Time to turn on the furnace, dammit!

I hate this time of year. Well, not hate, exactly: I don't like having to turn the gravity furnace on, and not just because it's not a simple matter of flipping a switch and turning up the thermostat. Last year I didn't turn it on until October 3, so I haven't held out quite as long. But it just hasn't been that cold here until today.

It's freakin' cold in the house, though (probably because I still have quite a few windows open). While it's sunny the outside temp is about 8C (48F). And in here it's about 14C according to my ancient thermostat.

A gravity furnace, while it may be inefficient in fuel use, has some advantages. There are no air filters to change. It has no moving parts such as a fan. The only electricity it uses is to turn the gas valve on and off. There are no electric blowers, so you don't feel air flow when the furnace is on, and there's less dust in the air. Because it's made of cast iron, the whole thing retains heat, so even while it's off it's heating the basement (and the dining room floor). I have double-glazed windows, and I have sealed up any drafts I can find using caulking, expanding foam insulation, and backer rod, especially around the south side of the house. When I had the house inspected in November 1998, the carbon monoxide reading was extremely low, like 9 parts per billion or something (the inspector told me and my real estate agent that the cigarettes we just smoked put out way more CO than the furnace). I of course have a carbon monoxide detector. The only time it sounded was when I wiped it with a furniture polishing cloth that had some volatile compounds impregnated in it. I stopped using those!

The only cold air leaking in comes from the ancient back door frame. I remedy this by stuffing an old blanket in a plastic bag between the doors, since the weather stripping doesn't quite do the job.

On the other hand, the gigantic ducts take up a lot of head room in the basement. I'm 170cm (5'7") and I have to duck in a few places. The furnace itself takes up a lot of room, sitting as it does in about the centre of the space, and having a circumference of about three meters/10 feet. Getting it out will require some specialists in asbestos removal, since there are sheets of AB protecting the floor joists from the hot water duct to the chimney. It's probably less than 50 percent efficient (though the higher gas bill is offset by the lower electricity use). And getting a mid- or high-efficiency furnace will cost, well, a lot more than I have in the bank.

And I was lucky I bought the house when I did---new insurance rules in 1999 required a furnace to be less than 25 years old. Mine is almost 90. If I wanted to change my insurer I'd have to replace the furnace first. These rules also require replacement of knob-and-tube wiring and galvanized plumbing pipes, and an upgrade to 100-amp input service. This has been done already, but there's more to go.

So the furnace is on, I'm covered in dust and cobwebs, the windows are closed, the temp is already up to 17C, and my ankles are feeling warmer. Maybe I'll put on some socks, though.

Carbon footprint FAIL

I like a leaky house. That is to say I don't mind some drafts from improperly sealed windows and doors. I did spend an evening caulking around the living room and dining room floors because there was actual COLD AIR that I could feel on my ankles, and I installed backer rod outside on my south-facing but unsunny part of the house as a draft sealer as well. It works pretty well.

My complaint is about my carbon footprint, according to various websites I've plugged my numbers into.

Yes, I drive an older car---about once a week for less than 30 km (that's about 19 miles in US gallons) each trip. I've filled the gas tank twice THIS YEAR. My car also passed its biennial (every two years in US gallons) emissions test, with almost no emissions registered on the test equipment. Every four months I drive to the dentist for a cleaning, which since I'm diabetic is essential---and yes, I floss! It's a 35 km round trip that takes about 40 minutes by car and over three hours by public transit, usually in a diesel-smoke-belching bus. I drive to the beer and liquor stores to turn in my empties and get full ones, about 3.5 km round trip (which I often do by public transit). And once or twice a year I drive to my mom's, a 1250 km round trip.

I also have an older house (ca. 1925) with an older furnace. However, I got my electricals updated (from 60 to 100W) when I moved in, and shortly after replaced the water pipes with copper. In 2007 I got "water remediation" done, which meant replacing the big pipe from the street to the property line by the city for free, and from the property line into the house for somewhat more, and included a water meter. This means that my water bills are no longer calculated by the number of faucets in the house and I'm billed on actual usage. My first bill was minus $150. My next bill was minus $94. I expect my next water bill to be about $14.00.

October 31 update: My latest water bill was minus $42.32. I'm sure some day I'll be billed for water, but the next bill will have a $10 rebate because I chose the smallest garbage bin.

I ordered the smallest recycling and garbage bins. I got a downspout disconnected and use the waterbarrel. The only non-CFLs in the house are in the kitchen. Using a laptop and multiple power bars I use about $6 of electricity a month (<300kW in two months). I have low-flow faucets, shower, and a high-efficiency toilet (HET; 4.6 liters for the full flush and half that for the half-flush).

I guess I do need 4.3 planets to support my lifestyle. What less can I do?

Turning on the furnace

This is my gravity furnace. It came with the house. Actually, it was installed when the house was built in the early 1920s. It was made by the Guelph Stove Company. It still works pretty well nearly 90 years after it was put together. It was converted from oil to gas in the 1950s.

Gravity furnaces work because hot air rises. The ducts are huge and the air vents and cold air returns are pretty big too. There's no blower or fan; the flames heat these big ceramic plates, which heat the air in the big chamber. The best thing is it's quiet --- you can only tell the furnace has been on when the valve ratchets off.

I turned it on for the first time last night, since it was about 5C (that's about 40F). Here are the steps: 1) turn the thermostat up to 25C, 2) turn valve A (for the pilot), 3) prop open the burner door, 4) undo the access plate to the pilot, 5) light the pilot by getting down on my back on the dirty basement floor and holding a candle flame up to the gas jet area, 6) turn valve B (that supplies the on-off valve/thermostat thing, I think), 7) turn the electric switch on, and 8) turn the thermostat to where I want it (17C).

It was over 20C in the house this morning, which is just too hot for me these days, so I turned it down to 15C. The real house temp according to my Lee Valley thermometer is about 18-19. But this spring I installed it outside in the front window so I know how to dress in the morning. Now I need a new thermometer for inside the house.

Tips for making fruit preserves: Every time you take a step in making the jam or jelly, re-read the instructions in their entirety. Then read them again. That's how I fuxed up the grape jelly that didn't jell. I did everything right except I heated the grape juice before I stirred in the pectin crystals. Reprocessing worked very well, though, except I started with 9 jars of juice, added 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 cups of water, and ended up with 8 jars of perfect jelly. Go figure.