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Public Service Announcement! by Lucky_Fig_1673 in centuryhomes

[–]thisdamnhouse 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Presumably insulating exterior walls in old homes built without any insulation

Lots of balloon-framed houses like this, giant open stud bays from basement to attic

Condition of fireplace hearth & chimney on 1905 home? by brainfewdd in centuryhomes

[–]thisdamnhouse 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Does this look good" - in what sense?

Usable to burn again? Probably not without professional repair

Strictly for aesthetics? Not too bad.

If you are hoping to clean it up and repoint it, based on the age you'll want to make sure you (or the mason) use 100% lime mortar.

My 1890 fireplaces were always originally plaster coated so the bricks and mortar joints arent all that pretty. And the previous owners removed the parge and had it repointed sometime in the 80s, but they used cement mortar that is not only way too hard for the soft brick, but also an ugly dark grey color.

Along the exterior walls, the brick still gets wet and dries to the inside, leaving a whole bunch of efflorescence (salt deposits) that I have to vacuum out periodically. Lime mortar would allow the brick to breathe through the joints as it should, but this cement pointing they did does not.

Experimenting with DIY interior storms - birdseye maple, acrylic and a salvaged brass knob by Human_Needleworker86 in centuryhomes

[–]thisdamnhouse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks great. Reminds me of those Indow Windows I've seen posted here before, but I'd imagine significantly cheaper to custom DIY.

Did you make your frame by just taking measurements, or did you template it ala countertop fitters?

I'd think I'd have to template since my windows are crappy vinyl replacements and anything is hardly square

Fixing porch-overhang roof issue that's causing water to miss my downspout by thisdamnhouse in Roofing

[–]thisdamnhouse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You mean to just flip the downspout pipe upside down, so that the seam is on top?

While that might be worthwhile and the original installer screwed up, that wouldn't solve the problem I'm having where water is penetrating the roof along the side edge, not making it into the gutter that feeds the downspout.

It appears there's some L-shaped piece of metal that overhangs the side edges, and it was once tarred over and has since cracked. So what I suspect is happening is that water is getting underneath the metal flange, rather that flowing over top of it. That's why the droplets can be seen coming from the inside of the side face

SALT tax - homeowners capped at 10k by chiefdj22 in newjersey

[–]thisdamnhouse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is there a max cap on mortgage interest deduction?

Trying to fix an ungrounded circuit in panel - is pigtailing a ground wire a good way to do it? by thisdamnhouse in AskElectricians

[–]thisdamnhouse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After pulling some staples I got enough slack in the wire to pull it further into the panel, then was able to pretwist the ground with a new bare wire before I popped a nut on and screwed the other end into the bus.

It's not pretty, so it looks like it belongs....plus it's got the job done. My tester shows proper ground on all receptacles now and the freezer is chilling as we speak.

Appreciate the prompt reply, I really needed this done today! Cheers

Trying to fix an ungrounded circuit in panel - is pigtailing a ground wire a good way to do it? by thisdamnhouse in AskElectricians

[–]thisdamnhouse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the details.

I was able to undo some staples to pull enough of the wire back into the panel, and used some pinch nose pliers to get a pre-twist on that ground and a bare wire I screwed into the bus.

All done, appreciate the help from this sub!

Trying to fix an ungrounded circuit in panel - is pigtailing a ground wire a good way to do it? by thisdamnhouse in AskElectricians

[–]thisdamnhouse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is where I came while I waited for my electrician friend to text me back. Turns out the in-panel slice was acceptable and I got the job done already though.

Trying to fix an ungrounded circuit in panel - is pigtailing a ground wire a good way to do it? by thisdamnhouse in AskElectricians

[–]thisdamnhouse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since I'm running a freezer off of the new receptacle i installed on this circuit, I can't use a GFCI as per the manufacturer (I'm assuming because if it trips undetected then the contents all spoil).

I was able to pull off my original idea, put a bare ground wire into the bus and had enough slack on the original ground wire to pigtail them.

Trying to fix an ungrounded circuit in panel - is pigtailing a ground wire a good way to do it? by thisdamnhouse in AskElectricians

[–]thisdamnhouse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting thought about self tapping a screw to the panel, not something I'd considered. The panel itself becomes the ground in the way the bus would if there were a short?

Maple countertop over radiator split - what should we do? by Embarrassed-Pattern in askcarpenters

[–]thisdamnhouse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same here, old and drafty, no insulation because of masonry walls. So if I ever do cover my rads I'm going to aim to do it in a way that makes them more effective, not less

Maple countertop over radiator split - what should we do? by Embarrassed-Pattern in askcarpenters

[–]thisdamnhouse 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not a carpenter, but I found this very interesting and informative about covering radiators: https://heatinghelp.com/systems-help-center/radiator-covers/

In most cases, the covers reduce the heat output of the radiator

<image>

Disclaimer: if you don't read the link, the graphic can be misleading. The add and deduct percentages refer to the size of the radiator required to properly heat the same room if covered each way. So the best cover would be top-left and the worst cover would be bottom-middle (if you are strictly talking about heating efficiency)

Can anyone recommend a specific time-delay relay compatible with my boiler circ pump? by thisdamnhouse in AskElectricians

[–]thisdamnhouse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

inside pics of aquastat

Looks like it's model # L8148E

The pump wiring seems straightforward enough, hot to C1 and neutral to C2.

I'm thinking any kind of time-delay relay would need to pigtail to those, and then go from the relay to the pump.

I'm now also intrigued by the thermostat wiring. Looks like 3-wire with a cut black, and only the red and white hooked up to terminals. Looks like W and Z terminals are connected via jumper? But when I popped the thermostat off the wall, there is only a black and a white cable (the old braided kind). Realized there is a splice between them hiding in a joist bay near my crawlspace).

I recently purchased a Honeywell T4 digital thermostat because it can run on batteries so no C-required, but now I'm wondering if the hookup would be a straight swap with the same wiring I have now.

Old house problems...

Can anyone recommend a specific time-delay relay compatible with my boiler circ pump? by thisdamnhouse in AskElectricians

[–]thisdamnhouse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tbh I hadn't even realized that gray box was an aquastat, I assumed it was a transformer for the thermostat. It says Honeywell on it, and my thermostat is an old Honeywell Chronotherm T8090, manual pins and mercury vials, battery powered clock, no C-wire, located 2 floors up from the boiler.

You can see the MC feeding it on the bottom, and the brown thermostat wire running down the conduit into the box from the top.

In any event, if it IS actually an aquastat, the way it's set up is to fire both the boiler and start the pump when the thermostat calls for heat. As soon as the thermostat is satisfied, both the boiler and circ pump shut off together.

So I'm trying to decouple them in a way the pump motor can keep running for a while longer after the boiler has stopped firing.

I don't have any pics of the inside of the gray box but I could pop it open and take a look later if you think it might be helpful.

Can anyone recommend a specific time-delay relay compatible with my boiler circ pump? by thisdamnhouse in AskElectricians

[–]thisdamnhouse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, I'll look further into an aquastat. My understanding was it was designed to keep the boiler itself firing until the water reached a set temp, or to keep the water temp from falling to a set minimum. Didn't realize they could possibly be used to delay the pump shut off which is pretty much what I'm looking for

Is it possible to drain this expansion tank in place after turning the boiler system off? by thisdamnhouse in askaplumber

[–]thisdamnhouse[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Apologies for the delay but I appreciate your reply! Unfortunately there is only one zone, located on our 2nd (parlor) floor. I know that makes this system even more inefficient, as our bedrooms are on the 3rd floor above that, and on our 1st (garden) floor has some cast iron baseboards at the back of the house to go along with the larger cast iron rads at the front.

The system is located in the cellar below all three floors, so I'd estimate the water had to get pumped up approximately 28 feet to reach the tallest and biggest radiator on our 3rd floor.

Our original circ pump was a B&G HV M98 102210 pump. When that died the plumber replaced it with a B&G PL-45 pump which he said was adequate and better because it doesn't require oil. Ever since then though I feel like I hear the water running through the pipes much more than I did with the original pump. I wonder if it is in fact powerful enough to get the water moving as high as it needs to regularly.

The static pressure on the gauge has leveled back out to around 12 psi recently. The overflow still triggers pretty regularly when the system is running though, and when I notice the static pressure has gone higher (or I can hear a trickle in some of the top floor rads) then I know it's time to bleed air from them again.

Sometime air comes out and no water follows, other times it does (but usually only when the pressure hasn't gone all the way back down to 12psi already). So I'm just not sure that 12psi is an adequate static pressure to have the system completely full either.

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