Another Big Project for this Year

Over the next month or so we will be making a plan for reconciling the five heating systems that are currently installed in the Hawksbill Cabin. Today’s set of photos detail all the systems we’ve identified so far. We even exceed FAA standards for triple redundancy – we have five systems!

In the first photo, you see the propane tank – so we expected that most of the heating was based on one of these systems. Well…2/5 of the systems are propane based…

As you walk in the door, you notice the wall mounted electric heaters – second photo. There are four of them installed in various parts of the house. The only one we know has been used recently is the one back in the master bedroom. Also in this picture are some of our new windows – while there are still some south facing ones to be replaced, all of those that face other directions have been replaced with more efficient ones.

The next system that identifies itself is this wall mounted propane heater, which is installed in the dining room. This unit appears to be in good repair and looks like it has the capacity to heat around 1,000 sf – probably enough for the whole cabin. It has three settings, and we have been able to track down the fuel line, which runs under the house back to the tank out front.

Dominating the living room area are these two systems: a propane fireplace and a pellet stove. We’ve learned from the neighbors that Britt’s experience with propane heat, over the two years he was here, was that it cost $400-500 per month, living here full-time, to keep the place heated. He opted for the pellet stove and found a way to buy the pellets in bulk ($4 for 40 pounds at Wal-Mart and the farmers’ coop, but if you buy by the ton you could reduce that significantly….). By doing so, he’d reduced his costs to $2 or $3 a day.

Finally, in the addition, there is electric baseboard heat, shown in the last photo. In most of the rooms there are older systems than this one, which is an obvious replacement in the master bedroom. You can tell it is a replacement because it doesn’t match up to the baseboards – the other units are longer and would fit in the space here. Also visible here is the wall unit, similar to the others in the old part of the house. Brit told us they used this one when it was cold enough to be uncomfortable.

We are looking for a solution that can be thermostat controlled and that we can use while we are away. We have an appointment next Monday to meet with Southern States – a local “propane and propane accessories” vendor – to see about a new wall mounted unit, which we will probably supplement with the baseboard units this year.

We are after making sure that we don’t have frozen pipes, and expect that we could quickly re-open the cabin for winter visits, if we can keep the temp around mid-40’s to 50 degrees during the winter. More to come on this, a major project.