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This one was always at the top of the list, and I was given added incentive when the temperatures dropped into the low forties Friday night. Since I was waiting to finish this particular task before I turned on the heat for the winter, I woke up Saturday morning to a very chilly house. The problem is this. The morons who installed the hot water baseboards when they built my house opted for ease of installation rather than figuring out exactly how long a baseboard each individual room required. Ideally they would've calculated the BTUs required to heat each room based on its volume, number of windows and doors, etc. Then they should've installed the proper length of baseboard required to deliver those BTUs in each room, and then connected them all together with straight lengths of insulated pipe beneath the floor joists. Apparently someone forgot their calculator that day, because instead they just wrapped one continuous baseboard three quarters of the way around the house along the exterior walls. The only rooms they didn't do this in were the kitchen, because there was no exposed exterior wall surface to be had thanks to the cabinets and stove, and in the bathroom, which they actually sized and installed properly, which makes the rest even more baffling.
One possible solution would be to do the calculations (which are not trivial), and then cut out the excess baseboard, essentially going back and doing the job right. That would take a helluva a lot of time and effort to accomplish. I decided the easiest thing to try, at least as a first attempt, would be to reroute the hot water so the back room is the last room on the circuit instead of the first. That way the office and living room would get first crack at the heat, thus normalizing the temperature the thermostat sees, moderating the temperature in the back room. In theory, anyway. So, off to the basement.
The hardest thing about sweat-soldering, especially when working that close to the floor joists, is to make sure you don't set fire to the joists with the torch. As you can see from the pictures, I have fiberglass insulation stuffed between the joists, which protected the wood pretty well, although the insulation got singed a few times. Anyway, once everything was soldered, I let it cool off, then opened the valves to fill the system back up with water. None of the joints leaked, so go me. The only remaining worry I have is that the expansion tank is now at the end of the circuit instead of the beginning. I don't think it should matter, because a lot of older systems have their tanks all the way up in the attic, but I'll keep an eye on it.
This was probably the easiest sweat-soldering job I've ever had the opportunity to do, mostly because it's the most modern plumbing I've ever had the opportunity to work on. My old apartment was in a house built during the Civil War, and there was little rhyme or reason to the plumbing that got added over the years. Of course, now some future plumber is going to look at this house the same way.
Still to go:
• Replace porch lights.
• Move ceiling light fixtures around in back room, kitchen, and office.
• Clean out Subaru, and make arrangements to have it hauled away.
• Put away air conditioners for winter.
• Get new tires for the truck.
• Rip out the carpet in the living room.
• Head down to Jersey to see assorted crippled family members.
• Ride bike as much as possible.
• Play a round of golf.
One negative to all the overhead plumbing I did is that I exercised a lot of muscles in unusual ways yesterday, and they were not happy about it, letting me know about their distress last night, and on into today. I think today I shall tackle the Sub. It's a lovely day out. In fact, I still haven't actually turned the heat on, because it didn't get nearly as chilly last night as it did Friday.
In other news, Stop & Shop had boxes of day old brownies for half price when I was there this morning. Brownies for brunch!