Property Development

[grsthegreat]

A few years ago I lost power for a week from a winter Ice Storm. At that time, my only way to heat my house was from electricity. Once Summer hit, I bought and installed a wood stove and started cutting and storing firewood. Now my house is only heated from firewood. I feel sorry for everyone that is relying on electricity or natural gas, or oil to heat their homes. If you can get it, what will it cost?

I hear you. I have gas heat, backed up with electric heat, which is backed up with wood heat. and we have 20 acres of trees to feed wood heater. Like bavkups to backups

 

[Torvy]

I hear you. I have gas heat, backed up with electric heat, which is backed up with wood heat. and we have 20 acres of trees to feed wood heater. Like bavkups to backups

I wish I could have wood powered A/C. It rarely gets bitterly cold down here, but the heat is miserable at times. Of course, I am old school with heating. I can wear a sweater or something to keep warm, so we have the furnace set to 64.

 

[grsthegreat]

I wish I could have wood powered A/C. It rarely gets bitterly cold down here, but the heat is miserable at times. Of course, I am old school with heating. I can wear a sweater or something to keep warm, so we have the furnace set to 64.

i can handle 68 at most. my buddy keeps his house 75+ all winter long. i tell him hes nuts. id have to open the windows

 

[Carl_NH]

i can handle 68 at most. my buddy keeps his house 75+ all winter long. i tell him hes nuts.

Agreed - we have our thermostat set for 62 @ night and 66 days and it cycles and warms up to 67-68 so not hot but "just right"

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

I wish I could have wood powered A/C. It rarely gets bitterly cold down here, but the heat is miserable at times. Of course, I am old school with heating. I can wear a sweater or something to keep warm, so we have the furnace set to 64.

can gas furnace and wood stove go in the same chimney. Here is east coast canada you can't even put an oil furnace in the same chimney as wood.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

My daughter is moving 4000 km away so was spending as much time as I could with her. She live 450 kms away. Damn snow came early and had to rush back to do the snow removal for my few customers. That was a few days ago. Didn't have the blower on, lights on the tractor needed fixing, the lug nuts keep backing out because the wheel dish is wore at the lug nut holes. I did the driveways with the bucket as there was only about 6 inches of snow. Had to stop and tighten the lug nuts every hour or so. I ordered a new dish for the wheel. After the snow then the rain came and other had to do things. Today was sunny so I did 2 lights installs and fixed two other broken wires. I used the crimp connectors. I don't really trust them that much but that is what I had. Think I will swap out the front work lamps for LED. They are much brighter.

20 mills of rain again tomorrow. Man it is hard to get stuff done. There is not much room for tire chains and one of them is tapping. Going to fix that the next decent days. I guess I let the tractor go to far without giving it attention it needed.

 

[Carl_NH]

can gas furnace and wood stove go in the same chimney. Here is east coast canada you can't even put an oil furnace in the same chimney as wood.

Here in NH that's not allowed - one appliance per chimney - and I believe this is a national code (not by state here)

 

[Gator6x4]

A few years ago I lost power for a week from a winter Ice Storm. At that time, my only way to heat my house was from electricity. Once Summer hit, I bought and installed a wood stove and started cutting and storing firewood. Now my house is only heated from firewood. I feel sorry for everyone that is relying on electricity or natural gas, or oil to heat their homes. If you can get it, what will it cost?

Wood heat is hot heat. One big problem with wood though is it also is a precious commodity. Farmers in the tobacco belt switched to a heating source other than wood to cure tobacco because the demand for wood was greater than the supply.

Cutting wood is also a back breaking job. Then comes the splitting. Stacking storing and keeping a years supply of wood a year ahead along with ash clean up and disposal.

Don’t forget a wood hot water heater. Those are fun without a well pump to pressurize the water tank. Pressurized hot water tanks is another problem, if not constantly monitored they will explode.

Someone always says what is a now pressurized hot water heater. In my youth the proper name for them was Wash Pots. Which were a round circular vessel constructed of cast iron that you fill full of water and build a fire under to heat the water.

Without electricity no washing machine or clothes dryer. Todays housewives would be up in arms over those two items alone.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Here in NH that's not allowed - one appliance per chimney - and I believe this is a national code (not by state here)

That’s what I thought it to be here in canada.

 

[Chewwy]

Here in NH that's not allowed - one appliance per chimney - and I believe this is a national code (not by state here)

Don’t you mean one appliance per flue? Multiple flues in a chimney are common place. I have one chimney with three flues serving two fireplaces and one wood stove.

 

[Carl_NH]

Don’t you mean one appliance per flue? Multiple flues in a chimney are common place. I have one chimney with three flues serving two fireplaces and one wood stove.

Yes you are correct - it's per flue - you can have 3-4 flues in a chimney separated by pipe/brick.

There are exceptions - you can have more than one appliance on a single flue but it is generally discouraged, and in old houses with multiple fireplaces this was not uncommon.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Yes I would THINK that is ok but not sure. I’m sure once upon a time that was the case but so was multiple devices in one flue as long as the heaviest heat was lower in the flue. Example wood in the lower and oil above the wood heat. I know they changed that. I also know a firemen who made the statement that since the Selkirk chimney came in he has taken out many dead people. He thinks the old liner may be better. I know a lady and another one of my good friends that the fire burned right through the Selkirk and they damn near lost their home.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Yes you are correct - it's per flue - you can have 3-4 flues in a chimney separated by pipe/brick.

There are exceptions - you can have more than one appliance on a single flue but it is generally discouraged, and in old houses with multiple fireplaces this was not uncommon.

Thanks for the clarification. That makes sense.

 

[Torvy]

Here in NH that's not allowed - one appliance per chimney - and I believe this is a national code (not by state here)

That would not be the sort of thing the feds have control over in the US. Any national 'code' would be a recommendation to states to adopt similar rules.

When in doubt look through the Constitution. Anything not specifically given to the feds, or prohibited to the states, to regulate belongs to the states to do so. That doesn't mean the feds will not try, but any such law would be unconstitutional.

 

[Carl_NH]

That would not be the sort of thing the feds have control over in the US. Any national 'code' would be a recommendation to states to adopt similar rules.

When in doubt look through the Constitution. Anything not specifically given to the feds, or prohibited to the states, to regulate belongs to the states to do so. That doesn't mean the feds will not try, but any such law would be unconstitutional.

NFPA - is the US national fire protection agency does set the guidelines, and states and local codes are usually followed close to this.

So yes it is by state, then local regulations (county/town) and as I clarified earlier, you can have multiple flue's per chimney, but multiple appliances per flue is discouraged. But this was common practice in colonial homes with 4-6 fireplaces to share flues. Not so common today though.

If you do need to share a flue, the heavier heat generator should be lower than the other unit. E.g. a Oil burner is on level 1 with a 6" flue and a propane hot water heater on level 2 with a 4" vent in a properly sized flue is OK - again its up to local or state codes.

 

[Torvy]

NFPA - is the US national fire protection agency does set the guidelines, and states and local codes are usually followed close to this.

Just to be clear, it is the National Fire Protection Association and it is a non-profit international organization focused on fire safety. Just don't want people to think this is a government agency.

There is a US Fire Administration, but it is part of FEMA and is more about fire response.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Tractor down and I can't get up. The wheel dish (where the wheel studs go through) are badly worn so the wheel shifts and the studs will not stay tight. Look like there is a crack through the hold to the hub as well. Should not be a big problem to fix but I can't seem to get the part which makes me realize when you go to buy a tractor consider how good the dealership is. The one here sucks. 20 unanswered phone calls over a week made me call another dealership namely Nova International. They are great but they have to ship the part to me in Cape Breton from Halifax. My part was suppose to be here Dec 1 via courier. It is now Dec 6 and still no delivery. I called the courier and they said they would track down the part and get back to me. Two days past no call or part.

So I got thinking I need a decent local dealer so I decided to look at buying from the local John Deere dealer. I asked for a quote two days and still no quote. What the hell. I am kind off chalking it up to the Cape Breton way. Don't get me wrong, I was born and raised on Cape Breton Island but work is not their fore-tay. Very frustrated trying to even get the simplest things done.

Two three years ago I sent my tractor to the Kubota dealership in Sydney, N.S. to have the front seals done which is a two hour job. They had my tractor for 3 months before they got it done. I said well they set up a new building so they could be having some growing pain which I hoped they would get fixed. Apparently not. I heard the dealership is to cheep to get extra help answering phones so chooses to loose customers.

 

[Carl_NH]

Kubota's are pretty reliable - mine was back to the dealer once 19-20 years ago at the 50 hour service and to repair a leaking FEL cylinder. Since that time I have done a few repairs, normal filters and oil, another cylinder re-seal and welded the BH bucket flange, replaced battery and fan belt.

I buy parts/filters when needed from Messicks - but you don't have that option in NS - and dealers are not as common as here in US. Also that is a part that is not commonly used so limited stock I would imagine, or users weld them until they get around to replacing the hub,

It seems your JD dealer is about the same response wise for a potential sale which is not a good sign, so maybe stick with orange!

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Kubota's are pretty reliable - mine was back to the dealer once 19-20 years ago at the 50 hour service and to repair a leaking FEL cylinder. Since that time I have done a few repairs, normal filters and oil, another cylinder re-seal and welded the BH bucket flange, replaced battery and fan belt.

I buy parts/filters when needed from Messicks - but you don't have that option in NS - and dealers are not as common as here in US. Also that is a part that is not commonly used so limited stock I would imagine, or users weld them until they get around to replacing the hub,

It seems your JD dealer is about the same response wise for a potential sale which is not a good sign, so maybe stick with orange!

my orange dealer called me today. They asked me to come in. I did. The owners and service manager and I had a meeting. I told them excuses doesn’t fix tractors but they told me their business double in a couple of years they are having some growing pains and they are hiring 3 more service guys, they hired 3 more mechanic, and they are building a huge garage, a new phone system was not working properly. They admitted growing pain. They gave me a check for my troubles, offered if my tractor breaks down they would bring me over a new tractor so I can get my snow customers cleaned out. They also said they would give me a free excavator rental because my tractor was out of service for two weeks.

They sure did make me feel they were trying hard to make things right.

The service manager gave me his personal phone number to call him directly. If I wanted anything.

Pretty hard to stay mad. I have met them before. The are great in the community and seem like very good people. I think I will stick with orange.

 

[Carl_NH]

Good to hear you worked it out - but just a comment though on your tractor use/needs. For what you are doing IMO, you would be better off with a true TLB like the L47, M59 machines. Ya, they are more $$ but are built to take clearing and digging all day long - but no standard cab like you have now.

Also, take advantage of the "free excavator" rental to dig your cabin foundation and place rocks in the spring! Nothing like a mini ex to do that along with your tractor to provide materials you can get a lot of work done.