We're slowly progressing toward getting the "minor subdivision" approved by the county. GC thinks he'll have permits by end of March - except, perhaps, driveway permit to cross stream and wetlands from state Dept of Environment. Of course, he can't access the property to start building until he has the bridge and driveway in.
I talked to the woman who'll be our neighbor. She has the adjacent 5 acres and we bought from her brother when he sold his half of the old family farm. When I asked, she said she's lived there 45 years and only remembers losing electricity maybe 5 times, the longest being 2 days when a thunderstorm blew a tree down across the power lines.
We originally planned on propane heat, hot water, and cooking with a propane-fueled backup generator for each house. Sounds like now we don't really need the generators ($10,000 option per house). That said, I likely will have the electrician put in transfer switches just as a precaution. That way, if we decide to add gens in the future, the houses will be prepped.
I'm looking for opinions on which fuel you would use in this situation, and why. I've done a little 'research' and it appears that fuel oil has ~40% more energy per gallon than propane and there are systems available that offer about the same efficiency with either fuel. I don't know how they compare cost-wise but diesel is ~$4.50-$4.60/gal in this area so I would expect fuel oil would be near the same. Propane runs ~$4/gal. Electric is my third choice, at least right now. We had heat pump in Florida (Jacksonville area) several years ago and I didn't care for the feeling of cool air coming out of the vents. That said, if it's enough of a savings, I could always wear a sweater
If we do go all electric, then any future backup generator would also include a fuel tank, but I think the 10k price the GC quoted is rather high.
Thanks for your widsom.
Charlie
P.S. I started to post this in the Projects forum but the description says it's for tractor projects - although I do see building threads in it. I guess the moderator will move this if I've misplaced it.
I talked to the woman who'll be our neighbor. She has the adjacent 5 acres and we bought from her brother when he sold his half of the old family farm. When I asked, she said she's lived there 45 years and only remembers losing electricity maybe 5 times, the longest being 2 days when a thunderstorm blew a tree down across the power lines.
We originally planned on propane heat, hot water, and cooking with a propane-fueled backup generator for each house. Sounds like now we don't really need the generators ($10,000 option per house). That said, I likely will have the electrician put in transfer switches just as a precaution. That way, if we decide to add gens in the future, the houses will be prepped.
I'm looking for opinions on which fuel you would use in this situation, and why. I've done a little 'research' and it appears that fuel oil has ~40% more energy per gallon than propane and there are systems available that offer about the same efficiency with either fuel. I don't know how they compare cost-wise but diesel is ~$4.50-$4.60/gal in this area so I would expect fuel oil would be near the same. Propane runs ~$4/gal. Electric is my third choice, at least right now. We had heat pump in Florida (Jacksonville area) several years ago and I didn't care for the feeling of cool air coming out of the vents. That said, if it's enough of a savings, I could always wear a sweater
If we do go all electric, then any future backup generator would also include a fuel tank, but I think the 10k price the GC quoted is rather high.Thanks for your widsom.
Charlie
P.S. I started to post this in the Projects forum but the description says it's for tractor projects - although I do see building threads in it. I guess the moderator will move this if I've misplaced it.
