Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> Sometines i think it would be doable to eventually have our hot water
> come by solar power.  Our area is iffy for enough good solar days  
> throut
> the year

Tell your big brother that you need his help in designing a breadbox  
water heater and his expertise in figuring out the details of storing  
the hot water in a heavily insulated container large enough to get  
through sunless days. A water heater is one of the biggest energy  
gobblers in any house. I am hoping to eventually heat the Heartwood  
house with radiant heat pipes in the floor. I will build or buy a  
water heater, a boiler, that uses wood for fuel. By putting that  
first in line next to the gas heater, the gas heater would only come  
on if the boiler was not fired. A similar configuration using solar  
as the initial heat source should work. You are fortunate to have  
someone so knowledgeable, if he can and will spend the time to help you.
> Good luck with the housing market - may that task be over soon with  
> hefty
> profits for your family.

Thank you. Chris is away for a week and my task has been to set a  
price. This last week of interviewing Realtors regarding the market,  
getting bids and weighing the pros and cons of expensive upgrades  
versus probable and potential profit has been intense. The future  
building program at Heartwood will be conditioned on how much gold we  
take home from this sale. Thirty years of dreams finally coming to  
fruition.