New House - November 99 - Heating and Cooling System
We had a most difficult time with the heating contractors. In June we contacted Agway Energy Systems and Johnson's. Paul Philips from Agway looked at the house, chatted with us, and took a set of plans. Steve Fischer from Johnson's brought an engineer down and we looked at the house and talked about the system that we wanted. The discussions centered around the furnace efficiency. Propane furnaces can reach 80% efficiency with a natural draft (B-vent metal) chimney going through the house and penetrating the roof. By increasing the efficiency to 90% to 94% and using the power-vent system, the stack gas is so cool that it exits as liquid water and carbon dioxide through a 2 inch plastic pipe at the side of the house. The claim is that the extra cost of the more efficient furnace is made up by the saving in the cost of the chimney. Thus, the more efficient system is no more expensive. Sounds great, but the power-vent system needs power and adds more mechanical complexity. If propane is to be used for the water heater, then two power vent systems must be installed and that may be more expensive than a single B-vent chimney. As we intended to get a lot of heat from wood, and not spend the colder months here, we opted for the 80% efficient approach. Air conditioning was discussed, but at $2500, was dismissed.

Johnson's quote for $7500 was sent along a few days later, but repeated calls to Agway could not entice a quote from Mr Philips, nor in fact even establish contact with him. Eventually we stopped telling the secretary that we wanted him to call or quote, merely that we wanted the plans returned so that someone else would be able to quote on the job. After several months Mr Philips called and gave a price ($7800) over the phone and was asked to put the price and a description of the system on a piece of paper and send it to us along with our plans. He said yes, but did otherwise.

In the fall, Steve Fischer called to say that he was going on medical leave, but was turning his files over to someone else at the office. Eventually, we did get Wayne Fahey from Roland J. Down, Inc to bid on the job, but the difference in cost ($10,000) and systems (94% efficient furnace with air conditioning) was considerable. In an effort to understand where the differences were, a call was placed to Johnson's and no one could find any record of the quote although the head of the office said he would look into it and call us back. This left us in the position of leading three contractors through the bid process only to have one high-priced bid.

In late October, a stop at E&D Sheet Metal in Salem led to Nate Herrington who looked at the house on Tuesday and gave us a quote on Saturday morning (rousting us out of bed). The quote was $7300 for the 90% efficient system with $1100 extra for air conditioning. The difference was that the five year guarantee did not include labor and the unit was a Comfort-Aire, not a Trane. At $1100 we will be air conditioned.

So Nate got the job and while he was working, Paul Philips stopped at the house and returned our plans. No one from Johnson's ever called back.

Needless to say, neither Agway or Johnson's will get the propane supply contract. Amerigas agreed to supply the 75 gallon water heater at their cost ($675), so they brought over their 500 gallon propane tank and dropped it in the hole that Wayne had dug.

propane tank
The 500 gallon propane tank in its 4' x 10' x 5' hole.		 union
There was a union in the line 11'-8" back from the transformer.
cathodic protection
The tank has cathodic protection to keep it from rusting.		 service entrance
The electric and propane enter the east side.
Nate Herrington
Nate Herrington shows us how much money we will save.

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Last updated 16 Nov 99

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