440

It’s been a very chilly, snowy, and gray winter. Oil prices have soared and simply trying to stay comfortable has wreaked havoc on the budget. Because we are certain that this is the last winter here, it’s all about just getting through it (vs. investing in long term improvements.) Our strategy is: close off Bedroom 1 & 2 and Bathroom 1 and live in the rest of the house. Bundle up, soak up the sun whenever it shines (rare these days), close all drapes after dark, and sit by a toasty fire just about every night. Spring can’t come soon enough!

A pellet/corn/etc stove would be great because it doesn’t involve fossil fuels. But, installing a freestanding unit would be tricky due to the floor plan and expensive. Doing it as an insert would cut down on costs but take away the pleasure of a wood burning fireplace. Either way, future owners may not want the hassle of it. Same goes for a wood insert/stove. Additionally, those units are only as good at heating a space as their output (higher the output = higher the price) combined with fans installed for distribution. So, chances are good that we’d still be relying on the oil to heat all but the main living space. We toyed with idea of a gas fireplace. The appeal is ease of use (pressing a button vs. building/maintaining a fire or feeding a hopper/cleaning ashes) which is a definite consideration for resale value. Installation would be even more expensive, though, would involve digging another trench (Jeph is running away screaming at the thought), and still depends on fossil fuels. Our solution for this year is to utilize all the free fuel on our land (wood) and have lots of fires, plus keep the windows covered at night. The new, programmable, thermostat Jeph installed in the bedroom definitely works better, and looks nicer too, so we put one in the front hall also.

It is frustrating to think of installing a new system that relies on fossil fuels. Additionally, we are aware that the ideal first step to a healthy heating/cooling/ventilation environment is to secure the building envelope. Our envelope would require insulation in all the walls and roof and all new windows. Renewable energy systems such as solar, wind, and geothermal require major up-front investment, paying for themselves over time. We do not necessarily have the budget for any of those options, and may not own the home long enough to experience the payoff. As for upgrading the envelope, replacing the windows would be very costly and it makes more sense to insulate in conjunction with remodeling which touches the footprint (thereby touching the exterior walls.) Same goes for insulating the roof; it makes sense to do it when putting on a new roof or a second floor. Our current vision questions whether we will be the ones to take the home on that journey. So, each improvement decision we make factors in that questioning. As July approaches August (our target month for having a new heating system in place) and we research gas boilers, plumbing services, pellet stoves, and more, we have as many questions (if not more) as answers.

It is insanely expensive to keep the place warm. Zone 2 is both bedrooms plus bathroom 1. The thermostat is on the bedroom 1 wall right by the window, heated by sun and the boiler (on the other side of that wall) all day; it does not kick in unless it’s set at ~80 or above and there is no middle ground with it. Bathroom 1 is always cold. It gets no sun and very little light, the slate tiles absorb/generate the cold from the slab, and the new “dummy” cover/cap we got for the heater still needs to be installed. Zone 1 is everything else. The studio and laundry room stay toasty because they have generous heating elements for the square footage. Bathroom 2 has no heater but the pipe passes behind the tub; it’s neither toasty nor freezing. The main space only has heaters along the back side (also where the floor-to-ceiling, single-pane, leaky windows are) so the kitchen never warms up; the back side can be heated comfortably but requires a ton of energy to do so (and doesn’t retain it.) As soon as we can afford it, we’ll replace the boiler with a new, highly efficient gas model and the H20 tank with a tankless version. This involves: shopping around for the products; digging the trench from the gas meter around the west side and ½ way around the back to the boiler room; disconnecting the boiler from the oil tank and pipes and removing the tank and boiler (not exactly sure of all the steps yet , or who does what); then having Rich lay the pipe and install the equipment.

Found an oil company and had them tune up the boiler. Our technician, Tony, is an interesting guy; it took awhile for me to understand where he’s coming from. The first time he visited we had multiple power tools in action and he got frustrated with the noise; to tune a system one needs to listen to it. Our boiler/H2O heater are in a utility room attached to the back of the house and dealing with the snowy cold conditions was also a challenge for him. One discovery was that our third thermostat is non-functioning and we only have two zones. After his visit we still lacked a good understanding of how our system works and how to maximize its performance. For his second visit it was just him and I and much quieter. He gave me a good lesson in the physics of baseboard heaters and helped securely fasten them (they were all left disassembled.) There are bees living in our storage shed; turns out he is a former apiculturist with an ongoing fondness for them. We started chatting about the colony and found a lot of common ground re our philosophies on the interconnectedness of the ecosystem and the dangers it faces.