Brave Little Gerda Passes Through the Door

[Whatlee]

I have read a lot of your post and I feel horrible for you and your children. I pray u get some peace soon. Keep fighting the good fight, you are a strong woman.

BTW, I have removed your very first posting since you created your own thread for others to post to you there. JOB

[sjohns6]

Good morning LBS friends. I hope you are all doing well this holiday season. I am writing on behalf of Gerda to see if DnJ or Job could help her get access to her account again. She has tried PW resets and even to create a new account but nothing seems to be working. Is there anything you guys can do to help her get back in to post updates? Thank you for anything you can do!

[DnJ]

Thanks for letting us know sjohns. I’ll look into it.


Gerda, don’t fret. I’m on the case! (Now where the heck is my green cape. lol)

D

[DnJ]

Hello Gerda

This morning an email was sent to your address that’s on file with a temporary password. If you’ve changed your email address, or are still having problems, please contact MWD the site administrator: [e-mail].

Take care,

D

[sjohns6]

Hello there!

Thanks for helping DnJ! I hope you are doing fantastic in this new year!

I heard from Gerda that she never got a reset email. Obviously I can't see the back end of things, but it sounds as though the system is not generating emails properly. I think she said she even tried to create a new account and that didn't send her an email either. She mainly wants to log in and say hi to everyone, so its not super pressing but would be nice to log in for a quick post.

Take care,

S

[DnJ]

Good Morning sj

I’ll speak with MWD and look into things. We’ll get this sorted out.

D

[DnJ]

Good Morning Gerda

I’m glad we got the login issue all fixed up.

Hope you are doing well. How is the new year treating you? Son settled into college life? How is daughter? She driving yet?

Have a great day.

D

[job]

Gerda,

I hope that you and your family are doing well. Please let us know how you are doing. We miss you!

[Gerda]

I just logged on after finally I got access from the Posting Mother of Us All, MWD! (That was kind of exciting to hear from her, even though I did not actually DB in the end! Still learned a lot from her.)

I logged on because I have to ask DnJ a heating question! But it's so very nice to hear from you, that is so sweet that you are checking in. I have so much news on the never-ending court nightmare, basically 4 millimeters forward and 3 millimeters back. But I have to tell you all about that later.

Love to you both first, heating second, catch up later --

DnJ, at the new place, I installed these Fahrenheat heaters, the hydronic ones, because I thought it was going to be an upgrade from the Dimplex we discussed long ago. They didn't seem to pump that much heat but the new place is so much better insulated that it felt pretty good in there. I also installed one of the Fahrenheat ones in my place because I am getting rid of all the propane heaters, no more oil in this world please! And I noticed it just doesn't seem to get the room warm. At the same time, I put the radiant heat barrier sheets under my place after watching a youtube video about this -- it's called, HOW TO INSULATE A CABIN FLOOR AND KEEP IT RODENT FREE if you want to check it out. It is miraculous and has helped a lot. (Also discovered that the beam holding up the cabin was CRACKED IN HALF so had to deal with that at the same time.)

I had my first renters at the new place and they complained that it was cold, and I thought they were just city slicker fools but then I had a friend stay and she measured the place at 50 degrees even with all the heaters on! This happened when it was 11 degrees outside, so I think these fahrenheat heaters are not good at least when it gets really cold out.

Do you know anything about it?

The Dimplex always has worked great, though its reviews on Ama%on are not great. But I am thinking of just ordering a few of those for now.

Also in the foyer and bathrooms, I tried these radiant panels for the ceiling, and they are actually working really well! I forget the brand but if you want to look them up, they are radiant heat ceiling panels. You have to put them behind the drywall so I can't start with that now.

Next year I will do the rebate for a mini split heater or radiant floor, since budget ran out before we could put in wood floors so I just painted the subfloor with deck paint and it looks great for now.

[DnJ]

Hello Gerda

Hydronic or convection heaters both can heat a room. There are a few differences which I suspect you realize. The main one regarding lack of heat is the operating technology. Convection heaters are like a toaster, the element heats really hot and air rises through the fins and connects heat throughout the room.

Hydronic has a heating element within a tank of liquid which heats said liquid. The liquid is circulated through a finned tube where the heat is then radiated to the surrounding air, which convects and heats the room.

Hydronic heating “elements” are less hot to the touch than a convection heater. They also take a while to heat up to operating temperature and a while to cool down. In fact, the cooldown period is an often sales pitch of free heat; however one did pay for that heat in the initial heating phase. Anyhow, hydronic usually cycle less often and are utilized to maintain a more constant room heat.

As for room temperature being 50 degrees while only 11 outside; that sounds like an under sizing of heating requirements. The basic requirements for heating is 5 to 10 watts of heat for every one square foot of room (depending on insulation). A 100 sqft room (10x10) would require somewhere between 500W to 1000W of heat.

If the heaters’ circuit breakers were on, and the heaters functional, the room is likely underrated for heat. Investigate the room size and the total of heating (summated from the heaters name plate).

It is possible for the heater to be incorrectly installed. As in a 240V heater is wired 120V. In such a case, the heater only produces 1/4 of the rated output. Pretty unlikely I suspect, however thought I’d mention it. (By the way, a 120V heater wired 240V would produce four times the rated heat, and pretty much instantaneously blow up. Or trip the protective device(s).)

Radiant panels are pretty nice. They require a material - drywall, floorboard, slate, etc. - which the heater heats, which then heats the entire room. Cosy warm bathroom floor on bare feet is pretty sweet. I’ve not got such, however I’ve stay at a place with such. I felt rather spoiled stepping out of the shower onto heated slate. And loved it!

11 degrees outside, so I think these fahrenheat heaters are not good at least when it gets really cold out.

11 degrees. Really cold. Giggle. It was -32 yesterday.

If you want to share your findings on room and heater sizes, I’d be interested. I’m also interested in the connected voltage. However, that is a hazardous undertaking so if not trained, please do not attempt! Start with nameplates and tape measure first and we can go further if nothing obvious stands out.

Looking forward to hearing about the 1mm (4mm forward, 3mm back) update.

Have a great day!

D