Just curious whether an attic fan is apropos here

On Sun, 31 Aug 2014 13:28:57 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D." wrote in

How did that water problem work out? Did you folks ever come up with a solution?

Reply to
CRNG
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CRNG wrote, on Sun, 31 Aug 2014 11:05:23 -0500:

They drilled a new well, and started hitting water at 300 feet, but kept going until the flow was 2.5 gallons per minute (I had originally reported a higher flow, but the workers corrected that when I had asked them a few weeks ago).

They stopped at 520 feet, but they had problems.

Here you see the well driller & what looks like white foam:

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Last I checked, the 520 foot well was producing gray water, which is water that I saw myself (they wouldn't let me photograph it so that picture is from across the neighbor's yard).

For two weeks, they had pumped the water out of that new 520 foot well, but it was *still* as gray as paint! I saw it with my own eyes.

The guy showed me a white 5-gallon bucket with the water in it and he said the gray is part of the water. It doesn't settle out.

There are silver mines in this area, so, the ground does have minerals, but, I haven't checked lately to find out whether that new 520 foot well finally cleared of the gray water.

But, it was amazing looking stuff. Nobody in their right mind would drink it. Gray as paint.

Here's the well next door, which originally ran dry, but it seemed to be pumping OK when I last checked a few weeks ago for them:

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You can't tell from the picture, and I didn't tell the neighbor because she's a widow who has enough on her hands with the kids and the bank, but, I did notice a bit of gray in the water (but nothing like the stuff that was coming out of the new well at the next-door neighbor's house only 50 feet away).

Yikes. Luckily, "my" well water, about 1,000 feet away from these two wells, appears to be clear, and comes from about 400 feet (although they are a good 200 feet below me on the hill in elevation).

Reply to
Danny D.

Oren wrote, on Sun, 31 Aug 2014 10:26:45 -0700:

There is one of these in most rooms...

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Is that a 'whole house fan'?

Reply to
Danny D.

Oren wrote, on Sun, 31 Aug 2014 09:10:02 -0700:

Here is what it looks like looking straight up in the same attic:

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I don't see *any* vents there.

Here's a closer view looking straight up in that same attic:

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Am I missing that space between at the top of the trusses?

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Reply to
Danny D.

David L. Martel wrote, on Sat, 30 Aug 2014 08:33:01 -0400:

I think the only ventilation is what these little openings provide.

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Rain blows sideways in the winter, so, yeah, it could come in that way.

Yea, there are ten gabled roofs, so, there are five attics under them. None are connected.

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Reply to
Danny D.

Oren wrote, on Sun, 31 Aug 2014 12:20:04 -0700:

Oh. OK. From the description, it was in the tallest part of the house but it doesn't go outside. Almost every room has one of these ceiling fans, but then the only whole house fan are those in the three heater systems.

Reply to
Danny D.

You only have about a 2" gap if you have a ridge vent. You don't have a ridge vent. You have a tile roof, IDK if you can do a ridge vent on a tile roof. I've only seen them on shingle roofs.

There's only a vent in one gable? Nothing in the other ends? Depending on how it would look, what those other sides face, you could put another gable vent in. That would double the exit venting. And also help even more, maybe, depending on the prevailing winds.

Reply to
trader_4

Yes, it's just missing the 3 ft round hole above to push air into the attic. Get a saw and cut that whole all around the fan.

Reply to
trader_4

Oren wrote, on Sun, 31 Aug 2014 12:33:23 -0700:

Yes. That was connected to the bathroom. I hadn't even known that but when you said this, I turned it on, and then went to the attic two floors up, and noticed that it was humming. So, you know what it is, better than I do!

Reply to
Danny D.

trader_4 wrote, on Sun, 31 Aug 2014 14:04:33 -0700:

The roof is definitely tile, no doubt about that. I just measured, center to center, that they're 24 inches:

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And that they're six inches tall:
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Is that not normal? NOTE: We don't get snow.

Reply to
Danny D.

Danny D. wrote, on Sun, 31 Aug 2014 23:04:51 +0000:

oops. 9 inches tall, 24 inches apart. Is that not normal?

Reply to
Danny D.

Oren wrote, on Sun, 31 Aug 2014 14:54:46 -0700:

Yeah, and my garage door rube goldberg plate metal to hold the supports, and my sister's garbage disposal, and her bathroom toilet cooties, and my alarm system ... and ... and ...

Reply to
Danny D.

trader_4 wrote, on Sun, 31 Aug 2014 14:08:03 -0700:

There are about five of those gables. All of them meet in the middle of the house, so, they all kinda combine at different levels.

One time I drilled between floors, and it took 5 feet of drill just to get from one floor to the ceiling of the other floor, so, they have all sorts of secret passageways (all closed off) between the floors.

Dunno why. I'm not the original owner. But the point is that the five attics all kind of meet in the middle, but not really. You can only crawl between two of them. The rest are totally self contained.

Reply to
Danny D.

Those are some whopping big uns, 2 x 10s. I wouldn't have thought they were that from the pic. So, yeah I think they're fine.

Reply to
trader_4

On Sun, 31 Aug 2014 16:15:36 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D." wrote in

Well, that doesn't sound good at all. I hope it clears up, and it should have after two weeks of pumping. Let us know how it works out.

Reply to
CRNG

CRNG wrote, on Mon, 01 Sep 2014 08:07:05 -0500:

I'll try. The problem is that every house is gated, so, I can't just walk up to anyone's property. Also, the neighbor I help is the next-door neighbor to the one who did the drilling. Up until this new well, they shared a well; but now they're divorcing from that contract, so to speak. I'll see what I can find out, especially if/when I see the drillers, I'll pump them for information.

Reply to
Danny D.

Oren wrote, on Mon, 01 Sep 2014 14:20:35 -0700:

What size are "normal" rafters?

Reply to
Danny D.

Oren wrote, on Mon, 01 Sep 2014 14:14:38 -0700:

Well, there was that one guy from southern California, who didn't ... :)

Reply to
Danny D.

Oren wrote, on Tue, 02 Sep 2014 11:16:56 -0700:

Well, I guess with mine being larger, I shouldn't worry; but someone had said they thought the framing was funky so, I was just a bit worried.

Thanks, as always, for your insight!

Reply to
Danny D.

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