This Old House Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning: A Guide to the Invisible Comforts of Your Home

Trethewey, familiar to watchers of TV's ``This Old House'' show, is that master plumber who solves home heating and cooling problems, turning basic but complex matters into entertaining visual essays. Now, Best ( Cut Your Bills in Half: Thousands of Tips to Save Thousands of Dollars ) helps to translate such projects into a book filled with cautionary tales, charts and drawings which grant instant access to the house's inner workings. It's a helpful guide, spanning mechanisms from electric fans to boiler systems. The authors explain different levels of comfort for various geographic locales, habits and changing standards of energy conservation, writing with appropriate cost consciousness in mind. They use examples of actual houses to illustrate problems and convey suggestions. Since the average do-it-yourselfer can't do the work that's meant for licensed plumbers, the book limits our tasks mainly to maintenance, while educating us in matters beyond our competence. Reading may confirm suspicions that we are victims of careless workmanship, incompetence and planned obsolescence. And, ironically, the book could encourage the homeowner to become the contractor's nightmare--the know-it-all who hangs over the workers' shoulders dispensing unwanted advice and watching for mistakes. But it is worthwhile. Photos not seen by PW. (Jan.)