Mailbag

Some letters from our mailbag:

Q: We have large hot air wall registers that have become unsightly, over time and we are figuring out a way to change them to something newer. Do you have any ideas?

A. I believe that your house originally had a gravity hot air system. These were used before blowers and fans were available. Therefore to get enough heat into the house you had to run very large round duct usually 8-10" in diameter. Large wall registers were installed in the wall to release the hot air into the room. Large floor grilles brought the cold air back to the heating system. These old systems usually were fired with coal or wood in the early days then later converted to oil and even natural gas.

If you want to change these to the modern style which are 3x10 or 4x10 floor registers then some minor duct modifications will have to be done and these new floor vents will go under a window on an outside wall. Because you now have a fan forced system 5" or 6" diameter duct is all you should require. Floor vents are available in a wide range of colours and are available in plastic/steel or brass.

The wall can be patched where the old register is and the trim at the bottom can be obtained at a lumber supply outlet.

Q. Recently, two weeks ago we had close to 12" of water in our basement. We have a gas fireplace down there and we are wondering if we should have it inspected. What should we do?

A. I would assume that with that much water you will be submitting a claim to your insurance company, provided you do have flood insurance. If the fireplace is sitting on the floor then the bottom may have been submerged. Once a gas valve has been submerged in water it must be changed. The water will damage the gas valve and prevent it from operating safely. I would suggest you place a call to your fireplace dealer to inspect the fireplace and gas valve for signs of water damage. The gas tubing may also have to be removed and properly dried out if the water was high enough.

Q. Our 10 year old frost free fridge has started making noises like a fan scraping against something when the freezer door is opened. What could be causing this?

A. Frost free fridges have freed us from the labour of defrosting them manually because they do it automatically. I suspect that your defrost timer may not be operating properly causing too much frosting and ice to build up on the evaporator fan which blows the cold air around in the freezer. This is a job best left for a refrigeration technician to work on as it requires panels to be removed in the freezer and in the compressor compartment of the fridge, to investigate the problem. The drain holes may also be blocked in the evaporator and may need cleaning.