Hearth.com

Fruit Tree Advice

2012-02-12T13:21:31-05:00

So I’m planning on planting a mini-orchard this Spring and torn between dward and semi-dwarf apple trees. There appear to be pros/cons of each. Dwarf might produce fruit sooner and the volume of the root structure is not as large so I’ll not need to ammend quite as big a volume of soil for each planting site. They are also all grown on rootstock that seems like it’s more susceptible to disease. Semi-dwarf might be more hardy, but longer until we reap any rewards and much larger amount of soil remediation would be required.

Are my perceived pros/cons correct? Any opinions/advice would be appreciated.

Chimney insulation

2012-01-22T10:39:49-05:00

Hi all…

I think this has been discussed before but I cant find too much with search so…

Anyway I posted in other threads about the massive insulation and air sealing upgrade we did this year - densepack cellulose in our walls, ceilings and sloped roof, rigid foam on the kneewalls etc. So far its made a big difference on the bills and judging by the lack of snow melt looks like its going to fix the ice damming in front.

Problem is, snow is still meting on the back addition roof over the small attic. Right now there is not enough snow to cause and issue but it tells me I’m still putting too much heat into that attic. It is well ventilated. Spending some time in there with the IR temp gun I think the issue is the chimney for the stove which passes through this attic. Its a full steel liner running inside the masonry flue but it still wams it. Temp gun reads the outside of the brick at 72F while the stove is cranking. Floor to the room below reads about 45-50.

So I think this warm chimney is the culprit.

I’m thinking I should wrap it in insulation, and see if that makes a difference. I believe its code legal to wrap it in Roxul, correct?

Just looking for thoughts from the experts before I do this…

Paint as insulation?

2012-01-27T14:52:53-05:00

You betcha. I read about this stuff being used by a very progressive/aggressive ship builder.
He swears by the stuff.
It’s ceramic beads that can be added to any paint to give
good insulating properties.

Kenny
Available here; http://www.hytechsales.com/

Basement Ceiling Insulation, Anyone?

2012-01-07T08:46:26-05:00

Hey all…

We have a 260 yr. old stone foundation farmhouse. We have our wood stove parked in an outside corner of the main floor.

The basement has had “treatment” by the local energy assessment company, i.e., holes filled and caulked, etc., but the basement ceiling has no insulation.

Do any of you folks have their basement ceilings insulated? Our basement is not freezing cold, and in some cases, due to the boiler being down there, can be fairly mild. But, I wonder if my stove pulls some of the cooler air out of the basement from the cracks in the floor and sub floor (there are many) to feed it. The stove can easily heat much of our main floor, but it’s very streaky, with inconsistencies of temperature abound. I wonder if the cooler air being drawn up from the basement may contribute to this effect.

I also wonder if I insulate the basement ceiling, will it force the air pressure upstairs to come up with fresh air somewhere else, perhaps less ideal, or cause the stove to run less efficiently due to lack of air to circulate?

The rest of our house is moderately insulated, as we had the energy company blow in cellulose insulation into the walls, and I packed the attic reasonably tight with fiberglass batts.

So, what do you think? Insulate the basement, pain in the rear that it would be? With old electrical wiring, I’m a little concerned about old conduit and wires someday coming into contact with fiberglass insulation… there’s years of old wires and pipes running in the ceiling.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

Heat pump efficiency

2011-01-21T15:36:58-05:00

All,
I have oil/heat pump/wood insert and have stated that I use wood when its below 45F and let the heat pump run above that temperature, and was asked how I derived that number. But that seemed like it should be an efficiency thread, not just a PM. So, let me try to explain my logic here.

I have a heat pump, with oil fired backup and a wood stove.

By default the thermostat runs the heat pump exclusively down to 50F, from 50F to 20F it looks at the oil burner, but hardly ever uses it, only on a defrost cycle, below 20F it is exclusively burning oil.

I have wondered at what point I should be burning my wood stove.

I have attempted to figure out what the actual beak even point is. I have also determined that its not possible to figure out. HAHA

The heat pump is rated by its HSPF, but that is a national average, over the actual winter. I have a trane XR-15. The HSPF (per spec) is, 8, maybe 7.7… I think, with my, non variable speed blower motor. But thats still a national average… so with some fudging numbers, lying, and speculation with the pretty solid spreadsheet here: http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls I figure that my HSPF is really 6.4 because of where I live. But since I will not be using it when its cold (I will use my wood stove) that changes everything.

Then guessing the costs,
$0.16/kwh (generating, transmission, tax, etc).
$175/cord
$3.50/gal oil (irrelevant since it doesn’t get used)

And my efficiencies:
Oil 81% (per the tech who tunes it up)
Wood 71% per spec

I am guessing that the break even point between the cost of the heat pump and the cost of wood is somewhere around 45F. Above 46F i run the heat pump, 44-46F it is based on my mood. Below 44F I definitely am running the woodstove. That keeps the oil burner from running much (I use 30 gal/year). And the colder it is, the worse the heat pump’s efficiency is. So, If i dont run the heat pump below 45F, the heat pump doesn’t have the efficiency as if it was in Philadelphia. based on a national average low temperature map: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TRXN9Xw5sPI/TQ2hmONGBlI/AAAAAAAAAT4/Mq9DJw_ZJXs/s1600/temp+christmas+eve.gif

it probably behaves more like it was in Atlanta, Ga… which makes it about 7.6, or there about.

So, for me (with local prices and efficiencies), the cost per MBTU is
wood: $11.20
Oil: $31.16
Heat pump (when operating above 45F): $21
Heat pump (if run all year): $25

So, why did i choose 45F, because the math shows that it probably isnt a good break even point?

I chose that because at 45F+ the fireplace puts out too much heat (A insert full of wood puts out more BTU than needed, even though it is cheaper $/btu, this case would result in wasted BTU) so the house gets too warm, also above 50F I have a hard time getting the draft moving in the right direction in the chimney (found that out the wrong way… twice). So that is how I determined that operating point.

I hope that cleared up the thought process. I was a bit rushed writing this, but the information should be valid.

Rick

LED Globe Bulbs?

2011-12-20T07:24:00-05:00

I wonder if anyone could suggest a warm-colored (2700), dimmable, globe-shaped, around 60 watt equivalent, with a normal screw-in base. I need three for the fixture over the dining room table. Dimmable is key, as well as warm color. I tried an $8.00 (non-globe) model from HD that was 3100 and didn’t like the color. We have flourescent globes in there now that we like, but we’d like to be able to dim them.

Thanks.

Motion sensors

2011-12-05T22:01:29-05:00

Every morning we walk out into our garage and find our way to the cars in the dark( or hit the key fob to get headlights). I am looking for something I can plug into an outlet to use as a motion sensor or I have seen light switches with sensors built in. Have you guys tried anything like this?

solar electric to power electric water heater

2012-02-04T21:48:26-05:00

So I have been heating my house with wood for the last three years and the only thing I now use my oil boiler for is hot water. I would love to stop paying for oil. I have been wondering if the is a small electric solar system that I could get to power a new electric water heater. I know nothing about solar power. Is my idea a waste of time? How big of a solar system would I need. As usual money is tight. Would I be able to get a solar system for under $1000 not including the water heater? I imaging that there is a way to set it up so that if there isn’t enough power stored up from the solar system that the house electricity would take over. I also might use the electric solar system to help run the blowers on my stove. Any info would help. Thanks for your time.

Heat loss to cinderblock?

2012-02-02T17:28:25-05:00

I’ve got a stove in the basement. It seems like I’ve received a lot of advice that the cinder block would soak up heat like I wouldn’t believe, and maybe that’s so.

The fact that the stove my stove room is blazing hot while the rest of the house could use a five degree lift leads me to suspect that my problem is moving the heat about, not loss to the concrete foundation. Am I correct?

I’m trying to figure out where to aim my efforts first - installing floor grates? or insulating foundation walls?

Cabin Off Grid…....What can we do for $4,000????

2012-01-02T22:19:36-05:00

My friend has a Cabin that is totally “off the grid” in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

He has 2 Propane Generators (primary and back up) that power his 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1100 sq ft prefab Steel sided cabin.

Has an 80% propane heater and a VC Intrepid II for Our heating pleasure, so no worries there.

He is kicking around the idea of either some type of solar or wind generated system to supplement electrical use while the generators aren’t running.

His budget is $4,000 total for an inverter, batteries, solar panels, turbine, etc.

Does anyone have some ideas of what can be done for this amount?

Where does one even start?

I appreciate any advise.

Thank you, Hiram