What a week! I've jumped though so many hoops in the past 8 days that... that... I don't know; something-something-trained seal-something... I'm tired. but tonight it was all worth it. Tonight our home is being heated by a new high-efficiency, state-of-the-art, boiler, and I only have to pay for half of it.
About a week and a half ago the furnace (boiler that is- we have radiators) was acting up again; it wasn't firing up when it should. I fiddled a bit but finally called a guy to come have a look. He said that he could take apart the thermocouple and clean it to help the weak pilot light. The thing was - and he wanted to be very up front about it - that if he broke anything while he was doing that, there were literally no parts available for the near-100 year old furnace and we would be having an immediate emergency. Google found some documentation from the burner manufacturer, but it was in the Smithsonian collection, otherwise no trace - no lie: in a museum. We decided to continue manually starting it each morning and evening, while we looked into getting a new one. The money had to be spent, good thing there is a $1500 tax credit available right now.
I scrutinized the internet for the best installers, got two detailed estimates from two highly rated local companies. Their overall prices and un-offensiveness were similar but the decision was easy and known 10 minutes into the conversation with the winner. Had the final price been the same I would have still chosen him. Had they been slightly more expensive I would still have chosen him. I don't usually get excited about appliances but this unit is sweet: a 2 by 2 by 3 foot wall-mounted "box", with integrated stainless steel tank water heater - that's right: that size includes a water heater with a minimum 20 year life span! - and the whole thing vents out the side of the house so they cap off the troublesome squirrel and pine needle filled chimney too. The asbestos octopus and it's 40 gallon neighbor are gone. In it's place, the industrial grey and white robot stands by the stair, it's copper brains connecting to the old fat steel of the house.
But the prices weren't similar. The second guy had done his homework, and immediately after showing me a nice before and after photo book he told me about a brand new program that gives Minnesotans a great-rate loan for energy efficiency home improvements and then covers 35% of it. -And that's not just the furnace hardware, it's also the installation, the water heater and the asbestos-covered box removal, permits, details: everything - then you add the tax rebate and all of a sudden you're paying 6k for a 12k system. You do pay all of your loan money to the installer up front, and then file for your "loan rebate" after, and at tax time get your last bit. Pain in the ass, kind of. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I love my robot.
Now finally the boiler-estimators and the phone-loan officers and closing agents and abate-ors and boiler-installers are gone. we've cleaned up the crazy mess with vacuums and mops and brooms and rags and paper towels... and put the pieces back, approximately. and! we weathered abatement-night with no heat(er) until tomorrow. ..
The basement is a bit colder now without the virtual campfire but the heater by my leg is perfect. 1952 octopus checkup tag. MNCEE.org. Ridler's Uptown Heating and CoolingReady for the next 50 years.
and so what were you up to last week?
2 comments:
Did you keep those old bits in the photos? They are kinda cool.
Yes, they are kinda neat aren't they?
Post a Comment