At a special Grange meeting on Aug. 2nd, we got a report from a new member of our Grange community, Bill Chidsey, on his investigations into our heating system.  Bill has 40 years of experience in HVAC (heating/ventilating/air conditioning), with a specialization in increasing energy efficiency.   He has surveyed the existing furnace and burner, the ductwork and heating distribution system, and the construction and insulation levels of our Grange Hall.

We have lots of things to do to improve our heating efficiency, but we don’t have to start with a new furnace.   Bill has a couple of immediate recommendations for making improvements:   replace the burner (not the whole furnace) with  a more modern, more efficient one (85 % compared to 76%), and install a programmable, digital thermostat.   The new thermostat will automatically warm up the Hall before renters arrive, and turn it down when they leave.   There will be provisions for short-term changes, but the basic schedule will be maintained–and the thermostat will never be left turned up.   He expects that with these two improvements, we will save about a tank of oil every year–which is about $900 or $1000.
Over the longer term, we need to keep making improvements.   We have some obvious needs, like sealing the visible gaps around the entrance doors on the south end, the older entrance.   We also have less obvious needs–like improving the heating ducts that bring the heat around the building, and return the cooled off air to the furnace to be heated.  We can improve overall air-sealing, and improve insulation–especially around the poured-concrete foundation.   All of these will improve the efficiency of the whole building, and will reduce the size of the furnace we need–when we finally are ready to do so.

We are grateful that Bill has joined us in this effort, and have agreed to hire him to install the new burner and thermostat.  He is confident that the furnace, with a new burner installed and correctly adjusted, will work for us while we make the other improvements.    He started on Monday, Aug. 11th, and we’ll have a noticeably improved furnace and control system well before the heating season starts.  Once again, the Grange thrives when people pitch in, and we all benefit.

Who is there who can join me to finish digging the trench (about 90 feet) and laying conduit?  Give me a call or send an email!  –Tim 

Great progress has been made on the trench and conduit needed to bring power from the building to the site of our new sign.   A crew of volunteers joined me on Sunday, August 3rd to get started, and indefatigable Lewis Neill continued the work during last week.

We’ve got 2 runs of conduit buried at least 18″ deep, from the corner of the building, across the driveway next to the building, and down the slope to the driveway from the road.   Our crew on Sunday accomplished this much–many thanks to Alison and Andy Forrest, Stephen Wright and Kevin Taft! Then over the next couple of days, Lewis continued the trench and conduit across the lower driveway and began coming down the west side.

We are still working on the design and planning for the new sign, but this work gives us a big step forward.  And it’s affordable–I did get a quote from a dance community member with a Kubota tractor with a trenching bucket–but it would cost about $600 just to complete the run to the new sign location, money we don’t have.  We’ll rely on “sweat equity” to get this project done–see my invitation in the adjoining column.

During our summer hiatus from regular Grange meetings,the need for decisions hasn’t gone away.  Those of us who can remember back before warm weather arrived know that it won’t last forever–this is Vermont!   Alert readers will remember we’ve been warned that our furnace is on its last legs.   Heating oil is one of our largest annual expenses, and of course we need to keep the Hall warm once cold weather comes back.    So some of us have been studying the options.

We’ve gotten quotes from a couple of heating system contractors, for a couple of options:  replacing our current single furnace with another oil furnace, or changing to a pair of gas furnaces, to independently heat the 2 floors.  Sizing of these has been based on our current fuel usage, and the current furnace size.

We’ve been lucky to get help from a new member of the Montpelier dance community, who has about 40 years of experience in HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning).   Bill has stepped forward to use his expertise to evaluate the heating and ventilating needs of our building, using spread-sheet based tools.   He’s surveyed the building, and interviewed me about the structure and the insulation levels–including the 12″ of cellulose which we put in the attic floor back in 2007.   By doing this study,  Bill expects to recommend the size of the furnace(s) we need, to run the most efficiently and minimize our fuel usage.   He also expects to give us recommendations on where we should consider adding insulation to reduce our heating load and save money every heating season.

As we also prepare for the planned renovations of our basement fire exits, and of the downstairs bathrooms, we’ll be looking for opportunities to improve our insulation during the reconstruction of these areas.

On August 2nd, before the CDU contra dance, I’d like to hold a meeting to discuss Bill’s recommendations, and to make some decisions about which way to go.  By that time, we should have some solid numbers on the heating needs of our building.  This will not be a regular Grange meeting, but a meeting focused on this one issue.   I’d like to meet at 5:30, planning on an hour of discussion followed by a potluck dinner; there will be a dance that evening with set-up starting at 7:00 as usual.   Please contact me if you can join us in helping to make this decision!

Tim Swartz, Master (with everyone’s help)
Capital City Grange #469
225-8921