Home Heating - Furnaces to Space Heaters, Inspections are Important

The thought of snow, cold and blowing winds lead to thoughts of warm blankets, furnaces and glowing fires. Home heating is a very important subject in most parts of the country, everything from furnaces to space heaters are used to keep the house toasty warm for our return from the "frozen tundra."

The heating sources that are used can lead to dire consequences if used improperly. Space heaters, for example are responsible for numerous house fires every year. The use of these devises for home heating requires responsibility and constant awareness of the safety issues they present. However, the use of space heaters can be a way to lower heating costs when the price of heating fuel rises by allowing you to use electricity instead.

When shopping for a space heater look for a model that stays cool to the touch and that has a wide base. These two options will make the heater safer to operate. Never use a space heater around a child, even if that child is asleep, the effect of a burn from the unit can be devastating. The chance of a child waking up and stumbling into the heater causing it to tip over and catch on fire is too great to risk.

When preparing your home heating plan for the winter season, it is not enough just to turn the furnace on and hope for the best, it needs to be serviced on a yearly basis to ensure its safety and reliability. Without this inspection, you could, literally be playing with fire.

The furnace inspection will consist of a visual inspection, cleaning of the furnace, detection of carbon monoxide (CO) as well as the checking the burner, ducts and pilot light. This is a short list of what an inspection consists of, but is a good indicator of what to expect when the licensed professional knocks on your door.

The visual portion of the inspection will help to detect any cracks that may exist in the heat exchanger. These cracks may result in the leakage of carbon monoxide fumes into the home. The flue will also be tested for the reason of detecting carbon monoxide (CO) gasses that may leak from the furnace. To be on the safe side, it is best to install a carbon monoxide (CO) detector in the main sleeping areas of the home to warn of a possible danger.

The inspectors will also be cleaning the furnace ducts of dust that has accumulated throughout the summer. Dust can be combustible therefore, it is necessary to remove it before starting the furnace. The burner and pilot light will also be inspected to ensure that they are working properly.

Follow these tips when heating your home this winter and sleep peacefully at night knowing that you have done you duty to protect your family, when they are snuggled in their beds as well.

Linda Moore writes on a variety of subjects including home ownership, family matters, travel, personal enrichment, lowering your heating bills and home air purifiers

Building A Hobby Crucible Furnace

Efficient melting of metal in the hobby foundry requires a simple, but well designed, easy to operate melting furnace. A well-designed furnace does not necessarily mean it will be expensive to build, or that it is complicated to construct and operate.

If you're just beginning your metal casting journey, there will be a multitude of questions that will need to be answered; and if you follow some simple methods, your learning curve will be dramatically reduced.

A well-built furnace will take you another step along the path to being able to maintain an important piece of equipment for your hobby foundry set up. Without an efficient furnace your hobby metal casting experience could well be one of total frustration & disappointment.

It is possible to build a furnace from scrap materials found around the workshop. This is not to say that it will look trashy, or poorly made, the point being made here is that you do not need to build everything from new materials. The only material you will need to buy is the special high temperature resistant refractory to line the furnace walls with, plus a few brass connectors from the local plumber for the gas feed line and some brass rod to custom-make your own special gas jet for the burner. The rest you can quite easily make yourself if you have metal working skills.

One of the biggest problems the hobby foundry worker has to overcome, is to acquire the knowledge to build a high-energy output burner, the subject of burners can raise many arguments amongst hobby foundry workers, and there is a straightforward solution to building an efficient burner, by following simple instructions any practical person can fabricate an efficient burner that will quickly melt metals such as aluminium and bronze without effort. The process to build a high output furnace burner is really quite simple, but there are a few small parts that need to be machined on a lathe.

If you don't have the luxury of a lathe in your workshop, perhaps a friend can help you out. Although, many hobby metal workers do own a metal lathe these days, it is almost a must have for the average home engineer in this ever-increasing DIY age. You will also need a MIG or ARC welder (Max 180 Amp) to fabricate the furnace.

Be very careful with your gas pipe & joint connections, although there are no great line pressures involved with the gas feed to the burner, but any small leak could lead to the possibility of a dangerous explosion.

Propane gas expands between sixty and one hundred times once exposed to air. So be aware, gas is the most efficient fuel you can use to fire a crucible furnace, but it can also be an extremely dangerous material. You need to follow any building instructions carefully and not be tempted to take any shortcuts as they may lead to personal injury.

If you are a resourceful, practical person, you could build your own crucible furnace for less than $70.00US, this is a mere fraction of the cost of a commercial unit, and should be equally as efficient, and provide many years of reliable melting service.

Like many things in life, you can learn from established proven methods, or you can spend many months floundering around by yourself, not knowing what to do. To dramatically reduce your journey to metal casting success; learn from fourteen years of metal casting success, visit our web site now. http://www.myhomefoundry.com