It's a Tad warm

[dalebert]

I know it can get hot in NH... for about an hour in the afternoon. And then the sun goes down, and the evening breezes blow. Hot is when you can't sleep at 2 a.m. because it's still 90 degrees and 85% humidity.

In 1990, IIRC, we went 14 straight days here when the temperature never dropped below 100F. I don't mean the daily highs were above 100, I mean the lows never got below 100, even at night!

I am very eager to trade Texas summers for NH winters, and I promise to never ever complain of being "hot" in NH.

Yes, while not as bad as Texas, I grew up in Atlanta, GA. When it stays miserably hot, including all night long, for several weeks solid, then you're allowed to complain.

[Riddler]

I'm with Friday, Puke, and Porcupine: hot/humid weather sucks, and I prefer the winters.  By far.

Same here, I'll take cold over hot any day. It's easy to put on an extra layer or two, but staying cool can often prove more difficult.

and you get to do WHAT , all effing winter?
after a month or so, being outside sucks in the winter.
by late jan., into feb. kids are sick of sliding, i'm sick of snowmobiling, cabin fever starts setting in, sick of loading the wood boiler 3x a day, yearning for the sweet days of summer...............

[Ron Helwig]

After a hard day's work outside yesterday, I went for a swim in the pond. Nice having a pond.

Otis went for a swim too, but he didn't want to. 
(He got pushed off the dock, the proceeded to try to climb out of the water by climbing on top of me  )

[Friday]

Ti's a we bit warm out there.

Drink plenty of Be- um fluids ya fluids.

You want some snow?

tee-hee

What, you don't keep snowballs in the freezer for the first 90 degree days of summer?

Have you really got any??   

[John]

They don't actually do too well in the freezer for long . . .
However, one can sometimes drop by a local ice skating rink/center and find a pile dropped off by the Zamboni. 

[Riddler]

After a hard day's work outside yesterday, I went for a swim in the pond. Nice having a pond.

Otis went for a swim too, but he didn't want to. 
(He got pushed off the dock, the proceeded to try to climb out of the water by climbing on top of me  )

we got a pond, and a pool....
a pond would be good for you....fresh water
-chevy chase to bill murray in caddyshack

[Russell Kanning]

I can see John snowshoeing in the zamboni pile

[MaineShark]

...sick of loading the wood boiler 3x a day...

You should find a heating guy to work that over to run on fewer loadings...

Joe

[Romak]

You can spend about $1200 on a good soapstone wood stove. They are out of Lebanon, NH. We burned about 5 cords last year heating from September until the end of April so it burns slow and hot. You dont use much wood. We are at an advantage because we have a lot of land and get our wood free but even if you pay $150 a cord for green wood now you are still looking at an investment of 2K for next winter. With oil looking like its going to be $5-$6 a gallon you are talking about close to $1500 to fill up one tank. In the end you'll save a bunch of money. If anyone goes this route and wants some wood for next winter we should have about 15 extra cords that will be dry and ready to burn for about $100 a cord.

[margomaps]

You can spend about $1200 on a good soapstone wood stove. They are out of Lebanon, NH. We burned about 5 cords last year heating from September until the end of April so it burns slow and hot. You dont use much wood. We are at an advantage because we have a lot of land and get our wood free but even if you pay $150 a cord for green wood now you are still looking at an investment of 2K for next winter. With oil looking like its going to be $5-$6 a gallon you are talking about close to $1500 to fill up one tank. In the end you'll save a bunch of money. If anyone goes this route and wants some wood for next winter we should have about 15 extra cords that will be dry and ready to burn for about $100 a cord.

I am very tempted to get some sort of wood- or pellet-burning stove before next season (don't worry Joe, you'll get a chance to bid on the job  ).  My problem is that my house doesn't have any existing flues for a wood burning stove.  All it has is a direct-vent propane fireplace in the living room and the oil burner down in the basement.  I'm thinking the cost to build and retrofit a new flue/chimney is gonna suuuuuuck.  Only question is whether it will suuuuuck more than the oil bill next winter.

[MaineShark]

I am very tempted to get some sort of wood- or pellet-burning stove before next season (don't worry Joe, you'll get a chance to bid on the job  ).  My problem is that my house doesn't have any existing flues for a wood burning stove.  All it has is a direct-vent propane fireplace in the living room and the oil burner down in the basement.  I'm thinking the cost to build and retrofit a new flue/chimney is gonna suuuuuuck.  Only question is whether it will suuuuuck more than the oil bill next winter.

Pellet boiler/furnace = direct vent.

They can be vented into a chimney if it's in good shape, but I don't like doing that, as long as there is space to come out the wall and be far enough away from a window.

Joe

[margomaps]

Pellet boiler/furnace = direct vent.

They can be vented into a chimney if it's in good shape, but I don't like doing that, as long as there is space to come out the wall and be far enough away from a window.

I didn't realize you could direct-vent any solid fuel, but I'm new to some of this.

My direct-vent LP fireplace is a pre-fab unit that went in when the house was built in the early 2000's.  35" wide by...I dunno, 18" deep or so.  There are windows 3' away on either side.  Would it:

1) be possible to swap out the LP innards and replace it with a pellet boiler, and
2) be economically sensible to do so?

I don't know much about the cost of pellets per therm versus LP

[MaineShark]

I didn't realize you could direct-vent any solid fuel, but I'm new to some of this.

Pellets, and some wood-fired systems, although the direct-vent wood systems tend to be some of the very expensive commercial equipment, so not really applicable here.

My direct-vent LP fireplace is a pre-fab unit that went in when the house was built in the early 2000's.  35" wide by...I dunno, 18" deep or so.  There are windows 3' away on either side.  Would it:

1) be possible to swap out the LP innards and replace it with a pellet boiler, and
2) be economically sensible to do so?

I don't know much about the cost of pellets per therm versus LP

A pellet vent needs to he 4 feet from any operable window.  A boiler or furnace would tend to be installed in the basement, next to your existing oil-fired system, and vented through the wall.  We tend to run a short "chimney" up the side of the house (4 to 8 feet of vertical rise) to get away from windows and to provide a small amount of natural draft so that, in the case of a power failure, any smoke will be drawn out instead of backing up into your basement.

A ton of pellets is roughly equivalent to 180 gallons of propane.  Pellet pricing varies depending on quantity (the more you buy, the less you pay per ton), but it was in the neighborhood of $200-250 per ton, last time I checked.  Even assuming the high end of that range, that would be roughly equivalent of buying propane at $1.39 per gallon, or of buying heating oil at $2.08 per gallon.

Joe

[margomaps]

A pellet vent needs to he 4 feet from any operable window.  A boiler or furnace would tend to be installed in the basement, next to your existing oil-fired system, and vented through the wall.  We tend to run a short "chimney" up the side of the house (4 to 8 feet of vertical rise) to get away from windows and to provide a small amount of natural draft so that, in the case of a power failure, any smoke will be drawn out instead of backing up into your basement.

A ton of pellets is roughly equivalent to 180 gallons of propane.  Pellet pricing varies depending on quantity (the more you buy, the less you pay per ton), but it was in the neighborhood of $200-250 per ton, last time I checked.  Even assuming the high end of that range, that would be roughly equivalent of buying propane at $1.39 per gallon, or of buying heating oil at $2.08 per gallon.

Cool.  Thanks for the info.  And now the kicker: assuming a plain-Jane installation with no real hiccups, what's your ballpark price for a pellet system installed (including the flue work you described)?   

[MaineShark]

Cool.  Thanks for the info.  And now the kicker: assuming a plain-Jane installation with no real hiccups, what's your ballpark price for a pellet system installed (including the flue work you described)?   

That's not really possible to do via the Internet.  Boilers cost $6950 + freight (usually $200).  Installation can vary from $2500 to $10,000.

Median installed cost is probably $12,500, but every job is different.

Joe