cold

i have an embarrassment of riches in the topic department; lawnmowers, suicide, refugees, drought, turtles..... but with the weather changing, heating the home is at the forefront.

we moved into the current house in the spring of 2014 so last winter was our first brush with cold weather and the furnace was not up to snuff. the fuel bills were sky high and the old furnace sounded like it was really laboring to maintain a comfortable temperature. i quickly decided we needed a new furnace but replacing the furnace in the winter meant being without heat while the change was being made so i decided to wait until warmer weather arrived. well the warm weather arrived, it was time to pull the trigger but i procrastinated until last week.

i soon learned that furnaces had changed since the last time i replaced one and "high efficiency" was the only option. no shit, i couldn't get a good old fashioned furnace so i was forced join the 21 century and go high efficiency. these new furnaces require different venting, rather than the exhaust going up the chimney it circulates via 2 almost horizontal pipes. almost horizontal because they're like plumbing, they have to rise 1/4 inch per foot whereas plumbing drainage pipes have to decline 1/4 inch per foot. i called 5 different companies for an estimate and 5 different guys spoke down to me explaining the ins and outs of these new furnaces. and since the furnace no longer sends its exhaust up the chimney i had to get a chimney liner for the hot water tank exhaust because it didn't provide sufficient hot air to "efficiently" rise in a large chimney.

the old furnace:

and of course my shadow followed me everywhere during the process:

the new furnace:

the new venting:

rather than hiding the pipes in the ceiling i had them left in open view. it reminded me of my old days in the coast guard when there were pipes and wires running under the ceiling on the bridge, plus they didn't have rip the ceiling tiles out. you'll notice my spare jugs of don quixote, sancho panza and the viking. a guy always needs back up jugs in case of accident.

so the new furnace has been installed and now i just have to wait for some cold weather. lucky me.

***CARBON TAX***

the price of our natural gas = $2.486 per gigajoule

the carbon tax on nat gas = $1.4898 per gigajoule

so it's a 59.9% tax! kinda high eh?

this is the song that kept playing in my head as i prepared for retirement:

i love you sons of bitches.