Home Improvement Today?

Definitely check for air again in a bit. I have a 1.5 story ranch (small bonus room over garage). I start high and away from the boiler and work down towards it. Make sure the circulator pump(s) are running.

 

Ok back to my basement ceiling. I don’t know about insulating it. My basement is like about 2500 sq ft, and the ceiling looks 100% like the picture below. As I’ve stated before I’ve put a sound/water barrier under the LVP in the upstairs so wouldn’t drywall do pretty good or at least be enough to help with sound to/from the basement?

any opinions appreciated.

cost and time are the main reasons I’m leaning away from insulating the ceiling…

 

Well now I’m second guessing myself on drywall, wondering if a drop ceiling would be better. Even though I tore out the old ugly horrible one, my friend just did an all black one and it looks great, and he said it was simple.

 

Blah. We did drywall and did not insulate. Sure i can hear stuff if there isn't any noise otherwise (ie TV on) but otherwise it's not noticeable.

 

Well I’m actually leaning towards drop ceiling for the other benefits like access too, but the wife has to be on board lol.

 

i would absolutely recommend that if possible. things can change, and suddenly one needs to get power/water/heat/cool/gas across formally finished rooms. drywall always ends up costing more to do in labor and repair...

 

i left the outlets right next to my motivation. at home. next to the warm comfy couch.

 

If it's the basement absolutely do a drop in ceiling. You never know when you will need to do an upgrade or repair. Just pop open some panels and you're good! I have drop ceiling in my basement in one part. Doesn't look too bad.

Reminds me, I need to repair a section that I damaged adding plumbing for a 1/2 bath almost a year ago

 

Yeah I had completely forgotten the possibility. I originally wanted to do a fully open ceiling throughout, but wife said no she wanted drywall for a nice look. I had completely forgotten about the possibility of anything else at that point haha.

After our friend sent us his black drop ceiling photos I think she might be sold though. It’ll never look as “nice” but cost, time, install, access, etc are too good to pass up in my opinion.

 

OC 703 or 705 wrapped in fabric is a common studio ceiling finish
more attenuation than regular tiles

 

As previously requested. I got home from our trip to Stowe and shot some photos of the “boiler room” we can call it. Let me know specifics you want/need for info.







Edit - @RustyGreen

 

Nice looking equipment, newer than I expected. Is it heating better now?


The boiler is a Williamson OWB series, manual here:

https://www.williamson-thermoflo.co...24/08/OWB-OWT-Series-3-Boiler-Manual-0421.pdf

Check the expansion tank in the photo below by tapping it lightly with a screwdriver handle, etc.

It should make a hollow "ting" sound, if it makes a dead "thud" sound and feels heavy the bladder is bad and it is waterlogged. You replace the whole unit, they are easy to change and not too expensive at any plumbing supply house.






Next, this:



and this:



are air catchers, there should be a little vent at the very top. They should work automatically however sometimes deposits jam them up. You should be able to remove a small cap and carefully press the core like a tire valve.

As we discussed any air trapped in the system will reduce heat transfer/flow greatly.


Speaking of heat transfer, page 22 of the manual has this photo:



Water is inside the cast iron sections and fire rises through the section where service man is shown using the cleaning brush. Those pins get soot build up in operation which slows the airflow through the boiler (bad, kind of like running your truck with a dirty air filter) and reduces heat transfer (also bad) heat transfer is what heats the water.

This is where a good service man enters the picture, there are no short cuts cleaning an oil boiler, it is a dirty, nasty job that has to be done correctly for the unit to burn cleanly. I may have said it before, if your service man is done in a half hour you got the boiler equal of a "set the toe and go" alignment.

 

So going back to the last hurricane in Tampa, Milton-2024, during this storm I lost a Ryobi charger, 18V. After looking it over as much as possible, considering repairing it, and found out it was the transformer that was bad not the charging base, so I finally bought a new one, and since I had that insurance of the new one then decided to open up this old busted one. So here it is, after giving it a little hammer and chisel, you can see the guts and the component that exploded. It's now in the trash, because those guts stunk!! Worse than a skunk really.

New (charges both 40v and 18v batteries):


Smelly guts:

 

Really appreciate all the input and information. I love knowing more about the system of our house so thank you!

It’s running much better but we are also seeing warmer weather here. When we get down to single digit weather is when the system really seems to struggle. I think the air made a huge difference that I couldn’t understand though, thanks to all who helped point out what a difference it would make. I still want to go register by register and deep clean, clear around them, good fitting caps, etc.

I have replaced multiple things downstairs in the utility room and that small expansion tank is one of them! Just last year at the time of the boiler service we were having some issues and that tank was found to be bad. I opted to order and replace myself for 80ish bucks compared to the 600 dollars the HVAC company quoted haha. I’ll look at those vents, thank you! Smart to just replace them if they’re not working? I’ve found this water was harsh and without filters, probably had some sediment. As we “wake this system up” by living here per se, lots of small parts that are now running often have needed replacement. We’ve done two of the circulator pumps already since they’ve failed.

 

Those automatic vents usually only handle a tiny bit of air once the system is purged well, just check them, replace if you think there is a problem.

When you get a good cold trend you need to study what is going on carefully and really define "struggle".
Observe & report.

The baseboard convectors should get good and hot, remember the heating water set point should be around 195 degrees so the supply temp to the convectors should be in the neighborhood.

Still at the convectors, the temp on the leaving side should be cooler by about 20 degrees.

In trade terms difference in two temperatures is referred to as "Delta T", so you are looking for about a 20 degree delta t at each convector.

If the leaving temp is very close to the supply temp (a low delta t) that indicates the heat is not being released to the space - limited convection is taking place and the question of why needs to be answered.

With a dual lead temperature tester like I showed a bit back you can also position the probes to see the entering & leaving air temperatures of the convector and calculate the air delta t.

If all the convectors have a satisfactory delta t on the water side the problem may be not enough feet of convector installed.

Still with the convectors, if you haven't actually removed the covers to see there may be just a plain pipe in some sections with no fins. Remember the 500+/- btu per foot rule of thumb is based on finned pipe, a plain pipe is only about 50 btu per foot.

If you find progressively lower temperatures as you move from convector to convector there may be too many on one zone.

 

I didn't know they made a dual 18/40v charger. Now I have to have one. Thanks...I guess...

 

A few weeks ago before the first snow started coming down, I got motivated to install a "filler" panel of sorts between the decking from the big deck and the new smaller deck. The deck boards from the big deck had a 45° chamfer on them, with the plan that the newer deck boards would make a lap joint for a clean installation. Unfortunately the deck boards shrunk quiet a bit, so they were never going to align with the new ones so I was left trying to figure out what to do.

After watching an older episode of the 'Tally Ho' on YT when they installed the decking, I had an idea. I would make what would be (sorta) like a King Plank between the 2 sets of deck boards. I ripped a opposite chamfer on the filler then ripped it down to the correct width. It fit really well, only needing a tiny bit of hand plane trimming to drop into place. I got a matching chamfer joint on the "old" end and a butt joint on the new end. I tried to find some Dolphinite to pack into the joint but it wasn't available locally.

It's probably not the best "fix" ever, but it didn't loo as bad as I was fearing. I had to do a tiny bit of fairing to get everything into a nice and smooth transition. We'll see hiw well it does as the deck boards dry out and shrink in he spring.

 

Looks good. Wish I had done a board like that between my sets of planks also. Board shrinkage suckkkks to..really ruins it sometimes.

 

That's very common on synthetic decking to avoid butt joints as an expansion gap is required. I've started doing it on wood decks as well. Much cleaner than butt joints IMO. Just a little more framing prep needed. But much faster installing the decking. Run long off the end of deck and trim after. No measuring & cutting each board.

 

I dug a 50’ x 20”d trench for a friend to run electric to his shed. The electrician ran the 1” conduit without the cable. They want me to fill the trench, electrician will then fish the cable…. Why not install the cable/conduit simultaneously!?!
I just don’t get it….