real, "But after about 20 min of use, the oil is all mixed in with the sawdust, making a pasty mixture that's sticks to the bar and inside near the sprocket as well. I had to take the bar and chain off to clean it off. Does anyone know if this is normal?" No. The only thing you should have to do after 20 minutes of use is add more gas and chainsaw oil. Maybe adjust the chain tension. First of all, there shouldn't be any sawdust. Your chain should be cutting out small wood chips. Normally, the appearance of dust means the chain is very dull. I'm actually wondering if you might have the chain installed wrong. Read the ECHO manual to see if your saw has an adjustment for the chain oiling rate. I had to cut through some fairly gummy pine, so I adjusted the oiling rate on my Stihl fairly high to "throw off" any pine gum that might want to become involved with my chain. As long as you don't run your oil tank dry before you run your gas tank dry (I rarely do that), it should be "safe" to increase your oiling rate. When you rev your engine, you should see a visible spray of oil slinging off the end of your bar. That's my thinking. MM

Sue, I am so glad you are OK! I was at the doc yesterday and happened to be reading about signs of a heart attack. I never knew until yesterday that a jaw tightening up was a sign. So glad you went to the ER, too. Don't be afraid of 911! My dad died when I was 13 due to heart problems. In retrospect, I CANNOT believe nothing was really done for him. I remember walking home from the train w/him, and he would have to stop because of the pain in his chest. He was thin and had textbook perfect blood pressure. I remember him having some medicine (patches?) for angina, but that is about it. My dad may have survived IF someone would have called 911. He thought he had indigestion, and his co-workers called my house. My sis (15 then) answered and told them they should call 911. They drove him to the ER instead, and he died at the hospital. We never got to see him again. They apologized at the wake. Too little, too late. So relieved everyone else who has posted is OK, too. No one really talks about heart disease for women, and isn't it the most common cause of death among women? Trail, I had no idea you were a cardio RN. I will remember you rules!

There will be no mention of the nozzle size on the burner plate, but rather a range of acceptable nozzles. To check the nozzle size, remove the four small screws between the blast tube of the burner and the fan housing and gently slide the assembly out; the nozzle size and angle will be listed on the nozzle itself. you may have to shut of the oil supply and disconnect the line to do this. If it's a becket burner, look down the blast tube with a light and be sure the retention head hasn't burned off, if it has, you'll have to remove the three bolts that hold the blast tube and flange to the boiler and slide it out, the retention head is held on with two small screws and is easy and cheap to replace, for a .75gph nozzle, you'll need an "F-3" retention head available at any parts store for a few dollars. With a .75gph flow, regardless of combustion chamber size an 80� hollow pattern nozzle is usually best. If you install a new head and nozzle, you'll need to adjust the air/electrodes. Electrodes, 1/8" inch in front of nozzle, 3/16 above the leading edge and 1/8" gap. Air, adjust the air band untill the flame tips begin to get dark and smoke, then open the air band untill it just stops (it helps to hold a flashlight into the barometric damper opening to be sure when all smoke ends), then open it a bit more to be sure. It's reccomended that after this initial setting someone at some point contacts a tech to set it up exactly w/ a bach kit. Keep in mind that the lower the temp on the aquastat typically the better the efficiency and lower fuel consumption, but if there is baseboard heat, you'll lower the max btu output, which may be ok, but be cautious about lowering the temp too much. you are correct, typically the storage tank is run on it's own zone just like any other zone in the home, the coil is either removed or capped. The only deposits you will have to worry about are combustion related deposits in the flame side of the heat exchanger, a pro will have the proper equiptment to clean all of the hard-to-reach areas, but a good brushing down with a small broom or stiff brush to the areas that you can access won't hurt at all. In a pressurized hot water boiler, provided there hasn't been a constant leak in the system (so that fresh water is always entering) you'll have no scale buildup or problems on the water side of the boiler, the best thing you can do there is leave the (black) water where it is.

Well. We have a diagnosis, confirmed by biopsy.... It is IBD/inflammatory bowel disease (!) I am flabbergasted. This is clearly why I am not a doctor. :-) I had no idea IBD could present as a totally stomach focused problem. What I know about IBD would fit on the head of a pin, but I presumed that would present as a back-end problem. Shows what I know.... It's not necessarily an easy path from here -but now we know what we're dealing with, and I suppose it could be a whole lot worse too. (The vet had mentioned some kind of lymphoma as a possibility, based on the GI inflammation. So yes, I'll take IBD over cancer anyway!) Thank you so much everyone for all of your kind words. I appreciated feeling like you were all virtually holding my hand while I waited.