Aardvark Abatement in progress!

[dreamshark]

There are horrible crashes, clangs, and grinding noises coming from the basement as the Aardvark Asbestos Abatement Company destroys our 100-year-old boiler. 

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Are you switching away from fuel oil, too?

K.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. That was the whole point. The thing worked just fine as far as heating the house goes, but feeding it fuel oil had become unbelievably expensive.

[quadong.livejournal.com]

As someone who didn't have to deal with it, I'm going to miss your big scary boiler.

I had no idea you used fuel oil, or that that was even a thing that one could do. How did that work? I assume you had to refill it by hand all the time in the winter.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, carrying in all those 10-gallon cans of fuel oil and pouring them through the funnel was a real drag.

I'm surprised that so many people consider fuel oil to be strange. How else do people who don't live in a city with natural gas connections heat their houses? It's very common on the east coast, even in cities. I'm pretty sure that all the houses I lived in growing up were heated with fuel oil.

Actually, we never filled the furnace with a funnel. We have a 1000-gallon tank buried in the back yard. Twice a year a big oil truck would drive up the alley, run a long hose into the tank, and fill it. When fuel oil was $.89/gallon this wasn't all that bad a way to heat the house. However, fuel oil now costs approximately the same as gasoline. We went through about 1500 gallons a year.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

What will power the new version?

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

There's really only one other choice.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Yes; but you didn't mention anything about installing solar panels.