Roses that have performed well in my hot dry climate
fragrancenutter
6 years ago
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fragrancenutter
6 years agofragrancenutter
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Tankless hot water tank...never again.
Comments (284)It's funny that I just found this blog today. I don't agree with Mr. conecaster who's constantly singing praises about his on-demand water heater at all. Matter-of-fact, today I just got my new tank heater that I picked up yesterday into the basement. I friend is going to do the swap for me hopefully next week. The on-demand water heater sitting on my basement wall right now is a Bosch AquaStar Model GWH 2700 ES LP, that is it's powered by propane, installed in February 2009 by the builder of my house. It was supposedly a high-quality & premium on-demand unit. I paid extra for it, a lot extra (a tank heater would have been a no extra-cost item in the house build). It was installed by plumbers & gas technicians, everything done to code & per Bosch instructions etc. etc. Because I had been hearing for years about how great these on-demand water heaters are. It was never good, never mind great. But since I had heard all the stuff about these water heaters it must have just been me, right? Right from the start one had to turn taps to full hot & then play with the cold tap to adjust for correct temperature. I was NEVER able to set the water temperature to what I wanted while showering. I always had to play with the tap so the water was too cool & then it would get too hot....repeat. The tap that was really driving me nuts though, especially for the past year or so is the kitchen tap which is located almost exactly above the heater, the hot water line looks to be less that 10-feet long. That tap has a single handle so of course full hot would be selected as described. It would take about 5-minutes, timed more than once, to get warm & then hot. If washing a glass or dish I'd adjust the tap to comfortable-on-the-hands temperature, less than hot. After a few minutes, three or four, the water would start to get cold so I'd move the tap back to the full hot position.....the water would continue cooling, to ice cold temperature or watever the temp is at 295-feet deep, & stay like that for about four minutes before it would slowly start to warm up again until it got hot. If anyone doesn't think that's enough to drive one nuts look at your watch & time three minutes. Then put your hand under some running water & time that for three or four minutes....try five. Feels really long, doesn't it? The people at the local service provider, who used to be Bosch dealers, have been in my house about five times in the past three years & have done this & that to this thing. Whatever they suggested I did. A house call was $95 right off the bat, before 13% tax After an hour it was their hourly rate in 1/2 hour increments. I had the plumbing altered per their suggestion to install a backwash line. The unit was cleaned & heater lines "de-scaled" (in quotes since there was no scaling). Real long story shorter, I've spent a fair bit of hard-earned on this item. The builder has nothing to do with any of this since any new house warranty had long expired by the time I figured I was going to sort this out. Whan I went to the retailer that supplied the unit they just gave me Bosch's phone number & told me to call them myself (as in "shove off"). I won't bother describing that experience but you all can use your imaginations about trying to talk to a human at some outfit that's spent big bucks to try to make that as difficult as possible. I think it was my third time when I decided I better jump through all the hoops & do all the waiting in order to get help. Suffice to say they were no help at all, but I did get a customer number. No one carries Bosch around here any more. No one. I was considering another brand of these things, ones that required less flow to activate the heater since I thought that might be the problem, when I heard the strangest thing. Working overnight one time I was moaning about the water heater to my workmate, & mentioned about how these are so well-liked in Europe. My workmate was Dutch...... & he said that in Holland they don't use them any more. Apparently he had talked to his father who lives there & yes, he'd replaced his on-demand heater with a tank & most of his neighbours had as well & that on-demand heaters were kind of passe there. I don't know what the person that said that we're the last ones that still use tanks is talking about. After talking with a propane expert about the propane requirement difference between a tank heater & an on-demand heater I got another bit of information that got me thinking. And I don't believe that it's just a "Bosch" thing. I could be wrong but after crunching the numbers & determining BTU's consumed, to me it doesn't appear so. My wife suggested we just change to the brand of on-demand heater at Home Depot with their warranty etc. but I was having none of it. And for conecaster's advice? I'm done with throwing good money after bad. So I'm not going to be installing recirculating lines & buffer tanks or anything else to try & get this to work properly. After all wasn't simplicity one of the on-demand water heater's selling points? Think about it for three seconds. Right now I'm looking at my new tank heater sitting beside that on-demand unit & I get a really good feeling. Tank rupturing? You've got to be kidding me if you think I'm going to worry about that. To my mind that's a non-issue. Matter-of -fact the first I've heard of it is a few posts up, & I know tons of people that have tank water heaters....TONS. When I get that on-demand heater off my wall I'm going to try to get $10 for it on Kijiji. If no luck with that I'm going to use it for target practice. Sorry about the novella....See MoreCan anyone suggest fast growing trees suitable for dry warm climates?
Comments (7)Thank you very much for taking time to send me the info. There seem to be a few trees with the "Fresno" label, but I wasn't sure which one you were referring to from their various characteristic. See here: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives./indexcommon.htm. If you narrow it down, do let me know. Cheers....See MoreChanging the facade -House in Chicago (cold winters and hot summers)
Comments (23)I can't help with the design but I think you are on the right track—it looks like a great home.We live near Chicago and our living room has 2 windows 8x7 feet and a sliding door 12x7. We recently replaced them with units made by Marvin Windows and they are very tight and snug in the winter. Our utility bill is not sky high. They are an immense improvement (aesthetically and efficiency-wise) over the 1970 aluminum sliding doors made by a shower door company that were originally installed. When they were closed you could stick your fingers through the gaps....See MoreEngineered wood for dry climate
Comments (9)I live In the desert, (Southern Calif), and we were also concerned about our dry climate when we installed our floors. We talked to the owner of the flooring store about it, and he says they've never had any issues with any of the engineered wood they sell. We picked engineered hickory, and we haven't had any problems whatsoever with it. We have one kitty with claws, and she hasn't scratched it once. We've had it about 6 months, and I couldn't be happier with it!...See Morefragrancenutter
6 years agoLynn-in-TX-Z8b- Austin Area/Hill Country
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agofragrancenutter thanked Lynn-in-TX-Z8b- Austin Area/Hill CountryLynn-in-TX-Z8b- Austin Area/Hill Country
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6 years agonoseometer...(7A, SZ10, Albuquerque)
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6 years agofragrancenutter
6 years agoLynn-in-TX-Z8b- Austin Area/Hill Country
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agofragrancenutter
6 years agoLynn-in-TX-Z8b- Austin Area/Hill Country
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agofragrancenutter thanked Lynn-in-TX-Z8b- Austin Area/Hill Countryfragrancenutter
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nanadollZ7 SWIdaho