We covered all of the exposed cinder block walls in walk in lower level with reflectex. We covered the FLOOR of the unfinished part of the lower level with reflectex wherever it was not carpeted [about 300 sq ft]. All seams between the reflectex sheets are fully sealed with aluminum foil tape. All breaches of the wall have been sealed with expanding foam.
We covered the reflectex inside on the walls with wool blankets. This lower level was a massive heat sink of about 1000 sq ft of concrete total uncovered and in contact with the outside.
Every square inch of exposed concrete is now covered with reflectex and sealed like a space craft. The hot water heater is wrapped with fiberglass insulation and then a layer of reflectex.
Kim made window blankets out of reflectex with magnetic strips and we put those on at night.
The fist night we used the heat pump, it seemed not to do much at all. It was very cold and we switched on on the "emergency" mode at the thermostat. This is a horribly inefficient mode that uses brute force electric resistance heating elements to assist the heat pump. After a short time the circuit breaker would trip. This is amazing-- the wires were not properly tightened on the circuit breaker inside the panel. The connecting was so poor that the face of the panel itself was hot with the wasted energy of this high resistance connection. After we tightened the wiring, the heat pump worked like a charm,
We tossed the old dryer and got a new very efficient dryer and I vent the heat from the dryer back into the house in winter with a louver made specifically for recovering the dryer exhaust heat.
We also use [sparingly] some spot zone heating with several DiLongi Micathermic new age high efficiency resistance heaters used on demand only when the space [office, lab, or bedroom] is occupied, with the mean temperature of the majority of house kept much lower.
The guy who lived here before wasted as much in lost energy as his mortgage payment [after interest tax write off] in cash dollars to smeco during the winter.
I have to go back to work now, but I would love to blog some of this.
Our winter projects this year are finishing a solar assist for the heat pump I stated last year [now off line] and a passive solar oven.
We also have the beginnings of a solar electrical supplement, but it is more a statement at this point than a net energy source.
End of rant.
Bill
IIII's R Us
BTW Does anyone know of a commercial leasing company that does lease to purchase financing on specialized software in $10k range?
We need to update one of our CAD CAM platforms before a window closes for "legacy users" [those of us who bought the thing 20 years ago and made it the standard] to convert to the modern version of our tool.
They issued "last call' . They will no longer support the old platform in any way [the small company we dealt with was sold to Agilent] We have to do it now or pay 20-30 grand next year or the year after. We use this tool to do contract design and it is not optional for us.
Would a term loan make more sense than a lease? I am asking my banker the same things and just want other expert opinions. Any input is welcomed.
Thanks
