OCR Text |
Show SCIENCE IN THE HOME - 1 With Gloria Walker 1 Gloria Walker is Homeowner Consultant at the Weil-McLain School of Better Heating Dear Miss Walker: The cost of heating our new house last winter seemed much too high. Friends tell us that additional insulation would "pay for itself." What do you think? W.D. DEAR W.D.: jfl affects the S amount of heat HMl windows and flllly weatherstrip- ping are so Glorio Walke' important for economical heat. But you can have too much of a good thing extra-thick insulation and doors or windows win-dows which are sealed too tightly reduce the amount of fresh outside air that must enter en-ter your home to allow proper ventilation. If your house is too tight, air movement is restricted. restrict-ed. Room air becomes "dead" and stifling, and cooking odors linger. There are established standards of house construction construc-tion that allow your house to "breathe." I suggest that you talk to your heating contractor before you make a decision. Dear Miss Walker: There's a warm air register in my living liv-ing room floor exactly where I want to put our new sofa. Can it be moved? L. F. DEAR L.F.: Unless your house is on a concrete slab, with the heating ductwork built into the slab, it's probable that the duct and register can be moved. But expect it to be expensive and messy. Meanwhile, you can plan ahead to avoid this problem in your next house or when you decide to remodel. Warm air heating systems must have registers to distribute heated air and return cooler air to the furnace. This creates obvious decorating limitations like the one you're facing now. Electric-resistance systems also hamper decorating freedom free-dom because of high temperatures. tempera-tures. Manufacturers usually recommend, for instance, that drapes be hung at least six inches above the resistance baseboard panels. With a hydronic (hot water) system, there are no grilles and no excessive temperatures. You can install wall-to-wall carpeting if you like, and furniture furni-ture can be located anywhere in the room right up to the baseboard. Drapes can be hung to within an inch of the floor. So that my readers can plan ahead, I'll be happy to send all of you free copies of our booklets, book-lets, "How To Choose a Heating Heat-ing System for Your Home" and "How To Modernize Your Home Heating System." Just send a postcard with your return re-turn address to me, Gloria Walker, Weil-McLain Company, Com-pany, Michigan City, Indiana 46360. Dear Miss Walker: Just how long should a heating system last before it needs major re-repairs? re-repairs? R. M. DEAR R.M.: It depends on the type of heating system you have. A hydronic (hot water) system with a cast iron boiler will ordinarily serve 35 years or more, both because of the tough material of which it is made and the minimum number num-ber of moving parts. A warm air furnace, which has far more moving parts and requires regular cleaning and frequent changing of air filters, will normally last 10 to 15 years, with major repairs a possibility possibil-ity at some earlier point. Electric-resistance heating is relatively rela-tively new and its length of life cannot yet be predicted. |