Heat has really taken a toll
djacob Z6a SE WI
last year
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djacob Z6a SE WI
last yearRelated Discussions
Moss has taken over entire yard.
Comments (10)I know it's hard to believe...almost everyone in my neighborhood waters every day, some twice a day, but I water once a week and my yard looks better than any of them. Most of my neighbors have big weed problems because of daily watering. Do a search of the forum and you will see LOTS of posts on the subject, and the conclusion is always the same. Here is a quote I lifted from another post: "Frequent (daily), light waterings promote shallow root systems that do not result in healthy turf. To develop a deep root system, water your lawn when the first signs of wilt occur. When the lawn needs water, you'll see spots in the lawn that turn bluish-gray, footprints that remain in the grass long after being made, and many leaf blades folded in half lengthwise. Apply only enough water to wet the soil in the rootzone. 3/4 to 1 inch of water is generally sufficient. (see link below) Do not water the lawn again until signs of wilt occur again. This technique works regardless of turfgrass species, soil type, season, or other environmental conditions. It may take up to 6 weeks to condition your turf to survive several days to a week without wilting between irrigations or rainfall. During this time the root system is developing and growing deeper into the soil. In time, your lawn will establish a more uniform appearance with less thatch and a deeper root system" And a follow up post: "In other words, you want to gradually work up to only once or twice a week watering, instead of three times a day. The total for a week (including rain) should be 1 inch. You can see how long it takes your sprinklers to deliver 1 inch by putting some tuna cans on the lawn. Don't be surprised if it takes hours. Oh, and the best time to water is early morning. Afternoon is OK, but more water will be wasted due to evaporation. Never water in the evening or at night; it encourages disease."...See MoreSo how has everyone fared with winter heating this year?
Comments (33)I haven't a clue as to what percentage of heat may be lost through the floor. All I do know is that if I stand on the uninsulated floor in our otherwise very well insulated and heated detached garage in the deep cold of winter wearing socks and tennies- my feet get really cold. But I can go barefoot on the glazed quarry tile in the GH in the same freezing weather and be comfortable, which is good because I often trudge out there in the early hours wearing only sheepskin slippers, then take them off to prevent soaking them as I splash around, topping off tanks. It could be that the quarry tile is acting as a heat sink, absorbing warmth from the air, then sending it back up? Again, I have no idea. All I do know is that my GH has stayed warm all though one of our worst winters in many years, holding a steady 72 deg. 24/7, on the cheap for fuel. It could also be all of the insulation combined, but we just received a $185.00 gas bill for the entire month of January that in addition to the GH, heated a 2300 sq. ft house, a detatched 4 car garage and fueled a gas WH, dryer, and stovetop burners, and this is is the slow cooked soup season. I can live with that....See MoreHas anyone converted from steam heat to forced air?
Comments (38)"Cast iron steam radiators under windows are rare in all but the smallest of rooms..." What? I grew up in a town where many of the houses were heated with steam, including my house. IIRC 17 steam radiators, added well AFTER the house was built, and every one of them was located under the windows. The same was the case in the homes of my friends. The house my Mother lives in right now was originally built with gravity hot air, but around 1912 was converted to gravity hot water. All of the radiators are located under the windows. Steam radiators don't solely rely on height to delivery heat. Just as with hot water radiators, steam radiators can be made shorter and longer to increase the radiation surface. The radiator under the bank of windows in the dining room was 24 sections, height was about 30 inches. I'll stick by my original assessment -- unless the owner is willing to put a rather massive amount of money into an old home -- totally new systems, insulation, windows -- a simple switch from steam to forced air doesn't make much sense. That may, or may well not, be appropriate, feasible, and possible. I'm certain, though, that if you do have 40 years of experience in this that you'd know there's often a point of no return where spending money to make upgrades is not only a waste of money, it's foolish....See MoreHas anyone tried the solar attic heat exchanger to heat the pool?
Comments (43)I am not an 18 year veteran of the solar attic however I had a PCS3 from 2002 till last year. I have owned a Solar Attic system. I purchased it from solar Attic directly around 2002 I owned rental property so I had the advantage of having the maintenance people to assist me in the Installation. I talked directly with the engineer/owner/designer of the system. He was and has been very helpful over the years. As a matter of fact I emailed with him just a few day ago. OUR INSTALLATION We build a pan 4 inches deep and 6 inches larger than the PCS3 system all the way around. We equipped it with a 2 inch drain which we eventually put a cut off on in that we had a float switch system cutoff that was in parallel with the emergency cut off in side the PCS3. The reason we put a cut off and an additional emergency float switch was that the longer I thought about it having the system pump 25000 gallons of water into the catch pan with a two inch drain would not be able to remove water fast enough than it would be better to just have the system shut down so the issue could be corrected. We mounted the unit about 5 feet off of the attic decking to get it as high and in the hottest area as possible. That installation we did with rigid 2" pvc We had 2 90 degree elbows and a total of 5 joints that got the water out of the attic. In the beginning I had some of the same concerns that have been brought up here about a possible leak however considering the fact that almost all of the water pipes in this house are PVC as are 99% of all of the water pipes in all of the houses built in america are PVC and the fact that the water pressure in the solar attic system is as I understand it less than the pressure that your home water system has a leak is not very likely. OK, so here we go. We had to pump the water up 2 stories. In that this was a close loop system with strategic check valves our concern for the 1.5 HP (up rated) pump being able to move the water was quickly retired as soon as we started the system. No problem. Great flow. The quality of the product was good. The unit was well designed, thought out and put together. The only moving part on the system was a GE electric motor that could be manually adjusted from low to medium to high speed. This would change the flow of the air over the heat exchanger. I came set on medium an after 5 years of messing with the speed it is now set on medium. We used their electronic control system which consisted to a electric control valve and an electronic controller that detected the temperature in the attic and the temperature of the pool water. If the attic got to be 5 to 10 degrees warmer than the pool water the unit would come on and stay on till the water got warmer than the set point. We had system on a time and regardless of how the system was set we turned the pool pump off at 11PM and on at 9AM In 2015 we sold that house and the solar attic system went along with it. Our new home has a slightly smaller pool and an electric heat pump from heat siphon(325Kbtu) system. We are thinking of installing a solar attic PCS3 in conjunction with the electric heat pump. The cost to run the PCS3 is about $10 per month for the GE Fan motor. My electric bill for the Heat Siphon is $300 plus per month. As I am writing this the time is 2:36P EST in Atlanta Georiga. The outside temperature is 73F Degrees and the attic Temperature is 105F. At this rate we would have in our house that had the Solar attic system have turned the system on at this point. This would have started the heating process. Unlike electric or gas systems where the heat will start immediately the solar attic system will raise the temperature however this is over a period of time. If you installed a solar attic system in July and started it up on July 4th you probably would not see the water temperature rise quickly. I would say it would talk a week or more to bring the temperature to its set point. My current pool is a free form pebble tec with about 15,000 gals of water. With a solar attic system if it operates as my last system did I will have the largest hottub in the north Atlanta are. It can and will bring the water temperature to 95 degrees. My wife likes warm water. As I see it the biggest draw back is the price. If the system were priced in the $2000 range, for the basic system and $2500 range for the full electronic system this would be a product everyone would have like a salt system or LED lighting. A $2000 adder to you Aquilink system is small dollars with a great reward....See Moresteve duggins(Z6a) - Central Ohio
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last yearperen.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
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last yeardjacob Z6a SE WI
last yeardjacob Z6a SE WI
last yearsteve duggins(Z6a) - Central Ohio
last yeardjacob Z6a SE WI thanked steve duggins(Z6a) - Central Ohiodjacob Z6a SE WI
last year
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