FURNACES & BOILERS
Well-sealed houses need a fresh air supply for combustion. (search keyword "Combustion Air" for the title "DOES MY FURNACE GET ENOUGH AIR?") The most common technique in basement installations, is to use an insulated duct to dump air next to the combustion intake. The gas...
For various reasons, hot water heating systems can accumulate pockets of air in the top of the radiators. When there is too much air, the water doesn't flow any more and the heat slows down and stops. For that reason most people have to "bleed" the radiators regularly: open a little valve in the ...
When air gets into hot water radiators, either from new water in the system or even from problems with seals, it can make noise and reduce the heating effectiveness of the system. That running water noise is actually caused by a big air bubble at the top of a radiator and the water falls through ...
One morning the oil furnace and boiler companies woke up to discover they were the Canadian bad guys -- everybody was condemning oil burning heating and the government was even paying people to scrap them. The oil furnace and boiler companies had to admit that they had been pretty contented and l...
Traditional furnace rooms are nothing more than a partition designed to hide an ugly furnace. They are neither sealed nor insulated, and they obtain combustion air from the house through door or wall grills of the open floor joist area. Sealing off the drafty leaks in a house and introducing a sy...
Building codes require that a heating system be able to just barely maintain a comfortable house during the coldest day of the year. Hence the size of the heating system depends not only on the size of the house but on where it is located and how well it is winterized (sealed and insulated). The ...
Many electrical utilities across the country offer a "Dual Energy" rate program. Before trying to decide if it is appropriate for your house, you should understand why the utilities have created this system. Click here to get the full picture on Hydro Quebec's residential electrical rates and su...
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...
(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...
