Staying Warm Solutions

by Dan Thayer

The Blake’s appear to be in pretty good shape, with relatively low electricity and heating costs.  But there are things they can do to help keep their costs down.

Wood Burning:  The expense of firewood on the island is a barrier to the Kellers burning more wood to cut oil consumption.  One thing they might consider trying is a new device that’s just been introduced in the state of Maine called the Repose Fire Log. They’re wire baskets that you can fill with wood pellets, and they burn in a regular wood stove just like an ordinary log.  When the pellets are fully burned, the wire baskets can be refilled with pellets.  The cost of the pellet logs compares favorably with firewood.  The amount needed to equal the heat generated by a cord of firewood costs about $275 dollars, significantly less than the approximately $400 dollars a cord it costs to buy firewood ferried out to the island.  While their island location makes firewood hard to come by, the Blakes can buy bags of wood pellets on the mainland and ferry them home.  The pellets burn more cleanly, produce less ash and are easier to handle. 

The Blakes are experimenting with pressing old newspapers into bricks to burn in their woodstove.  This takes a lot of effort, and the newspaper bricks don’t produce much heat. A just-emerging alternative is a brick made out of the same material as wood pellets called BioBricks.  While the Blakes believe they can't afford them right now, BioBricks are gaining an increasing share of our energy market, so the Blakes should keep their eyes open for opportunities to buy them as prices come down. 

Oil Consumption:  The Blakes are doing well at conserving oil.  But they can make sure that their boiler is running at top efficiency by getting it thoroughly cleaned once a year.  A thorough cleaning should take a technician a couple of hours.  If the technician is done in 45 minutes, he or she is probably not doing a complete job.  Technicians need to take the burner apart, replace the electrodes, replace the oil filter and also clean the oil strainer, which is inside the burner.  That takes more than 45 minutes.  Even a minor amount of fouling can increase oil consumption by 5 to 15 percent.  Ask the technician to save the soot, so you can see how much has been recovered.  A five-gallon pail should be at least half full.  While the technician is there, the Blake’s should get an estimate of how much it would cost to add a 30 percent solution of anti-freeze to their heating system, so they can close rooms off if needed in the winter without worrying about the pipes freezing.     

Solar Power:  The Blakes will soon need a new roof, and have considered installing solar panels at that time.  While that’s a reasonable alternative to consider, it’s a big investment that will take several years to recoup. Given their ages, investing in a solar system at this time isn’t likely to pay off for the Blakes.