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Found 17 results for the keyword(s) ‘Thermostats’

• Article

  Legality of DIY electrical and plumbing work

  NEW CONSTRUCTION In the interests of health and safety a number of trades are controlled by law, most particularly plumbing and electricity. The degree to which plumbing and electrical work are actually regulated varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For instance almost all work performed in...
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  Changing energy conservation habits in the home via grade school education.

  In 1990 I produced a video for NRCan (National Resources Canada) specifically targeted to grade school children to improve the energy efficiency of the family home.  If things look a bit weird in the video it is because the camera was always at the height of the eyes of a grade school kid – you s...
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  Water radiator overheating the room.

  Controlling a hydronic radiator when there is no water shut-off valve.  Hydronic heating means heating with hot water or steam.  With older systems it often means overheating as well!   IS THERE NOTHING YOU CAN DO? Hydronic heating was what kept houses hot a long time ago, and some of the old...
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  How can I stop the ping noise in my baseboard electric heaters?

  One viewer has tried loosening the screws that hold the heater to the wall to stop that ping noise, to no avail. No, that is not where it is rubbing. There will always be a little bit of metal expansion noise when a baseboard heater goes quickly from totally cold to maximum hot, but it can be min...
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  What temperature should a house be when you are gone for the winter?

  Jim from London, Ontario is wondering what temperature he should leave his thermostat while he migrates south for the winter. The short answer is 55 degrees F, or about 12 degrees C. That should keep the pipes from freezing, keep the humidity under control, keep the furniture from going through ...
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  Balancing Forced Air Heating & Air Conditioning Air Flow

    Some rooms are colder than others, or a forced air system works well for heating but not air conditioning.  Although such problems may require repositioning ductwork, or adding booster fans -- the first thing to check is that the ductwork is balanced and balanced differently for the two differ...
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  Pro: Electronic Thermostats & Baseboard Heaters

    OLD BASEBOARDS Baseboard electric heaters are notorious for providing uneven heat -- cycling hot and cold -- with thermostats that are quite unreliable. Whether looking at them for the whole house or topping up the heat in difficult to reach corners of the house, most contractors see baseboar...
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  How not to lose wires inside the wall.

  Kim changed her furnace thermostat, only to watch the wires all fall into the hollow wall as she unhooked the last one. What a job to get them back. So she advises us to wrap the first loose wire around a pencil before unhooking the rest, that way they will stay on this side of the wall. With t...
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  Critical Temperatures for Household Appliances

  There are a number of appliances around the house that have user or trade adjustable temperatures and it is not always simple to get them right.Hot Water HeatersMost Hot Water heaters for domestic hot water are factory set to 66deg C. ( 150F ). This is actually hot enough to scald someone so legi...
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  Radiant Heating Systems for Homes

  Radiant Heating and Convection Heating are the two primary types of ways we heat our houses. FORCED AIR HEATINGConvection heating means moving hot air -- what we usually call a forced air heating system simply heats air and moves it around the house through a system of fans and ducts.  Forced air...