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It's a HOA thing. No one wants to live in a neighborhood with $500k+ houses with exposed propane tanks like you see in a trailer park. Robyn
Would somebody in your neighborhood actually place one where it could be seen from the street?
I'm rural and mine is still in the back of the house.
In areas where propane is common(no natural gas available) , the value of the house has nothing to do with it and there is no resemblance to "trailer parks" .
Would somebody in your neighborhood actually place one where it could be seen from the street?
I'm rural and mine is still in the back of the house.
In areas where propane is common(no natural gas available) , the value of the house has nothing to do with it and there is no resemblance to "trailer parks" .
I've never seen a propane tank anywhere other than a front yard here (buried). Perhaps it has something to do with the length of the lines from the trucks to the tanks (trucks deliver from the street - they don't drive up driveways). Or rules/regs about minimum distances from tanks to houses. Or rules/regs about maximum distances from tanks to various appliances (like pool heaters). Or maybe it's a combination of several things. Robyn
One would never, if it could be avoided, heat with electricity in the Northeast. Maybe condos.
My Washington State property is all electric as are the neighbors.
Just about everyone has very efficient electric heat pumps.
We also have a pellet stove in the family room, a wood insert in the living room fireplace and a small wood stove in the kitchen area... and plenty of wood just from storm damage.
When power was out for a week in January the two wood stoves/Insert kept things livable when temps were in the low teens.
Only thing now is Olympia has no burn days at times.
My brother just put in 1,000 feet of electric radiant heating in his old Eichler style home... they have lots of windows, on slab and no attic space...
The plan is to size the net meter solar array for the electric radiant heating load... The current kW charges are as much a 34 cents... so very expensive in California.
Even the most efficient heat pumps aren't good when it gets really cold. During the Christmas Freeze of 1989 - we were up visiting my inlaws in central NC (not the mountains). And - with outdoor temps at 10-15 degrees or so - the heat pump (which is usually ok in a part of the world like this) couldn't heat the house over 60. Also - a lot of heat pumps worked so miserably and/or failed that water pipes were breaking all over the place. This was basically a once in a lifetime freeze for a lot of the south. But led me to believe that heat pumps weren't a good idea in areas that get really cold weather on a regular basis. Robyn
P.S. We have a heat pump. Works great and efficiently most of the time here. But - when we get really cold mornings (like in the 30's or low 40's) - the "emergency" heat strips will kick in. And they are big power hogs.
Even the most efficient heat pumps aren't good when it gets really cold. During the Christmas Freeze of 1989 - we were up visiting my inlaws in central NC (not the mountains). And - with outdoor temps at 10-15 degrees or so - the heat pump (which is usually ok in a part of the world like this) couldn't heat the house over 60. Also - a lot of heat pumps worked so miserably and/or failed that water pipes were breaking all over the place. This was basically a once in a lifetime freeze for a lot of the south. But led me to believe that heat pumps weren't a good idea in areas that get really cold weather on a regular basis. Robyn
P.S. We have a heat pump. Works great and efficiently most of the time here. But - when we get really cold mornings (like in the 30's or low 40's) - the "emergency" heat strips will kick in. And they are big power hogs.
Typical Heat Pumps in the Pacific Northwest also have backup or supplemental electric heat coils...
Mom doesn't like Heat Pump Heating... she likes the feel of the hot air and my heat pump does a good job maintaining indoor temps... it's just that she always says she feels a cool draft and at her gas heated home it's a hot draft.
You very rarely see electric heat in the northeast. There used to be an ad on tv about Scaaaaaaary Electric Heat, it is so extremely expensive here. Cheapest is gas heat and that's not so cheap with these cold winters. Next is oil heat. Heat pumps? That's something they have in the south but supposedly they are working on developing some version that can be used here. It would be nice to not have to worry about the outrageous heating bills.
Back where I used to live everyone had wood stoves or pellet stoves and it kept the expenses down but polluted the air.
Seems where ever I am wood heat is under fire... ;-)
My brother just bought a place that only has wood heat... it's not going to work for them since no one is home during the day to keep the home fires burning...
They do have a small propane tank for the water heater.
Usually, the most efficient for the location is what most of the neighbor already have...
As to appliances for seniors... I think the biggest thing is to keep it simple... I know several with memory issues and the last thing they want to do is see a blinking clock... I can only imagine something programmable would never make it out of the box!
DH chose a French door style (which I like and would buy again) and HAD to have the water and ice dispenser in the door, which I think is a waste. The filters for the water are expensive and I prefer tap water.
Did have a leak and had to replace the water lines once. The one advantage is the grandkids can use it. But I wouldn't miss it.I find food in the freezer easier to locate with the French doors.
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