I mentioned the other day that we started the wood furnace. I talked about how awesome it was and how I much I was in love with radiant floor heat. Member?
Well, yesterday, I was inches away from death by explosion!
Behind the sign that reads, “DANGER PRESSURIZED PIPE IN RACK ABOVE,” I started hearing loud scary sounds. Like boiling water churning… ready to burst right out of those pressurized pipes. All I could think of was stranded science teacher, Artz, on my favorite series, Lost, getting blown up by dynamite and leaving body chunks on everyone (watch it on youtube here).
Looking outside at the furnace, I see the pressure valve shooting out more steam than there was smoke coming from the flu. Uh oh. More noise inside… more visions of body chunks. And I was alone.
I called Carl and I called the dude that installed this thing for the sellers. Carl showed up ASAP… but the expert dude was busy being an expert other places. I cranked the thermostat up enough to get the pump to kick on that circulates more hot water through the floors. The temperature inside rose, the sounds calmed down, and the steam lessened.
And then the expert arrived. Come to find out… those pipes aren’t even pressurized.
Dude replaced a few bad parts and reset everything to where it should be. He explained how the system works to the point it actually made sense. He said the next 24-hours or so won’t be ideal because we currently have a bajillion ton of hot concrete that has to cool down — and a furnace that won’t kick back up until the temperature is where it should be.
Waiting for a cool down, the puppies were vying for the best spot near an open window.
Expert dude said he had no “f’ing idea why anyone would put up a sign like that.” There’s no pressurized pipes involved. He promised all I had to do from this point is put some wood in that bad boy every day or so and set my thermostat at my desired temperature. I guess this system was $18,000.00 to install and I should be thrilled with it.
It’s only 81 degrees in the kitchen right now. I think we might make it. 🥵
TIL (Today I Learned): Velcro is actually a brand name and they launched campaigns to get people to stop saying “Velcro”. The correct term is actually “hook and loop”.