Today's Feature

Committee Ponders Upgrade.

The Budget/Ways and Means Committee will meet this evening at 7:00 in Council Chambers of City Hall. Items on the agenda include discussion about a possible computer system upgrade for the City.

At the previous Budget meeting the committee heard a presentation from a representative of Ultreya, a computer and networking analysis group which sought to find areas of strength and areas which needed improvement in the computers used by City employees. After a lengthy presentation highlighting several improvement options that varied greatly in expense and time investment, the committee made plans to discuss the item and find the most feasible alternative before taking any action.

Financing for the addition to the Carthage Public Library is also on the agenda for the committee. The previous discussion of the library additions saw conflict, as the committee tried to determine whether interest on a loan issued to the library for construction should be classified as an operational cost, the payment of which would be the responsibility of the City.

If I remember my high school science, smoke is not a product of combustion, smoke is a product of incomplete combustion. Unfortunately when most folks burn leaves, there is an abundance of incomplete combustion. In other words smoke doesn’t come from burnin’ leaves, it comes from not burnin’ leaves.

I doubt that my routine would be modified to any great extent if the City would ban leaf burnin’. What would be a bother is if we couldn’t burn the twigs and small limbs that seem to accumulate on the lawn year ‘round.

Most, by the time they hit the ground, are dead wood and dry enough to burn with a nice clean flame. They are not big smoke producers and typically don’t burn for long. They might even produce a golden brown marshmallow or two. Save the twig fire.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

This Is A Hammer

By Samantha Mazzotta

It’s Time to Check Furnace’s Pilot Light

Q: A friend told me that the pilot light on my gas heater needs to be cleaned. How do I do this? — Taylor D., Anniston, Ala.

A: In a forced-air gas furnace, the pilot light is the item everything else depends on. Not only does it light the gas flowing through the burners, but its efficiency can save money and improve the quality of the heated air entering your home. So, inspecting and adjusting the pilot light mechanism is an important task at the start of the heating season.

Two elements play a role in the proper functioning of a heater’s pilot light: the pilot jet, which controls the amount of gas that exits the gas line, and the thermocouple, which creates an electrical charge from the heat of the pilot light and keeps the flame burning.

Check the pilot light by removing the main furnace access panel. If you can’t see it, turn off the gas supply to the pilot and wait 10 minutes for the control unit to cool down. Then remove the pilot cover and relight the pilot, following the instructions on the control housing or the access panel.

A good flame is steady, blue at the bottom and yellow at the tip, and it should cover one-half inch of the end of the thermocouple (a metal rod positioned at the mouth of the pilot light). If the flame is all blue and barely touches the thermocouple, it is too weak; if the flame is noisy and "lifts off" of the pilot, it’s too strong. Use a small screwdriver to turn the pilot adjustment screw, located either on the control housing or the gas valve.

If the pilot light just won’t stay lit, the thermocouple may be the culprit. The thermocouple is attached to a coil of copper tubing that is thinner than the gas supply line (silver/metallic tubing). To replace this part, turn off the gas supply and use an open-ended wrench to loosen the thermocouple tube’s fitting from the control housing. Then, unscrew the thermocouple from the pilot housing. Install the new thermocouple.

Once the pilot light is healthy, turn the heater on and inspect the burner flame. It should be blue to bluish-green with occasional streaks of yellow. Put on protective gloves and adjust the air shutter at the end of the burner tube so the flame burns correctly.