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Hello Environmentalists,
I'm in Southern Pennsylvania, in an old Victorian with radiators. While I love the heat, I hate the idea of using fossil fuels.
My old house is shaded with old trees, so solar is out...
So far my solution has been keeping the thermostat low, installing a wood burning stove, converting my PECO to wind electricity, and using electric heaters in whatever room I'm in. It's been a way of keeping my oil costs down, but now my daughter is living with me, and she's not going to put up with a thermostat at 55!
I'm a History major, now a Therapist, so Engineers - please forgive my ignorance... But what can I do that's green? Can I use geothermal with oil to get the temperature at least up to the 50s before kicking in oil? Can I use electricity to fire the burner that heats the water that heats the radiator?
Please advise!
Just fire your existing boiler with bio-fuels, the more bio the better.
Doing so may require burner/furnace modifications or upgrades.
Bioheat is a currently available home heating fuel. google it.
Yes, it is possible to convert your existing system to electricity, but I don't recommend it, due to the ongoing expense.
It is also possible to install a wood-fired boiler or forced-air furnace outside the house, and connect it to the house heating system with insulated pipes or ducts, IF you have a nearly inexhaustible supply of wood. However, such a burner generates massive amounts of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and particulates, so it isn't really "green"!
I would not put up with the thermostat at 55 either. Our solution was to move to Florida back in 1972, no snow, no bitter cold and the trees are green all year around.
Love those drafty Victorian houses! Mine was an Eastlake Victorian, built in 1871.. orginal wood work, floors, stairs, molding, can't make quality like this anymore.
Your best bet is to weatherize, insulate, look here Energy Efficiency | Department of Energy. I could write a 70 pages book on what to do. FOr us, weatherize and isulate gave us a 30% reduction is consumption, all stuff I did myself , with an occasional reluctant help from hubby ( I'm the engineer... )
1. Caulk, plug, seal, all building envelope openings. Water, cable, any foundation entrance, and through the building. Check all doors, windows, seals for tightness. Any good carpenter or handyman can do the work for you. DO you have storms everywhere, but at a minimum on the winter wind side of the house ? do all the windows and doors close seal well ? THe house will be more comfortable without raising thermostat if cold drafts are stopped. Curtains help too.
2. After you've weatherize everything, insulate : Attic, portion of the foundation above ground and under first floor. I love poly iso, it seals infiltration and insulates, in one step. Needs to be covered with gyprock in most counties . Have any old chimneys ? are they all sealed or does heat escape ? These should be sealed shut.
I could write the book for hours....nuf , good luck
You mentioned a wood stove-------are you not using that? Maybe get another one of those and use the dead limbs you could trim off all those trees for fuel. I have just 1/4th-acre, but it's covered with trees. I could supply 2 or 3 homes with enough wood for heating, from what I trim off them.
Here's what I cut off them in just two busy weeks of pruning:
You mentioned a wood stove-------are you not using that? Maybe get another one of those and use the dead limbs you could trim off all those trees for fuel. I have just 1/4th-acre, but it's covered with trees. I could supply 2 or 3 homes with enough wood for heating, from what I trim off them.
Here's what I cut off them in just two busy weeks of pruning:
While this is a resurrected old thread, before you get everything all sealed up nice and tight get your furnace and entire system tuned up and checked for CO leaks. Then once that is done do all the sealing.
Love those drafty Victorian houses! Mine was an Eastlake Victorian, built in 1871.. orginal wood work, floors, stairs, molding, can't make quality like this anymore.
Your best bet is to weatherize, insulate, look here Energy Efficiency | Department of Energy. I could write a 70 pages book on what to do. FOr us, weatherize and isulate gave us a 30% reduction is consumption, all stuff I did myself , with an occasional reluctant help from hubby ( I'm the engineer... )
1. Caulk, plug, seal, all building envelope openings. Water, cable, any foundation entrance, and through the building. Check all doors, windows, seals for tightness. Any good carpenter or handyman can do the work for you. DO you have storms everywhere, but at a minimum on the winter wind side of the house ? do all the windows and doors close seal well ? THe house will be more comfortable without raising thermostat if cold drafts are stopped. Curtains help too.
2. After you've weatherize everything, insulate : Attic, portion of the foundation above ground and under first floor. I love poly iso, it seals infiltration and insulates, in one step. Needs to be covered with gyprock in most counties . Have any old chimneys ? are they all sealed or does heat escape ? These should be sealed shut.
I could write the book for hours....nuf , good luck
IMO, don't ruin beautiful old functional fireplaces by sealing them up. What a waste of beauty and functionality. Get the fireplaces to work and be as efficient as possible. Have them inspected. Add a blower or insert. Do what it takes to maintain the original aesthetics while making the old Victorian as energy efficient as possible.
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