:06 |
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# ? May 9, 2024 01:16 |
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Is your boiler compatible with nest in the first place?
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# ? Mar 7, 2018 20:29 |
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According to Nest it is
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# ? Mar 7, 2018 20:33 |
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The thermostat really just passes current if the temperature is not high enough. Not sure how one could not be compatible unless you have some vacuum operated oddity.
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# ? Mar 8, 2018 01:02 |
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I still have the old Honeywell in the second zone. I just turned off the Nest and set the temp to 68 on the Honeywell and it's still short cycling so I think it's just an issue with the boiler.
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# ? Mar 8, 2018 02:01 |
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Elephanthead posted:The thermostat really just passes current if the temperature is not high enough. Not sure how one could not be compatible unless you have some vacuum operated oddity. Apparently the way it draws power can cause heaters to short cycle but I've been running mine with a 2-wire heat-only config for two winters now and everything's been fine.
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# ? Mar 8, 2018 02:12 |
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One of the boards in my hardwood floor is quite bowed and my wife said she could squeeze out some water by pressing on it. My best guess is that this happened because there was a gap in the floorboards and it's right by the front door (meaning, obviously, we've sometimes haphazardly traipsed over the area with wet shoes. Does that make sense or is there likely some way more serious issue? Also, do I need to address this immediately by replacing the board or something, or can I expect it to be more or less stable?
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# ? Mar 8, 2018 15:11 |
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Elysium posted:So with the last storm taking out power to a lot of my neighbors, I have realized that without power my sump pump will stop working and probably flood our basement. It seems my options are 1) Battery backup sump system. This doesn't seem like it will work because there is no room in the sump well for another pump. 2) Generator. This seems like a poor option because it doesn't do anything if we are away or sleeping and it's not already on when the power goes out. 3) A power inverter + battery. This seems like what I want, but it's like almost a grand when you include the battery price? 4) A bucket and constant vigilance. What I may actually end up with... Hi! I lost power during the nor'easter and my basement flooded. Take my word for it: "a bucket" is definitely not gonna work if your basement starts to flood because you will be completely unable to keep up with the flow of water through the sump, not to mention the floor and wall of your basement. I'm looking at a battery backup sump pump (it'll also help if you DON'T lose power but your pump fails and it works unattended so I think it's the best option), but as a short-term solution I also bought a battery-operated pump intended for boats for about 50 bucks. Look into "bilge pumps" if you want that.
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# ? Mar 8, 2018 15:17 |
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extravadanza posted:I bought a house recently and my detached garage empties out into an alleyway behind my house. Between the garage and alleyway is grass and mud. I'm looking to dig out some of the dirt and drop in gravel, but there seems to be a buried cable line traveling parallel to the alleyway, between my garage and the paved alley drive. Who do I call to ask about moving this, the city? Is there a particular department that I would call or person to ask for? Or should I try cable companies? The cable is barely even buried, in fact it's exposed above the grass at a couple of places. I don't know why they buried a line traveling the entire length of my property going to my neighbors house, when they have a utility pole on their property already, which actually provides cable to the neighbor also! Elephanthead posted:Is it a cable TV wire? Telephone? Any electric cable should be buried way deeper. Sometime in the winter they can't bury them until the dirt thaws. I would guess it is cable or ATT internet. They still won't bury it deep enough so just dig around it and push it into the alley so you have a big enough hole for your rocks. They will install it the right way eventually. So I did the 811 before you dig thing, and nobody claimed this cable. I'm not sure if it's cable or telephone. I guess I'll have to stop by my neighbors to see if it's actually a wire that's being used (they have a shitload of cable/tv lines running to their plastic utility boxes from multiple utility poles). Side question: There's also a power line running from this utility pole directly through my large maple tree to the same neighbors house, but I can see that it's been disconnected at the pole, so it's not hot. Any reason I need to get this wire removed? I guess it's not doing any harm or affecting me in any way at the moment.
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# ? Mar 8, 2018 17:08 |
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Someone link the Curb Your Enthusiasm wire episode.
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# ? Mar 8, 2018 17:17 |
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extravadanza posted:So I did the 811 before you dig thing, and nobody claimed this cable. I'm not sure if it's cable or telephone. Cut it in half and find out! http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/07/nation/na-black-wire7
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# ? Mar 8, 2018 17:58 |
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:One of the boards in my hardwood floor is quite bowed and my wife said she could squeeze out some water by pressing on it. My best guess is that this happened because there was a gap in the floorboards and it's right by the front door (meaning, obviously, we've sometimes haphazardly traipsed over the area with wet shoes. Does that make sense or is there likely some way more serious issue? Also, do I need to address this immediately by replacing the board or something, or can I expect it to be more or less stable? You'd need a lot more moisture than "occasional wet shoes" to get a board soaking wet. Is the area below accessible? Are there pipes under the floor? My parents experienced a suddenly bowing hardwood floor like that and it turned out to be a leak in a pipe below the floor spraying the underside, leading to both a wet bowed floor and a bad mold abatement problem.
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# ? Mar 8, 2018 21:47 |
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So with all the talk of sump pumps and such, does anyone had a good recommendation for: A submersible main sump pump A battery backup sump pump and A good portable generator, since whole home isn't quite in the budget. I can go without heat, and even lose the food in the fridge, but if I could power the main pump and perhaps recharge the battery backup at the same time, that would be golden. Although 8 straight hours of walking two 5gal bucks upstairs and pouring them down the garage sink was a hell of a workout.
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# ? Mar 8, 2018 22:14 |
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The Rev posted:So with all the talk of sump pumps and such, does anyone had a good recommendation for: https://www.amazon.com/Zoeller-508-...ler+backup+sump I like Zoeller pumps. Honda generators are also the go-to generator especially if you ever use it away from home for camping or other remote power needs. Make sure it is outside when you run it or you will be dead.
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# ? Mar 8, 2018 22:41 |
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Hubis posted:You'd need a lot more moisture than "occasional wet shoes" to get a board soaking wet. Is the area below accessible? Are there pipes under the floor? My parents experienced a suddenly bowing hardwood floor like that and it turned out to be a leak in a pipe below the floor spraying the underside, leading to both a wet bowed floor and a bad mold abatement problem. Well unless you mean the basement ceiling then no I don't think so. I should clarify that I myself have not observed any water and she was talking about it seeping out of the sides. Anyway should I call someone? I'm not even sure the right discipline here.
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# ? Mar 9, 2018 01:18 |
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:Well unless you mean the basement ceiling then no I don't think so. I should clarify that I myself have not observed any water and she was talking about it seeping out of the sides. Anyway should I call someone? I'm not even sure the right discipline here. Maybe if it's near an outdoor wall or doorway you've got water seeping in. I suggest you dry it (maybe sit there with a hairdryer?) and then see if it gets wet again with everyone being careful not to track water onto it. That'll let you know if the water is getting there from somewhere else. Once you're certain it's just getting in from people walking on it with wet feet, you can just seal the gaps.
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# ? Mar 9, 2018 01:22 |
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Leperflesh posted:Maybe if it's near an outdoor wall or doorway you've got water seeping in. I can't find any water at all. If it was there before it doesn't seem to be now. RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Mar 9, 2018 |
# ? Mar 9, 2018 05:01 |
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So, 3 months into home ownership... I think there's an animal stuck in my walls. It sounds bigger than a mouse (I briefly dealt with a couple mice in a rental a couple years ago). I originally heard the animal in my attic on... Thursday or Friday, I think. I went up to investigate and banged around a bit and heard it shuffle off. now Sunday I heard it in a new spot, approx 15 feet away from where I heard it before, but no longer in the attic... now it's in between the first and second floor in the wall between the living and dining room, in the space above entryway. I heard it again last night in roughly the same spot. Also, banging on the wall doesn't seem to encourage it to leave that spot. So, I think maybe it's stuck? Do I need to cut a hole in the wall to investigate? It's plaster and lathe in this particular part of the house... I guess I don't want it to stink up the place or ruin the walls.
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# ? Mar 13, 2018 19:24 |
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Cut a hole big enough for a cat and send it in. Make sure you leash the cat or you’ve just doubled your problem.
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# ? Mar 13, 2018 19:29 |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wco2uE6vyQ
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# ? Mar 13, 2018 19:33 |
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HEY NONG MAN posted:Cut a hole big enough for a cat and send it in. Make sure you leash the cat or you’ve just doubled your problem. If you can't get the cat out you just get a snake SMDH.
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# ? Mar 13, 2018 20:18 |
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Homeownership: I think there's an animal stuck in my walls.
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# ? Mar 13, 2018 21:29 |
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Turns out we're the real animals trapped in the walls of homeownership
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# ? Mar 13, 2018 21:52 |
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Higgy posted:Homeownership: I think there's an animal stuck in my walls. unrelated: do you grill?
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# ? Mar 13, 2018 22:08 |
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I swear my whole house runs on a single 20 amp breaker snaking around every room. I will turn off almost all the breakers and barely anything shuts off. I hit the breaker for the kitchen and my whole house powers off. Very frustrating.
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# ? Mar 13, 2018 23:23 |
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Sepist posted:I swear my whole house runs on a single 20 amp breaker snaking around every room. I will turn off almost all the breakers and barely anything shuts off. I hit the breaker for the kitchen and my whole house powers off. Very frustrating. could be miswired to backfeed some circuits
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# ? Mar 13, 2018 23:51 |
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Alright, so the animal in my walls was not stuck, just using that area to hang out... also it was a big fat racoon. Finally caught it sneaking in/out of my walls. Scared it to the outskirts of my attic with stomping and a long stick, then filled the area he was sneaking into my walls with foam and insulation. Hopefully that at least keeps him out of my actual walls until I can get on my roof and find out where it's getting in.
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# ? Mar 14, 2018 02:11 |
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extravadanza posted:it was a big fat racoon..........Scared No, you just annoyed it. Hope this works out. Spray foam is not the answer, hardware cloth is.
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# ? Mar 14, 2018 02:17 |
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Motronic posted:No, you just annoyed it. Hope this works out. Spray foam is not the answer, hardware cloth is. I'll pick some of that up. Currently the area that he's getting in to the walls in is inaccessible. I'll need to take down a plywood wall to get to it with anything less than a broomstick
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# ? Mar 14, 2018 02:22 |
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Bozart posted:could be miswired to backfeed some circuits It's a 70 year old house with a back extension and a second floor addition, could just be poor craftsmanship. I'll need to look into this backfeed thing though.
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# ? Mar 14, 2018 02:45 |
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Sepist posted:It's a 70 year old house with a back extension and a second floor addition, could just be poor craftsmanship. I'll need to look into this backfeed thing though. Why not both?!
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# ? Mar 15, 2018 22:16 |
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Home ownership update: I grilled for the first time this year last night. It felt good.
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# ? Mar 16, 2018 13:36 |
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extravadanza posted:Alright, so the animal in my walls was not stuck, just using that area to hang out... also it was a big fat racoon. Finally caught it sneaking in/out of my walls. Scared it to the outskirts of my attic with stomping and a long stick, then filled the area he was sneaking into my walls with foam and insulation. Hopefully that at least keeps him out of my actual walls until I can get on my roof and find out where it's getting in. Hopefully it hasn't decided to move in because foam is not going to stop a raccoon. From personal experience you may just need to catch the drat thing.
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# ? Mar 16, 2018 14:43 |
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Mahatma Goonsay posted:Hopefully it hasn't decided to move in because foam is not going to stop a raccoon. From personal experience you may just need to catch the drat thing. Raccoon update. Foam has kept it out of my walls for the past couple of days, but it's still hanging out in the attic. Had a wildlife removal guy stop by this morning and he installed a 1-way door (basically piece of wire mesh) where the raccoon was entering/exiting my house from. Once the raccoon is out of the attic, we will properly close the entry point. Basically It was just pushing up my soffit vents where they met another roofline and forcing it's way in. Wildlife removal guy was going to try to catch it, but it retreats into my soffit vents pretty quickly, and the attic is very cramped, not easy to move around in at all.
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# ? Mar 16, 2018 17:12 |
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couldcareless posted:Home ownership update: I grilled for the first time this year last night. It felt good. It was 16 degrees here yesterday.
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# ? Mar 19, 2018 13:11 |
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:It was 16 degrees here yesterday. How was the grilling?
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# ? Mar 19, 2018 13:28 |
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I didn't actually grill, but I did use my grill for the first time in a couple months Saturday to saute a whole mess of onions on the side burner. My girlfriend was out of town for the night, and she gets nauseated from the smell of onions so I can only cook them while she's away, and to be safe I did it outside so she wouldn't come home to a house full o' onion. They accompanied a porterhouse steak I sou-vide-ed for a couple hours and finished on a screaming hot cast iron pan for just a minute or so each side...I thought about finishing it on the grill, but I can get the cast iron hotter on the stove than my grill gets. More house chat: About a month or so ago, my GF and I bought these salvaged bowling alley chairs: I've gotta figure out something to mount them on, because you can't really sit in them without it tipping to one side or the other. I can just go very spartan/ugly with it and make a small 2x4 frame with a piece of plywood on top, but I think to complete the "feel" I should get some gross-rear end, beer-stained, carpet tiles.
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# ? Mar 19, 2018 21:16 |
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Mount them to the bed of your truck, then unmount them after pulling in to the garbage dump
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# ? Mar 20, 2018 00:51 |
QuarkJets posted:Mount them to the bed of your truck, then unmount them after pulling in to the garbage dump Aren't these the same bolt on seats you find on low budget trains and buses, like in China? Gross, tacky, and hard to put anywhere. I think QuarkJets has the right idea here.
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# ? Mar 20, 2018 02:05 |
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# ? May 9, 2024 01:16 |
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Closed on a house last Friday but we're not moving in until the end of next month, so the plan is to put some work into the house. New floors, paint the walls, a few little upgrades here and there. First thing was to pull out the old molding and built-in and welp 3 layers of wallpaper, the earliest and latest having been sealed with something. The upper left corner of that patch (where the built-in was) took me a solid hour and a half and is not exactly a great example of wallpaper removal. I don't know if I'm even going to gently caress with renting a steamer. I'm just going to seal everything with an oil based sealer/primer and level with joint compound. If for some reason that doesn't work I'll have to tear out the walls and hang new drywall and fuuuuuuuck that.
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# ? Mar 20, 2018 05:27 |