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Starting the process
The owner of our friendly neighborhood heating and cooling company comes over tonight to take one last look at our furnace and air conditioner, and to talk about replacing both with newer, more efficient units. Because the house is old, and the system currently there is too small both in terms of BTUs and ductwork, they'll have to replace the units and all the ducts.
This will mean cutting holes in the floor and the ceiling, running ducts through the hall closet into the attic, and a great deal of dust in the house and disruption to our daily lives until the work is done about a week after they start.
I can't wait. No, really! Oh, I suppose I could do with the disruption part, but the heating and cooling of the house has been a constant worry to me ever since we started a family and it wasn't just M and me anymore.
Will it fire up this year or won't it? Will the AC condenser freeze solid this year or won't it?
The new systems are about half the size of the one that's there now, so we'll regain some floorspace. And let's not forget the ability to drop in air filters* and that whole-house humidifer! O, for static-free cats!
* To change out the filter now, you have to take the top cover off the furnace, then the bottom cover, then reach blind into the Dusty Greasy Darkness that is the bottom half of the unit. Often as not, you will find that the filter has been blown free and ineffectual since the day you put it in.
We'll probably have to go live with the in-laws for a week. If I can swing it (read: if M will let me) I'll send them to live in Blue Springs and I'll stay at Osage living with space heaters and watching the progress.
The bill will be very painful, there's no doubt about that, but I figure if we save $100 a month, we'll have paid off the new system in just over half the term of the mortgage.
This will mean cutting holes in the floor and the ceiling, running ducts through the hall closet into the attic, and a great deal of dust in the house and disruption to our daily lives until the work is done about a week after they start.
I can't wait. No, really! Oh, I suppose I could do with the disruption part, but the heating and cooling of the house has been a constant worry to me ever since we started a family and it wasn't just M and me anymore.
Will it fire up this year or won't it? Will the AC condenser freeze solid this year or won't it?
The new systems are about half the size of the one that's there now, so we'll regain some floorspace. And let's not forget the ability to drop in air filters* and that whole-house humidifer! O, for static-free cats!
* To change out the filter now, you have to take the top cover off the furnace, then the bottom cover, then reach blind into the Dusty Greasy Darkness that is the bottom half of the unit. Often as not, you will find that the filter has been blown free and ineffectual since the day you put it in.
We'll probably have to go live with the in-laws for a week. If I can swing it (read: if M will let me) I'll send them to live in Blue Springs and I'll stay at Osage living with space heaters and watching the progress.
The bill will be very painful, there's no doubt about that, but I figure if we save $100 a month, we'll have paid off the new system in just over half the term of the mortgage.
Excited for you!
Re: Excited for you!
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When I lived in that little house on Sterling it had a gravity feed furnace on which the pilot light blew out everytime there was bad or cold weather. To relight it, I had to crawl under the house where the mice and spiders all lived, claustrophobic me, which was a bit like a full body "reach blind into the Dusty Greasy Darkness"...I still shudder to think on it. Of course, this never happened during the daytime.
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My most favorite was waking up at night to the sound of someone pounding on the side of the furnace. Just once: booooooom... then, 10 minutes later boooooooooom...
Turned out that the switch that starts the blower was dying: the act of starting up would short the switch, so the blower was getting a split second of full power the nothing. The torque was reverberating through the furnace and all the duct work. booooooooooom...
This was...I think...3:00 in the morning?
We don't know when it's all going to happen, but we're hoping before Christmas. Certainly before the REAL cold weather starts in January.
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All in all, sounds like a smart move!!
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With a real filter rack we'll be able to use pleated filters, which are more effective.
John (our tech) predicts that we'll save enough every month in our bills to make the pmt on the loan, so there won't actually be any more money out of pocket than we're paying now without the loan.
Yeah, a very smart move.