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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Who knows what about Heat Pumps!?
« on: February 26, 2017, 10:36:11 PM »
Well the time has come and I finally got moved into a newer home. Built in '93 and never lived in until now. Rich guy used it as hunting getaway. Anyhow, The house is well insulated. The only source of heat is a heat pump. I know absolutely nothing about these things. I will say I won't miss tending a fire when its below freezing! Now from what Im seeing is that there is a water heater tied into the heat pump system, which runs water to a heat exchanger thus getting my heat. My question, is this the secondary source of the heat and the pump itself is the primary or vise versa? During my inspection the inspector recommended that I get rid of the water heater and replace that with a back up electric heat strip? Not sure what that is or if it would be more beneficial to do this... Any thoughts? Attached is a pick. The brown water heater is the one tied to the heat pump.
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / What could I get for my Hardy H4
« on: April 11, 2016, 01:24:46 AM »
Well fellas I have been tossing around the idea of switching to natural gas. With the new Panda Patriot Gas power plant damn near up and running there are gas lines galore running in front of my home. Makes more sense since I will be remodeling my house inside and out, going to be switching the burner on my Anderson oil boiler to gas. I guess my question is what is a good price to ask for my good condition H4? Its a 2005 model with shaker grates. I will sell both pumps which are fairly new and about 150ft of insulated pex. Im gonna miss the ole girl but living in PA gas is EVERYWHERE... Not to mention ill be giving away my massive wood pile. 20x20 and about 7ft high of untreated rail road tie ends and a good deal on my dump truck.
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Insulating basement ceilings
« on: March 11, 2015, 01:41:34 AM »
This summer on my to do list I was tossing around the idea of insulating my basement ceilings. Im not going to use fiberglass bats but I am looking into using the bubble style reflective barrier. Have any of youins tried this stuff before? I seen most say they had great results in the room temps above the basement after this install. And its pretty cheap to do. I think I loss most of my heat on my first floor threw my basement being cold. Last yr I went ahead and spray foamed the frame sill with great results but Im always striving for more to save some wood here and there. Any other suggestions Im open ears....
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / What happened to Scott7m?
« on: January 25, 2015, 07:12:45 PM »
Havent seen him post on here since around this time last yr? I've noticed a few members haven't been back?
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Waterless outdoor stove
« on: December 16, 2014, 06:18:17 PM »6
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Gas fired Power Plant might be buying me out!?
« on: November 24, 2014, 11:09:38 PM »
Well I have posted about this before and gigantic natural gas powerplant being built by my house. Anyhow construction has been going on all yr across the street from me. This place is MASSIVE! Long story short Panda/Patriot bought a few houses already on my road, I would say out of 8 of us 4 have been bought and the rest refuse to leave. Well I have had it with the site of this and everything else that came with it!! I had a meeting today with the Project manager about it. In a nut shell Im that unhappy to come home anymore because of this reason. Now he totally agreed with me and is taking this up with the owners. He said the possibility of them buying me out is good but he cant say 100%. Now here is the question I have for you all. My house is fair marketed at around 128k, I have insurance policy out for 140k because that is what it would take to rebuild if something were to happen. Would you guys take anything less that the value or would you fight for more? I want to fight for more. I never wanted to leave this house so its an incoveniance on me and I look at it like I have to "rebuild" all over again. Do I have a fighting chance in hell to push for more due to the aggravation, stress, and all the other BS im being put threw during this ordeal...... I could go on and on!
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Off OWB topic but lets see those archery bucks! Heres my first one..
« on: November 20, 2014, 10:41:55 PM »
I have this attached in another post but I want to see what everyone else got during this yrs archery. Took me 31 LONG HARD yrs to get this. Its not the biggest Ive seen but Im sure proud of it! 17 inch inside 7pt. I thought he was an 8pt but when your adrenaline is pumping its hard to count pts 
Anyhow I hit him at about 40yrds up hill, when I hit him it went into his rib cage and straight into his spine, not the kind of kill I like to do but hey it happens. He dropped like a sack of chit lemme tell ya. I did hit vitals but my buddy that sits 200yrds from my stand watched it happened and got so excited he was out of his stand before me and at the deer and put him out of his misery. If you look at the pic you can see a hole around his gut area, that was his shot. He shot from behind (I dont know why) but somehow he missed the guts and got dang near all his vitals. Boy how I love archery!!!
Anyhow I hit him at about 40yrds up hill, when I hit him it went into his rib cage and straight into his spine, not the kind of kill I like to do but hey it happens. He dropped like a sack of chit lemme tell ya. I did hit vitals but my buddy that sits 200yrds from my stand watched it happened and got so excited he was out of his stand before me and at the deer and put him out of his misery. If you look at the pic you can see a hole around his gut area, that was his shot. He shot from behind (I dont know why) but somehow he missed the guts and got dang near all his vitals. Boy how I love archery!!!
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Finally experimented with some coal
« on: November 19, 2014, 09:14:21 PM »
I went to my local coal yard about 3miles from my home and got 100lbs of nut coal for free to try out. That was the biggest they had so since it was free decided why not, right? Anyhow today I threw in about half of a 5gal bucket in on a hot bed of coals and let it be. Now I had a few small pcs of wood left in there from lastnight. This was around 1pm, I went out tonight before work around 8pm and the coal was pretty much burnt up. I thought it would have lasted longer? Well I added about the same amount tonight and filled the firebox about 1/3 to MAYBE half the way up with wood. Im hoping to see some good results with this. Coal is really cheap around me. I can get 1 scoop which is 800lbs for about $20! Thats nut coal. I will continue to tinker with it and load more and more each time. I have my temp set at 180 with a 5 degree diff. If it stays cold enough I will have more time to play. But if it works I will be taking my dump truck and getting me a ton and mixing from here on out as long as I still live in this house.
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Insulating basement walls and floors
« on: November 19, 2014, 01:35:11 AM »
Getting around to my next project and would like a little insight. Half of my house is block foundation that is 3/4 exposed above ground. I know block is very porus and doesnt really "keep" the cold out. What are some good options to sealing this up. Some sort of paint type product or the relflective air barrier. I don't really want to use blue board due to the fact there are many things on the walls that would make this a pain to hang. Also, what would be good for insulating my floors? I really really want to stay away from fiberglass bats. Someone told me to use that double reflective barrier for the floor but I have no experiance with this product and Im unsure if its worth the $$$$$....
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Starting the first fire today!
« on: October 30, 2014, 01:29:09 AM »
Finally getting tired of messing with a fire in the basement so today Im going to be working on starting the first fire in the OWB. What are some of the proceedures you guys do when starting them up each yr. Im just curious. Do you all start your pumps before or during starting your fire? Or do you get the temp up in the stove a little bit before starting a fire?
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Blown insulation worth the $$$$
« on: September 28, 2014, 10:59:09 PM »
Last yr I was really thinking about this whole blown cellulose into my first floor walls. Well I decided to go ahead and insulate my attic instead. There was already cellulose about 5 inches worth in the attic so I went ahead and layed down some R19 over top of that. I think it was R19 I cant remember. Anyhow I want to pull the trigger a.s.a.p on doing my first floor walls. I did as much air seal as I could possible do. I get allot of my draft and what not threw my walls. I got a quote for about $1500 to do my first floor. Is it or would it be worth the money? Honest opionions please....
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Coal
« on: September 23, 2014, 12:03:51 AM »
Well im really tossing around the idea of burning some coal this winter. Last winter was terrible for me with the burn times mainly because we were seeing allot of - temps that we usually dont see. Anyhow I was wondering what type of coal would be best to burn in my OWB? Im also tossing around the idea of getting rid of my wood stove thats in my basement and replacing it with a coal/wood stove so I would like to get coal that would best suit both. Most indoor stoves I was looking at called for rice coal. Does it really matter? Ive never burned coal before so any input is greatly appreciated....
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / To go with Natural gas or keep Oil for backup?
« on: February 25, 2014, 11:29:49 PM »
Away from my OWB I have been debating for months about switching over to natural gas or keeping my oil boiler for backup. A ruff estimate my oil boiler is about 40yrs old. Its a Anderson boiler so its a descent boiler. Now I can switch the burner unit over so it can burn natural gas which would be cheap but on the other hand I have a half a tank of 8yr old oil in the basement. The gas supplier UGI said even if I dont use the natural gas I could still have a bill but it wont be much. Basically to keep the pilot light on. Why would I need a pilot light on if it may be yrs if I even have to use it? Sounds stupid to me... Im not sure how long oil is good for but I was told to just have the boiler cleaned by a good boiler guy and burn the oil anyhow or mayber dilute it with fresh oil or maybe diesel/kero... I have natural gas lines all around my house and a natural gas powerplant in the process of being built as we speak so there is no shortage of gas around me. I also see people selling oil fired boilers and getting heat pumps. Now I assume they dont have duct work because, well they are selling a boiler. I thought you needed air ducts to have a heat pump? I havent looked to much into those...
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Energy audits
« on: January 25, 2014, 06:11:38 PM »
Been thinking about getting and energy audit done to my home. Ive been bitting my nails about getting blown cellulose on my first floor since this floor seems to not be heating constantly. Ive gone and fully insulated the attic and did as much as seal as I can deal with!. Have any of you had an energy audit if so was it well worth it? Or should I just quit being a tight ass and do the insulation blown in the walls? Cant seem to decide.
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Im an idiot
« on: January 16, 2014, 05:45:05 PM »
Well I was outside cooking on tue grill and decided to check the fire. Well I left the bottom door open for about 40min!!! Came out and stove was boiling over big time. Will this hurt my stove?