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| Author |
Message |
keesan
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Large appliance item
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Sep 11 18:19 UTC 1998 |
Please use this item for questions about or descriptions of how you fixed your
refrigerator, freezer, stove, water heater, dehumidifier, furnace, water
heater, and other things not easily lifted with one hand.
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| 100 responses total. |
arthurp
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response 1 of 100:
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Sep 12 02:35 UTC 1998 |
Maybe this goes in the previous item. There was a lot of water condensing
and dripping in the furnace closet from the air conditioning equipment. I
got it to drip into the drain pipe by running strings from the drip point to
a weight in the top of the drain pipe. The water climbs down the strings and
no more wet floor.
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keesan
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response 2 of 100:
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Sep 12 19:45 UTC 1998 |
That sounds like how we got water to pour cleanly out of a beaker by placing
a glass rod across the top of it and the water followed the rod. We are
thinking of using some sort of chain instead of or in addition to a roof
gutter, I hear it is done in Japan to channel the water.
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arthurp
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response 3 of 100:
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Sep 12 21:21 UTC 1998 |
I'm having a hard time picturing what you mean. A hole and a chain instead
of the downspout? With a sufficiently sized hole to prevent plugging this
could be very cool.
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rcurl
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response 4 of 100:
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Sep 13 05:28 UTC 1998 |
You cannot get a large flow to follow a string/rod/chain. Once the thickness
of the water flowing down the <thing> is great enough, gravity forces will
exceed surface tension forces and first drops and then a stream will flow
off the <thing>.
Well, while I am at it, over many years I have:
Replaced a furnace motor (and then replaced the furnace six months later,
but kept the motor).
Replaced the defrost timer in a refrigerator.
Replaced the inlet water valve in a dishwasher.
Got the Amana manual to try to figure out how to fix the source of water
accumulating in the bottom of the refrigerator and not going into the
defrost-water evaporation plan, but the problem fixed itself (this is
a very good way of getting things fixed if you can tolerate the problem
for a while....).
Replaced the blower motor in a dehumidifier.
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scg
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response 5 of 100:
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Sep 13 06:39 UTC 1998 |
re your first paragraph:
Right, but if you have a small flow that doesn't get big, it will work
fine. It sounds like that's what's going on in this case.
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scott
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response 6 of 100:
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Sep 13 12:23 UTC 1998 |
You can use a chain to keep the water flowing straight down regardless of flow
rate (within reason, of course). Japanese and Norwegian architecture both
use chains instead of downspouts.
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rcurl
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response 7 of 100:
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Sep 13 16:39 UTC 1998 |
My statement that it will not work at large flows is for flows that exceed
reason - i.e., when the flow no longer follows the chain. Incidentally, have
you seen the chain systems in action? Does NO water fall off them in
any kind of weather (say, high wind, deluges, etc)?
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keesan
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response 8 of 100:
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Sep 13 18:40 UTC 1998 |
Scott, could you provide details on how the chain works? We hope to create
some sort of projection from the edge of the roof, to which to attach the
chain, which will sort of funnel the water downwards. (Jim was unable to
explain his idea very clearly). But perhaps this should go in some other
item, can you think of a good title for items on diy for house exteriors?
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scott
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response 9 of 100:
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Sep 13 20:20 UTC 1998 |
The chain hangs down from the end of the gutter, or from a hole further in.
Wind *can* blow water off, but not easily. Did I mention that chains can't
clog with leaves? The only tricky bit is that the chain has to have a
reasonably strong mount, since water can freeze on the chain.
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arthurp
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response 10 of 100:
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Sep 14 03:54 UTC 1998 |
How do you mount stronly enough to hold up ice? Or are you expected to
go hammer the ice off after a storm so you don't get buildup?
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scott
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response 11 of 100:
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Sep 14 10:56 UTC 1998 |
Well, you'd need to use wooden gutters for strength. Doesn't need to be super
strong, since the ice builds up evenly and forms a column.
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keesan
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response 12 of 100:
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Sep 14 16:08 UTC 1998 |
That sounds like a lovely icicle! We were thinking of PVC gutters, and attach
the chain not to the gutter but to the roof.
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n8nxf
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response 13 of 100:
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Sep 15 12:06 UTC 1998 |
One of our neighbors has chains dangling from their gutters. When I first
saw it I couldn't figure out what they were for but it slowly dawned on me.
I don't know how well they work since I can't see the house during a rain,
however, they have been up for several years. I see no reason for a strong
gutter. The chain can be supported by a separate mechanism.
I don't like the gutter on our house. We live in the woods, for all practical
purposes, and the only way I can keep the downspouts from clogging up is
to clean off the roof and clean out the gutters *every day*! Especially
this time of year. IMHO the gutters on most houses are simply a pain for
homeowner and server no other useful function.
I did see on interesting gutter design at a builders show. It was a standard
gutter with a sort of cap over it. The end of the cap extended just beyond
the lip of the gutter and then, with a ~.375 radius the end rolled back into
the gutter. The idea was that the water would follow the radius around and
then fall into the gutter while any large debris would not be able to follow
the radius and fall to the ground. Clever. I don't know how well it worked
and at $6 per running foot, I was not about to find out.
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scott
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response 14 of 100:
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Sep 15 20:27 UTC 1998 |
My Dad did Norsk-style gutters on his old house. These were a V cross
section, made with 6"x.5" plank. At the ends were chains. Uncloggable!
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n8nxf
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response 15 of 100:
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Sep 16 10:05 UTC 1998 |
Were these painted? It seems to me that these would have to be made
of some sort of naturally rot resistant wood, not painted, or pine with
some sort of preservative.
On the house we are building, I plan to have no gutters. The eves are 3'
deep and there will be a bed of small stones on the ground where the rain
drips from the roofs edge. There will also be a generous grade away from
the house. We'll see. Gutters can always be added.
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scott
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response 16 of 100:
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Sep 16 16:40 UTC 1998 |
Treated wood, yah.
With open ends, in case I didn't make that clear.
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keesan
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response 17 of 100:
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Sep 16 20:49 UTC 1998 |
We have 1 feet overhangs and small gravel, which works, except for the area
where all the water pours down onto the front steps, in which area we would
like to install a chain to direct it downwards to the gravel. You have to
clean the gravel occasionally, things start growing in it.
Re appliances, there is a wet spot under our 'new' chest freezer, which Jim
thought at first was due to poor air circulation, so he set the freezer up
on PVC-piping feet (about 3" sections). Now he thinks it is due to humidity
condensing in the insulation and then dripping out, and is considering making
a hole in the bottom of the freezer to let it drip out directly instead of
rusting out the metal. I see why new freezers use foam. We looked at a few
freezers and refrigerators at Big George's. The fridges are nearly half
freezer. I wonder what the average American is now eating. The refrigerator
section seems to be mainly for eggs, cheese, and bottles. We have our
refrigerator nearly full of vegetables and a few leftovers, and cannot find
a use for the door shelves (narrow ones) so have been jamming bags of eggplant
into them. The 18 little indentations for eggs are totally worthless - can
anyone suggest what to do with them? The newer fridges have removable egg
containers than you can get rid of and use the space for other things, and
the bigger ones have adjustable shelves. Danby makes a not-so-big one with
adjustable shelves that costs about $35/year to run. Where is Danby?
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n8nxf
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response 18 of 100:
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Sep 17 10:41 UTC 1998 |
If you have humidity condensing in the insulation, there must be air
circulation. Stem the air circulation and you should be able to reduce
the dripping. We got the refrigerator with a large freezer because my
wife likes to precook meals and freeze them. We also buy bulk frozen
vegetables that take up a lot of room. We made about three gallons of
tomato soup last night and will freeze what we didn't eat last night.
There is a guy in Michigan who makes and sells high efficiency freezers,
and perhaps refrigerators. He advertises in the back pages of Home Power.
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keesan
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response 19 of 100:
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Sep 17 20:12 UTC 1998 |
Our low efficiency freezer cost under $3/month to run, I don't think it is
efficient to make a new one to replace it. The humidity is high in the cellar
because it is cooler than outside by around 20 degrees. I don't know how it
is getting into the insulation, must have rusted through somewhere.
Some day we may get the perfect freezer but too busy at the moment.
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rcurl
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response 20 of 100:
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Sep 17 21:25 UTC 1998 |
The humidity is probably lower, because of condensation on the walls at
times, but the relative humidity would be higher.
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keesan
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response 21 of 100:
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Sep 18 00:36 UTC 1998 |
Whatever our little barometer measured, it was around 95 down there, and only
85 upstairs.
Could it just be condensing on the bottom of the case and dripping down?
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rcurl
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response 22 of 100:
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Sep 18 07:40 UTC 1998 |
Barometer? That measures atmospheric pressue, and there would be no
observable change between up and down stairs unless you hve a *very*
sensitive barometer.
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davel
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response 23 of 100:
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Sep 18 12:17 UTC 1998 |
Rane, don't quibble. Often barometers are packaged with humidistats, or
whatever you call the things. I'm sure that's what Sindi meant.
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keesan
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response 24 of 100:
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Sep 18 15:17 UTC 1998 |
Jim says hygrometer. Today my apartment reads 60% humidity, dry day.
We can check the cellar hygrometer to compare. Rane enjoys quibbling,
don't spoil his fun. I have noticed a 4 degree temperature difference
between up and downstairs (not cellar) now that we are insulated. It
lets us choose the most comfortable temperature to work in, up or down.
A humidistat is used with a humidifier and makes it run when it is too dry,
a dehumidistat with a dehumidifier. What is a string psychrometer?
The freezer in my 'new' fridge is already covered with a lot of ice, after
only a couple of weeks of freezing hot items in it and storing lots of
vegetables in the refrigerator section. Turning the temperature up works
to defrost it without making the refrigerator too warm. The last fridge was
self defrosting when the tray under the freezer was left off, and since the
floor is not level under it, I would just put a pan on the top shelf for it
to drip into.
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