The Home Improvement Thread

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Shazam

The first rule of plumbing is that everything is different.

Isn't the first rule of plumbing that you do not talk about plumbing?

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Isn't the first rule of plumbing that you do not talk about plumbing?

That's the second rule of plumbing. You find out everything is different so you end up swearing about it instead.

[Wormius]

First rule is lying. Both about what caused the problem and what you’ve done already to try to fix it but just made worse.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Weird question regarding my toilet - maybe someone has an idea here.

The issue is the tank does not fill up immediately after the flush, but rather it takes about 30 - 60 seconds to start filling up. It always does fill up so it's only really an issue if people are using it back to back. As such, I'm not keen on replacing the whole set-up in the tank given it's only really a true issue like twice a month (maybe).

I've done the regular troubleshooting the manual told me to do (check for clogs, gummed up works) and everything appears to be running properly from the standpoint of the float and the inner workings.

Any ideas?

I ####ing kid you not, man...this just started happening to my toilet today.


Let me know when you figure it out.

[topfiverecords]

Is this viral? Should I go test all of my toilets?

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I ####ing kid you not, man...this just started happening to my toilet today.


Let me know when you figure it out.

If you flush your toilet are you able to jiggle the float into filling the tank earlier?

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

My smoke alarms have, on three occasions within the last week, randomly gone off.

Late to the party, but vacuum them/blow them out with compressed air. This has happened to me before because of dust.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

If you flush your toilet are you able to jiggle the float into filling the tank earlier?

Yup, it's what I suggested was happening, my float is in fact sticking. I suspect it's pieces of the paper info sticker on the inside of the tank gumming it up. Because that's a brilliant place to put a paper sticker.

[RW99]

Looking to see if anyone can help me understand a fan switch in my home. I have a forced air furnace with AC and humidifier, with a thermostat that controls the furnace fan when needed, 10 year old house.


But I have this second switch next to the thermostat that is labelled 'Ventilation Fan'. When turned on, the furnace fan goes on, so I thought maybe it was just a manual switch for that? I can't tell if there is another fan running anywhere in the walls. I did check the attic when it was turned on, I don't believe I have any powered ventilation fans in the attic. When getting the furnace serviced, Arpris had no clue.


But then I found some info on the new home construction documents. Under the Heating section, there is a separate line "In-Line Ventilation Fan: Complete with relay to furnace and separate switch and main floor".


So my question is, I have a fan that is in the vents that is in addition to the furnace fan? And assuming so, what should I be using it for? To help even out the temp across all floors? During forest fire season?


Any clarification would be appreciated!

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by RW99

Looking to see if anyone can help me understand a fan switch in my home. I have a forced air furnace with AC and humidifier, with a thermostat that controls the furnace fan when needed, 10 year old house.


But I have this second switch next to the thermostat that is labelled 'Ventilation Fan'. When turned on, the furnace fan goes on, so I thought maybe it was just a manual switch for that? I can't tell if there is another fan running anywhere in the walls. I did check the attic when it was turned on, I don't believe I have any powered ventilation fans in the attic. When getting the furnace serviced, Arpris had no clue.


But then I found some info on the new home construction documents. Under the Heating section, there is a separate line "In-Line Ventilation Fan: Complete with relay to furnace and separate switch and main floor".


So my question is, I have a fan that is in the vents that is in addition to the furnace fan? And assuming so, what should I be using it for? To help even out the temp across all floors? During forest fire season?


Any clarification would be appreciated!

You may want to post this in Keith’s thread too.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by RW99

Looking to see if anyone can help me understand a fan switch in my home. I have a forced air furnace with AC and humidifier, with a thermostat that controls the furnace fan when needed, 10 year old house.


But I have this second switch next to the thermostat that is labelled 'Ventilation Fan'. When turned on, the furnace fan goes on, so I thought maybe it was just a manual switch for that? I can't tell if there is another fan running anywhere in the walls. I did check the attic when it was turned on, I don't believe I have any powered ventilation fans in the attic. When getting the furnace serviced, Arpris had no clue.


But then I found some info on the new home construction documents. Under the Heating section, there is a separate line "In-Line Ventilation Fan: Complete with relay to furnace and separate switch and main floor".


So my question is, I have a fan that is in the vents that is in addition to the furnace fan? And assuming so, what should I be using it for? To help even out the temp across all floors? During forest fire season?


Any clarification would be appreciated!

It’s used to exhaust air out of your house. This switch will usually operate both your furnace “intake” fan and a bathroom exhaust fan allowing you to exchange air in your home. Because homes are sealed very well there is a need for the furnace to bring fresh air in meanwhile exhausting hot air out.

This can be used as a poor man’s AC when the inside of your house is very hot but the ambient temperature is significantly cooler.

Most of the time that switch never gets used.

[photon]

I think the ventilation fan in my house is in addition to the furnace fan. It draws in outside air into the furnace too rather than just the cold air return going into the furnace. When I run the microwave it comes on, or if we cook fish or burn something we can run it to get fresh air into the house.

[indes]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Isn't the first rule of plumbing that you do not talk about plumbing?

Rules of plumbing:

#### flows downhill
Never bite your nails
Paydays Friday

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Drywall almost done, siding almost done, still waiting on some replacement windows.

Getting close now... hopefully can start painting in a week or so.

[Sliver]

I've thoroughly enjoyed you sharing this. Looking amazing.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Cannot tell you how good it will feel to have it "done". Like not even furnished with appliances and stuff so you could live in it, just painted with lights, tile, cabinets and floors done... I still need to figure out what to do with the fireplace surround.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

It’s used to exhaust air out of your house. This switch will usually operate both your furnace “intake” fan and a bathroom exhaust fan allowing you to exchange air in your home. Because homes are sealed very well there is a need for the furnace to bring fresh air in meanwhile exhausting hot air out.

This can be used as a poor man’s AC when the inside of your house is very hot but the ambient temperature is significantly cooler.

Most of the time that switch never gets used.

I had a townhouse like that. There was a switch on the main floor in parallel to the one in the basement so they wouldn't have to run as far. The building developer said that the fan was so much more important during the building of the property due to how sealed modern homes are, but is a bit less important after the build is done, especially if AC is added later on etc.

He said since it's no issue to just leave behind, no point spending the time/cost/effort to remove after the buyer moves in.

As for being poor man's AC, I dunno about that. If your unit is not great for catching the breeze and in the sunlight, in my experience it won't help much. Venting excess moisture, that's a maybe? It wasn't remotely close to being on par with the cool to dry function on the AC unit in dropping humidity.

[Fuzz]

It's poor mans A/C because you just run it at night, and it helps flush the hot air out and brings cooler nighttime air in. On stagnant nights even with windows open you may not get a lot of air exchange without the extra push of the forced air.

[Barnes]

Like mentioned, the switch turns on the furnace fan, exhaust fans, and air intake to exchange air.

Nowadays, you have an HRV because with the setup you have, in the winter you exhaust warm air and bring in cold air when you flick the switch or your furnace is heating. The HRV has a heat exchanger to not waste the warm air and allows you to set the interval to exchange air without having to flip a switch. You probably missed out on an HRV by a year or so. When we built about 8 years ago, HRVs were standard.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

It's poor mans A/C because you just run it at night, and it helps flush the hot air out and brings cooler nighttime air in. On stagnant nights even with windows open you may not get a lot of air exchange without the extra push of the forced air.

In my first year in my townhouse with no AC (NE facing), using air movers, the furnace fan on 24/7/exhaust fans on and windows open in evening etc. for hours before sleeping, house would still be sweltering hot until like 2-3 AM when the temps finally dipped into the low 20s.

At least for what was in my old townhouse unit, it didn't move enough air to be considered a poor mans AC. I wish it had been good enough as a poor man's AC, but I had no choice but to install by next summer AC to avoid peaks of 30C+ temps in the town house during the summer. It's not like it was going to replace a heat pump or HRV for air movement/exchange.