It really doesn't matter where the outside thermocouple junction is as long as YOU know where it is. For instance I have an indoor/outdoor inside my greenhouse with the "outside" lead positioned under a typar cover at plant level(plants are planted in soil). This "outside" temperature value from the thermometer face is telling me the temperature that the plants are probably experiencing under the cover. The "indoor" reading is the inside greenhouse (above typar cover) temperature. I reset the thermometer regularly after viewing the high and low maximum range for the day. It is great to be able to read a temperature from a remote location without having to navigate to that location... the indoor/outdoor thermometer will work great for that purpose even if you need to switch logic to understand where the reading is coming from. As far as temperature outside the greenhouse... it is nice to know how cold or hot it is but I don't have any way of controling it. I guess it could be a guage for wishful hoping that maybe the plants can get by for a few more hours before supplemental heat is needed.

dadoes: "Fault 6 refers to the inner sliding door panel and latch/release mechanism on the drum, not the outer loading lid." Hmm, well I never saw the fault code displayed on the LCD panel and the dryer never refused to start up, so I have no idea when this problem occurred, and certainly did nothing to correct it. dadoes: "E-mail sent again. :-)" And received, thank you very much! kcred: "I've only done one load since the cleaning, but I like to think the dryer is now more efficient, but it also might be wishful thinking on my part. I'm just glad it's clean as I'm a firm believer in preventative maintenance." I never thought about dryer maintenance before I had this no heat problem with my dryer. I emptied the lint bucket after every load, cleaned out the indoor lint trap water reservoir, but that was about it. Now I know to religiously check the vent for lint build up (once I get a "real" one installed especially,) as well as removing the lint bucket housing from time to time to clean out the lint from there as well. kcred: "BTW, I use that flexible-foil dryer vent hose. Haven't ever had a problem with it." I never thought there was a problem with it, either, and many, many people use the foil vent hoses. I don't believe any dryer manufacturers recommend using this sort of venting, however, and it certainly isn't UL listed, if that is important to you; Fisher & Paykell's user manual, (which I have finally read thoroughly :-o ) specifically says not to use it (and to never vent your dryer indoors, either - good thing I never needed warranty service because I bet my entire set up would have voided the warranty!) I have now read many articles as well as posts on various DIY, etc., forums written by people that also recommend against using the foil vent tubes. From what I have read, the problems caused by these foil vents is primarily due to air turbulence/resistance caused by the ridges in the foil ducting cutting down on the dryer's efficiency; even more important, the ridges - and the potential sagging or kinking of the aluminum foil venting - can also lead to a build up of lint, which can cause both a significant blockage of the vent and maybe even a fire. I'm not sure how one goes about cleaning out an aluminum foil vent tube, either; I would think one of the "normal" vent cleaning brushes would catch on all of the metal wire spiraling through the tube as well as tearing the foil itself. I think it all depends upon your venting configuration. In the picture, you can see that dadoes uses an aluminum vent, but it is just barely extended, there can be little air turbulence, it doesn't sag at all and is probably very easy to clean out. My vent will need to go about 8-10 ft to get to an outside wall so I intend to use rigid metal pipe for my vent. Holly Here is a link that might be useful: Reasons why foil vent should not be used

Hi, Mike. I know why you're confused :) I must have explained the goal badly. The target is ~10 degress delta from the INSIDE house temp (not the external temp). With encapsulation you treat the entire attic as part of the building envelope, rather like a vaulted ceiling from an energy perspective. The high-R on the inside of the deck prevents conduction (and radiation to a somewhat lesser degree) heating from roofing material inward. Some people put insulation on the floor as well, but that seems like more of a personal thing since at that point, your're not really blocking much undesired energy transfer except maybe attenuating noise from mechanicals or dampening some vibrations from framing members, not really affecting heating/cooling performance. I.E. no ROI. The foam in the rafters does result in slightly higher shingle (or other roofing material) temps (like 2-3 degrees in most studies). The same studies have shown that the color of the asphalt particles and the direction of the roof pitch make more difference than whether the deck has foam under it or not. Are you "cooking your shingles"? Yes, with the equivalent of an EZ-bake oven. 99.99 percent of the energy is still coming from the sunny side and all we're doing is preventing it from dissipating inwards. It still happens after the sun goes down. For this reason, all the big shingle companies have allowances in their warranties for this type of attic now. This allows putting HVAC equipment and ducting in the attic cavity without having to deal with heat/cooling loss from transfer to the very hot (or cold) air in the space. You can simply tape/mastic your ducts in the attic space and you're 90% there...with some light insulation wrapping or XPS if desired to drive up heat transfer efficiency or your HVAC even more. I've confirmed that my lack of effectiveness in the system was NOT due to the 6" open penetration, at least not entirely. I plugged the opening with a piece of fitted XPS and taped it well on Saturday afternoon, so I'm no longer getting any significant air infiltration from the outside. BUT, even with rain, overcast skies, and temps in the low 80s, my peak temp hit 86 yesterday. I'm pretty sure this is under-performing what it should be doing. energy_rater_la, have you seen cases where inadequate spray foam coverage can lead to this kind of behavior? What is a typical course of action for the homeowner?

Is anyone here familiar with technical aspects of high-efficiency propane boilers? I have a Bosch Greenstar and I pulled off the outdoor temperature sensor that causes the water temp to adjust to outside temp. (This house had several old, unused phone lines and I absentmindedly thought it was one of those and just yanked it where it exits the house.) Can I just get a new sensor and replace it, or would this require resetting or recalibrating something on the boiler, and so a service call, which of course will be expensive. Thanks!