Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with heating

Toasty toes

Mizu — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 01:19:25 -0800

Is it possible to recreate the sensation of below-floor heating in an apartment bathroom? One of my least favorite mundane things (right after not being able to sneeze) is getting out of the shower to step onto a cold floor or bathmat. I have family friends who have a swanky house with a guest bathroom that has lovely scrumptious heating beneath the tiles, and it's heavenly. Sometimes when visiting I will just lie on the floor and do stretches! I live in a rented apartment with linoleum tile in the bathroom and very good ventilation (this is good! I live in a mold-prone zone) so it doesn't even get particularly steamy or retain heat, and this is not going to change any time soon. Is there such a thing as heated bathmats, maybe? (That seems dangerous with water, anyway.) Ideally I could just buy a thing and blammo, warm feet, but I am open to suggestions. It would need to be cleanable and portable. Does anything like this exist?

What's broken: shower, tank, pump, thermostat, boiler, or all??

ajp — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 02:34:03 -0800

I live in rented accommodation in the UK. The hot water is scaldingly hot. The radiators burn to touch. The shower temperature is hugely unreliable -- scalding or freezing. The landlord is worried that a plumber will rip him off, based on bad experiences in the past, and unwilling to pay to investigate. Can you help me understand what's going on? I'd like to put my landlord's mind at rest regarding plumbers, and set his expectations regarding likely diagnoses and solutions -- and hence cost. I also suspect this situation is wasting energy and hence driving up the cost of heating bills. I'd like to persuade the landlord that fixing it might be a good idea. Hi all.

First, I fully appreciate that I should most definitely get a plumber. However I'd like to fully understand the situation so I can ensure that appropriate work is carried out. I'd also like to convince the landlord that the situation can be rectified (he prefers to ignore it) and that fixing it may save him money in heating bills.

I'd also like to be able to diagnose what's going on, so if anyone has any debugging tips, that would be greatly appreciated.

Plumbing and heating are typical UK: hot and cold water tanks; mixer tap in the non-electric shower; gas central heating. More details below.

The irritating symptoms of this situation are:

# Hot water that is scaldingly hot -- certainly you can't hold a hand under a running hot water tap. To me, this means that the water is being heated to an unnecessarily high temperature. The temperature seems constant, and unrelated to thermostat settings.

# The central heating radiators are very hot to touch.

# The hot water and central heating only work if *both* are turned on. Neither works in isolation. This doesn't seem right.

# Very unreliable shower temperature. Either scalding or freezing. The mixer tap is certainly touchy, but the water flow is odd. It starts off powerful, then after a minute slows to a trickle of piping hot water. Turning it off then on again restarts this cycle.

# Mixer taps in the ground floor kitchen seem to produce reliable temperature water. The hot is still far, far too hot, but the cold is reliable and so an acceptable temperature mix can be produced. The same cannot be said of bathroom mixer taps upstairs -- the cold water seems to be far too low in pressure.

The hardware:

# Shower upstairs (2nd storey). This is a simple mixer unit with hot and cold pipes. It's not electric. I've noticed that if I take the shower head off the holder and lower it into the bath, the water pressure increases a little.

# Thermostat in the lounge. The plastic dial is broken, but I can get hold of the pin at the centre of the dial and turn it. I can hear it go "click" as I turn it to and fro, which I'd assumed meant it was functional, and detecting temperature accurately. However considering the problems I'm describing, I'm not so sure. It's an old Honeywell, like this.

# Control panel for hot water and central heating timers. This seems to work fine -- if the timers are off, no more hot water is produced. It's an ACL Drayton panel a bit like this, but an older model.

# Boiler? I've no idea where this is. However the gas fire in the lounge makes a dull wooshing noise while the heating is on, so I suspect it's behind there.

# Hot water tank, plus possible thermostat (2nd storey). This is a typical metal cylinder clad with foam insulation. It has some sort of thermostat strapped to it. This was on the outside of the foam cladding, next to a gap in the cladding. I've moved it into that gap, so it's touching the metal surface of the cylinder. This has made no difference to the situation. There's an electric switch next to it, presumably for the immersion heater. I turned this off a few months ago, but it's made no difference.

# Hot water pump for the shower. This is small, noisy unit that takes hot water from the hot water tank, and pumps it into the shower. The pump is above the hot water tank, and the shower is in the room next door. This pump is new -- the previous pump developed a split, probably due to a kink in the piping causing a build-up of back-pressure.

# Cold water tank in the attic (3rd storey).

I think that's everything!

Any thoughts??

:)

Power outages and furnaces

spacefire — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 06:33:56 -0800

Hi I am house sitting and Nemo is bearing down on us. I have a oil furnace in the basement. If the power goes out, then comes back, or I use the generator, are there any specific steps I need to take with the furnace? What about water valves, etc? Thanks much!

Help keep me warm, mkay?

Stewriffic — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 04:59:24 -0800

My electric heat pump is icing over something fierce, and the technicians don't really have a clue what's going on. There is one theory I'd like you to comment on, and if it makes no sense, I'd appreciate alternate theories. Background: this has been going on for a few years, where the outside of the unit ices up and just won't defrost. Currently there's about an inch of ice, which built up overnight. I've had different companies out several times, and it never seems to get resolved. Last week they replaced the defrost board and sensor, which clearly didn't solve the problem.

The guy last week proposed that maybe it's actually due to my gutters overflowing onto the unit when it rains. This is because last week when I called him out we had just had a lot of rain. While there is some detritus in the gutters, the pattern of freezing up doesn't make sense to me. Why would it have that pattern that you can see in the photo? Why wouldn't the other parts of the casing be covered with ice? Also, it was freezing rain last night and i went out and it didn't look like anything was overflowing. Yet this morning when I went to check, it had gone from no ice to what you see in the picture.

More info: this only happens when it's below freezing. I live in North Carolina, US.

So: Could it be the gutters leaking like the HVAC guy suggests?
Or: Is it something else? Ideas?

Central gas with new ducts or ductless heat pump.

metadave — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:28:24 -0800

Our home in Seattle contains a dozen or so electric heaters. We would like to get rid of these and upgrade to something more efficient/attractive/economical. It seems our two options are 1) Central gas heating or 2) ductless heat pump. To make gas heating work, we would have to install ducts. Does anyone have any experience with adding ducts to a ductless house? One possibility that has been suggested is to put the ducts on the outside of one side of the house. This would probably work in our case since all of the large rooms in our house share a common wall. What are your thoughts/experiences with installing either gas heating with new ducts or ductless heat pump heating? I'm assuming that central gas would work just fine in a Seattle winter but I'm not sure if a ductless heat pump system would be adequate in the winter ( considering that our hope is to replace - not just augment - the existing system ).

Is $3.79 Ok For Heating Oil?

Quisp Lover — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:48:49 -0800

I'm paying $3.79/gallon for heating oil in Westchester county, NY. Is that a reasonably ok price? If not, can anyone recommend another supplier (I'm using Castle).

How can I eliminate a draft under my front door?

asnider — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 15:12:37 -0800

Getting a draft despite having weather stripping and a door sweep. How can I fix this? In an effort to better insulate our home and keep our heating costs down, I've been installing weather stripping around the doors.

The front door already has fairly new weather stripping that is in good shape. It's also got a door sweep to prevent drafts from the bottom. Despite this, I am still getting a noticeable draft when I put my hand near the bottom corner of the door (on the side opposite the hinges).

Why might this be happening, despite already having two stop gaps in place to prevent it and what else can I do to eliminate the draft?

How can I move / switch NYC apartment radiators?

NYC-BB — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:13:17 -0800

Does anyone have experience with, or know how to, switch radiators between two different rooms in the same apartment (in NYC)? I have what appear to be your basic NYC floor radiators in my apartment, but it seems they were originally placed incorrectly. The one in the small bedroom is huge, and the one in the large living room is tiny.

Just by looking at them, I can see that the coupling is the same. I was guessing that I could (1) turn them off via the knob, (2) wait, (3) use a monkey wrench to loosen them, and (4) switch them.

Is this insanity? Is this even a safe DIY project?

PS - These are the "one tube coming in, air vent on opposite side" radiators, not the "one tube from floor on one side, one tube on the other side". They look very much like this: http://efalls.us/rules_files/image004.jpg

Indoor/Home Temperatures in Arctic or Very Cold Climates

aabbbiee — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 08:28:03 -0800

At what temperature do people set their thermostats if they live in Arctic climates, such as Barrow, Alaska? My mother wants to know. My mother has been fascinated by Barrow, Alaska, for a long time, and even subscribed to their print newspaper for many years. She likes to learn more about the differences in day-to-day living compared to her home in mid-Missouri, USA. (She read it so regularly that she could keep up with the local high school basketball teams.)

She has this question about the temperature at which people set their thermostats in areas where the average summer high/lows are 46°/35° F and the average winter high/lows are -7°/-20° F. She specifically asks about Barrow, but she would be interested in any residential community in or near the Arctic Circle or with similar year-round temperatures. (I know that Barrow is not the coldest inhabited or residential place on Earth.)

Obviously, there will be a range of answers for residents, as there would be in my area, too. And people in both areas may not be able to afford to heat/cool their homes to an optimum temperature.
However, generally people in mid-Missouri heat their homes to the mid-upper 60°s F in the winter and air-condition to the mid 70°s in the summer (where our average high/lows are 88°/66° F in the summer and 37°/18° F in the winter). For a couple of months in spring and summer, we can turn off our climate control, open windows, and enjoy the weather. This is not the same for commercial buildings, which are climate-controlled year-round, generally to 68°-72° F (in my experience).

How is this different in residential areas above the Arctic Circle? What would be the temperatures at which the typical family would set their thermostats? And, if it is significantly lower than the average home in mid-Missouri, how does that affect residents? Do people have to worry about household goods stored at lower temperatures, or do different things to insulate their homes to make the heating more efficient? Are temperatures different in commercial buildings?

When my heater runs in the coldest part of winter, it runs constantly, and it's very expensive for me to heat my home (natural gas). The heat tends to go out at the worst and coldest times, of course. People in my area do die of cold and heat exposure every year. Still, I always think that it must be far more difficult and expensive in colder parts of the world, and there are many colder parts of the world! How can a heater keep up if it's running every day of the year?

Any other information on this topic is welcome, such as the differences in actual heating units or the general sensitivity to cold for residents, etc. If you'd prefer to respond in Celsius, please do!

(Please assume this question was written with the best of intentions, because I know there are bad ways to ask what it is like to live in a different part of the world. Be gentle if I'm making assumptions that are incorrect!) Thank you!

It's cold outside - and inside too!

fearnothing — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 09:14:59 -0800

UKTenantFilter: My heating broke on friday at 2pm. The landlord turned up at 4 but didn't fix it then because he 'wanted daylight to work on it'. Today (saturday) he said it couldn't be fixed because it needed a new fuse and 'nowhere that was open had one' - so we have to wait until Monday. There are 4 students in the house. Currently there is one heated room, the lounge has an electric fire, but no central heating or hot water (including shower). We've been told they can lend us a portable heater but we have to share it because they only have one.

Are we being treated unreasonably? What should/can we do?

(note: I strongly suspect the landlord does not have plumbing qualifications but I don't know this for certain. He didn't seem to be very sure about what he was doing when looking at the boiler)

Can I shut my upstairs heating vents?

kinsey — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:52:01 -0800

Why are there forced air heating vents in the second floor of my small rowhouse? Won't the hot air just head upstairs and even it all out? OK, I framed the question a bit simply. I live in a small (1500 sq ft) urban rowhouse with forced air heat. Downstairs vents are in the ceiling, upstairs are on the floor (except in the bathroom).

I've had neighbors tell me to just completely shut all the upstairs vents, since the increased hot air from downstairs just floats up (the thermostat is downstairs). They say that since the hot air is being more "focused" to just the downstairs vents, it's more powerful, or efficient, or something. They all do this in their homes.

To someone who doesn't know better, this kind of makes sense. What am I missing?

Kilo-What?

Brian Lux — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:44:21 -0800

In my flat here in the UK I have four electric storage heaters that are kaput. What electric heating should I replace them with? I live in a flat in London and the 30 year old storage heaters need replacing but I don't know what to put in their place. The flat has no access to gas so installing a hot water system is out.

I'm looking for radiators that look like hot water radiators but electricians here seem to know very little about electric heating and only suggest the sort of thing you'd see in a builder portacabin rather than a home.

What should I get? I suspect electric heating systems are more popular on the continent; what's a good solid German/French/Scandinavian brand?

How to heat our home this winter?

CutaneousRabbit — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 19:34:34 -0800

Is it worth it to use space heaters (instead of the built-in baseboard heaters) to keep warm this winter? If so, how? My partner and I rent a roughly 500 square foot apartment in Seattle. Last winter we were shocked to pay almost $300 every two months for electricity, no doubt entirely due to our electric baseboard heaters. (For reference, we paid just under $20 for this most recent billing period of June/July.)

As you might guess, we have zero love for these baseboard heaters. They're very inconsistent: some are like tiny infernos, while others barely produce heat at all. Perhaps worse, we have no way of timing the heat to be, for example, cooler overnight than when we get up in the morning. And of course, because each of our 6 heaters has its own controls, we couldn't install a central thermostat even if we wanted to.

We're thinking now about investing in a couple (?) space heaters in an effort to reduce our electricity bills for the next few winters. I've done a bit of research and am a bit overwhelmed. Our only bedroom can be sealed off, but the rest of the apartment is quite open. I understand the basics of how to make an apartment efficient for winter, but I don't know about making this switch to space heaters.

How can I calculate whether this will be worth the investment? Any anecdotal experiences with trying this? Any heater recommendations?

How much gas can a furnace use when it's 85F outside?

mskyle — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 08:04:51 -0800

I haven't even turned the heat on yet and my gas bill is already as high as it was last winter. WTF? So, I moved to a new apartment; it's larger, and has an old furnace/boiler (gas, driving old-fashioned radiators). I knew that my heating bill would be significantly higher than it was before (my heating bills in my previous place were outrageously low, in large part due to being on the third floor of a well-insulated building). But I haven't even turned anything on yet and the bill is already higher (in therms of gas used and in dollars) than it was in the late fall/early spring months in my last apartment. And I cooked with gas at that apartment, too - I have an electric stove at the new place.

Where is the gas going? What is it doing? Is the pilot light in my new place getting through more gas than the actual heater in my old place (and that wasn't a new heater either, though it was a completely different type of heater)? Is this kind of thing to be expected with old furnaces or is there something wrong? My landladies were entirely transparent about the oldness of the furnace but I didn't expect that to be an issue in August!

Right now we're talking about a matter of $20 or so a month - no big deal - but if this is likely to be indicative of an actual problem with the furnace (beyond just oldness and crapness) I would love to get it resolved before it gets cold. And expensive.

Boilers boilers boilers

A Terrible Llama — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 07:21:15 -0800

Can you tell me how to buy a boiler? So we bought a new house, and one of the tasks that fell on my side of the list is 'Replace the boiler' (which was indicated during inspection and subsequent inspection from a boiler guy.)

I have only a trace idea of how boilers work. I've contacted three seller/contractors to come in, take a look, and give me estimates, which I will then compare and try to figure out.

I'm a little bit worried that this is going to be like buying a car, where they just dazzle you with options and things you don't know (or care) about until you find yourself writing a huge check to some guy you don't trust for reasons you don't fully understand just to bring the transaction to a conclusion. I'm not feeling very confidant, in other words.

Can you give me the basic principles of what I want in a boiler, or by all means, pick a boiler for me? It's a 2700 square foot house with zone baseboard heating using oil as a source. We live in New England. Those two sentences encompass all that I know about buying a boiler or how to calculate our needs. We don't want the Finest Boiler In All The Land and we don't want a piece of junk that will fall apart next year.

Is there any way I can make this easy?

Thermostat to help control ventilation intelligently?

BleachBypass — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:07:42 -0800

Is there a sensor device or thermostat setup that can inexpensively switch on a fan based on the difference between two temperature points (one inside, one outside)? I have a gable fan. I use it at night to help flush cool air from outside into my house. I was thinking a smart way to do this would be if it would automatically go on if it were, say, 5 degrees cooler outside than inside. e.g. if it is 80 inside and 75 outside, stay on 'til either a) outside goes up to 80 or b) inside cools down to 75. And of course, if it is 80 inside but 90 outside, don't turn on at all. (Obviously you would want a few degree buffer so it is not switching on and off rapidly when the two temperatures converge, I believe this is referred to as hysteresis.)

Apparently, this is not a frequently requested task. The closest thing I've seen is expensive stuff originally designed for custom solar water heating setups, like this. (I have emailed to get a price, but my guess off-hand is S-P-E-N-D-Y!)

This seems like it could be a simple thing to accomplish with a few sensors and some sort of home automation scripting language, but I haven't gotten anywhere near that far tricking out my home.

Also, I am a little intimidated by relays, so the idea of something designed to simply switch on/off an attached household current device appeals, but maybe this fear isn't justified.

Which brand of HVAC?

exhilaration — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 09:00:51 -0800

Different Central air conditioner and furnace brands? When it comes to HVAC, should we go with Carrier, Goodman, York, or Lennox? We got quotes from three companies to replace our central AC and furnace (this is a complete HVAC system replacement including the unit outside) and between them we have the choice of Carrier, Goodman, York, or Lennox. Does anyone have any experience with any of these brands? Is there a specific brand considered the "best", another that we should definitely avoid? This is a for a small single family home, two stories, 4 bedrooms.

The quotes we've gotten are between $6500-$8400. Is there any benefit to replacing the whole system now? Only the AC is busted, the existing furnace is fine, but all three companies are suggesting we replace everything.

Heating an old house: Should the baseboard heating stay or go?

bookdragoness — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 06:29:54 -0800

Heating an old house: Should the baseboard heating stay or go? I recently purchased a 1910 American Foursquare in NE North Carolina. Yay! We got it cheap because there's a fair amount of (non-structural) work to be done on it.

The whole house is equipped with hydronic baseboard heaters: steam or water running through copper piping. The heating-oil boiler does not work, so we knew we needed to decide before the winter as to how we want to heat the house. Now there's a floor that needs removing from under a stretch of baseboard heater, so I need to decide whether to remove the baseboard heat or whether to work around it very carefully. For that, I need to decide how we'll be heating our house in the longer term (we plan to stay here forever).

I've only lived in houses with furnaces, so I originally assumed we'd rip out the baseboard heating units and copper pipe, scrap the bunch, and get a furnace. But, I keep hearing from people how heating oil is the "cheapest per btu" and how "hot-water radiators are the best heat because it doesn't dry out the air" like furnaces. I am having trouble finding good resources to help make a decision.

The original plan:
Make a decision in a couple months after insulating our house and foundation. If all else fails, use space heaters or replace the oil-fired boiler with a new boiler (heating oil or natural gas).

We're interested in using passive techniques in our house, including adding solar panels and a solar water heater. Some of these ideas are further down the road than others, but we will likely have almost every wall and ceiling open in the next year-ish.

I've requested an estimate from the local natural gas company for connecting service - according to a local, they ran gas lines down every street.

Questions:

1. How noisy are baseboard heaters? During the boiler test at inspection, there was a lot of clanging/gurgling, but my husband has lived in (cast iron) steam radiator-based houses and says they're silent.

2. Should the baseboard heating stay, or should we put "something else" in? If so, what, considering our eventual passive/solar plans?

3. Natural gas or heating oil? Or some other heat source? We don't live very far above the water table, which I think precludes a geothermal-based system.

4. What are good search terms or where are good resources for me to learn more about these topics?

5. What should I consider/research for the best long-term cost efficiency and compatibility with solar/passive techniques?

How to cool this HOT house???

fivesavagepalms — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 09:26:28 -0800

Just replaced a 50-year-old tar/gravel roof with white shingles. This is in Florida. But now the house is hothothot, heat keeps rising, air-conditioner runs constantly but can't keep up! It's just after noon and 84 degrees in here! The roof is low-hip, the attic is a crawl space insulated to about R-30, there's a turbine on the roof and three passive vents. Still hot! Depressing after writing such a big check. Capable roofer says previous thick layer of tar/gravel probably insulated a lot. But now what's my next step? 1. Would a white latex coating be more cost-effective than a solar-powered vent? 2. Any other suggestions? Whew, and thanks!

Air conditioning vent clearance

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:01:40 -0800

I have air conditioning vents in the floor at the side of the room. The vents can be angled in different directions. If I put a large dresser against the wall, above a vent, with clearance of a few inches, will it be substantially detrimental to heating/cooling?

Do I need to have my furnace and AC inspected once a year?

feelinggood — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:23:04 -0800

Do I really need to have my furnace and AC inspected once a year? This is a high- or medium-efficiency gas furnace and an outside air-conditioning unit in Toronto. We pay $120 Canadian a year for Direct Energy to spend roughly 20 minutes (a year) looking at it and doing god-knows-what. I'm a little skeptical, but I know nothing.
I remember once calling them to repair something and the repairman remarked that the repair was necessary because we hadn't kept up regular service. I pointed out to him that his own company had been regularly servicing it -- so that's how invisible whatever they do is.

This $120 (+$15 tax) does not pay for any actual repairs, or servicing, etc. just an "annual safety check to help keep the equipment running safely and efficiently" and a "22-point diagnostic check to help detect carbon monoxide leaks."

Any advice or recommendations? Are there any other companies out there that might be worth looking into? They seem to have me by the balls.

Installing hydronic radiant floor heating when building a new house?

no bueno — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:28:21 -0800

Installing hydronic radiant floor heating when building a new house? Planning on building a house w/ ICF's and SIP's for the roof. Few questions about hydronic floor heating.

Plan on using solar to heat it, in Boulder, lots of sun, will it be able to keep up?

Is it a bad idea to skip the HVAC and just stick w/ floor heating if we don't want air conditioning? Would ventilation be a big concern?

Would it be a bad idea to run a different zone out to the patio for those cool spring and fall evenings? What about during winter if we're not using it?

I know it will take a long time to change the temp of the house, any other disadvantages? Any other advice in general?

My house is growing cold, please hope me!

hincandenza — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:02:39 -0800

Seattle: *urgent* need for a plumbing/heating maintenance today or this weekend for the in-floor heating of my townhome. Haven't had heat since apparently Wednesday night, and the company that installed it is non-responsive to my repeated calls. My townhome has in-floor heating throughout the house, but the heating isn't apparently working since Wednesday night; it seemed a touch chilly when I was going to bed, but when I woke up on Thursday and it was cold, I knew something was wrong.

The heater and pump seem to be fine in their closet on the ground level- I can hear the pump whir, and the pipes are hot (although one temperature gage hanging off the system shows the arrow at 70, the far left) and the hot water is working in the bathrooms... but the floors are cold, and the place is about 59/60 degrees and dropping. Luckily I have a gas fireplace that I'm leaving on (probably at great cost) pretty much 24/7, which is valiantly keeping the main floor at 68 although the bedroom floors are still very cold.

This home is new- 2 years old- and the in-floor heating was apparently provided by Jane's Company out of Mukilteo (http://www.janescompany.com). However, their service is atrocious: I called Thursday early afternoon and got through to the service department and was told they were full for the day, but they'd call me back in a short while to see about an appointment for Friday. They never did, although I called back later in the afternoon only to be told they were busy and would I like to leave a VM. No dice there, so I called around 11am today and once again got sent to VM by the receptionist. Called back at 1 and not even a receptionist, just a "We're all in a company wide staff meeting" message. I can't even get hold of them enough to schedule a day for an appointment.

So as an upshot, the company that installed it is useless to me, and I need to have someone who can investigate this preferably today or at least this weekend. I've tried a place a co-worker recommended that his uncle owned, but even they're busy till at least Tuesday morning (I'll use them as a last resort, as I don't really want this to still be an issue on Tuesday).

Where do I turn? I'd pay more for emergency attention.

BRRRRRRRR Momma, why ain't the heat on yet!?

Bodrik — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:49:16 -0800

What are the advantages to a newer modern gas furnace heating system vs. a 35~ year oldish pilot-light gas system? Admittedly the last time I looked this up I found the costs to be high to the point of ignoring the need, but recently the pilot-light parts to our current heater went bad and had to be replaced by the local utility (nice guys!).

Our current home heating system is some 35 years old, gas furnace with a millivolt thermostat... The utility guy mentioned we actually had the wrong type of thermostat? (huh?) We are currently not getting adequate voltage to the heater to active the system (something with the wiring). This is expected to cost some $100~ to replace. We also were asked to make an adjustment in the furnace closet to meet newer earthquake standards.

This time I've been looking at what is available and I read a few HVAC questions here, but I also want to shoot out to the general question to the hive mind. I live in Southern CA though, and in our climate and our old house (3 bed 2 living 2 bath) we have no AC (ocean breeze) and only really the heater is set for use at most in some weeks of 3~4 months of the year. Only in the last few years has this area been regularly cold enough for modest weekly usage during the fall and winter.

Is it economical to consider a modern furnace?

Does that look valve-ish to you?

demagnetized — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:29:29 -0800

Is this a valve and, if so, how do you open it? I'm trying to repressurise my combi boiler but it's not having it, there's a filling loop in place and the pipe on the other end of the loop has an obvious tap to open. I've tried removing the screw and turning the moving part of the part in the picture but there's no sign of any water flowing.

(sorry for the terrible photo)