If you are leaving them in the ground and they do come back after winter they are probably not growing enough to flower because our summers are not long enough. Unlikely that that is the problem. They have done just fine for me in MI and our summer is shorter than yours. Posted by bonstance59 I live in pittsburgh, pa, and have had glads planted for about 4 years now. They never bloom, I only get the beautiful green spike leaves. What should I be doing? I don't did them up in the fall, I just cut them back. My guess, bonstance, would be insufficient light. They are sun lovers for those of us in the north. I've never bothered digging glads up -- I have neither the time nor the inclination -- and have had them successfully overwinter and multiple for over 15yrs now. Didn't buy any special variety -- these were just the big box store cheapos. (Amusingly enough, the only glads I did NOT have successfully overwinter were some "winter HARDY" varieties I tried out 8 or 10 years ago.) Now one very big plus working in my favor is that heavy snow fall is the norm. But even after some weak winters they have come back. A heavy layer of mulch should do as much. Personally, for those in the north, I recommend leaving a few bulbs undisturbed throughout the year. You might be pleasantly surprised. And if they don't make it -- you've only lost a few. GO STEELERS!!!

[ya_think] I did a search ... and it came up empty. Perhaps the thread has dropped off the archive. I did a search on clinresga, and another ventilation thread came up, but I didn't not see anything posted in that thread, either by clinresga or kaseki that contradicts any of my statements. That being said, the setup is comparing a VAH internal blower to a Fantech inline blower. Convoluted ducting or not, you can always use a significantly more powerful inline or external blower and get the same capacity as any internal blower, and it will (from a motor noise point of view) be significantly quieter as long as the blower is sufficiently far away. The key here is that the original poster is already on an external wall - so my assumption is that the external blower would not be that far away from the hood itself. You are absolutely right about a tonne of variables impacting the actual characteristics (efficiency and noise). I really wish HVI certification were required for all fans (with filters) - that would give everybody a true relative assessment between products. But unfortunately, we don't have that now. All we can say is what we have personally experienced, and how some aspects of physics plays into things. [antss] I am pretty sure all blower manufacturers provide CFM ratings at the inlet of the motor with zero ducting. In my research, I have not seen any indication otherwise. As far as I know, HVI testing doesn't using ducting either. Maybe my statement should be: "for the exact same blower, a longer duct will reduce the air moving capacity at the same effort level, or will increase the power required for the same air movement." And, actually, an SPL meter is NOT more accurate than my ear - perception is everything. The SPL, which gives you a single dB measurement, actually weighs all the various frequency components into one number (there are actually a number of different weightings that are defined, including a flat distribution, none of which match the frequency response of my ear). My point is that, the SPL could detect a peak in a frequency that nobody can hear. If nobody can hear it, why does it matter? Given that one has to live with their range hood in operation every time they cook, I would say perception is king. Put it this way: if blower X has a minimal SPL rating, but in my kitchen it drives me crazy vs. Y that has a higher SPL rating in identical test conditions, which blower does it make sense to buy? I will concede that I don't know whether grease really gets into VAH motors or not. VAH cleaning instructions include the housing (easily removable) and the blower wheel (clean in place, or remove with a hex wrench). The warranty is five years for the motor, so I assume that not enough grease gets in to mess up the motor within five years. Given that the motors are enclosed in a different housing, it shouldn't be that difficult to proof most of it against grease - the trickiest part would be the motor shaft enters the housing, but most of that ought to be protected by the blower wheel itself. Grease is sneaky though. I never claims that fan size / rpm / cfm follow a linear relationship, but you can make general claims about them with the proper assumptions. For example, for the same blade design and RPM, a bigger fan will move more air than a smaller fan. But the very fact that there are many complex variables and that they do not hold to a linear relationship means that you can very well have a smaller fan that is both quieter and moves more air than a bigger (poorly designed) fan. Just saying it's plausible, and shouldn't automagically be dismissed as 'smoke and mirrors'. (And I've never read or owned a fluid dynamics tome.) Once more, I reiterate that I only compared internal blowers to internal blowers in the show room (the exception being a Viking external blower I saw at the distributor - different location altogether) - which happens to be a reasonable simulation of my particular environment. The majority of them [external blowers] are... what? Easier or harder? Harder, if the blower is going somewhere other than the first floor (second floor, or roof application). But the original poster asked about 4' of ducting, so I assumed first floor - in which case, just mount the thing onto the brick veneer (more annoying) or siding (less annoying). Running the electricity 4' out isn't all that difficult either. I agree you can't compare against a 1500 CFM external powerpak (unless it was specifically installed in a similar config - pretty unlikely), but a would also say that 1500 CFM (or external blowers) are not typical installations. The original poster did not specify the capacity they were looking at, so I made an assumption that it would be in the 900-1200 CFM range. VAH maxes out at 1200 CFM (or 1800 "equivalent" CFM). Regarding the fire starting inside the hood, I don't have that concern, I didn't even say that, I was merely correcting the misinterpretation of a VAH claim. On the other hand, why say no to a bonus safety feature? I realize that all companies, including VAH, will stretch the truth, massage the message, spin the numbers, in their favour. No problem. But I have yet to hear anyone point out anything really wrong with VAH performance claims (grease in the motors notwithstanding). They've been in business for 75 years - if there was something really wrong with their claims, I'm sure they would have a much worse reputation at this point (or been sued all to hell). One thing I do like about some of the VAH models is that the halogen versions often have a heat sensor that automatically maxes out the fans when it gets too hot. The downsides is that the lights only have two settings (instead of being dimmable), and the fans have discrete settings (which is common, but I think I might like the flexibility of analog dials). Also, they don't have a delay timer stop feature. Anyway, I would agree with your (antss) first post - it does depend on the specifics. I am in a similar situation as the original poster, and I decided against the external blower in favour of an internal blower, based on the assumption that good quality motors and blade/wheel designs are a lesser noise component compared to air movement, and I specifically went with VAH because a filterless design is, in general, quieter than a filtered design (backed up by my "anecdotes". Sigh. I talk too much.

I totally agree with you. I felt really bad for Adrian and Daphne, although they really did themselves in. They should have just worked really hard and kept quiet until everyone got to know them. I absolutely cannot stand Conda, and to a lesser extent Jeremy. She is a spoiled brat and I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to reach into the tv and throttle her and her whining voice. She will never, ever be able to keep off her weight, if she indeed loses it. She is an undisciplined emotional wreck, and the whole family is obese so there are years and years of bad habits to overcome. I am about to give up on this show also. It reminds me of the season with really mean girls, Heba and can't remember her name but her husband was Brady the pharmacist.

sjerin, I've spent a lot of time in and around Hollywood and I've known (and still know) dozens and dozens of people, including family members, in both the TV and movie businesses. My experience is that there are very, very few who are ever really just what and how they appear to be. There are some. Even for those who aren't in front of the camera but especially the ones who are, you can say that everyone has an outward image and persona they maintain because that serves as their meal ticket. I think I'm more skeptical than cynical, but others may see it differently. This is something for which I'm being neither, it's been a consistent experience.