What's your hoe doing?

[aighead]

Also, @Nick G , if you haven't thought of it yet, figure out a way to mark that power line! I haven't been smart enough to remember this a couple times now but I always wish I would! I need to print out a satellite shot of my house/yard and start drawing lines where there are utilities, then tattoo that onto the insides of my eyelids.

 

[Pixie]

My wiggely old Case went for a foliage tour today. Foliage isn't very good this year as we've had excessive rain all summer but I'm sure it liked getting some air in it's hair. ( There is moss growing on it ! )

 

[Willie B]

I sure hope it appreciated the foliage tour. Mine travelled a few tours from Western VT to Plainfield NH, it always was happier & less leaky after.

 

[materthegreater]

I sure hope it appreciated the foliage tour. Mine travelled a few tours from Western VT to Plainfield NH, it always was happier & less leaky after.

I'm guessing your wallet did not feel the same way

 

[Willie B]

I'm guessing your wallet did not feel the same way

Oh, it hurts to pay a good shop to take on a task, but there are projects where the right tools in the hands of a skilled mechanic is money well spent.

 

[T-town]

One of the last, 'must do' jobs for the season ( any more is gravy ) was trenching for the propane line.
The start..

trench open...


bedded and 'marked'


final....


So... we have 'enough' of a "final rough grade" finished to 1. Shed water and 2. get us ok'd for occupancy.
Some more siding to hang.... gutters coming soon.... and hanging drywall inside.
And garage doors a couple weeks out..... which gives me some extra time to finish hanging 'rock' in there.
"Lot's" to do.....

 

[NH575E]

I don't get propane. Been there, done that.

I went all electric in 93 when I had our house built. Now I have a backup diesel generator that runs everything with a little load management. Has saved a ton of money over what I use to spend with propane.

 

[JL Sargent]

This is a regular job for my backhoe. Moving firewood to the log splitter.

 

[Swetz]

I don't get propane. Been there, done that.

I went all electric in 93 when I had our house built. Now I have a backup diesel generator that runs everything with a little load management. Has saved a ton of money over what I use to spend with propane.

Well, in your climate, perhaps propane isnt necessary, however, where it is cold, electric will brake you. The choices are oil, electric, or propane.

I have heated my house in pa with electric when my furnace was down. One month was more $$ than a tank of oil, that last way more than a month.

There are some excellent and super efficient heat pumps out there, but they dont seem to be useful in the extreme temperatures we have in pa.

 

[NH575E]

Well, in your climate, perhaps propane isnt necessary, however, where it is cold, electric will brake you. The choices are oil, electric, or propane.

I have heated my house in pa with electric when my furnace was down. One month was more $$ than a tank of oil, that last way more than a month.

There are some excellent and super efficient heat pumps out there, but they dont seem to be useful in the extreme temperatures we have in pa.

I haven't used my heat pump in years. For one thing my unit leaks refrigerant in heat pump mode. What I discovered when I switched to just using heat strips it runs less because it heats faster so the system cycles instead of running non stop. Once the house warms up it retains the heat pretty well.

Maybe it's different in cold country.

My old LP system still wouldn't run without electricity so it didn't heat during a power outage. In winter the LP bill would exceed the electric bill so I was paying both instead of just one. With all electric the electricity goes up in winter and summer but doesn't ever equal what the two different bills use to cost me.

 

[ianjoub]

I haven't used my heat pump in years. For one thing my unit leaks refrigerant in heat pump mode. What I discovered when I switched to just using heat strips it runs less because it heats faster so the system cycles instead of running non stop. Once the house warms up it retains the heat pretty well.

Maybe it's different in cold country.

My old LP system still wouldn't run without electricity so it didn't heat during a power outage. In winter the LP bill would exceed the electric bill so I was paying both instead of just one. With all electric the electricity goes up in winter and summer but doesn't ever equal what the two different bills use to cost me.

I have discovered mini split systems. They are amazingly cheap to run (and buy).

 

[T-town]

Our build is all electric... as in heat pump water heater, 'lectric range, dryer.. and 72K btu's worth of minisplits. Hope to capture some of those photons on site in the near future.
The propane will fire a wall boiler for the radiant system that will be used in the coldest time of year.
Push came to shove I could burn wood outside and feed the radiant system that way.
Did not want to tie ourselves to single distributor so we are buying a 500 gal above ground tank.

 

[T-town]

One more job before the rain..... I was gifted a surplus step from my BIL next door,

and we used it for a single front step needed on our porch entry.


the spot...


Put 10 bags of concrete in the 'hole' and leveled with wedge rocks.

...no more stepping on blocks to walk onto the porch...


And the step I got was 'stamped'.... top and edge....though I banged it up a bit...

 

[NH575E]

Nice!

 

[edgephoto]

I don't get propane. Been there, done that.

I went all electric in 93 when I had our house built. Now I have a backup diesel generator that runs everything with a little load management. Has saved a ton of money over what I use to spend with propane.

I am with you on your propane comment but electric for heat, no way. Cost per BTU is lowest with Natural Gas, then Oil is a close second. Third is propane and not far behind is electric.

Electric heat pumps are a game changer and can be cheaper to operate than NG or oil.

Propane is attractive because the equipment is much cheaper than oil.

 

[Swetz]

Hey T-town,

U going to keep the hoe when the build is complete?

 

[Swetz]

Natural gas is certainly easy...No tank, no filling, and pay only for what you use per month. Only problm with natural gas is that it is not available...imagine that, in a state where a lot of the gas supply comes from.

 

[Vetech63]

Right now, she is sitting on the couch knitti..............oh wait..........

 

[edgephoto]

I live rural so gas has never been an option for me. I would love to switch away from oil to gain the extra space in my basement where the tank sits but no way I am going to use propane for two reasons. First and foremost is cost per but and second is propane is heavier than air so it much more dangerous than natural gas, which is lighter than air.

Anyway, in the sticks there is not a lot of choices and if you like cooking with gas vs. electric than propane is your answer

 

[T-town]

when the build is complete?

lots of additions to that list of things to get done.. after we are in.
Need to semi clear some trees to open up that western sky a bit.... lots of rough patches to try to do something with... so I won't be giving up the beast anytime soon!..... of course, I have been putting some hours on her the last 10 years and she is showing her age .... but a shot of 'go gas' and she still fires up.
Hope that continues.

We were living on the 'edge' of gasland.... lots of activity the last 20 years or so but most leaving the area via the pipes. Some of it liquefied in semi's being hauled to the coast and onto 'bubble' ships for foreign ports.
Some being used in quick start power plants.
P&G has a paper products plant that drilled into the shale, uses the gas to fire turbines to produce electric to run the plant, sell excess power back to the grid and sell excess gas too.
The gas tapped in western PA has the liquids in it.... ethane, propane, etc.
The propane price round here had been stable for the most part.... with some upward creep the last year or two... of course they all hold their prices close to their chest like they're playin cards... $ 2.20 I saw.... has been higher... and who sells it to you makes a difference.

Methane ( nat gas) is close by to where I'm at.. but so is muni water and sewer... and we won't be seeing that anytime soon if ever.