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4051. concerned - 12/11/2007 9:05:21 PM Well, I've had the new heat pump (an Econar, made in Minnesota where they know what winter *really* means) running in my house for about a month now.
It definitely seems to be a better built unit than the Waterfurnace. For instance, the air heat exchange assembly is twice as deep, and the difference in air temperature is readily noticeable since it doesn't have to blow the air as hard to transfer the heat, so is quieter as well.
An additional piece of good luck appears to be that the earth loop that was installed (after I spent $11,000 having it backfilled so it wouldn't freeze up in the winter) has not been a problem. This means I don't probably have to spend another 25 grand having new wells dug and loops installed.
I paid for a 10 year full warranty on the Econar, and hopefully I won't have to take advantage of it. But time will tell.
In the meantime, I am proceeding with a lawsuit against Watefurnace. Their argument that the problem is the earth loop has obviously been discredited (see above), although they were also responsible for that defective installation that required my shelling out $11,000 to correct. So my primary goal is to recover all my out of pocket costs (well in excess of $40,000) that Waterfurnace forced me to spend to keep a working geothermal system in place. So much for Waterfurnace's '10 year full warranty'. 4052. concerned - 12/11/2007 9:08:19 PM And btw, if a cat ever shits or pisses in a part of your house he'll do it over and over in that same spot. So it will be interesting to see if y'all can break him of that. Wabbit knows more about that sort of thing than anybody, though, afaik.
An instant cure is to cover that spot with a big piece of furniture. Make sure you completely clean the odor up first, of course. After six months or so, if you remove the furniture, chances are good that the cat will have lost interest in using that spot, especially if some sort of feline repellent is then placed there.
4053. concerned - 12/11/2007 9:24:27 PM I once had a bigtime problem where I once lived with one of my cats who had regularly pishitted (new word, hey!) in a finished basement on a carpet. It was so bad, the whole room smelled like the inside of a cat's asshole. (I can tell jexster's getting excited here.) I was able to totally resolve the situation by buying several bottles of enzyme pet odor remover, mixing it with a good strong disinfecting cleaner and several gallons of water and literally saturating the whole basement carpet with this mixture.
After a few days, I rented a carpet cleaner and cleaned the whole thing. The result: pet odor totally gone, (no mildew odor either, even though it took almost two weeks to totally dry) and best of all, the cat didn't seem to have any interest in using the basement carpet as a toilet any more. 4054. concerned - 12/11/2007 9:26:07 PM Btw, the cat had really spread it around on that carpet. There was no 'one place' where she went. It was almost every place, but mostly near walls. 4055. wonkers2 - 12/11/2007 9:41:39 PM Concerned, I thought of you when I saw a cartoon in this week's New Yorker. Two attractive women are standing in a bar and one says to the other, "There's something about a man with a big carbon footprint that makes me really hot!" 4056. concerned - 12/11/2007 9:52:57 PM Wrt my carbon footprint, I'm Cinderella Man. Contrast that with your Chicken Little Hero, Carbon Bigfoot Bore, Globaloniliar supreme. 4057. thoughtful - 12/12/2007 1:47:00 AM concerned, we stopped by a house that is using geothermal heat and they seemed pretty happy with it. However, they told us something that our HVAC man neglected to tell us... that every time the system has to change from heat to ac and from ac back to heat, they have to have a technician in to do it and that it takes him 2 hrs to do it and it costs them $300 each time he shows up, and if they don't have that technician do it, it voids the warranty! That's $600 per year or about 2 tanks of oil.
Has that been your experience? 4058. arkymalarky - 12/12/2007 2:17:24 AM Hey Thoughtful!
Have y'all started on your house yet? 4059. concerned - 12/12/2007 2:28:58 AM Hi, thoughtful -
No, the Waterfurnace was completely controllable from the thermostat, and so, apparently is the Econar.
I'm curious who the manufacturer was of this heat pump, and whether it was an older model.
One slight down side of the Econar is the filter cost - the lowest it is available for is $20.00, being a large custom size, and it will probably need replacing 3-6 times a year. I'm looking into a lower cost alternative or two, though, where I replace the filter media in a permanent frame for about $3.00 a change, or, alternatively, get one of the reusable electrostatic filters that are supposed to only need a hosing down to clean them and are advertised to last for 'years'. 4060. thoughtful - 12/12/2007 3:29:05 AM I don't know who made the equipment, but was stunned to hear what they went through, esp since it's in a house that's a historic home owned by a nonprofit.
Based on your recommendation, I think we'll nose around for an econar dealer in our area.
BTW, would you mind telling me where you're located? In general terms...just wondering how your climate would compare to ours. 4061. thoughtful - 12/12/2007 3:30:31 AM Hi Arky, thanks for asking.
No we haven't started on our house yet. The town has had our building permit for about 5 weeks now and, given how wintry our weather is turning, we've decided to postpone construction until the spring. We've heard too much from people about all the issues/problems you go through constructing in the winter.
I hope you're feeling well and wish you good luck with your medical issues. 4062. jexster - 12/12/2007 3:53:08 AM T'filled...there's a MOTE APB out on your butt ya know 4063. arkymalarky - 12/12/2007 4:51:34 AM Thank you, Thoughtful!
We started ours in November, and even down here it wasn't a good time. It was bitterly cold at the end of December, but luckily we hardly lost any days on building. Here it's important to avoid the rainy times, if possible--which is a big IF. Building in spring will be so exciting and fun. Bob and I were talking just a couple of days ago about what it felt like to stand on the subfloor of the second floor before it was even framed. He'd never seen their land from that vantage point in all the 40 years he'd been here.
I wouldn't do it again, but I wouldn't do anything differently or undo it. And y'all have planned so carefully going in you won't hit some of the obstacles we did. Fortunately we had no major snags after firing the first carpenter, but we were very lucky. 4064. judithathome - 12/12/2007 2:34:42 PM get one of the reusable electrostatic filters that are supposed to only need a hosing down to clean them and are advertised to last for 'years'.
As with most things promised, this one fails to come through. Try replacing "years" with months...after boit three wash downs, it's useless. We purchased one, which was was more expensive than the $13 ones we'd been getting every few months, thinking just like you...a one time expense as opposed to every other month expense...it would pay for itself and then some!
We were careful with it and it lasted from fall into the winter but the first time after the winter use that we washed it down, it just fell to bits. I guess the heat degraded it too much or something. So maybe get one and use it as long as you can...you might have a different experience. If not, don't say you weren't warned!
Hey, Thoughtful...been missing your "calendar" pictures!
4065. judithathome - 12/12/2007 2:37:14 PM "after boit three"...ha! Sounds so Canadian! That should be ABOUT. 4066. alistairconnor - 12/12/2007 3:06:08 PM The heating people are supposed to have started installation at my place this morning... If nothing went wrong, e.g. the new doorway collapsing when the tenant took down the scaffolding. I wasn't there to look.
I finished the concrete on Sunday night, then on Monday the heating man told me they would be carrying the new furnace through the new doorway on Tuesday, and I said no you won't... give the concrete an extra day.
So with a bit of luck we will have heat for Christmas!
And I will have a fun job for the Christmas holidays : breaking up the slab the old furnace was on, digging out another half ton of earth and granite, and laying a new slab for the wood-pellet silo. 4067. judithathome - 12/12/2007 3:35:30 PM Why can't you just use to old one for that purpose? 4068. alistairconnor - 12/12/2007 3:41:32 PM Cos it's about 2 feet too high. The point of digging up the floor of the cellar, apart from any fortuitous archaeological finds, is to increase the volume of the silo. It's 2 metres by 2 metres, and adjustable in height. By lowering the floor by 50 cm, I might be able to store enough wood pellets to get through a mild winter without a refill. 4069. judithathome - 12/12/2007 4:22:47 PM Oh, I see...so, have you found anything interesting yet under the dirt? 4070. thoughtful - 12/12/2007 11:24:11 PM Just for Judithah, December:
Afternoon Sun
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