January 23, 2021
Dear Ken: I have a crawl space. When the furnace comes on, there is a blast of cold air through the ducts. Is that OK? Karen
It happens in all houses. When the furnace starts up it has to push that dead air out of the duct system first. Most of us have ducts that run through “normal” living spaces; crawl spaces, though, are unique. The air is usually twenty degrees or so below room temperature. So, it might be a good idea to insulate the ducts with a rigid insulating wrap. This is a pretty specialized process, so may need to hire an HVAC contractor.
With or without the insulation, you should also bleed a little air into the crawl space. That will condition the space to a warmer temperature, which not only will warm the ducts up a little, but also keep pipes from freezing.
Finally, make sure that the crawl space vents aren’t blowing cold air through there. I recommend covering the most north-facing vents by stuffing a chunk of insulation on the inside. That will keep cross currents from sucking energy out of the house. But, always leave at least one vent open, and don’t forget to unblock them in the spring so they can move water vapor out.
Dear Ken: There is a white, spidery deposit on our basement walls and it’s getting bigger. What is it? Stephen
This is pretty common in older homes. Their foundation walls are a little more porous than newer houses, and that encourages the passage of moisture through them. The water carries chemicals from the soil and the concrete that are deposited on the surface after evaporation. This is process is called “efflorescence”. These are pretty harmless salts that you can power wash or scrub off with white vinegar and a stiff brush.
It’s important to keep the humidity level in the basement as low as you can. Older houses usually have small windows, so a little mechanical ventilation is a good idea. Install a cheap bath fan vented to the outside; plug it into a timer and let it run for a couple hours each day.
Also, this spring, take a look at your outside drainage. Make sure downspouts discharge well away from the house and that faucets and sprinkler pipes aren’t leaking into the soil. Also, slope the dirt away, 1 inch per foot of distance at a minimum.
Dear Ken: We have an older home--built in 1965, and I’m having some electrical issues. We are tripping breakers. Will I have to tear the house apart to fix these problems? Sheila
Most likely, no. Circuit breakers are electro-mechanical devices that many times don’t age gracefully. You may simply have to replace those that are giving you trouble.
This doesn’t have to be terribly expensive, with one exception: Federal Pacific panels. In fact, those breakers aren’t even made in the U.S., for liability reasons. So, you may have to pay $20 to as much as $50 for a breaker that, with other brands, might cost 1/10 as much.
This brand was popular between the 50’s and late 80’s and has kind of a lousy reputation—for several technical reasons—but mostly for poor breaker engineering. If you have one, it’s a good idea to have an electrician check for any signs of overheating or loose connections. You can find more on these panels at my Web site, aroundthehouse.com.
Finally, 1965 was at the very beginning of the aluminum wiring craze. During the Vietnam War, copper became prohibitively expensive, so we switched to aluminum for house circuits, not knowing at the time that it is a very troublesome material. It behaves poorly at plug and switch connections—they can overheat and even cause a fire. If you have it, it must be repaired by a qualified electrician. They won’t have to tear walls down, but they will re-do every connection, and so it may cost you $1000 or more. Again, my Web site has further details on this material.
Dear Ken: I have cheap cabinets. They are made of a fiber board and the white finish comes off easily. What can I do? Connie
Try recoating them with a good paint. You could scuff them up with sand paper, apply Bullseye 1-2-3 primer and then a couple of coats of a high quality gloss or semi-gloss interior paint. One concern I have, though, is that they may be plastic or plastic-coated, and might not accept a new finish. So, pull out a drawer and take it to your nearest name-brand paint center; they can help you choose just the right products—if, indeed they are re-finishable.
Dear Readers: I know you don’t need one more thing to worry about, but water heater contamination came up on the radio show. A caller asked about Legionnaire’s disease vis-a-vis water heater temperature. This disease, thankfully, is extremely rare—so the odds of your being exposed to it are pretty much zero; but it is still around. It is usually contracted by inhaling contaminated water droplets, like the spray from a shower or hot tub aeration.
To conserve energy the recommendation for years has been a water heater temperature of about 120 degrees. But according to the CDC, that can encourage Legionnaire’s bacteria growth. So if this is a concern to you, then raise the water temperature to about 135 degrees (57 C.) to kill off these harmful bugs. (One side benefit: Since most hot water uses are a blended mix of hot and cold, your showers will last longer anyway).
But of course, that creates a potential scalding hazard. What to do? Install a blending valve at the water heater. This will take the super-hot water and automatically mix it with cold to provide lower temperatures at the tub and shower, while still insuring that the tank is hot enough to kill the bacteria. There are also anti-scald tub and shower valves, which can be retrofitted to individual fixtures.
