Bioburner
Moderator
Going to have to get some more revenue to pay for health care somewhere.
Joyously burning oil
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john193
Minister of Fire
Snowy Rivers
Minister of Fire
The only reason I will install a heat pump is to get the permits cleared.
If I could get it through, I would install only an AC/air handler.
Any new structure must have a central heating system.
If I could bank roll the thing from my pocket, I could tell the county to cram it.
We currently heat 2400 ft for about $100 a year.
I don't have to harvest a thing, simply get the waste shells from the processor.
It's a waste product and is very good in a pellet stove.
Easily pick up slightly used stoves cheap
If I could get it through, I would install only an AC/air handler.
Any new structure must have a central heating system.
If I could bank roll the thing from my pocket, I could tell the county to cram it.
We currently heat 2400 ft for about $100 a year.
I don't have to harvest a thing, simply get the waste shells from the processor.
It's a waste product and is very good in a pellet stove.
Easily pick up slightly used stoves cheap
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
I'm also burning oil, but to get the tank level down so I can move it. Central heat is indeed nice. I can see the attraction.
wsar10
Burning Hunk
if you want to go heat pump route but not geo-thermal, the next best thing is a min-split system.....We love ours !
I had a air source heat pump that was 1992 technology so I'm sure they are better built nowadays. A friend just put in a new Trane air source HP and it's huge! It must be 5' tall. Lots of coil to capture more heat. The nice thing about where I had mine and where his is at also is that the electric company there only charge 1/2 rate electric to run them year around so it'd be around 6 cents a kilowatt hour now.
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Bioburner
Moderator
My electric company is having a seminar on new heating and cooling technology next month. Will have to check out as we need to install conventional system if we wish to sell house. They charge 6 cents also but have a summer surcharge with a small incentive to cycle in summer.
Flammam
Feeling the Heat
Nice to know the "assessments" on my utility bills are funding your gas conversion. I have no gas available where I live and never will.Mass Save came by my house once told me I could spend about 12k to make improvements then told me I didn't qualify for any low interest rate loans.Did leave me with a couple light bulbs I cant stand. waste of a half a days income.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
All utility consumers in Massachusetts pay "an assessment" on their bills. On my NStar electric bill it's the "Energy Conservation" line item. On your gas bill it's probably labeled something else. Through that funding, the utility companies sponsor MassSave. I don't have gas now so the money collected through my utility bill since 2008 has helped fund the dense-packed insulation in my walls and my oil-to-gas 0% interest loan. So, yes, Electric assessments do in part fund gas incentives. Flammam, you already wrote in another post that you didn't approve of MassSave because you didn't want "the government" on your land. Sorry you can't get a loan to do conservation work. Sorry you don't like your lightbulbs.
Yes, we had to cycle on/off every 15 minutes if you wanted that rate but only in high peak times. It was a non issue for me as I always kept the house cool. It would be a problem if you came home from work and tried to cool down your house when they were cycling it. They also let you hook up your furnace to get that rate to run it year around. And if you were good with electric like me maybe even your washer and dryer since it was by the of peak box, just..... Maybe...
Flammam
Feeling the Heat
The bigger issue to me is the fact that I am forced by the government to fund improvements to other peoples property. Save your money and pay for your own improvements.
Snowy Rivers
Minister of Fire
I am, as I said, only interested in installing a system that will get the permits ok and provide a central air system.
Even the heat pump with a ground coil can't compete with what it will cost to heat with biomass (shells)
The current house here can be heated for approx. $100 a season.
The heat pumps, unless they have a ground coil will be basically worthless below about 40 F and we are not adding the heater strips, that's just a waste of $$$$$
We have never used the Electric heat here in the house in the 21 years we have been here.
Tooooooooooooooooooooo spendy to run electric heat.
Our electric runs $300 mo anyway
Central AC is a must.
After doing some calcs, for sure we can heat that new shack for under $200 for winter season (Oct to May) That's $25 a month, and I am figuring COLD weather.
I was generous with the figures, so likely the cost will be less.
Biomass fuels are certainly not as easy as just twisting the stat and then paying the bill every month, but far easier on the check book.
We know some folks that have a home built at the same time ours was built and the same floor plan, the guys wife is deathly scared of anything that burns anything, so they heat with electric.
Cost them $1200 mo to heat the shack. OMG, THATS 12 YEARS FOR US
Even the heat pump with a ground coil can't compete with what it will cost to heat with biomass (shells)
The current house here can be heated for approx. $100 a season.
The heat pumps, unless they have a ground coil will be basically worthless below about 40 F and we are not adding the heater strips, that's just a waste of $$$$$
We have never used the Electric heat here in the house in the 21 years we have been here.
Tooooooooooooooooooooo spendy to run electric heat.
Our electric runs $300 mo anyway
Central AC is a must.
After doing some calcs, for sure we can heat that new shack for under $200 for winter season (Oct to May) That's $25 a month, and I am figuring COLD weather.
I was generous with the figures, so likely the cost will be less.
Biomass fuels are certainly not as easy as just twisting the stat and then paying the bill every month, but far easier on the check book.
We know some folks that have a home built at the same time ours was built and the same floor plan, the guys wife is deathly scared of anything that burns anything, so they heat with electric.
Cost them $1200 mo to heat the shack. OMG, THATS 12 YEARS FOR US
My suggestion was you may want to look into a ground source heat pump. It would have cost me the same price to put in propane/oil system and central A/C unit as it cost to put in a ground source heat pump. Yes the same price. Your situation obviously is different as you have a cheap source of fuel but you may be spending the same amount of money in the end to put in a heat pump that does not work below 40F and will not last as long. A/C is much cheaper to run as well. Theres a 30% fed tax credit and some states even have incentives on top of that.
mass_burner
Minister of Fire
mass_burner
Minister of Fire
yes. the pipelines too. straight from Canada to the gulf and then onto wherever the best price can be had.
mass_burner
Minister of Fire
one thing you can do is buy NGAS ETF's to hedge the price going up. there is aslo inverse etf in case you think its going down. same with heating oil and gasoline.
Natural gas currently has favorable pricing. More and more people are switching gas. We already have pipeline supply issues in the northeast. This will only get worse. We already had some huge price spikes this past winter as well as cutailments. There is also no guarantee that the freewheeling gas exploration will continue to be allowed for environmental concerns, whether they are legitamate or not. We'll see what happens after the next elections. I personally expect NG prices to rise in the future as more businesses and homes convert. Once they got ya, they got ya for a while. In the northeast, there are an awful lot of areas that will NEVER see NG at the street.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
I'll probably never even get cable/broadband, never mind natural gas.
Bioburner
Moderator
I ended up with cable etc because they were replacing the copper phone lines and is cheaper to run fiber optic.
wsar10
Burning Hunk
I am, as I said, only interested in installing a system that will get the permits ok and provide a central air system.
Even the heat pump with a ground coil can't compete with what it will cost to heat with biomass (shells)
The current house here can be heated for approx. $100 a season.
The heat pumps, unless they have a ground coil will be basically worthless below about 40 F and we are not adding the heater strips, that's just a waste of $$$$$
We have never used the Electric heat here in the house in the 21 years we have been here.
Tooooooooooooooooooooo spendy to run electric heat.
Our electric runs $300 mo anyway
Central AC is a must.
After doing some calcs, for sure we can heat that new shack for under $200 for winter season (Oct to May) That's $25 a month, and I am figuring COLD weather.
I was generous with the figures, so likely the cost will be less.
Biomass fuels are certainly not as easy as just twisting the stat and then paying the bill every month, but far easier on the check book.
We know some folks that have a home built at the same time ours was built and the same floor plan, the guys wife is deathly scared of anything that burns anything, so they heat with electric.
Cost them $1200 mo to heat the shack. OMG, THATS 12 YEARS FOR US
A modern mini-split system works WELL below 40 degree, I understand your point about the cost vs heating with shells.
I just wanted to correct the above statement.
also FWIW our min-split pretty much heated our house (1600ish sq ft) for around $95 a month last winter, thats running it 24/7. I would consider a heating source that is heat on demand with the flip of switch and requires NO work or storage of fuels.
I know I'll never see NG here. I can't even get any broadcast channels with a 70' tower and a huge Channel Master antenna and amplifier let alone cable. But good thing they did run fiber not far from here so I get 10Mb DSL which is enough speed to get me good Netflix and prime.
rona
Minister of Fire
I had a customer with a 45 call me and he had been complaining he wasn't getting enough heat and had been fighting with it all winter. Finally took the pot out of the stove and cleaned out all the holes with a 1/8 drill bit. Guess it is working like new now. I guess I had assumed he had been cleaning it as the book says but nope he hadn't cleaned it.That isn't your radiators pinging, it's all the money going to oil companies, just like slot machines in a casino, the house always wins
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
We at least get 3g. Hoping that 4g makes it here at some point. Problem is they charge you for using that bandwidth.
You can't get any DSL even? I can use up to 250Gb a month and I use a lot! I also have a table top int radio that's on all the time for my talk radio (non political!) fix. And I use a Nettalk VoIP telephony. If I ever move that's one thing I have to have is good broadband.
I know we are off track here, oops!
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