August 9, 2010
Dear Ken: I'm having trouble with my water heater. When I run my whole house fan, the pilot goes out. It's been getting worse the last few summers. Any ideas? Tim
You're not opening as many doors and windows as you should to satisfy the high air flow demand of the whole house fan. The fan will seek air wherever it can get it-and apparently it's sucking it down through the exterior water heater flue, and that's what's blowing out the pilot. So, provide more total openings to the outside through the patio and front doors plus the windows in whichever rooms you want cooled down. By the way, it's not just air that's seeping out from under your water heater; you could be pulling carbon monoxide into your living space. That's why I recommend a one-hour timer switch on these fans, not just a wall switch; if you fall asleep with the fan on high, it will eventually shut itself off.
Our high-elevation air is very thin-and so it cools so quickly after sundown. Bottom line: These fans need to operate only twenty minutes or so to provide their maximum benefits: cooling down the house plus purging the attic of the day's heat. Any additional operation is simply wasting electricity.
Finally, you probably need to clean the water heater pilot and its thermocouple. They get scaled up over time, and the flame may get so anemic that the burners won't light at all. Use a combination of a small wire brush, emery paper and an nail filing board to clean them.
Dear Ken: My gutters are causing me fits because they overflow when it's raining. I had all the leaves cleaned up last fall. Could they be blocked again? Alice
Gutter cleaning is really a twice a year proposition. Our strong winter winds dump twigs and needles into the gutters, plus the spring seed drop adds a tangled layer of materiel that, when wet, floats along the bottom and straight into the downspout opening. That's probably why you are not getting any flow. Overflowing gutters are pretty insidious, because they let water seep into the soil next to the foundation. And that can eventually cause structural havoc with your foundation. So, have a landscaping company or handyman service come by and blow out the downspouts with a hose.
You can avoid this by installing one of the gutter guard systems. They mount an overhanging metal baffle that kicks the leave and twigs overboard, while the water is captured inside the gutter. Finally, avoid gutter "screens"--they attract the leaf stems and pine needles and make a bigger mess than you had before.
Dear Ken: I woke up this morning and some of my lights and plugs don't work at all. Others are just fine. I checked the breaker box, and they all seem to be on. What's going on? Ellen
You may have a problem with the main wires coming into the box from the power company meter; sometimes the connections work themselves loose over a long period. Alternatively, the MAIN breaker that controls all the circuits can be defective. Breakers are electro-mechanical devices that can weaken as they age. The first call you should make is to the local power company. They won't charge you for the trip, but they can analyze the fault and tell you whether this is their baby or not. Remember, you are responsible for all the wiring beyond their meter. So, it may require the expertise of a licensed electrician to tighten up connections or to replace that main breaker. The good news is: it most likely won't be a huge expense.
