How to inspect furnace filters?

[DerbyDad03]

It was joke...look up thread.

[ItsJoanNotJoann]

Yep.

I'm reminded of the old saying "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

[Bill Gill]

What difference? Your bald statement that it makes a difference is a long way from being conclusive. Can you cite a source for your statement? I don't see how it could make a difference to the inside of the house what you burn in a closed system that has no direct connection to the inside of the house.

Bill

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I remember my Radio Shack free battery card. Those batteries were sold individually. Of course, the free ones were "heavy duty".

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I hadn't used C cells in a long time until I got this cat toy (and it takes THREE).

[snip]

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I remember the "free" 5-D-cell flashlight at Radio Shack (batteries not included).

[snip]

I have an electronic (combination) door lock that uses a 9V battery. Also, some wearable LED Halloween lights.

[Don Y]

Blueish-grey plastic. But, you'd never be able to use it to look

*behind* a computer -- too long (unless your computer was 2 feet away from the wall!)

I have a funky baseball cap with lights in the bill that can be controlled (some on, all on, flashing, different "sequences", etc. But, still powered by three AA cells at the rear of the cap.

AA and AAA seem to be the way forward (for "standard" cells)

[clare]

Well, in years gone by I could always tell if a house was heated with oil, just by the smell, and a wood-burning furnace had a different smell than a coal furnace. It was not uncommon to have "smudge" above the hot air registers. That was before the days of air-tight fireboxe, and those old dinasaurs are all but extinct today.

In today's homes, almost universally, there should be no difference what fuel is being burned.

[micky]

I wasn't interested in being conclusive.

To tell you the truth, I'm posting in order to help you and your first answer to me, above, was argumentative, and now you're even more so.

It's annoying.

When the air mixture was misadjusted for a while, on my oil furnace, it left dirt above the forced air registers, and even on some of the walls, above the nails, or screws, that held the sheet rock in place.

So you can take your belief in a closed system and flush it down the drain.

[Stormin Mormon]

That was about the time alkalines were invented, and heavy duty was only ones available.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .

[Stormin Mormon]

Those were great for night walks, and being able to jacklight racoons in the trees. I totally enjoyed those five cell lights. Lot of good memories.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .

[trader_4]

And did you immediately flee the house? If combustion products are somehow getting back into the house, something is very wrong. While being "adjusted" you got dirt on the walls? What's happening the rest of the time, when it's burning much cleaner, but you're breathing CO? And IDK what kind of tech would be running a furnace where it's sooting up the whole house either.

[Stormin Mormon]

Sounds like cracked heat exchanger.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .

[Bill Gill]

I don't see how what fuel I am using has to do with inspecting the filters, which was what I was asking. I can't see how the fuel I use and the result on the air impacts the inspection of the filters. So, I asked for an explanation.

Or do you just make off topic comments to produce something to argue about?

Bill

[TimR]

That doesn't make any sense. Moving air always deposits dirt and usually that's what we see around vents and other places - a hot incandescent will often have streaks on the wall around it. It's often mistaken for mold.

But a malfunctioning furnace putting combustion products in to the house? That's totally different, and unsafe. Adjusting the air mix wouldn't be enough to fix it.

One thing that adds enormous amounts to those dark streaks is burning Yankee candles. The air flow concentrates the soot where it hits.

[DerbyDad03]

that's what we see around vents and other places - a hot incandescent will often have streaks on the wall around it. It's often mistaken for mold.

That's totally different, and unsafe. Adjusting the air mix wouldn't be enough to fix it.

kee candles. The air flow concentrates the soot where it hits.

I've been helping my Dad prepare his house for painting. We've been going t here 3-4 times a year for decades but it wasn't until we started taking thi ngs off of the walls (pictures, shelves, knick-knacks, etc.) and removing o ther "visual distractions" that we noticed the dirt (?) on the walls.

You can see the location of every stud and every nail that holds the wallbo ard on. The stud locations are darker than the stud bay areas and the nail heads are even darker.

The house is heated with base board hot water. Up until 2-3 years ago there was a oil fired boiler, now it's NG. The dirt (?) wipes off fairly easily with nothing more than a wet rag. No real scrubbing required.

Maybe the "stripes" have been there for years and we just never noticed the m, but now that the rooms are cleared, you can't miss them. Could they be n ew since the NG furnace was installed? I doubt it, but since we never saw t hem until we started clearing the room and paying attention to what is goin g to be appointed, I can't really say.

[Tekkie®]

[e-mail] posted for all of us...

+1000 Claire, I agree with you. The threads usually start out okay, then others ask questions, then others question the questioners as to what they meant, posts are made saying I did this 30 years ago, and then we get personal experiences, attacks on others, health matters, politics and so on. I am guilty some times myself but I tried labeling them and I got complaints because I was messing up the subject line. What I do is if I see two wild posts then I move on to the end of that hierarchy and start reading and repeat. I have certain posters KF and others marked as important; as they usually follow the thread topic. This thread isn't moderated but I don't know of any good way to get rid of the blather. Sometimes there is a pearl but it's sure hard to find.

[Tekkie®]

[e-mail] posted for all of us...

You are talking above Stumpy level...

[Tony Hwang]

Childish piss contest.

[Tony Hwang]

Then question will be how to use the device..., LOL!