Recent content by Annapolis Albert

We have had the perforated metal guards on two of our houses and were happy with both of them. We currently have the foam style guards and they work well for us. We do not have any trees with needles but do have lots of Oak, Maple and Beech trees. The perforated metal guards were the gutter...

We have Fujitsu heat pumps in our well insulated house In the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. We leased the heat pumps from Nova Scotia Power. Prior to this we had an electric boiler and I floor heat. We still use the boiler on very cold days. This works out to about 10 days per year. Our...

NealC, You are in Illinois so the air that the heat pump water heater is getting heat from might be heat you are already paying for. In California there is lots of heat in the air that is free. I had thought about a heat pump water heater for our home in Annapolis Royal but I don't think it...

I had the cold water sandwich problem until I descaled the heater and installed a water softener. The unit I had was a Rinnai.

We replaced our gas hot water heater with a tankless heater 15 years ago. We were living in Central Alberta. I did the install myself. In my case it was not that difficult but I did have to increase the size of the gas line. Tankless water heaters need the water to be very soft so we then...

If you comfortable around electricity you could also measure the current the heater is drawing. If it is not drawing the rated amps when the water is coming out cold then you will know it's an electrical problem. You will need an amp clamp. They are actually quite affordable from places like...

I painted the ceiling of an exposed joist and OSB ceiling in our stained glass shop. I used a Wagner sprayer similar to the Control Pro 150 or the Graco. It worked well and in the right situation I'd do it again.

I’ve spent literally days trying to understand the best way to insulate my 115 year old building. Its is a much colder and more humid climate than yours. I think that you did this the right way. Thanks for posting.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED doesn't only apply to energy efficiency in the building. It also applies to the products that go into the building and the energy required to get those products to the job site and the energy required to dispose of the...

its Amazing how much heat is lost due to leakage. I build the shop in Alberta and when calculating the value of more insulation I learned that the windows and leakage were now the major factor in heating costs. I really worked on the vapor barrier and minimized the size of the windows. The...

You can search the web and find a heat loss calculator. Using that you can find out how much heat is being lost by the uninsulated walls and roof. You will then find out that every piece of insulation helps. The calculator will require you to enter the heating degree days for your location...

It might make more sense to put your sound stage on it's own power meter.

It's looking good. I can appreciate what you are doing as I recently did the whole floor of a 115-year-old church. All the beams and joists were rotten.

You can find the flow rates for many pumps on the manufacturer's website. I looked up a 1/2hp pump and the flow rate at 630 gallons per hour at 20'. You can also buy float switches at Princess Auto that will shut the pump off when the barrel is full. However, at 10 gallons a minute it won't...

If this is for the long term then a jet pump might make more sense. However they are a little heavier and will need to be protected from rain. If it was me then I’d try the utility pump as it cheap and easy.