[Greenbuilding] Big toaster, was Ground-source heat pumps

[Rob Tom]

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 some fellow MooseHuggers wrote:

>> In retrospect, my decision to install a big toaster (ie electric  
>> furnace @ less than $400) as the Code-required, automatic auxiliary  
>> heating system
>> seems to have been a good one. Never mind the fact that it has never  
>> been fired up in the over 20 years that it has been "in service".

<snipped>

> What is your primary heat source?




(1) Direct-gain passive solar and
(2) Occupancy gains ( ie bodies (3.3), waste heat from  
lighting/appliances, cooking etc.)
and
(3) when (1) & (2) fall a bit short and the interior temperature drops to  
below 65 degF, a wee woodstove, EPA-approved (of course).

If this KrazyKahlifohnia-like-climate-changed weather keeps going the way  
it's going, the woodstove too will be redundant in the near future.

So far this season, less than 2/3 of a face cord (face cord = 4'x8'x16" in  
this corner of the world) of firewood has been consumed. Maybe even less  
than 1/2 a face cord. I think about a half dozen fires in all of December.  
A "normal" winter (you know,the kind where you don't wear T-shirt outside  
in January ?) would require 4-6 face cords for the heating season or about  
2.15 Btu/HDD/yr/sf or less for space heating.



=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
<A r c h i L o g i c   at  c h a f f y a h o o   dot   c a >
winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply