During the infamous Eastern ice storm of 1998, people went running out and bought every generator available and set them up to power something in the house during the extended black-out. Many of those efforts created great problems for the utility because homeowners were often feeding electricity...
Copper is a trusted and proven piping for residential water systems. For years people have been interested in one form or another of more flexible plastic or mixed metal/plastic pipes that could be snaked through a house with fewer joints and easier installation. Unfortunately there have bee...
EN FRANÇAIS
There is an elephant in the room – QUEBEC GETS REALLY COLD. The ecological dream of an all-electric urban society is suicidal in a cold climate like Quebec.
Extended power system black-outs are a reality of life in Quebec. Every few years electrical system black-outs have forced...
Jean Charles from Shawinigan, Quebec noticed that the heat from his baseboard heaters was flowing up and being "wasted" by hitting the cold window glass. So he decided to put a piece of plywood over the heater to deflect the heat out into the room. He even sent me sketches of before and after.
Y...
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...
Gregory in Québec asked:
I recently replaced my oil furnace with a heat pump/electric furnace system. I live in the region of Montreal. The heat pump can heat/operate in temperatures as low as -30c. The oil furnace had an air intake duck supplying the furnace with outside (cold) air. I underst...
Copper is a trusted and proven piping for residential water systems. For years people have been interested in one form or another of more flexible plastic or mixed metal/plastic pipes that could be snaked through a house with fewer joints and easier installation. Unfortunately there have been m...
After an exchange about hydroxyl air purifiers, Mike asks another question:
"What is your opinion on purification units with HEPA and carbon filters versus the hydroxyl technology. I am reading a lot about fine particle pollution I.E dust and I notice that this (hydroxyl) technology does not eli...
(updated May 2023) -- Essentially nothing has changed in the last year -- read on.
As for heating contractors that say you have no choice but to go all-electric, they are either ignorant of the regulations or lying to you. When they tell you that you have no choice, tell them to call their ...
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...
