My philosophy is this: if the tree won't start, I return it for a refund while it is still covered with the guarantee. I don't want to invest a lot of effort into it and have it die gradually over enough time to make it non-refundable. That's a good reason to buy locally. On my mail order plants, I only deal with nurseries with a good reputation. If the plants don't do well, I don't return them because the shipping is often more than the plant is worth. I do give bare roots enough time to wake up. If they have come out of refrigeration, they are often very slow to wake up. Often much later than my resident trees. It's the end of May and my mail order pecans and boysenberries are barely breaking bud, and one mail order grape is still asleep. I'm not even considering being worried about them. They just need more time.

Since this is an outer wall, I'll wager this is thermal expansion/contraction of the piping or heating elements. When I was very young, the house had a family room that had been converted from a screened porch. A loop of hydronic baseboard heat was the easiest to add to a system that had radiators elsewhere. As the heat would come on, one could hear the baseboards creaking with expansion, which would occur sequentially around the room. Sounded like some small and not especially energetic critter making the rounds. If you don't see droppings, you don't have mice. Snakes, maybe, but not mice.... ;-) Cheers

Hello. The house is a 3-floor 3-family home. This specific furnace is serving only the 1st floor apartment. The aquastat was set for 200 degrees. The other two hot water boilers are set to 180 degrees, so I bumped the aquastat down to 180 like the others. It works fine now. When the temp hits 180 on the temp gauge, the circulator stays on and the boiler kicks back on when the temp drops to the low limit. It seems like it's working fine. No leaks from the pressure relief valve. Now, When cold, the pressure is still 12PSI for so, but when hot at 180 degrees, the maximum is only 22 or so PSI. Thanks for the help.

First of all, I want to *thank you* all for answering. You wouldn't believe the weight that has been lifted off of my shoulders just by being HEARD by someone looking in from the outside. I realize that I'm new here, and probably shouldn't have jumped into the waters right away with a problem... but, I'm glad that I did. You're a wonderful bunch. :) jenny_alabama:: Definitely take those boys to counseling, but also talk, talk, talk to them on the side. >>I have always let the boys know that they can talk to me about anything, be it good or bad.. that they can call me as easily as they do their dad. I received a phone call from the oldest about the incident we had yesterday with their Mom, he wanted to know what really happened. Of course, I left off some things but basically told him that his mother was being disrespectful to both their Dad and I. LOL.. his words almost verbatim were... yeah, she can be that way sometimes. My husband and I have a rule, there is no badmouthing anyone in our home no matter who it is, we want ALL of the kids to feel comfortable here and we want a home that doesn't feel like a battleground. mmommy::Don't underestimate your children's ability to see the light. >>You're definitely right about that one.. the truth ALWAYS comes out sooner or later, but sometimes when we're in the middle of the battle, we lose site of that fact. Thanks for the reminder. :) sylviatexas::Those behaviors often occur when children are in homes where they witness abuse or when they are being abused, be it mentally, emotionally, physically, sexually. >>That is our worst fears :(. The man has been a friend of my husbands for some time now... more of an acquaintance, really. He has always been nice to my husband and I, but we know what's on the surface isn't necessarily what's inside. We have an appointment tomorrow afternoon with the oldest one's teacher (yes, their Mom knows, she is more than welcome to attend), to discuss issues that he may be having at school. Unfortunately we couldn't get one in to see the youngest's teacher before our appointment with our lawyer on the 22nd. >>You would think that she would want them to get counselling.. she seems to think that they don't need it, that it's OUR home causing all the problems, she says they don't act that way there. Well, if it is.. wouldn't she want to find out for sure?? I'm thinking that you guys are SO right.. if they go.. she looses control. Which is just sad.....