I see by my outfit...

[rolanni]

...that this is going to be a very busy week.

Actually, today is rather laid-back (ignore the running around in circles and the declarations that this book will be the death of me; business as usual at this stage, and actually a positive sign), but things start to rev up tomorrow with a podcast interview, then two flavors of medical visits on Wednesday, and a end-of-week in-house interview with The Maine Edge.  We have also just been told that one of the old stone houses in Old Orchard Beach/Ocean Park is for sale at a price that is...above our touch, but not that much above our touch.  We need to think seriously about whether we can fit two writers and four cats in 1,036 square feet, with no basement.  And if we really want to add, "drive four hours round trip to look at a house" into this week's mix, especially because!

I really need to print out the penultimate draft of Alliance on Sunday and use next week to go through it for the final edit (The Final Edit).

So!  How's your week shaping up?

Comments

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

If Everything Were Equal, which it very much is not, I would happily move to Old Orchard Beach and never emerge again. I'm thinking we have to take the dragon by the tail here, though I'm obviously not going to buy a house that I can barely afford, leaving me therefore without any means to heat it. That would be Silly. The cats -- and we -- are far too fond our comfort.

That said, and as far as we can tell from the pictures and the disclosure papers, it looks like this one may have actually been insulated, already. Some of the old stone houses -- the Benoit Houses, as they call 'em 'round here -- actually have naked stone walls inside. I'm thinking those would be awfully cold, come 25 below zero.

This particular house also come with a heat pump, and the reported electrical usage is much above ours. OTOH, we don't know if the sellers used it as a summer house, and went Away down south in the winter, just leaving enough heat on so that the pipes didn't freeze.

Questions...

Heat pump

[doccolt.livejournal.com]

A heat pump looses efficiency drastically as the temp gets below freezing. Most have auxillary electric resistance heat which really makes the meter spin. It is possible to have aux gas or propane/butane heat but not common. At winter temps there I would expect the heat pump to run pretty much 24/7 with the aux kicking in and out regularly. The compressor will cost two thousand or more probably more to replace when it dies from constant running. It is possible to set the thermostat to emergency heat and use the aux heat only.

Re: Heat pump

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Aha! That explains why they also had oil usage last year! So, they've got a dual system, with the heat pump being the new kid on the block -- the house was built in 1948.

Re: Heat pump

[doccolt.livejournal.com]

Right! A heat pump is really just a refrigerated air conditioner with a reverse cycle built in. In heating you are cooling the outside air and using the waste heat to heat the house. The colder it is outside the less heat there is to transfer inside. It should cool well in the summer and heat ok in moderately cold weather then also run the oil heat more and more as the cold deepens.