new house, new maintenace questions

[Anonymous]

I have a new house. Two new things I've encountered:

1) I now have a heat pump instead of a furnace and air conditioner. Do heat pumps require the same sort of annual maintenance contract as a furnace? I would assume so but someone did tell me they don't require as much vigilance.

2) Along those lines, I have some razzle-dazzle electric filter thingamajig on the heat pump. I don't have the first clue how to clean it -- my furnace had box filters that were replaced every couple of months. I suppose I could Google this (and I will) but wondering if anyone has any experience with this.

3) I have two outside faucets. They don't appear to be the frost-free variety, but I cannot tell for sure. What bugs me is I'm not 100 percent sure where the shutoff valve is for one of them, and other doesn't even appear to be on now. I've looked all over the house and think I've identified the valve that operates the one that's shut off already, but I am embarrassed that I cannot find the valve for the other one. I need to deal with this before winter. Any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Were you asleep during your home inspection?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Were you asleep during your home inspection?

Are you always this obnoxious, or only when you can hide behind a cloak of anonymidity? Because that was really over-the-top rude. Fuck you.

[Anonymous]

did you have a home inspection? were you there? the question was inelegantly phrased but the substance is not out of bounds ... this is the kind of thing any competent home inspection should cover even if you don't ask.

[Anonymous]

Don't know about your first two questions, but as far as the outside faucets, you can buy covers for them at Home Depot or Lowe's. Many a winter they prevented our pipes from freezing, but if we get a really cold spell, you want to find the shut off valve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:did you have a home inspection? were you there? the question was inelegantly phrased but the substance is not out of bounds ... this is the kind of thing any competent home inspection should cover even if you don't ask.

No, DH handled the home inspection and is now deployed in Afghanistan. I'll look at the report.

The question wasn't inelegantly phrased. It had a tone of "what kind of idiot are you?" which was highly condescending, annoying, and unnecessary. I just hope the PP who wrote it works out his or her latent hostility with a good therapist.

[Anonymous]

The raging bitch from 18:59 here. See, this is what I find so ridiculous about this site. Someone asks a question that's chock-full of all their woes but very light on solutions they've tried. Someone else points out that the information they're desperately seeking is/already was available from Common Sense Source A. And it's only then that the OP pulls back and cries foul because we somehow didn't put on our mind-reading cloaks and instantly guess her Very Special Circumstances.

OP, I dearly hope your husband comes home safe and comes home soon. But was a simple "I was not at the inspection and can't easily access the findings" have been too much trouble?

[Anonymous]

1) Heat pumps are not as potentially dangerous as a gas furnace (don't work as well in severe cold, either, but that's another story), but they do need annual maintenance. You don't want to "discover" a problem when it stops working in the middle of a cold snap. Plus the folks you have a contract with will usually come more quickly when you really need them.

2) In my experience, electronic air filters have metal filters that pull out and can be cleaned with soap and water.

3) Not all faucets have shut-off valves. They make foam covers for faucets that you can buy at the hardware store, if you can't figure out how to turn off the water. You can also let them drip (very slowly) when there's a hard freeze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The raging bitch from 18:59 here. See, this is what I find so ridiculous about this site. Someone asks a question that's chock-full of all their woes but very light on solutions they've tried. Someone else points out that the information they're desperately seeking is/already was available from Common Sense Source A. And it's only then that the OP pulls back and cries foul because we somehow didn't put on our mind-reading cloaks and instantly guess her Very Special Circumstances.

OP, I dearly hope your husband comes home safe and comes home soon. But was a simple "I was not at the inspection and can't easily access the findings" have been too much trouble?

you are a raving bitch. get some therapy for your aggression. you could have said "that should have been covered in your inspection, check the report." No, YOU said "were you ASLEEP during your inspection"

Seriously, what kind of cunt are you?

[Anonymous]

you are a raving bitch.

Actually, I copped to being a raGing bitch. Have remained perfectly lucid throughout this thread.

get some therapy for your aggression.

Will do.

Seriously, what kind of cunt are you?

May I share my therapist's contact info with you? Or you can always check the report I provide; the number should be available there.

[Anonymous]

OP, you're the bitch. Calm the F down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you're the bitch. Calm the F down.

Posting multiple times to create the illusion of support now are we?

[Anonymous]

18:59 again. Sock puppeting is not among my crimes. I don't think I've ever used profanity in my discussion here. And I've identified my posts every time.

Now if the person who has called me a bitch and a cunt and told me to go fuck myself would like to clarify which posts were hers and which were... what was it... "creating the illusion of support," we might be getting somewhere.

Or the OP could just go use her time to search out that shutoff valve and make sure it's operating correctly. The old-fashioned gate valves wear out over time, you know. And in my opinion, that's the better time to break out the profanity of which you seem to be so fond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:18:59 again. Sock puppeting is not among my crimes. I don't think I've ever used profanity in my discussion here. And I've identified my posts every time.

Now if the person who has called me a bitch and a cunt and told me to go fuck myself would like to clarify which posts were hers and which were... what was it... "creating the illusion of support," we might be getting somewhere.

Or the OP could just go use her time to search out that shutoff valve and make sure it's operating correctly. The old-fashioned gate valves wear out over time, you know. And in my opinion, that's the better time to break out the profanity of which you seem to be so fond.

I kind of see OP's point though. The last time I had a conversation like this it was with my 7 yo, minus the profanity. In that case, she, too, was copping to her bad behavior but blaming someone else for it. Your whole spiel "ok, i was a raving bitch, but you MADE me be a bitch" would set me off too.

[Anonymous]

If you can see a brand and a model name or number on the heat pump, seach online for the owner's manual--that should help with the filter cleaning. If you have someone come out to inspect/tune up the heat pump, they should be able to show you how to clean the filter.

If you have a friend/relative who is handy, see if you can talk them into looking for the shut-off valve just in case you're overlooking it. PPs had good advice to keep it from freezing. Sometime you might want to replace it with a frost-free one if you don't have a shut-off valve.