I miss Kid.

Yeah, sometimes

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Ok. It's going to be cold this week coming up. Real fucking cold.
Put in a new furnace filter this weekend. Just do it. Do not buy any 3m filter. Dont buy pleated filters.
Buy the cheapest filter you can.
On wednesday... it might be 18 below.
Your furnace will not keep up with that. Your temp will likely barely hold steady or maybe decrease while the system runs 24 hours.
It's not your furnace.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

If you have a boiler...
Don't set the temp back when you go to bed at night or when you go to work.
Turn the heat up. Maybe 2 or 3 degrees higher than you're normally used to.
When you set back the stat you'll stop the flow of water. Most boiler water lines are along the walls.
Believe it or not hot water freezes faster than cold water. And your walls will be cold. So... let's keep that water moving and hot.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I was wondering how it would keep up when I saw that ridiculous -18. Hopefully that changes over the next few days.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

If it does keep up... it's way oversized, and wasting energy all but that one day everyone or 4 years that it gets 18 below.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Dickslide,

With Obama sending in the ice age next week, is it worth it to turn the thermostat down a little bit as we typically do on work days when the house will be empty for 7-8 hours?

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I have radiators. That is a boiler, then, right?

I remember that during the last polar vortex. Woke up around 4am and the house felt cold and I could hear the furnace running non-stop. Shortly there after moved south and never looked back.

Be safe you cold mother fuckers.

Dying in a fire this weekend sounds like not a bad way to go. Fuck this shit.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Warm air moves better if there is a place for the air in the room to go so leave a window open during the cold spell.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Why don't they tell you this shit when you buy a house? Ya know? Thanks, man.

The energy industry keeps the information from reaching the public.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Just turned on the whole house fan. Great tip!

No no no no no.
Your furnace is going to be struggling to maintain temp when it's more than 5 below. If you turn it down when you're gone you might not be able to increase the temp in the house when you get back. It's best to maintain a temp all thru this record cold. Even so you might not be able to.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Yeah.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

My sump pipe froze up.

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Yeah that's gonna happen. Another pro tip... if it leaves your house in 1.5 PVC, cut the PVC 5 inches from your house so its stubbed. Then get more pvc and store it. After you cut it you can slip a fernco over the end and connect the pipe that way... now if it freezes outside you can undo the fernco and slip off the outside pipe and slip in a fresh one and tighten it down. Bring the frozen one in the basement or whatever and let it thaw.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Thanks good to know. We have the t-stat set to 62 at night and this morning it took forever to get the house to temp. And I just got home from work, we have a Nest t-stat so it dials down to 61 when our phones leave. At the rate it is running now I am not sure if it will get back to 68 before the superbowl.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

I have my furnace fan set to RUN at all times, keeps the air moving.

My furnace is set up for a 20X25X5 pleated filter, I buy from DiscountFilters.com, the box says Honeywell, but no brand markings on the filter itself...

Is there a better choice than the pleated in that filter housing?

I struggle to keep humidity up in the house, AprilAire humidifier is finicky- it either is dry or flooded, even with a needle valve on the supply. Any tips?

We have an Ecobee thermostat, but I don't use the Follow Me portion of the program- during the summer I would get within wifi range of the house with my phone and the thermostat would set the A/C down to "Home" setting even when I was just out working in the vineyard, etc. Once set down, it remains there for four hours, even though I was outside the zone. Might as well not have it if a thirty second entry wastes four hours of A/C energy

Thanks for your advice, Sandy...

gracias!

There is a bin and a pump attached to the furnace, I guess it collects water from the furnace and humidifier and then periodically pumps it through an over head line to the laundry sink? It, or somewhere near it, appears to be leaking. Can't tell if the pump comes on often enough because it was pretty full. So I siphoned it for now. Seems like it should be a simple fix but cannot figure it out.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

I had this happen a few months ago. The drain line running to the sink was clogged and over flowing through a vent/clean out T near the furnace. I tapped the end draining into the sink and it puked a chunk of gunk and fully drained out. No problems since.

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Yes, the condensate collection tank and pump move the waste water to a sink if you don't have a floor drain/sump to use gravity. I have found them to get gunked up during those periods when neither the heat or A/C is making consistent water to pump out. You should be able to wiggle the tank and pump out from under the drain pipe and clean it up inside, There is a float switch to make it turn on and off that might be sticking, or it could have failed, considering how many cycles it is put through. You can lift the float to pump it out before you unplug it to remove it. (Safety first!) Just remember to get it plugged back in and all the lines into it.

Most of those use 3/8ths vinyl tubing i think. Best practice is to buy a roll of it at ace or something and replace it every couple years. It's cheap and smart.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Thanks for all the responses. They let me to you tube where I was able to see how to get the top off and clean it out. That seems to have solved it.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

This thread makes me glad that I moved south

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson