Really.. so you guys would recommend just using all new soil? That's fine by me, probably won't cost more than buying that much pumice or perlite would. Al, I'm not sure if I can afford a big delivery of potting mix at the moment. Like I said, I'm short on funds now and trying to fix this as economically as possible. Without sacrificing too much love for my plants, of course. I'm likely either going to mix up some 5-1-1 (haven't looked into the prices for this yet), or find a proper potting soil somewhere around here that I can buy a few bags of. I'll be glad to get rid of this black gold once and for all, it's been nothing but a headache. I plan on using it in a raised bed, if that would work. Thanks for the help everyone. Feel free to give any more advice you have, it should be until the weekend before I can get any of this done. Zac

the other end hooks that hooks up to the house is 3/8" BUT MY HOUSE OUTLET IS 1/2". Thus I have to put an adapter. But I think it is the adapter that is causing problems. I am using a gas fitting made for gas dryer labelled : 3/8 in. O.D. Flare x 1/2 in. Female Thread from Brasscraft bought at Home Depot. I remember reading somewhere about flared parts and non-flared parts incompatibility. When I first lit the first burner everything looked OK. But the 2nd burner wouldn't light even though I seea spark produced by the ignitor. Then I turned off the first burner and the 2nd would light. Finally, got two burners going but noticed that they are very dimly on. I drilled the orifices to 20K btu standards in case you are wondering (1.93 mm). Thanks for any reply.

If the cost is scheduled to triple and I see little room for reducing consumption, how do I determine if converting to gas is a wise investment? Is it wrong to bite the bullet just to maintain property value? Try to look at your total annual heating cost. Lets say it is $1000. You then have to make some big assumptions, mainly how much of that is for back up strips and how much is HP. You also need the COP average for your HP (you could use 3). I would guess that 30% of your electric would be strips. Then you need your NG cost - $1 a therm is usually pretty close. Plugging that in goes something like this NG - $1 per 100,000 Strips - $4.75 HP - $1.75 Prior usage was strips - $300 or 200 therms; hp - $700 or 1100 therms. So total was 1300 therms. So NG would be $1400 a season vs $3000 for electric. Lots of estimates. Obviously it depends significantly on how well your current HP is doing. How old is it and what Seer is it? The better it is, the closer electric will be. Dual fuel becomes a lot less helpful at $.18 a kwh so I wouldn't even worry about that. NG is cheaper than a HP even with a COP of 4.5 which probably only happens above 55 degrees. Don't forget to throw in $240 onto the NG bill for connection charges but also don't forget you can save that in water if you install a gas hot water heater. I think is is fair to guess that around $.14 a kwh is the breakeven point for NG and HP. But climate changes that as does how efficient the HP is (and the NG furnace). The colder the climate, the lower that goes and yours might be $.10 if it is really cold and your HP is less efficient. As far as putting the furnace outside the envelope (and some ductwork) - that is a consideration but a relatively minor one (IMO). My energy audit suggested about 5% in my climate, yours would be still less than 10%. You wouldn't have significant leaks so the pressure changes aren't a big deal. Sure - a whole network of bad leaky ducts in unconditioned space is a problem, but a single insulated, mastic sealed duct to a furnace is not. You probably already have your return ducts in unconditioned space so don't stress about putting the furnace up there. But also know that it would be pretty darn safe in your house too.

Hey y'all -- thanks. I did mock it up, or close-enough (seems I forgot to mention that above; sorry. It was fun -- there's finally a roughtop in place so I sketched out the sinks and projections). It's poised for a big space so surprisingly, its purported massiveness will probably work. As warmfridge and probably others noted, its 9.5" "throw" will too. At this point, frankly, I'm mostly worried about the droll warnings on here about its off-brandedness. I'm not really sure what to make of that, frankly, as so many customers seem giddy with excitement about the Kraus. Unfortunately not, seemingly, from this site (that is, they're not unhappy with it here, there just seems to be silence regarding it). And of course it is completely true that I cannot and have not felt it. But I am cognizant that even though there a large number of accolades, few if any of them represent anything other than happiness with appearance, as opposed to function. I think it is Buehl who posts periodically to remind people that offbrand sinks, namely Kraus, are just wonderful. And many have taken her advice and are happy for having done so. However Sinks and faucets are likely very different animals. FWIW I too bought a Kraus sink and while it isn't installed, I'm as thrilled with the next about the packaging (I'm not kidding, most of the accolades wax on and on about the packaging; that is why their owners are so happy!). So ... it's kind of news to me that I'm coming across as such a name-brand devotee but maybe it's true. I guess I think I want to remember how much is getting spent overall and not go crazy about saving pennies and losing the dollars. (pennywise-pound foolish). And I hear you saying that's the case here. No offense but I also hear you saying you just don't know. And that's where I'm a little stuck. I don't actually think there's anything inherently wrong with Chinese offbrand products -- I could be wrong of course, particularly when there are working, moving parts involved and also conversely when the price differential may not be so huge. But having come to all this with no experience whatsoever, the idea of spending hundreds on a faucet has me agape. I had no idea a person could spend that much money on a faucet. I would have thought they were about $1-200 max. That's how out of it I am. I guess one question I have is: how difficult is it to replace a faucet if/when this one stops functioning? I just learned, to my surprise, that the counter guys route out the holes after the tops have been largely cutout. That's good news as therefore one could punch a new hole in place if necessary. Covering up one would obviously be more problematic but I'm sure people figure out creative solutions for even that. So I'm leaning toward johnliu's point of just getting it and seeing. This, BTW, is where I usually wind up getting off the shopping train: before ever reaching the station. That is, this is why even though I'm located in a megalopolis of shoppers, I wind up buying most everything sight-unseen. I'm interested in what I choose; not in what I don't! Nevertheless, I will foray to a couple more stores today. I am mystified by rococo's memory of a large showroom. I'm sure it has to be true, but I am also sure I have zero idea where it might be. I could call my KD but she's so incompetent... I have tried to converse with her about this issue and it's not as if she said: "oh, just go to xyz and you'll see it all splayed out in front of you there". True I didn't ask the question but it would seem the obvious thing to offer were it to exist. And geesh, drolldavid - do I complain on here that much? I didn't think I'd been posting displeasure.... maybe I have and didn't realize it! sorry... and thanks all.