Monday, December 3, 2007

Furnace Replacement - Day 1

Today was truly one of those best of times, worst of times kind of days. This morning, I had the misfortune of experiencing the death of a pet. Beth published a wonderful eulogy for our boy Milo on her blog. He was a good boy and will be missed.

Given the grief of this morning, it was a welcome diversion to have our HVAC guys start on the new heating system today as well. I delayed the install a week due to some business travel, which meant the house has been COLD for an extra week. To drive home the impact of that decision even more, we got out fist real snow & ice last night. yippee... The saving grace for us has been the pellet stove we installed in the kitchen/breakfast room and the space heaters we bought when the knittas came to town. With these things running 24-7, there's just enough heat to keep us from becoming popsicles in these beginnings of a frigid NY winter.

The new system is a complete overhaul, with a boiler and hydro-coil air handlers replacing the normal gas furnace. We decided to go this route so we could place a second air handler in the attic to handle the 2nd floor independently. The guys focused on the basement today, removing all of the old equipment and installing the first air handler (photo below) and new duct work. What may not translate in this simple photo is the joy that comes with the fact that this unit will NEVER come in contact with any water that could reside on the floor of our basement. That fact alone is huge in this old house...

They'll be back tomorrow to begin the install work in the attic. We're on track to have real heat again by the end of the week. Hallelujah...