January 16, 2021
Dear Ken: We had a new furnace installed, and you can hear the blower all over the house. Is this normal? Jill
New furnaces are noisier than older ones built earlier than the 1990’s. That’s because there’s an extra motor to kick out the fumes, plus thinner metal is required for greater energy efficiency. Make sure there is a rubber isolation collar somewhere above the furnace which connects it to the main ducting system. Look for a band of leathery-looking, black plastic fabric built into the sheet metal. Not all heating systems have one, so if yours doesn’t, ask your furnace company about it.
Finally, turn off the electricity and use your cell phone to make a visual inspection of the insides of the furnace blower motor; even the tiniest foreign object can create a noisy out-of-balance condition.
Dear Ken: We notice a little frost on the interior walls, ceilings, and inside the attic when it’s really cold outside. What can we do? Marti
You may need some more attic ventilation and insulation plus the inside of your house may be too moist. Turn down humidifiers when it gets below about 25 degrees. Cold air holds less moisture than warm, so you may be over-dampening your house.
Also, check your attic insulation. You need at least 14” to 16” of blown material; it’s also important to ensure that it covers all the ceiling area, right out to the edges of the living space—but not too far, as it can interfere with those little soffit vents.
You may have noticed that builders in the coldest parts of the country—like the Great Lakes states—pay a lot of attention to attic ventilation. That’s because it’s vital not to trap warm (and moist) air inside the attic spaces. That can lead to those pesky ice dams along the roof edges. In your case, you’re trapping moisture—hence the frost—that needs to be carried away by the vents. So, make sure that there is some cross ventilation—either side-to-side or bottom-to-top.
Finally, make sure your bath fans vent directly outside, not into the attic space. Warm, moist air from these fans can cause all sorts of issues—not just frost—but mold buildup and insulation deterioration.
Dear Ken: We re-colored our old bathtub tub ourselves about 4 years ago with a kit we found at the paint store. Now, the old color is starting to show through again. What can we do? We don’t want to use another kit this time. Ann
You need professional help here. There are basically two processes that you can consider. The first--and cheapest--is to apply an acrylic resin or epoxy sprayed-on coating. They start by etching the finish with a strong chemical, then apply any color you want to match the décor. This will cost you several hundred dollars, and usually comes with a 5 year warranty
For three or four times that amount, a tub lining company can insert a precisely molded acrylic insert right over the old tub. These last much longer than the spray coating (many come with at least 25 year warranty). So, I’ll leave it up to you and your budgetary constraints. But, no, I wouldn’t use another kit.
Dear Ken: A technician says that a dryer vent pipe longer than eight feet will cause troubles with the motor. Do you agree? Johnny
No. At my house, the vent is smooth galvanized pipe about 20 feet long with two 90 degree bends, and it does just fine. Admittedly, it may be taking a little longer to dry my sheets than it would with a shorter run, but that’s the way it goes. The rules for dryer vent length changed several years ago, so builders have been forced to relocate laundry rooms to an outside wall, or run the duct vertically through the roof to meet the new rules. But, for those of us with older houses, we have to live with the old, less stringent installations.
Make sure that you clean out your dryer vent a couple of times a year. Lint tends to accumulate at each end—behind the dryer itself and at the exterior vent cap. As you would expect, longer runs tend to need more attention than direct-to-the-outside setups. If you have one of those vertical pipes, you should check the first few feet of vent two or three times a year, as the lint tends to accumulate in the pipe and then fall to it bottom.
One other impediment to efficient clothes drying are those dryer sheets we all love. Their chemicals can build up an invisible residue on the lint screen. Here’s a test: run water on it. If the water just sits there and doesn’t run through, you are attenuating the air flow and so increasing drying time. Scrub the screen with warm soapy water and you’re back in business; check it at least once a month.
Dear Ken: A friend told me to use some enzyme type chemical added to my septic tank to help the bacteria in the tank. Is that a good idea? Peter
Probably not. Normal household use is all you need to encourage and maintain the helpful flora in the tank that digests the waste. If you add more bacteria, you can start over-processing sewage. That means that the stuff doesn’t hang around long enough to settle as sludge, and therefore particulates can migrate into the leach field. Enough of them can plug it up, and then you’ve got a really expensive mess on your hands.
Bottom line: Baby your system by using biodegradable laundry products, and avoid strong chemicals—like paint, solvents and oil or grease. Use it normally without additives, and it will serve you well.
