Lon

Grumman-581 proclaimed:

> On Wed, 10 May 2006 23:33:15 GMT, "Frank_v7.0" <none@no.net> wrote:
>
>>You're thinking of a "swamp cooler". ecch! I've got a Trane SEER 13
>>combo A/C and "real" heat pump. Works great up here in the mountains
>>(7000" above sea level).
>
>
> I had a house with 2 geothermal heat pumps previously... Worked great
> at basically sea level and along the Gulf Coast... Electrical costs
> seemed quite a bit less than other houses that I've owned...
> Unfortunately, it's an apples to oranges type of comparison since the
> houses weren't identical...

Swamp coolers work pretty nicely in high desert where the normal
humidity is under 10% most of the time. They help keep the dry air from
turning skin into leather. Best to have a small regular unit for the 2
or 3 rare days where a rain does not cool down the area enough tho.

Lon

Grumman-581 proclaimed:

> On Wed, 10 May 2006 19:26:47 -0700, Lon <lon.stowell@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>>Oil burners were way cleaner than burning uncured softwoods in furnaces,
>> fireplaces, room stoves, etc. Rarely did our local fire department
>>get a chimney fire call for oil burning houses, but wood burning ones
>>happened all the time.
>
>
> Kind of makes too much sense to build your chimney so that it catching
> on fire would be a non-event, I guess...

If you build it, yeah. Typically it comes with the house. Good fire
brick works, but you have to make sure to use a good mortar that doesn't
weaken if the interior of the chimney starts glowing at several hundred
degrees. Arguments rage over whether it is easier to clean one that has
an inner metal chimney or not.

Lon

Grumman-581 proclaimed:

> On Wed, 10 May 2006 19:26:47 -0700, Lon <lon.stowell@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>>Oil burners were way cleaner than burning uncured softwoods in furnaces,
>> fireplaces, room stoves, etc. Rarely did our local fire department
>>get a chimney fire call for oil burning houses, but wood burning ones
>>happened all the time.
>
>
> Kind of makes too much sense to build your chimney so that it catching
> on fire would be a non-event, I guess...

If you build it, yeah. Typically it comes with the house. Good fire
brick works, but you have to make sure to use a good mortar that doesn't
weaken if the interior of the chimney starts glowing at several hundred
degrees. Arguments rage over whether it is easier to clean one that has
an inner metal chimney or not.

Lon

Grumman-581 proclaimed:

> On Wed, 10 May 2006 19:26:47 -0700, Lon <lon.stowell@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>>Oil burners were way cleaner than burning uncured softwoods in furnaces,
>> fireplaces, room stoves, etc. Rarely did our local fire department
>>get a chimney fire call for oil burning houses, but wood burning ones
>>happened all the time.
>
>
> Kind of makes too much sense to build your chimney so that it catching
> on fire would be a non-event, I guess...

If you build it, yeah. Typically it comes with the house. Good fire
brick works, but you have to make sure to use a good mortar that doesn't
weaken if the interior of the chimney starts glowing at several hundred
degrees. Arguments rage over whether it is easier to clean one that has
an inner metal chimney or not.

Lon

Herb Leong proclaimed:

> In article <L5adnWWX7Ol0Pf_ZnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@comcast.com>,
> Lon <lon.stowell@comcast.net> wrote:
> #Oil burners were way cleaner than burning uncured softwoods in furnaces,
> # fireplaces, room stoves, etc. Rarely did our local fire department
> #get a chimney fire call for oil burning houses, but wood burning ones
> #happened all the time. In a year, a big wood furnace would put about
> #an inch of gunk on the inside of the chimney.
>
> That reminds me, several of my in-laws have catalytic converters
> in their fireplace chimneys. You pull out a bypass rod until the
> fire is hot enough and then push it back in when the temp sensing
> fan starts up. The smoke goes to zilch. I wonder how well it
> would work with unseasoned wood.

Forced air and unseasoned evergreen woods don't work too bad. Trick is
heating the fumes from the flame to ignition temperature with enough
oxygen to burn most of the volatiles off. Worst were those old in
chimney radiator units that tried to pull extra heat out of the smoke...
they worked, increasing the condensation of the gunk way low down where
if it did ignite it was probably inside your house. Much easier to
just build the chimney out of fire brick...you could hear the chimney
fire but the outside of the chimney would remain cool to the touch. You
get tempted to just let it go, but it can spew burning chunks all over
the area, which isn't good around most places where you have wooden out
buildings or evergreen trees.

Lon

Herb Leong proclaimed:

> In article <L5adnWWX7Ol0Pf_ZnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@comcast.com>,
> Lon <lon.stowell@comcast.net> wrote:
> #Oil burners were way cleaner than burning uncured softwoods in furnaces,
> # fireplaces, room stoves, etc. Rarely did our local fire department
> #get a chimney fire call for oil burning houses, but wood burning ones
> #happened all the time. In a year, a big wood furnace would put about
> #an inch of gunk on the inside of the chimney.
>
> That reminds me, several of my in-laws have catalytic converters
> in their fireplace chimneys. You pull out a bypass rod until the
> fire is hot enough and then push it back in when the temp sensing
> fan starts up. The smoke goes to zilch. I wonder how well it
> would work with unseasoned wood.

Forced air and unseasoned evergreen woods don't work too bad. Trick is
heating the fumes from the flame to ignition temperature with enough
oxygen to burn most of the volatiles off. Worst were those old in
chimney radiator units that tried to pull extra heat out of the smoke...
they worked, increasing the condensation of the gunk way low down where
if it did ignite it was probably inside your house. Much easier to
just build the chimney out of fire brick...you could hear the chimney
fire but the outside of the chimney would remain cool to the touch. You
get tempted to just let it go, but it can spew burning chunks all over
the area, which isn't good around most places where you have wooden out
buildings or evergreen trees.

Lon

Herb Leong proclaimed:

> In article <L5adnWWX7Ol0Pf_ZnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@comcast.com>,
> Lon <lon.stowell@comcast.net> wrote:
> #Oil burners were way cleaner than burning uncured softwoods in furnaces,
> # fireplaces, room stoves, etc. Rarely did our local fire department
> #get a chimney fire call for oil burning houses, but wood burning ones
> #happened all the time. In a year, a big wood furnace would put about
> #an inch of gunk on the inside of the chimney.
>
> That reminds me, several of my in-laws have catalytic converters
> in their fireplace chimneys. You pull out a bypass rod until the
> fire is hot enough and then push it back in when the temp sensing
> fan starts up. The smoke goes to zilch. I wonder how well it
> would work with unseasoned wood.

Forced air and unseasoned evergreen woods don't work too bad. Trick is
heating the fumes from the flame to ignition temperature with enough
oxygen to burn most of the volatiles off. Worst were those old in
chimney radiator units that tried to pull extra heat out of the smoke...
they worked, increasing the condensation of the gunk way low down where
if it did ignite it was probably inside your house. Much easier to
just build the chimney out of fire brick...you could hear the chimney
fire but the outside of the chimney would remain cool to the touch. You
get tempted to just let it go, but it can spew burning chunks all over
the area, which isn't good around most places where you have wooden out
buildings or evergreen trees.

Lon

Think that was the case in a couple of the towns along old highway 6 in
that area. Towns populated mostly by unwanted newly arrived
kalifornicators.

L.W.(Bill) ------ III proclaimed:

> I remember it was against the law to burn wood in your own
> fireplace in Aspen, beginning in the early sixties, a friend that lives
> there told me.
> God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
> mailto:-------------------- http://www.----------.com/
>
> Herb Leong wrote:
>
>>That reminds me, several of my in-laws have catalytic converters
>>in their fireplace chimneys. You pull out a bypass rod until the
>>fire is hot enough and then push it back in when the temp sensing
>>fan starts up. The smoke goes to zilch. I wonder how well it
>>would work with unseasoned wood.
>>
>>/herb

Lon

Think that was the case in a couple of the towns along old highway 6 in
that area. Towns populated mostly by unwanted newly arrived
kalifornicators.

L.W.(Bill) ------ III proclaimed:

> I remember it was against the law to burn wood in your own
> fireplace in Aspen, beginning in the early sixties, a friend that lives
> there told me.
> God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
> mailto:-------------------- http://www.----------.com/
>
> Herb Leong wrote:
>
>>That reminds me, several of my in-laws have catalytic converters
>>in their fireplace chimneys. You pull out a bypass rod until the
>>fire is hot enough and then push it back in when the temp sensing
>>fan starts up. The smoke goes to zilch. I wonder how well it
>>would work with unseasoned wood.
>>
>>/herb

Lon

Think that was the case in a couple of the towns along old highway 6 in
that area. Towns populated mostly by unwanted newly arrived
kalifornicators.

L.W.(Bill) ------ III proclaimed:

> I remember it was against the law to burn wood in your own
> fireplace in Aspen, beginning in the early sixties, a friend that lives
> there told me.
> God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O
> mailto:-------------------- http://www.----------.com/
>
> Herb Leong wrote:
>
>>That reminds me, several of my in-laws have catalytic converters
>>in their fireplace chimneys. You pull out a bypass rod until the
>>fire is hot enough and then push it back in when the temp sensing
>>fan starts up. The smoke goes to zilch. I wonder how well it
>>would work with unseasoned wood.
>>
>>/herb