dougj99's Profile
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March 2, 2008
oven/stove vent air leaks
Hello,
We have cold air coming in through our oven and through the stove vent (which is part of an installed microwave unit)
Has anybody had this issue and how is it solved? I can see the duct above the microwave in a cabinet and I figure it can't be too hard to install a valve up there, but what about the oven? And how do you set this up so it isn't totally inconvenient for cooking?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
December 11, 2007
steam heat akimbo
hello
we have a 16' wide frame house, 3 stories + bsmt. Steam heating with metal radiators. The main problem we have is vastly unbalanced heating. the ground floor has a kitchen extension out into the back yard, and only two heaters, one at each end. This is also where the thermostat is located. Each of the upstairs rooms (3br 2bath , 1 den) have their own heaters and they are pretty small rooms. Because the ground floor is essentially one big room, heated by 2 heaters, it is usually pretty cold in the winter, and we have had to supplement with an electric heater.
the heaters in the upstairs rooms work fairly well, with varying consistency. Unfortunately, to set the thermostat such that it is comfortable on the ground floor, the rest of the rooms become a steambath. Added to that is a home office on the top floor, which is full of computers and is plenty comfortable in the winter without any heat at all. The heat is off in the house all day, but when everyone gets home they turn it up to be comfortable and the heater in the office just bakes. The knob on the heater is stuck.
I have tried bleeding the heaters on the ground floor, but even when they are cranking, the heat in the house is very uneven.
We are considering perhaps getting a third heater on the ground floor, or possibly separating the heating zones per floor or per room...I have read that this is super expensive though. Is there a way to easily remove a heater from the network (ie the one in the office) in such a way that it is not permanent? Are there any other ways to even out the system? We are just not sure what the ideal solution to this problem would ultimately be.
I guess the last question is, is there a good steam heat expert out there that anyone can recommend?
Thanks!