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Messages - KevinSantelik

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1
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Boiler & Garage Up in Flames
« on: February 19, 2020, 08:14:38 AM »
Oh no, I am so sorry to hear this! Was the garage a total loss? From this point of view it looks to be mostly still there but could be an optical illusion. As for coverage of motor vehicles, ATVs and snowmobiles and things like that which are licensed should have their own "inland marine" policies but any lawn mower, tiller, chainsaw, etc should be covered under your homeowner's "personal property" policy. I just went over this about a month ago with my insurer after building a new garage. I hope everything works out okay for you, and am glad nobody was hurt.

Garage is not a total loss, really just that side and the roof need to be replaced.  Getting anxious for the weather to warm up so that I can start cleaning up.

As a general PSA, please review your insurance, keep an inventory of the tools and equipment you have, and keep safe.




2
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Boiler & Garage Up in Flames
« on: February 17, 2020, 01:57:04 PM »
Hey all,

On Jan 16th, I got a frantic call from my wife.  Something malfunctioned with the boiler,  and the fire department had to be called.

I had my boiler covered with a wooden storage barn, the fire got to the roof and the wind pushed the fire to my garage.

I never really paid attention to my property insurance and found out that my 30x40 garage was only covered for $15k.  I strongly encourage everyone to review their property insurance.  Also anything with an engine is NOT covered under personal property and should have its own policy rider.

I do not know what happened, I'm assuming the front solenoid/ damper got stuck and did not close.

If anyone has a gassifier that they are looking to sell let me know......

3
General Discussion / Re: Damn cold
« on: February 01, 2019, 08:51:07 AM »
Well, its be -20 here in Indiana the last 2 nights.

On Wednesday evening, my wife was nagging that the house was getting cold.  I went downstairs and grabbed the boiler line and it was cold,  I started thinking I lost the fire, but when I go outside to check the boiler is registering 248.  I go into my garage, and the wind was bad enough that it actually froze my return lines on my radiant heat lines.  Water was going in at 135 and by the time it was returning it was 28, and caused the lines to freeze.  So the supply 3/4" line next to the pump burst and lost all my water from the boiler.  I shut the valves on the radiant in the garage and hook up my hose in the basement. Good thing I installed a fill port inside the house...  Slowly start filling the boiler with hot water, and then turn the pumps back on to start circulating the water,  it takes 20 minutes to get the boiler below 180. 

Now the boiler was keeping up with the cold until Wednesday, now its not keeping up, and was 64 in the house this morning, normally 72.  I'm thinking that there may be air block in the water coil.   I'm not losing water anywhere as the water level has settled. Thoughts?

4
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: what happened???
« on: March 21, 2018, 06:10:35 AM »
I check in daily, and the great thing about this site compared to other forums is the lack of clutter, BS is not tolerated, and if us members don't have something to contribute, then they don't comment.

That is a huge peeve of mine when I'm researching something, and get useless responses, which I equate to the IT guy asking if your computer is plugged in. 

5
Fire Wood / Re: Got wood
« on: March 05, 2018, 08:35:05 AM »
Dropped a dead 28" maple yesterday,  Storm 2-weeks ago knocked off a couple large 8" branches, luckily not on the house but close enough.  It left all the upper weight going towards the house, and had cracks in the limb leaning over the bedroom. 

Tied a rope to it and pulled tight with the truck and a "text book tree notch", Luckily all went well and it fell 15' short of the house power line, and 15' from the garage. 

Still got 6-8 cherrys that need to come down and 2 dead oaks 16"-20" and a hickory 14-16" that has a 25-30 degree lean to it, feel like that one is going to come down everytime I mow around that one.

6
Regulations / Re: Update Hydronic Heater list?
« on: February 27, 2018, 05:56:18 AM »
It may not be a high priority item with the new EPA administration or possibly a suspended program.

7
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Average temp you keep your house.
« on: February 20, 2018, 05:54:59 AM »
When I was using propane 65 during the day 62 at night.
Now its at 70 day 68 night. 

8
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Boiler Pex Lines Redo v2
« on: February 20, 2018, 05:51:51 AM »
You can also check out freeheat4u.com.
They carry the Reahu but I'm not sure how the shipping to NC would be.

9
Its open to the south,  haven't had more than an inch or so of snow blown in.  It also helps that there is a really thick tree canopy where I'm at.  During the summer you can't see the house from an overhead perspective.  There's over a hundred oaks of 12" or better on the property. 

I also let it open to the possibility of adding roller doors to the front if I ever feel the need.

10
Here's my shed I built to house the boiler.  16' x 24'  salt box style shed.

Open on 1 side, and closed the other 3.  I used 5/4 deck boards around the wood to create a corn crib effect, allowing air to circulate all the way around.  The 3rd bay is general outdoor storage.

11
No, not much damage to the septic tile, fortunately it was clay tile and I just skimmed the top of the pipe, I only noticed I hit it after I was cleaning out the trench with the shovel. I used some of the sticky backed asphalt flashing material to cover the hole,  I applied 3 layers of this and put a couple shingles over the pipe to protect any rocks/ soil from putting too much pressure on the patch.

12
My home was built in 68, fully remodeled in 90's (needs to be redone again)
2k SF on the main level and a full finished basement, keep the stat at 70*, also heat the dhw, and a 1500sf garage with radiant,  keep the garage set for 65* but its been staying in the mid 40's with this cold snap we all been seeing.

I installed using the rehau pipe, buried as deep as my septic would allow,  Hit a lateral when I was trenching  :o

13
Halfway through my first season with my 6000,  I burn about 1/3 cord a week, loaded in the back for the best burn times, mixed hardwood. 

I'm curious of the age of my boiler,  I bought it in 2016, from a guy in MI, named Craig who said he had been using it for a couple of years.  The reason I am curious is that there are 4 gusset plates on the interior of the boiler in the areas that it is prone to cracking,  I wonder if it manufactured this way, or it had cracked and been repaired. The solenoid hums, but everything else is working great.

14
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Started the Wood Boiler
« on: October 26, 2017, 07:04:55 AM »
I wanted to thank everyone for this wonderful forum. 

I purchased a Ridgewood 6000 2 years ago, and started it up last weekend 10/21/17.
I took me a little over a year of planning everything, from plumbing design, pump selection, boiler piping, shed design 16' x 24' etc.

This is the first time that I don't mind when my wife turns up the theromstat,  used to be set at 62 at night and 65 during the day, now I have it set for 70 at night and 72 during the day.  My garage has radiant piping that I plumbed in with the system and that is set at a very comfortable 68/65 degrees. 

Again thank you to everyone who contributes to this forum.

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