Never fails I leave and everything falls apart.

[Sourdough]

Never fails I leave and everything falls apart. 

I left the 7th of January, four dayas later the wife called and said the boiler had quite.  The temp was 54 below so she had to call out a repair man at 2AM.  $800.00 to fix the boiler, and service charge.

A week later the new (four month old) washer quite.

Last week of January, Ice storm hit.  Sky can't get around with his two wheel drive car, (very unusal for Fairbanks) so he is driving my F-350 to school everyday.

First week of Febuary all the plumbing started backing up.  Called out the Pumping and thawing people.  Vent stacks were frozen over.  Thawed out the stacks and everything started working again. 

Second week of Febuary, wife had her first auto accident ever.  As she made a right hand turn, a teenage driver tried to make a turn inside on the right side.  No one hurt, just damage to her Kia Sportage.

Third week of Febuary, plumbing again backing up in house.  Called the pumping and thawing people again.  This time they had to pump out the septic tank, leach field is frozen.  $350.00

Last night wife called saying the front wheel locked up on my S-10, that she is driving due to the damage to her Kia.  She put the S-10 in the shop, $1,200.00 repair bill.

I called this morning and changed my reservations, I am going home next Tuesday instead of the end of March.

[Old Syko]

Sounds right to me.  This is the reason I keep telling my wife, when I die you need to sell our place ASAP because the longer you wait the less you're going to get due to lack of maintenance.  Shoot, I'll have to crawl out of the casket to do one last thing before I go.

Sounds like all things mentioned, with the exception of the washer maybe, are things you would have taken care of on your own had you been there.  You have to wonder sometimes if trying to be self sufficient is really worth the cost. 

[bobg]

  Sure sounds like the kind of luck i have. Very sorry to hear your problems but that seems to be the way life goes.
       bobg

[rockbilly]

How does the old saying go, "When it rains, it pours!"

Hope thing are beter now.

[Oldshooter]

Sounds like a nice vacation Sourdough, You could always just come up missing!  

Well anyway, its always nice to know you are needed! Good luck with those frozen leach fields.

[mcwoodduck]

Never fails I leave and everything falls apart.  

I left the 7th of January, four dayas later the wife called and said the boiler had quite.  The temp was 54 below so she had to call out a repair man at 2AM.  $800.00 to fix the boiler, and service charge.

Next time the boiler quits give me a call or e-mail me I worked for a boiler company and can probably walk you through getting it to work.

But other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

[Sourdough]

mcwoodduck:  I have a new hybrid boiler.  I installed it myself, and could have made the repair myself if I had been there.  It's just without me, she is helpless.  My 21 year old son can do most things, but that was over his head.  As for the washer, I will fix it when I get back, easier than calling for warrenty work. 

[mcwoodduck]

OK,
I am an outside sales guy and have to walk guys through boiler 101 everyday over the phone.
I could get the 21 year old to get it up and running.
when you say Hybrid what do you mean?  Dual fuel? 

[Sourdough]

No, one that keeps the pumps running after the burner has shut off till all the heat is removed.  Then sits there cold, till heat is called for.  With the old ones they sat there 24-7 maintaining 180 degrees, wasting lots of fuel.  I have a "Systems 2000" and love it.  It has cut my fuel consumption in half over the old Burnham.

[myronman3]

Shoot, I'll have to crawl out of the casket to do one last thing before I go.

hilarious. 

  this is why i got rid of the vast majority of my earthly possessions.   i find that your things end up owning you.    i kept a few fun things, and dumped the rest of it.   life is soooo much simpler now. 

[mcwoodduck]

No, one that keeps the pumps running after the burner has shut off till all the heat is removed.  Then sits there cold, till heat is called for.  With the old ones they sat there 24-7 maintaining 180 degrees, wasting lots of fuel.  I have a "Systems 2000" and love it.  It has cut my fuel consumption in half over the old Burnham.

We call that a boiler on a primary secondary loop with an intermitant pump, or pump delay.
The idea is that the boiler will radiat heat when not firing and the pump turns off to keep the loop hot.  the delay is to cool the unit bu sucking the residual heat that is in the burner and the refractory into the system.  if you turned off the pump at the same time as the boiler there is very little water in the boiler and the heat left in the refractory (fire brick) and the burner(s) will flash the less than a gallon or two (depending on BTU input) to above the manual reset set point and locking out the boiler.
Is the boiler a Raypak unit?
If so there are outdoor reset controls that can be added that will match the water temp to what is needed based on outdoor temp.

[Rex in OTZ]

I had heard differnt schools of thought on vent stack blockages, one they add a extra outer tube kinda like a inside out augmentation tube, then ther is the suspending the pantyhose with a cup full of icemelt just inside the mouth of the vent, problem with this is it requires reloads and sucks if its a two story house, the better one I heard about was placeing a length of  3/4"  copper tube down the vent pipe and slant the bottom end so air will rise up the tube and cutting off its top a couple inches below the mouth of the vent pipe, the copper  is supposed to radiate heat from down below to help keep the top open.
My sewer line hasent iced for awhile (city line) my neighbors do take hot showers all the time from the water vapor that rises out the cleanout, I figure the hot water vapor freezes it turns to snow blocking off drainage in other sewer lines tapped into the city sewer line, I try to not use much hot water If I can, I wash most laundry with cold water, when showering I keep it short and business like when finished turn to cold water to clear the vapor or flush the toilet,
After the big power outage in Barter Island awhile back I looked into a electric free kerocene heater in case something happened that I had to keep the home warm for a week at -40 with no power.
It wasent easy to come up with, Wood heating isant a option, the area I live in is coastal and not much drift wood, the problem of make up air and sealing it all off when not in use, pluse the constant care pluse the wood I find is water logged and full of silt that plays hell on chainsaw's, so I settled on a Kero-sun radiant heater, Its a generator of Co gas but with some venting will keep the house warm.

[SHOOTALL]

For the vent problem , if you can access the vent system in the attic or such where they won't freeze add some AAV's to allow air to enter the system if that is the problem . But in most cases a blocked vent will cause the trap (s) being vented to lose its seal. That will allow air in and odor out . From what was said the problem was more than a blocked vent . Here in some cases we over size the part of the vent system that is exposed to cold but no -50 temp here .

[Sourdough]

We've lived in the house 26 years and this is the first time they ever froze.  Also the first time they have been totally covered in snow and drifted over.

[magooch]

Not to worry there, Sourdough, global warming should clear up most of your problems and Algore and his discipels assure us that it's still comin--any day now.

[billy_56081]

Sounds like your trying to jump start the economy.

[Squib]

obama is using progressive voodoo to get you so desperate that you sell off some guns to finance the repairs, and can't afford to back sarah palin either.