[AT] OT Heating with wood

[Larry D. Goss]

FWIW - My father installed triple-glazed windows on the farmhouse where
I was born back during the first energy crunch of the 1970's.  He kept
very accurate records of utility expenses -- kept track of degree-days,
etc -- and told me afterward that he amortized the entire cost of the
extra glass and framing in one heating season.  So, when we needed to
replace the old leaking windows in our "modern" house, my wife and I
spent the extra money for triple glazing, UV coating, and full draperies
at every window.  We specified similarly high R-factor doors throughout
the house.  The house already had good insulation in the walls and
ceiling, so it's reasonably efficient.

The fireplace has an insert in it that heats two rooms, and the
combustion air for it is ducted separately from the outside through the
crawl space.  That way, I can heat a major portion of the house with the
glass doors on the fireplace closed, and when the fire dies down at
night I don't loose living area heat up the chimney. 

Back in the late 70's, I had a neighbor who had access to an IR
pyrometer.  He brought it home during a bitterly cold winter and we went
outside at night and took some readings of ours and our neighbors'
houses.  It was kind of shocking to see how much heat was being lost.
Even such decorating details as valances over draperies at windows can
make a big difference on the amount of heat loss.  Needless to say, we
found it "necessary" to include valances on every window during our
redecorating over the years.

BTW, I see that Harbor Freight is having a sidewalk sale tomorrow and
Sunday.  They have a coupon which gives 50% off on a laser-directed
thermometer.  I think I'll have to pick up one of those.  At less than
$40, it should come in handy.

YMMV.

Larry

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Easley, Greg
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 8:03 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: RE: [AT] OT Heating with wood

Tear down a $250K house because it's hard to heat?  That's insane.
I can cut firewood for less than $20/cord.

>I think some list members have just the tool to solve your problem.
Though 
>I'm not going to touch any arguments of which type of bulldozer you
need.
>
>Seriously, at those prices you should be thinking hard about tearing
down and re-building, or just moving to a >modern house.
>
>There is a rich person up here in MN who's year (not month!) heating
and 
>cooling bill was under $100 for his manson.   Now he is CEO of a SIP 
>(Structural insulated panel) company, and he put in extra money for a
ground source heat pump, and specified the >best windows, all of which
might not be 
>worth it for you.   Something to think about though everytime that bill

>comes.   I wonder what he pays now, this was 5 years ago, but electric
hasn't 
>gone up too much so far.
>

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