for Cold Climate Housing and much more

Found 17 results for the keyword ‘Thermostats’

  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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 ...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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...