IME, when AC starts to go, it is usually the simple stuff you can fix yourself first, like capacitors. It's a bit of a gamble, but if you aren't already in the "it seems like I'm fixing this thing every year" zone, I think you can put off replacing it while you rebuild the buffer.
Heat pumps seem to be vurry expensive and you'd better be planning to live there for a long time to recoup the expense in savings. As a military guy who re-sells the house every few years, it has never been worth it when I checked into it.
Well the good news is I bagged a 10k raise on my 10th anniversary with the company, so that'll make me more resilient on this. Thanks for the advice folks! I may yet be able to make a fix on the first breakdown. But after that I'm out.
Just got lucky with my own boiler issue. Last week my boiler quit working and I'm scheduled to have it replaced in a couple of weeks. It does the heat in half of my house and also my hot water. Of course it breaks a couple weeks before it's due to be replaced!
I did some basic diagnostics then got on a call with my HVAC guy and it turns out the flame out sensor has tripped. It's a thermal fuse that detects when your boiler is not burning efficiently and heat is escaping. If I bypass the sensor it works but the flames are bright yellow red and not the blue they're supposed to be. Guy says take the burner assembly apart and clean it, probably just dirty.
Took it apart and it was dirty as hell with some black stuff sitting on the burners themselves. Since I've been working on the house it's been especially dusty so no wonder. Cleaned all of the tube things and put it all back together and the flames are now blue again. Found a new flame out sensor on Amazon for $10 and I'm back in business. Whohoo!
Have been working on a hydronic radiant heat system for the last year or so. I designed the system and put all of the radiant pipe in and have hired my HVAC guy to replace the boiler with a high efficiency model, do a thermostatic valve on my hot water tank to extend its capacity and also put a hot water recirculating pump in to keep my hot water pipes full of hot water all of the time. My shower is about 50' of pipe away from the hot water tank so it takes 30-40 seconds for hot water to show up.
I have a Kohler toilet with a separate fill and flush valve. Been riding out the fill valve sticking for over a month. Use toilet, remove tank cover, press fill arm down, rinse and repeat. Was procrastinating because I thought I was going to have to replace it.
Who knew you could fix it in 10 minutes with a plastic cup. Still wonder how anything got fixed before YouTube. Pisses me off I didn't do this a month ago. Went ahead and did the one in the guest bathroom as a preemptive measure.
Yeah, a similar problem I had was that black gasket wears out. The center hole the pin goes through slightly enlarges allowing a small amount of water to leak into the tank. Tough to notice but you can hear it.
On a related note:
How does Home Depot ship any item for free? I bought a $2.50 light switch, free shipping. And if you order early enough, you get it next day.
Anybody have a home water monitor? Worth it? Flume seems to get good reviews, although there are cheaper options.
My house was built in the 50s, still has the original plumbing. IÂ’m thinking it may be worthwhile to get a monitor in case of a slow leak that would otherwise go undetected for a while.
I understand having a water monitor can ease the insurance claim process in the event that a more catastrophic event happens (like a burst pipe). Insurance might try to deny your claim if any evidence suggests a slow leak existed. Having a water monitor show that there was no leak would help to prove all damage should be covered.
A friend of mine had a faucet line split while they were sleeping and leaked for seven hours and dumped hundreds of gallons of water in their kitchen and open living area and flooded they finished basement. Cost over $150k to fix and his insurance company told him to buy some a water monitor system and gave him a huge discount on his premium which paid for the water monitor in the first year.
A few years later his master bath faucet had a very slow leak and created a giant mold disaster and took months to remediate and get fixed. The water monitor didn't help him at all with that.
It does shut his water off occasionally since it thinks there's a leak when there isn't. He relies on it when he leaves town for extended periods of time.
For people without them, unless you have a reason to leave the water on, turn your water off when leaving town.
...For people without them, unless you have a reason to leave the water on, turn your water off when leaving town.
Not sure what this part means. When I leave town, it's turn down the WH and furnace. One of my neighbors does a walk-through once/day to look for problems/breakins/whatever (and I for them, when they go out of town).
Is what you're saying to find a valve after the sprinkler supply (so the yard still gets water), but before the rest of the house? If so, is it worth it to drain the house so the 'latent' water doesn't leak?
Last edited by golddog; 02-28-2024 at 03:59 PM.
Reason: re-worded end paragraph
I don't drain the pipes, just turn off the water so if there is an issue only the water in the pipes can leak out. Having someone come by is great but you don't want a pipe to burst and water flowing freely until someone discovers it. It's what a water monitor will do for you if you have one but if you don't, prevent the possibility of it occurring.
I've been using a Flume for a couple years now. That thing is fantastic. It is sensitive enough that it will alert my phone if I have a moderate drip on a faucet. You can also use it to monitor sprinklers. I just look at the logs and can quickly see if water usage is spiking for any given station.
Some are internet enabled so you can monitor remotely.
Moen Flo is one example. It's smart so it should detect the leak and shut the water off but it's also controllable from an app or Alexa, etc. It also has remote leak detectors that you can put in strategic places like in your sink cabinets, below the dishwasher, etc. so if any of those detect water it will shut it off. There are a half dozen companies doing the same thing.
You'll have to ask your homeowners insurance company what models they support and will provide a discount for.
