response 105 of 191:

Feb 7 20:57 UTC 2013

Data? Also, in considering electric heat vs gas, one should look at the whole
picture, including uses of either or both for cooking, heating, hot water,
It is, after all, only the total bill that matters.

response 107 of 191:

Feb 7 22:45 UTC 2013

Sinks and tubs are now required to have temperature limiting valves in their
faucets (105 or 110, or both).  DTE charges $10/month fee for electric and
$10.40/month for gas, just for reading the meter.  Not having gas saves over
$120/year.  It also saves the cost of a gas furnace and water heater. 
Baseboard electric heaters can be as low as $27 each and do not require
ductwork or gas pipes.  They do not pollute at the point of use.  There is
no chance of CO poisoning.  They let you keep each room at a different
temperature.   My total electric heat bill will probably be only about
$100/year (calculated) or maybe less with the heat recovery ventilator (I was
assuming no heat recovery and 1/10 air change per hour average).  The primary
cost is for insulation and wiring and a few space heaters.  

Jim takes a hot bath once a week (heater set to high, fully heated) which
should kill any bacteria.  

Detergent kills bacteria on dishes.  Hot water melting solid grease is bad
for the plumbing because it will just solidify some place else.  We don't cook
with solid grease, and cold water gets things clean.  Laundry may get a bit
cleaner with hot water but we don't care if it is bright white.  

Today we are deciding what size hydronic baseboard heaters to use downstairs
in the living room and kitchen.  Jim thinks I should use twice the heating
load then I can turn off the heat for 8 hours and heat it up again quickly.
We have three big metal boxes with timers for controlling relays to turn heat
on and off.  One is designed to turn a calcinator on and off three times a
day but the little trip pieces are missing.  One is a 7-day model that turns
things on and off once a day.  I was hoping to turn the heat off and night
too but only 11 am to 7 pm is really important.  I can turn off the bedroom
heat manually (and go get dressed in the bathroom in the morning).   This one
is a box about 12" high with a huge metal dial and a lot of screws at the
bottom for controlling up to four different loads (SP or DP?).  The third one
is an enormous yellow box probably for a commercial building that is
electronic and programmable (but antique - early computer age) that lets you
set it to compensate for outdoor temperature so the heat knows when to come
on to reach a certain temperature.  It has various plug-in options.  It is
vastly overkill for my house.  For $25 or so I could buy a newer but flimsy
timer that might last 2-5 years and will turn the heat on and off twice a day,
same way every day, or for more money a 5-2 or 7-day model.  

We have drawn in kitchen table and likely cabinet locations and there is one
possible spot for a heater between two windows.  The intake air for
ventilation blows right at the heater, which is helpful.  (I think it does
the same in the bathroom too).  Next we need to place the thermostat.  This
is somewhat determined by distance from the heater (but not near the stove
or refrigerator) and also by how to wire.  Like a light switch and light, you
can feed power to the switch then the heater or the heater then the switch
(and another wire back to the heater).  Unfortunately the stove is in the
middle of the first route and if you go the other way round you reach the
refrigerator but there are other options.  The bathroom heater has a built-in
thermostat and will be used primarily on-off (or to heat the house up quickly
since it is 1500W and the others are maybe 1000 for much larger rooms with
450W heat loads).  

Today we went with a neighbor to IKEA and looked at the light fixtures.
The ones we thought we wanted were indeed the right ones.  The short $10
models (14") with three halogen bulbs tended to shine sideways into your eyes
because they have no shades, but are fine next to walls where you can point
them at the wall (or ceiling, if wall mounted) so we got five (also for use
pointed straight down in the small bathroom).  In the middle of the room we
got the $30 models with white shades - one round for LR and one 30" long for
over the kitchen table.  Jim wanted me to get a big round one with frosted
glass shade - I told him if he ever goes to the house he can change it and
move the old one upstairs.  The first ones were displayed with LED bulbs and
there was much less sideways light.  We had lunch there and got the 3/$2.50
chocolate bar specials.  Jim dreamed up a way to attach the fixtures without
needed wiremold round boxes (which would lower them 1") by putting the 1/2"
deep plain metal round ceiling pans inside the fixtures.  Normally the pans
are not enough cubic inches for two wires but the fixtures themselves become
the wiring enclosures this way, and the pans hold them to the ceiling.
We will reuse the two wiremold boxes that we already poked holes in for smoke
alarms (which also have two wires), or upstairs with wiremold conduit (since
you can't run that through these fixtures, and the upstairs ceilings are 7'
10" instead of 7' 6").  

Today my builder friend is sick and also does not want to drive home to past
Chelsea in snow and sleet so we are doing design without him.  Jim wants to
put double ventilation in the kitchen, but I think since it is the closest
to the HRV it will already be getting much more air pulled through it (less
friction loss).  Our architect is busy preparing a Sunday demo of how to build
with fiberglass-cement on styrofoam (using yogurt cups as houses) and has not
finished ventilation design (after two days of drawing).  

Heater wattage determines heater length: 34" for 750W, 46" for 100W, 58" for
1250W - so the room size may determine the wattage.  With a small house you
don't want to waste wall space.  Jim drew in a piano on one wall.  I was
concerned that our heaters ended up on the south wall where we would be
getting solar gain, but Jim pointed out that they will be off from 11 to 7
when you get most of the gain (11-3 actually).  The kitchen table will be in
a cozy corner.  

The DTE rep told me most people complained about their electric bills during
summer cooling season, when they run their ovens and air conditioners at the
same time.  We plan to cool only by ventilating at night, and to cook on the
porch and shower only after opening up at night.  We also have an induction
hotplate, microwave oven, and electric frypan and pressure cooker to reduce
energy use.  If we were more fanatic we would build a solar cooker to reflect
sun's heat onto a black pressure cooker, and also use solar hot water in
summer.  (Black rainbarrels are low tech solar hot water).  In summer I use
laptop computers (also in winter nowadays).  What else uses a lot of power?

response 109 of 191:

Feb 8 00:07 UTC 2013

Since the downstairs heat load is under 1500W (with ceiling insulation) I
could probably pass inspection with only one space heater (bathroom) and just
plan ahead for the others (run wire in the conduit for heater and thermostat)
and choose the heater size later.  I don't think they are even requiring
bathroom doors (just doors between inside and out, and down and up).  

response 111 of 191:

Feb 8 05:39 UTC 2013

"Detergent kills bacteria on dishes."

Untrue.

In answer to the question "do dishwashing detergents kill bacteria"?

"It does not disinfect alone. Detergents (ie. dish soap) are used to 
soluablize fats and protein residues so you can get them off of dishes. 
That is why automatic dishwashers are heated, it's the heat that kills 
the bacteria rather than the detergents. If you really want to be sure 
to disinfect dishes, though you should not contract anything from the 
dishes unless you are immunocompromised, you can add about 1-3 capfulls 
of bleach to an average sink-full of dishwater."

response 113 of 191:

Feb 8 10:12 UTC 2013

Living in large, dense colonies greatly increases energy efficiency. I live
in one. Pick one to maximize: independence or efficiency.

response 115 of 191:

Feb 8 21:53 UTC 2013

Trying to find a way to put on IKEA light fixtures with a 1/2" pan and maybe
a 1/2" round extender instead of a 1" wiremold box, to get it 1/2" higher up
but that leaves a 1/2" gap.  There is a lot of phone miscommunication going
on with Jim, who refuses to come here, and the person doing the wiring. We
have had the fixture on three different ways now and may go back to the first.
We started by testing the four 3-way switches with a battery and LED and
rewiring two so the switches were all down when the lights were all on.

---- a while later

The extender is off, the pan is off, and we are going to put back the wiremold
box.  Only two hours going in circles.  The fixture will be an extra inch down
from the ceiling.  We may even get up a smoke alarm (on wiremold box) today.

response 117 of 191:

Feb 9 00:45 UTC 2013

The timers are actually $4 plus $2 shipping and combined shipping could be
less.  We got two ceiling lights in and started the first smoke alarm but the
round metal plate that will hold it against the ceiling needs a couple of
screw holes added first.  Interesting effect of bulbous detector (alarm)
against flat round metal box.

response 119 of 191:

Feb 9 03:49 UTC 2013

The cheap Tork timer is $6, good for 15A.  The heaters would work on a 15A
circuit but we already have a lot of 20A breakers and No. 12 (20A) wire.
A line-voltage thermostat is as low as $5, programmable $25.  I asked at an
online forum whether these timers wear out faster than programmable
thermostats.  Several reviews mentioned that some models go bad in a year or
so.  They are mechanical.  A 20A mechanical timer is about $25.  

Someone at this forum said we should have wire brushed the paint off the box
before added the ground bars, and grounded them to the neutral bars with the
same wire as to the water pipe.  But I think we are supposed to keep the
ground and neutral bars separate in this main panel without bonding screw
(another long discussion at two forums).  

response 121 of 191:

Feb 9 12:49 UTC 2013

Wikipedia discusses thermostats.  The bimetal (mechanical) ones are built
into baseboard and fan-forced heaters and turn things on and off.  Programmable
electronic ones can work like a lamp dimmer and reduce heat output, if I
understand correctly, for more even temperatures.   Or turn the heat on and
off every minute or so.  A hydronic heater would average things out anyway.
Electronic ones can have relays (which click) or triacs which wear out.
Turning the heater on and off a lot wears it out.  Our plug-in hydronic
heaters have never worn out - maybe they are talking about the fan types.

It would be nice to postpone all this a year and just heat with the 1500W
bathroom fan-forced heater with bimetal non-programmable built-in thermostat.
Which should arrive some time in the next week but not be usable until we
get an electrical inspection before having the meter installed in the time of
day electric panel.  By which time it won't be heating season.

response 123 of 191:

Feb 9 23:19 UTC 2013

The smoke alarms (photoelectric, 120V with 9V battery backup, interwired) are
going in today (or at least one) on round wiremold boxes except for one on
plain octagon box in the cellar (required inhabitable attics and basements,
which I interpret as including uninhabitable basements which contain HRVs
and dehumidifiers subject to electrical fires).
The round 14-3 was too fat to fit through a hole so we had to replace it with
a newer flat type.  We will use it where there is only one not two cables.

The alarms need to go on the ceiling at least 4" from a wall or corner, away
from drafts or air supplies, stoves, combustion appliances, sinks and other
sources of steam, and dust.  Or on a wall with top between 4 and 12" from
ceiling (which we will probably do upstairs, or use wiremold).  They come with
cute little pink shower caps to use while dusting.  You should test them
weekly, change the batteries once in a while (yearly?), and dust them when
they get dirty so they will keep working.  The GFCI and AFCI breakers also need
to be tested regularly.  I wonder if anyone does any of this testing.  We
have little stickers to go on the electric panels about these
breakers/outlets.

We got photoelectic ones for detecting smoldering fires (smaller particles).
The radioactive ones detect more active fires.  Some alarms use both.  The
next building code (not yet adopted by Michigan) will require sprinkler
systems.   The alarms are needed in bedrooms, in hallway to bedrooms within
21' of bedroom doors, one in basement, one on any other floor.  We will do
the kitchen despite the possibility of false alarms.  Photoelectric give fewer
false alarms and these can be turned off for a few minutes while you are
chasing burnt food smoke out the doors  and windows.  I want to know if I am
burning food, from another room.

One alarm in, two more to go today, then a junction box for them.
This one is wearing its cute little shower hat to keep out cement dust.

The house is overheated due to this hot weather (nearly 30 F) and the sun
shining in.  UP to 53, which feels even warmer because the walls are 53
due to insulation.  We have been taking off layers and I am not even working
very hard, just fetching cable rippers, linesmens' plyers, nipples, green wire
nuts, green grounding screws number 32 or smaller, No. 14 bare wires for
grounding, brown tape and scissors, No. 1 philips screwdrivers.

Now we are going to drill another hole because it proved too difficult to put
even a skinny 14-3 through an existing hole with four cables in it (one No.
10, one No. 12, two 14s).  Once all the wires are in and approved, I think
we use firestop caulk in the holes around the wires.  First they get stapled
to the nearest board.  Once the hole is drilled I go back to unrolling the
coil of 14-3 and pushing it through a hole in the bottom of a stud wall into
the crawlspace, where my friend pulls it in the direction of the cellar
ceiling to attach to an octagon box and another smoke alarm.  


I was told to push through another ten feet, then pull back another ten feet.
Now to choose a spot on the ceiling and install the alarm.  One alarm per
hour is splendid progress - we were missing a nipple for the 2nd of 3.

--- One cellar smoke alarm in, but we will need to move it to put on the
cellar ceiling before we do the outside faucet there.  And the light.
Lunch break (6:30 pm).

response 125 of 191:

Feb 10 13:58 UTC 2013

I thought I had posted my architect's invitation to her event:  how to make
a fiberglass-cement house (demo in a yogurt cup):

      I wanted to invite you to my session in the Reskilling Festival this
      Sunday Feb 10th, 4pm, where I'll be giving an update on the progress
      of our house, and mixing up a bit of our Glass Fiber Reinforced
      Concrete mix so that people can experience what it is like for
      themselves as they make a small pot out of it (materials cost $2).If
      you want to RSVP for my session, you can go to
http://hourschool.com/courses/mi-passive-house-update-diy-gfrc-pots-in-ann-
arbor-mi, 
and if you want to see what else is at the festival, see the
      festival site http://a2reskilling.com/ 

      Christina




My builder will also attend so we will be working a short day (eve).

response 127 of 191:

Feb 11 13:35 UTC 2013

The 'glass' fiber in the cement is actually zircon fibers, a few inches long.
The tape for cement board is probably the same.  Glass does not hold up to
alkaline environments.  

response 129 of 191:

Feb 11 16:06 UTC 2013

I have noticed that products sold in the store advertised as low-fat are
always high in sugars, and those advertised as low-sugar have sucralose and/or
other artificial sweeteners.  ALDI now sells Stevia powder.

The cat cookies looked quite good enough for humans - all natural ingredients.
The dog biscuits had things like kale and blueberries along with locally
purchased organic chicken from Sparrow Market.  People treat their pets as
family.

Builder has not shown up or called yet so we may have time to learn to empty
the waste and refill the yellow toner in the color laser printer so I can
print out over 20 pieces of evidence in color of neighbors' misbehavior.