Strawbale Archive for March 2001

>The room I will build will have a clerestory roof
>and a roof-top deck.

I've been eye balling this site recently:

http://strawbuilding.org/tech/archtest.htm

but I don't think it will be built till August or so.  It could save
some bucks in the building process.
 
>Remodeling mobile homes (or retrofitting them) is the rage around here.

Your newer MH appears to be built after 1976, and if it has R-11 walls
and floors, and R-11/19 roof, then it should be decent for energy use.

In other words, it maybe your other trailer that is consuming the most
energy.



>Anyway, after paying $900 this winter for heat (and expecting to fill
>up my tank one more time to the tune of $400),

FYI, a standing gas pilot light, at one inch length, will consume about
50 gallons of propane per year; the same would apply to a gas water
heater with a standing pilot light, if flame is about one inch long. The
calculations are at end of message.

Hence, count up all of your old flames (pilot) in your furnaces and
water heaters, and multiply this by 50 gallons.

The newer gas stoves use "micro flames," and in your environment, where
heat is needed most of the year, this amounts to nothing in usage since
you are using it.  But gas furnaces and water heaters vent heat up the
stack.

BTW, the 17 year old Coleman furnace has the same "running efficiency"
as the new coleman furnace; the only difference is new one does not have
a standing pilot light.

AJ

PS:

Here's how to figure out if you should think about replacing your
furnace:


Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings

http://www.aceee.org/consumerguide/reheat.htm





Coleman's Furnace "Installation Instruction" manual (Models: DGAA, DGAH,
DGPA, & DGPH: 035-16328-001 REV.E (0800) notes on page 19:

Pilot Adjustment

On models equipped with standing pilot ignition, the pilot should be
adjusted so that the flame is approximately 1" in height (500 BTU /hr).

500 BTU / hr.
  24 hr / day
365 days/ year
----------------
4,380,000 BTUs/year

4,380,000 BTUs/year  divided by 91,000 BTUs/Gallon-Propane = 48.13
gallons/year.