My Pilot Light Won’t Stay Lit – What Now?
February 23, 2012 | 
Author I went to a Heating and Air Conditioning customer’s home the other day. They had called me to tell me that their heater was not coming on. It is December and getting colder in northern California. I am a compassionate guy so I headed over there after I finished with my regular job.
I arrived at the home and went to where the heater is located in a closet in the home. (yours maybe in the attic, basement, or garage) I removed the door and found a 30 year old Heating unit. This unit has a standing pilot light, a flame that burns continuously, and it was not lit. After trying to light the pilot light unsuccessfully I determined that pilot light would not stay lit.
The older Heating furnaces with standing pilot lights have a thermocouple, that is designed to sense the pilot light flame. That is how the pilot stays lit when you remove your hand from the dial, while trying to relight the pilot. If the thermocouple fails the pilot will not stay lit and the burners will not light so the furnace will not heat the house. You can visually check the thermocouple as well as the pilot flame. Look at the pilot flame while holding the knob in the start position.
1. Is the pilot flame floating (if it is have a Heating serviceperson check the gas valve)
2. Is the copper lead bent or kinked
3. Is the thermocouple insulation damaged
4. Is the thermocouple tip dirty
You can clean the tip by lightly sanding it. Also make sure it has not slid down out of the flame. If you feel the flame is aimed properly and the thermocouple is clean and there are no visible signs of damage then damage is on the inside, remove it. You can take it to an appliance parts and service dealer where they will sell you the correct part or you can call a heating service person to come replace it for you.
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How to Convert a Wood Or Gas Fireplace to an Electric Fireplace
Converting an existing wood or gas fireplace to a clean and energy efficient electric fireplace is simple and easy. You don’t need the skills of a mason, a cabinetmaker, or an electrician to enjoy the comfort and ambiance provided by an electricity powered fireplace. These units are delivered to your door ready to be installed and enjoyed for many years to come. If you can open a box and plug in an electrical cord, you have all the skills you will need to convert a wood or gas fireplace to an electric fireplace.
Many people are afraid to try new ideas, simply because they are new. The uncertainties that come with trying to install something yourself can be intimidating. Installing an electricity powered fireplace in your apartment, condo, or home is as simple as plugging in a blender or a coffeemaker. At the same time, you will enjoy clean, inexpensive, supplemental heat for your home while enjoying all of the ambiance of a real fire.
Eliminate the Mess and Worry of a Wood Fireplace
Certainly, wood fireplaces have their appeal. The smell of a wood fire, the crackling burn of logs on a grate, and the sight of smoke rising from the chimney are all big attractions. At the same time, your wood fireplace can be pretty demanding. Cords of wood must be purchased, stored, and brought into the home. Very often, this means spiders, earwigs, and termites are also brought into your home. If the wood gets wet, you must go without a fire until it dries.
Once you have enjoyed your fire, the ashes must be collected and disposed of without causing a fire risk to your home or the neighborhood. Also, in this day of environmental awareness and responsibility, the smoke and other emissions must be considered. Creosote, which can build up in your chimney, must be removed by a professional to avoid the risk of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning. Once the winter has passed, your wood fireplace will go unused for most of the year.
Gas Fireplaces are Not without Risks
Gas fireplaces provide a greater measure of convenience than wood fireplaces, but they also carry their own risks. Gas fireplace pilot lights must be maintained and there are always concerns about gas leaks and venting problems. These maintenance requirements demand the use of a skilled professional to ensure your safety, adding extra cost to your gas fireplace.
Gas fireplaces generally cost 17 to 24 cents per hour to operate, whereas electric fireplaces provide realistic looking flames for about 3 cents per hour and flames with heat for around 8 to 12 cents an hour. Over time, one of these fireplaces can pay for itself while providing you with years of realistic looking flames, convenience, and comfortable heat.
These Inserts are Easy to Install
Electric fireplace inserts are easily installed in existing wood or gas fireplaces without any sort of renovation. You do not need a contractor or any other assistance. When your electric unit arrives, you simply open the box, place it in your existing fireplace opening, and plug it in. It has no maintenance requirements and you have the added convenience of being able to start your fireplace from the comfort of your easy chair with a remote.
The flame technology used in these fireplaces provides you with all of the ambiance of a real fire without any of the mess, inconvenience, or risks. Your electricity powered fireplace can provide supplemental heat for up to 400 square feet with 4700 BTUs per hour, allowing you to lower your thermostat and your heating bill. Electric fireplace logs and ember beds provide an attractive ambiance and you can operate your electric unit with or without heat.
The Flexibility of Fire with or without Heat
Unlike wood and gas fireplaces, you can enjoy sitting in front of your electric fireplace logs at any time of the year. These fireplaces allow you to operate the flame and heat independently of each other for year round enjoyment. You can use the flame alone if you want the ambiance of a fire without the heat, even in the middle of summer. Obviously, this is not possible with wood or gas.
Fireplaces serve as a wonderful gathering place, providing warmth and other comforts to family, friends, and visitors. Your realistic looking electric fireplace logs and ember bed will provide you with everything good about a fireplace without any of the negatives. Your fireplace can be installed in a matter of minutes and turned on with the push of a button. You get the best of both worlds with an electric fireplace and a lower cost. Once you discover the ease, convenience, and ambiance that this type of fireplace provides, you may very well decide to invest in a freestanding fireplace for some other part of your home. Furniture quality Amish fireplaces, modern corner units, and every style in between are available for your comfort and enjoyment.
Tags: How Solar Electricity Can Save You Money – And Make You Some Too
In rural areas particularly, the cost of drawing from the nearest power grid far exceeds the cost of solar panel power, and the gap is increasing fast. And more and more many households in all sorts of areas – rural, suburban, and urban alike – are turning to home solar panel system as a source of backup power in case of a blackout or other emergency.
The cost of solar panel power per kilowatt hour is admittedly not the absolute cheapest of renewable energies – at around $0.55 per kWh as compared with $0.05 for wind or $0.06 for micro-hydroelectric, for example – but it’s still markedly cheaper than paying the power company (especially with rate increases as much as 10% per year), providing of course – and here’s the key: that you do it right.
If you’re considering installing solar power in your home, then first things first: keep in mind that if you’re planning for solar power to provide for all your home’s energy needs, the cost of solar panel may take a significant up-front investment.
With the cost of solar panel alone at $275-$600 for each one, and each solar panel providing somewhere between 50 and 200 watts of power per day (depending on a variety of factors) it’s not always cost-effective to plan to power your entire home exclusively with a home solar panel system.
That said, you can substantially reduce your home energy costs and even put some money back into your pocket by supplementing your existing power sources with a home solar panel.
To figure out the cost of solar panel systems to provide supplemental power to your home, it helps to perform an energy audit of your home, or – put plainly – an assessment of how much power you’d like your solar panel system to generate for you each day. To do this, take a look at the wattage of each of the electrical items that you might run in your home on any given day – microwave, TV, light bulbs, vacuum, refrigerator, fans, A/C, computer, etc., and add it all together.
This can be a very revealing process, especially if you’ve never done it before, and will surely help you to get a clearer idea of which items use the least power and which ones are your biggest energy drainers, and therefore a more accurate clue about your ultimate cost of solar power.
Once you feel you’ve compiled a reasonable list of electrical items you’d like to power with solar energy each day, calculate the cumulative wattage you’d use for all of them over a period of 24 hours. Now you can figure out how many solar panels, and thus the estimated cost of solar panel, you’ll need.
Now if you currently live in a home that is not connected to any power grid, and you’re trying to figure out the cost effectiveness of your energy options, then consider what we’ll call “the half-mile rule”. If the power company has to install more than a half-mile of equipment to get power out to your home, then the cost of solar panel power (or wind or hydro, for that matter) is cheaper straightaway.
If it’s less than a half-mile for them to bring the power out to you, however, then it may be worth getting on the grid. Of course, again, after a few years of rate hikes you may wish you’d paid that cost of solar panel system after all. If, however, you do decide to connect to the power grid, remember that you can still install a smaller solar panel system anyway, one to act as a backup and provide you with supplemental energy. And that cost of solar panel system, obviously, will be much less.
In addition to the cost benefits of solar usage, you also benefit from a cleaner environment (not to mention a cleaner conscience). In fact, the cost of not using solar power – increased pollution and depletion of natural resources – is far greater than any up front cost of solar panel systems.
Finally, the cost of solar panel systems can be inordinately outweighed, as well, by two ways in which it could put money back into your pocket. You can sell to the local power company the excess power your home solar panel generates, if you’re fortunate enough to have any (and in some states, it’s actually required). And for a limited time, anyone in the United States can receive a tax credit on the cost of solar panel systems you install in your home. See the IRS for details.
Homemade Electricity
Is it achievable? Can I really make my homemade electricity at home to reduce the power bill? Yes you can, you can do it by building renewable energy power systems. I mean solar and wind power systems that can be built at home and can easily power all your electrical devices.
Wind and solar energy resources are the best energy alternative resources for our planet. They are clean, cheap and renewable energy resources. Actually, they are free, you just need a simple generators to convert wind and solar to renewable electricity. So, when you build such systems, the electricity will come to you for free.
With such systems, you can easily decrease the power bill by 75% or more, you can totally eliminate it if you build more units. The best thing with building those power systems is you don’t have to be an expert to build them, with a simple instruction guide you can build them in very few hours.
Did you think about this thing before? Do you know how much money you’ll save when you use only one unit? You can easily save $100 every single month; you can save more when you build more units. Building a simple windmill will cost you less than $100, building a solar panel will cost you more “about $200″. Anyway, that amount of money is nothing compared with the amount of money you’ll save.
Making electricity is very achievable, stop losing you money and convert you home to solar and wind power today. Discover the green living, save your money and your environment. Build unite or tow show your friends your unique work, they will love it.
Six Questions to Ask Your Customers If You Want to Close More Sales
In his popular book, How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients, the salesperson who brings in the big dollars, Jeffrey Fox boils down successful sales to asking six questions.
Killer sales question No. 1 “Do you have your appointment calendar on hand?”
Killer sales question No.2 “Would you like to look into the facts and decide for yourself it they make sense?”
Killer sales question No. 3 “Yes, that is a good brand. Would you like to know our points of difference?”
Killer sales question No. 4 “Is there anything else that is keeping you from going ahead?”
Killer sales question No. 5 “Why don’t you give it a try?”
Killer sales question No. 6 “Have we covered everything that is important to you?”
The importance of these questions is what they show about a successful approach to customers. In an impersonal world, where many vendors vie for their attention and sales dollars, they like to feel important. They want to know why buying from you is relevant. How will it save them money? How will it benefit them or their customers? By laying out the benefits and getting them to buy in at every point, by asking their opinion, customers buy and you build a relationship, which lays the groundwork for upcoming sales. That’s the name of the game – ongoing sales.
By asking these types of questions, a good salesperson will find out other useful information. Is there a time of year when customers tend to buy products like yours? What related products do they buy? Who else involved in the buying decision? Who else do they regard as your competitors? If you sell paper products, your competitors are not only those who sell tissue and paper towels but makers of hand dryers and hankies!
To maximize the effectiveness of a sales call, to both get the sale and get more information, good planning is the key. When you ask for the appointment and the prospective customer says “Yes,” the customer has indicated an interest in buying. Even if you are taking the customer to lunch, what is really on the menu is getting the customer closer to a sale. This means you must prepare a written sales call objective and questions to ask. You must come to the table ready to present the benefits and anticipate and respond to customer concerns and objections. At lunch, as Fox points out, you aren’t there to eat, but to get concrete answers to at least the first three killer questions and lay the groundwork for the next steps.
If you keep these six important questions in mind when dealing with customers, have ammunition to provide the answers, and listen to what the customer says, you will close more sales.
Sparkle Paper Towels and Other Paper Towels
Sparkle paper towels are claimed to be made of 100 percent virgin fiber.These towels are used for a number of different purposes in homes and in commercial areas. There are different brands of paper towels aside from Sparkle and they are generally comparative on the absorbent qualities they possess. The thickness of these towels is vital in absorbing moisture and is one of the primary features that set them apart. Sparkle paper towels, like most towels, are made of ingredients used to absorb as much moisture as possible.
To give you a brief history, they were first invented by a person named Arthur Scott. He was the head of the Scott Paper Company.Towels were a result of a mistake he committed while he was processing toilet paper. The rolls had been made too thick and were not able to be used as toilet paper. Scott then sold these to a teacher. These were the first ever to be sold. The product then began to be sold to restaurants, hotels, and even public bathrooms. It had the name Sani-towels. In 1931, Scott sold the first towels used specifically in the kitchen.
They can be used in restaurants, schools, hospitals, and other places. Usually, paper towels are used to wipe up spills. They can also be used to dry your hands after using the bathroom, cleaning windows, furniture, and other surfaces and they are frequently used as table napkins.
Aside from Sparkle paper towels, there are many other popular brands used today. The most popular of these brands include Brawny, Scott, Viva, So-Dri, 7th Generation, and Bounty among others. Towels are usually white. However, some have different designs on them. There are even generic brands that are less expensive, but most are far less absorbent.
Unlike cloth towels, paper towels are disposable and can be thrown away after use. Many people prefer to use paper towels for exactly this reason. However, many people like to use cloth towels because they are more environmental friendly, though that is even debatable since they require constant washing and thus consume a lot of water and energy in the process. The other issue is that these towels are also a potential breeding ground for bacteria because of the moisture they retain after use.
These towels can be bought at discounted prices and to save even more money, you can use towel coupons. You can also opt to buy cheaper generic towels if you like. However, understand that cheaper paper have lesser absorbent capabilities and you will likely use more of them which will partially offset the cost savings. If you are in need of towels which can absorb more moisture, buy the thicker ones.
Sparkle paper towels are useful in many ways. They can be used anywhere – in restaurants, in hotels, in offices, and in homes. However, in order to reduce the use of towels, you can use electric hand dryers in washrooms.
The Advantages of Using Overhead Projectors
Overhead projectors take an important role to help you in doing your presentation. In this case, you will see that the presence of those units will be the best help for you. If you are interested in buying them, it is better for you to know the advantages provided so you will be sure that those can be a good complement for your needs. If you need more information about them, just check this article out.
The first advantage you need to know in these units is to present visual aids. It means that these products will help you to show visual aids during the process of presentation. The aids are usually written on the transparencies so you can provide the best information in a good way because the presentation done can run well. It features the upper mechanism that consists of reflective mirrors and lenses.
Audience reach is the next advantage you have to know while using these products for your needs. It means that those are able to be used to present material for a range of audience sizes so you can make them suitable for your needs. In this case, you must be sure that those units will be fitted from small classes to large business conferences.
User friendly is another good advantage you have to understand very well. It means that those products are really beneficial for simple presentations so you can consider them for your needs.
Easy to use is another consideration you must think about while using them for your demands. In this case, you have to know well that these are easy to use so you do not need to learn more about the process of operating. Since of ease of use provided by them, each of people will be able to operate it very well.
Auditorium Seating
There are a myriad of decisions that need to be made before purchasing seating for an auditorium. Auditorium seating is obviously one of the cornerstones of a good venue. Their aesthetics and comfort level contribute greatly to the overall feel of a venue. Another characteristic of great significance, however, is the acoustic property of the chair.
A poorly constructed chair can wreak havoc on the acoustics of an auditorium space. With acoustic engineers dedicating a significant amount of design time to how walls are constructed or the layout of acoustic panels that are placed on those walls, they sometimes overlook the seats themselves which cover a large portion of the auditorium. Few items in the venue will have as much of an impact on the quality of an auditorium’s acoustics as the chairs.
Mitigating the challenges that come with attempting to create an acoustically sound environment means working with a seating solution that will address acoustics in two ways, first is when the seat is occupied and second is when it is not occupied. When the bottom of a chair is folded up it will have entirely different acoustic properties than when someone is sitting in it. Engineers use, for example, wood backings under the chairs with evenly spaced holes to minimize sound wave reverberation. The foam padding employed in the seat is another area of importance to be considered. Most qualified chair manufacturers will list the acoustic properties of their chairs in terms of “absorption coefficients”. This number is a great way for engineers to determine how their chair is going to perform once installed. Typically these figures will be attained by performing tests in a certified reverberation room laboratory.
Testing methods employed should be according to ASTM C423-90a and E795-92. The laboratory will test at a series of different frequencies, recording the absorption sabins per unit at each frequency to determine the acoustic properties. It can prove useful to test both an occupied and unoccupied seat. The greater the chair’s ability to absorb sound waves, the better it will be for your venue. Chairs that reverberate a great deal of sound end up distorting the sound being produced by the performance or presentation in your venue, decreasing clarity and the quality of your auditorium.
Finding the best auditorium seating for your project isn’t just about looks. The acoustic properties of your chair go a long way in determining how successful your project will ultimately be.
What Causes Left Arm Shoulder Pain?
Left arm shoulder pain is one type of pain that can surely affect work. It even impedes one from functioning normally. In fact, people affected with this problem usually find it hard to perform even the simplest activities of daily living like taking a bath, or driving. The causes of this pain may be very simple and obvious or deadly and discreet. Here’s some of the most common pain triggers.
Starting off with the most serious, one should always suspect an underlying heart problem when experiencing left arm shoulder pain. It is better to expect the worst, than ignore it and then regret in the end. Heart problems or heart conditions, such as angina, or the crushing feeling in the heart may be felt as a pain that is radiating to the left shoulder down to the left arm. A heart attack, even if it’s the most minor, can also be felt as a dull or shooting pain travelling from the left shoulder distally to the arm. So first thing to do, consider going to the doctor and get heart conditions ruled-out as the cause of the pain.
Now that the heart is not the problem, one can assess the usual activities one does at work or at home. An overused shoulder limited to the left body region specifically to the shoulder and arm can evolve into a very painful sensation. Assess if work and home activities include excessive stretching, flexing, extending or rotating. If they do, try minimizing these actions, or at least making both left and right shoulder do the work than isolating it only to the left area.
Bad position and improper body mechanics can also lead to left arm shoulder pain. Bad positioning includes the posture one holds while sleeping. It also involves the prolonged position one usually hold for a long time at work, such as leaning on the left side for hours, among others.
If the left arm shoulder pain is characterized as dull and heavy, it may be due to chronic stress. Although it seems harmless, stress can take its toll on the body by representing itself as a painful sensation anywhere in the body. In this case, it may be come in the form of pain in the left arm and shoulder.
Obvious fracture, strong force, or damaging injury can also make the left arm and shoulder painful. This is because when blood and other cellular components escape through the muscles, the area becomes swollen and sore. One can also try checking for nerve impingement in the left arm and shoulder. A trapped nerve can be due to a growth, a cyst, or a chronic inflammation, that is constantly pressing the nerve, making it very painful.
The list of the causes of left arm shoulder pain doesn’t end here. There are other reasons why left arm and shoulder aches. The important thing is to make sure that the pain is not due to a life-threatening heart condition. At least it is a relief, although not from pain.
What You Should Know Before You Throw Your Vera Bradley Bags in the Washing Machine
Do you experience this problem with your Vera Bradley bags? They need cleaned long before they wear out, picking up dirt and stains from everyday use. If there was one downside to quality, I guess that would be it. However, fortunately, there may be an easy fix. Did you know that some styles are machine washable?
Take a look inside your handbag. If you can locate the tag, there may be simple washing instructions. For example, mine states the following: “100% cotton. Machine wash cool gentle cycle. Do not bleach. Line dry.”
These are fairly standard instructions for handbags made from cotton fabric. However, some products from the Vera Bradley collection are not machine washable, including purses made from silk and microfiber. Spot cleaning is the recommended method for cleaning bags made from these types of materials.
If you determine that your bag is made from cotton and decide to machine wash it, there are a few things that you should consider before you throw it in your machine:
1. What detergent are you using?
First, take a look at the detergent. If you are using the one that you normally use to wash your household laundry, you should not have a problem. If you are tempted to use a special detergent, perhaps the one that you use to wash your delicates, take a closer look at the label. Some detergents, such as Woolite for Delicates, are formulated to work with certain types of fabric, and are not suitable for washing cottons.
2. Does your purse have a baseboard?
Many Vera Bradley bags have a baseboard at the bottom. Even though the baseboard may be covered in the same material as your purse, the inner material which helps it keep its shape is not. Make sure you remove the baseboard prior to putting the bag in the washing machine. If necessary, you can spot clean the baseboard to keep it looking new.
3. Not all products made with cotton fabric are machine washable.
Many of the Vera Bradley accessories, such as wallets made from cotton fabric, may have directions to spot clean only. This is because there are other materials also used to manufacturer them. Wallets, for example, may have inserts sewn into their lining to help them hold their shape, and the lining itself may be made from a fabric other than the cotton used on the exterior. In this situation, spot cleaning is the recommended method for getting rid of stains and other spots.
4. Adhere to the drying instructions.
To avoid fading and shrinking, line drying is the recommended method for drying Vera Bradley bags. If your purse feels stiff after line drying, you may want to fluff it by placing it in the dryer on a cool or air dry setting for a just few minutes.
Following these few simple points, you should be able to keep your favorite handbags looking like new with the help of your washing machine.