649 6th

steamed

We have a bolier issue. When Charlie helped us light it a few weeks back it appeared to be working fine. I was a bit skeptical about the accuracy of the thermastat but we figured that could be dealt with.

Basically, we have a gas furnace that functions as a boiler to make steam that is sent to radiators which subsequently heats the house.

Over the weekend it appeared that the furnace wouldn't come on at all. On closer inspection last niight Micahel discovered (with charlie again participating by phone) that the water level was low hence the furnace would not light (at least that precaution works). He filled it to the proper level and it lit right up.

Now here's the big question. The water was at the proper level when we lit the pilot a couple of weeks back. Where did the water go? It wasn't intensely steamy nor do any of the radiators appear to be leaking (well no obvious signs of water damage).

On the up side, once it cranked back up it heated the house in no time at all.

The plan is to monitor it over the next few days and see if we can figure out what is going on. Eventually we need to have work done on it to install the new low profile exhaust so that we can remove the chimney on the second floor (gets in the way of the proposed stair run). Additionally, the inspector said it only had another year or so on it tops, and with the new square footage we may need more BTU's. Although, if were only adding another 15x24 room it seemed to be PLENTY of heat in our test run last night.

tool time: reciprocrating

Call me a gear head but I had to show off the new reciprocating saw. The Porter Cable Variable Angle Tiger Saw. Not the finesse tool which I had always invisioned myself honing my home . But, probably one that will get a lot of play. Beacuse of the varaible angle it makes it a bit easier to use plus, if angled at 90 degrees it can double as a jig saw.

well, almost

All week long I was quite excited about getting our new washer and dryer (who would have thought). When the delivery came today there was a bit of a problem. The door to the basement was not quite big enough to get them in. It's 26" and it needs a minimum of 27".

Now for those of you who have  been following along, if the mason would have been done by now this would not have posed a problem. The new door is 29" plenty of room to get them into the basement. Sadly, that is still not installed. The appliances were put back on the truck and sent away.

The plan is to try again in a week or so. [sigh]