First-World Problems...

Heating season is upon us here in The People's Republic of New Jersey! Well, to be precise...heating+cooling season, but that's not the point.

The point is that people with steam heat need to do a bit of maintenance every year. Cleaning the burners of accumulated dust and such, making sure the exhaust damper is working, and a few other things. It's not difficult or time-consuming, and it provides a bit of confidence that the system isn't going to fail when it gets really cold.

One other thing to do is to drain the old cruddy water from the system. My boiler has a valve close to the floor, and access to it is of course a bit of a contortionist's act. But all you do is attach a hose to the valve and run it into the sump. Easy-peasy!

So what did I do for more time than I would like to admit? I carefully turned the garden hose female coupler counterclockwise onto the male end of the valve. My first thought was that I had it at the wrong angle, so I tucked up under the maze of the piping into an even more contorted and weird position. Yet even that didn't work! It finally dawned on me that I was using my weak hand at a weird angle, and yup...righty-tighty, lefty-loosy.

Yeah...Ace isn't the only one!

posted by CBD at 02:00 PM

| Access Comments