Heat Pump Trade Study and Conclusions

Monday & Tuesday, 25 & 26 August 2008:

The Grand Mother and Grumpy have been able to get by with just 500 gallons of fuel oil to keep the Castle at an arguably comfortable temperature during the "winter" months here in King County. Usually Grumpy has kept the furnace turned "OFF" until the first of October and then turns it back to "OFF" when the first of May rolls around the next Spring. This past heating season seemed to be longer and colder (where is Al Gore when you need him!?) so the furnace remained "ON" well past the first of May. But the morning of May 15th found the Grand Mother and Grumpy shivering in bed: no heat today! We were out of fuel!!

Now the Grand Mother is adept at circumventing the frugal (stingy!?) habits of the Master of the Castle, however, and on those mornings was usually found in the kitchen, leisurely reading the morning paper -- with the oven door wide open and the oven turned to "toasty warm". Grumpy knew better than to start an argument about how this was defeating the purpose of our conservative heating lifestyle. He is still visualizing Lemon Meringue Pies in his future.

When the Grand Mother and Grumpy arrived home in mid-July, we found a fuel delivery statement on the door. The total cost for 500 gallons of fuel oil: $2505!! A review of the heat pump trade study was mandated!

Grumpy has been enamored of heat pump technology since he studied Mechanical Engineering at the School of Mines in South Dakota. He realized that, by "extracting" the heat from ordinary outside air (or, even better, from a lake or from ground water!) the effectiveness of the energy used to operate the compressor of the heat pump would be multiplied many times (This multiplying factor is called Heating Specific Performance Factor -- HSPF. Indeed, modern air-to-air heat pumps produce more than nine times the heat energy available in the home compared to the electrical energy they expend.

Grumpy's updated trade study for the Castle revealed the following:
1) Total heat energy used during typical year (500 gallons of fuel oil @ 128,50 Btu/gal.) in 85% efficiency furnace: 54,591,250 Btu. Cost: $2500 per year (and probably going higher!).
2) Cost of electricity@$0.08/kwh to operated heat pump: $143 per year (assuming HSPF of 9.0). Cost of electricity to operate heat pump for 120% of "typical" year: $772 per year (assuming HSPF of 2.0).
3) Initial cost of heat pump installed: $8,000 (includes factory rebate and IRS energy credit).
4) Years to "break even": 3.76 years ("typical" heating year, assuming cost of capital @ 8% APR).
5) Years to "break even" @ 120% "typical" year: 5.46 years.

The conclusion to which the Grand Mother and Grumpy arrived was to have a four ton capacity heat pump installed (~49,000 Btu/hr.). Pictured at right is the main unit, with other needed parts stacked on the left. This installation should provide all of our heat requirements on all days except those when the outside air temperature is at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit; then the oil furnace will "kick in" to supply the additional heat needed.

Grumpy wired a new 35 ampere, 240 volt AC circuit to an outside weather proof disconnect, shown next to the door above the main unit, and had cleared a "path" for the liquid refrigerant lines and system control wires to be run between the heat pump compressor (located on the lower-level patio) to the existing oil furnace where the condensor (heating)/evaporator (cooling) heat exchanger would be mounted inside the existing (or modified) hot air bonnet.

Six HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) contractors were contacted to bid on the project. Ultimately only one put in a reasonable bid (two or three quickly concluded that their proposed units could not be fit inside the bonnet on the existing oil furnace (a definite "must" to validate the trade study); one of the contractors, [name withheld to protect the guilty!], bid a choice of adding a gas- or oil-burning furnace in order to "fit" their 3-ton unit into the headroom available.

The winning contractor (Hayes Heating and Cooling of Renton) was given a contract to install their proposed 4-ton heat pump. [When he was clearing the pathway for the electrical and refrigerant lines, Grumpy noticed a magnetic "sticker" placed on the furnace. It had been placed there by the Hayes Heating & Cooling salesman, Tim, when he was checking dimensions for the proposal. Grumpy joked that he thinks that this sticker "frightened" away the other would-be bidders!] The installers, Kirtan and Ryan (see photo at left), arrived with the equipment early Monday morning and went right to work. Soon they were drilling holes for the electrical and refrigerant lines to pass between the floor joists from the outside of the house to ceiling space in the furnace room.

Drilling through the outside triple-joist, the big 3 or 4 inch hole cutter ran into a nail -- or ten!! -- emitting a loud, rumbling chatter that shook the house and elicited the facial expression of horror seen on the Grand Mother's face in the photo to the right. "They are destroying my house!!" she moaned.

Where other contractors' salesmen couldn't conceive of the possibilities for innovative modifications that could be used to accommodate the evaporator/condenser unit within the constraints of the existing bonnet, Hayes' installers made quick [well, it turned out to be "not-so-quick"!] and neat work of fashioning this modified bonnet for our existing furnace. Although, as the photo at left indicates, some detail work remains to be done. This two-day job turned into a four day job, so Grumpy has decided to go ahead and post this now as a status report rather than wait another day.

We look forward to a more comfortably warm home starting before the first of October this Fall and continuing past the first of May next Spring. And no more "suffering" from the too-hot days and nights like we experienced this past Summer -- in between the colder-than-usual days and nights, that is!

Watch for subsequent posts as the coming heating season proceeds, with actual electrical and oil consumption data, as Grumpy boasts of the cost savings supporting his engineering trade study summarized above. His crowing may be almost tolerable!

Dinner at the Space Needle with my Old Navy Buddy

Saturday Night, 23 August 2008:

My old (July 1945 to July 1947) Navy buddy, Joe, called me up a week or so ago to let me know that he and his lovely wife, Jean, would be in Seattle for a couple of days en route to an Elder Hostel trip to Victoria and Vancouver B.C. We agreed that this opportunity for him to meet my wife, and for the First Wife to meet both him and his wife, was too good to pass up. I had met Jean a few years ago when Granddaughter Rachel and I made the "grand tour" of the Midwest including a visit way down south to Texas and their home in Houston.

Joe and Jean had not been up in the Space Needle before so reservations were made to have dinner there in what is now called the "Sky City Restaurant". This is the one that revolves to give the diners a 360 degree view (if they pay attention between bites of the food, that is!) of Seattle, the Cascades, the Olympics and Puget Sound.

Grumpy and the First Wife had attended the first day's Special Olympics State Softball playoffs in Everett during the day, so this became a full day for them. In the meantime, with a "free day" to spend in Seattle, Joe and Jean had taken the "walking tour" of Seattle, so they had had their fill of walking! We met and visited in the lobby of the hotel, where they were staying until their trip took them on to Victoria, then drove the few blocks over to the Space Needle. We arrived a little early for our dinner reservations, so we took the opportunity to go up to the observation deck to take in the sights before our table was ready at the restaurant. Mount Baker, Glacier Peak and Mount Rainier were all prominently visible and were pointed out to our guests. In retrospect, Grumpy realizes that he missed the opportunity to get a photo of Joe and Jean with Mount Baker in the background. Oh well, next time ... !

At dinner, an obliging waitress took a photo of the four of us, enjoying our meal of baked wild salmon (Joe & Jean, and Grumpy) and prime rib (First Wife). A "professional" photographer came by later and offered to take our picture. Grumpy suggested that if she could capture the four of us in the foreground with Mt. Rainier in the background we would accept her offer. Of course such a photo was impossible with our "inner circle" table.

Grumpy captured some "memento" photos of Joe and Jean, including this one with the Olympics' skyline at sunset, with Puget Sound and Magnolia Bluff, on the right, in the nearer background. The water area just this side of Magnolia Bluff is the former site of the 13th Naval District headquarters (when Joe and I were in the Navy).

Special Olympics Softball -- State Championship

Saturday and Sunday, 23 & 24 August 2008:

This weekend, our son Darrell played in the Washington State Special Olympics Softball Championship playoffs. We are proud of his team with their achievement of the Silver medal (second place) after defeating a good Everett team twice and three very hard-fought and well-played games with the ultimate Champion team from Vancouver WA.

In the first game of the double-elimination playoffs on Saturday, Darrell's team came from a 2-8 deficit at the end of the first inning to win against a closely-matched team from Everett. Darrell's team rallied in the last inning to make enough runs to win with a score of 10-9. Pictured at right is Darrell connecting for a high drive between 3rd and shortstop for a base hit. He was driven in on a combination of walks and subsequent hits.

In the second round later that day, Darrell's team lost by a narrow margin to the Vancouver team. Darrell scored against Vancouver in that game. The Everett team won against the fourth team, which had been previously beaten by Vancouver, so this set up a replay of Darrell's team against the Everett team at 9 a.m. Sunday morning.

The next morning, with Darrell's team playing the Everett Mariner's team again, Darrell hit a double in this early Sunday morning game, as shown in the video clip. Darrell's team won this game, setting up a potentially championship game against Vancouver in the second game that morning. This next picture on the left shows Darrell holding second base in that game Sunday morning against Vancouver. He is awaiting a subsequent hit that brought him home. When Darrell's team won this game against Vancouver, a tie-breaker game between the same two teams was required to determine who would get Gold and who would get Silver.

This last video clip shows Matt, one of Darrell's teammates hitting a triple, which brought in two runs in this final game against Vancouver. Unfortunately, Darrell's team lost this game, but they made some outstanding plays (including two shoestring catches of line drives, by Elizabeth who played first base!) and maintained a "never-say-die" attitude which kept his team in the game to the end.

Grumpy's Bicycle Training Routine

No, Grumpy is not being taught how to ride a bicycle! He learned that trick in about 1935 when he still lived on a farm about 15 miles South of Dupree SD. And you never forget how to ride a bike!

No, instead, the number two son is pressing Grumpy to "get in shape" for a challenge on the abandoned Snoqualmie railroad tunnel. The tunnel is about two miles long -- and NO stopping is allowed once inside ("ghost trains" keep coming through?!). It is anticipated that as much as five miles of travel on the old abandoned rail bed will be required from the point where the bicycles are unloaded from the automobile, to the entrance to the tunnel. A possibility is to have a "picnic lunch" on the East side of the Pass once out of the tunnel. This could involve another 1 to 2 miles of trail. The total distance from the parking lot, through the tunnel and back may therefore be as much as 18 miles! All at an altitude of just under 3,000 feet above sea-level.

Because the entire trip is on an abandoned rail bed, the maximum slope is equal to or less than about 2%. But the trail is gravel, so even though the slope is slight, the effort to overcome the resistance of the bike tires running on gravel means that it will be no easy ride.

Number two son has taken Grumpy out on four "conditioning" rides so far. (I think he is "checking" me out to see if I am even a "possibility" to take part in this endeavor.) German stubbornness and treachery will try to overwhelm youth and skill to show him that I really want to go on this trip!

The first ride was from Grumpy's house to the swimming pool (to watch the older Mermaid in her swimming lessons). This was a total distance of somewhat over six miles, with the last mile or so up 300 feet to the top of the hill where Grumpy's Castle is. Grumpy "walked" his bike up the three or so different block-long stretches where the slope was greater than about 10%.

The next ride was an almost leisurely ride of 10-plus miles along the Cedar River trail. This, of course, is along the same abandoned rail bed as will be the ride through the tunnel. But this section of the trail deviates in several places from the original rail bed, going up and down substantially. These "ups and downs" are the true tests of whether these old muscles and joints can ever achieve something reminiscent of their former glory.

The third ride was from the Fort Dent parking lot down the Green River (Christensen) Trail to the warehouse area in North Kent, then across to the Interurban Trail and return to Fort Dent. The total distance was about 12 miles. Hey! Grumpy was starting to feel like maybe he will survive!!

The fourth ride was just yesterday. The rain had let up and the sky looked promising for continuing "dry". We motored out to an entrance to the Soos Creek Trail. We pedalled along this very scenic and moderately-hilly trail until it emerged from the creek valley at a point along the northeast edge of Lake Meridian. We returned on the same route we had taken going out. On the return trip, the hills seemed steeper going up than they had been going the other way when they were down. Grumpy amazed himself by pedaling all the way up each hill going and coming! (It helped that he finally "remembered" how to shift his 18-speed mountain bike all the way down to the lowest gear!) I should also mention that it started raining in earnest as we headed back down the return trail. By the time we arrived back at the car, Grumpy was soaked to the skin; fortunately, being out of shape, the calories he had to burn to just keep up a decent pace also kept him toasty warm at least until he got in the car, where the heater did the job.

This training routine has its downside: Today, after Grumpy had put in a fairly grueling day tidying up the area for the Heat Pump installation, the Grand Mother implored him to "ride your bike up to the Post Office to mail some letters!" Now, the Post Office is only a little over a mile but it is (mostly) uphill from the Castle. Grumpy's leg muscles shouted, "NO!! Not today; not right away, anyway!" Then German stubbornness kicked in and Grumpy hopped on his bike and rode uphill, upwind to the P.O., mailed the letters and rode back. And it all took less than about 10 minutes!! AND: one particularly steep section on the way to the P.O. usually required Grumpy to "walk" his bike up the half-block or so; today he was able to ride it all the way -- courtesy of that 18th bottom gear, that is!

Special Olympics Softball Regional Tournament

Saturday, August 9, 2008 -- Issaquah WA.

This day started out with threatening rain. (August is supposed to be "summer" in the Pacific Northwest!!) However, Regional Special Olympics events don't get cancelled or postponed because of a little bit of rain -- or even a lot of rain like actually fell for a brief period in the morning!

Darrell's team lost both of their games to a better group of players from Issaquah. But in both games, Darrell's team played like they wanted to do their best -- and they did! Darrell got a hit every time he came up to bat. He popped-up one time, but here he has just connected with a hard liner that was out of reach of the second baseman.

Next is a short video of one of the players just after he connected with the first pitch, belting out a three-base hit, sending in the lone runner on base who can be seen streaking around the bases from first to home plate. Yep that's Darrell, running the bases to cross home; he had been on first base after his hit seen in the first picture.

81st Birthday -- (and counting)

August 8, 2008 (also, 08/08/08!)--unincorporated King County.

This day came and went for the Grumpy old geezer who lives at this location. Each of my grown kids called or wrote me a birthday card, wishing me a happy day and more to come. This is to let everyone know that I DID have a happy day (because of everybody's thoughfulness) and am planning on having quite a few more. Pictured is the First Wife enjoying a meal out with the Grump on the occasion of his 81st birthday.

The month of August started with a visit to the Family Doctor who finished looking me over, listening to my old ticker and lungs and finally declaring that I seemed fit for some more mileage.
Then he told me he wanted me to have a blood test ..... "But I just had one!", I objected. He checked his computer screen, and then said, "Oh! Here it is; hmm-mm! Um-hm! I see; everything is 'right down the middle'!! If there had been something out of range, I would have been alerted and would have seen this before I saw you!" Then he went on to explain that he hardly ever sees a patient whose blood test is "perfect"!

So, here I am well on my way to being a full-blown octogenarian!! Keep the toys picked up so I don't stumble on them and break any bones. And if you don't, at least keep the small ones out of earshot -- Grumpy wouldn't want to teach them any bad words!

Grand Mother's Good Eye--Part II

Some sixty years ago, the Great Grumpy was blessed by marrying a beautiful, blue-eyed blonde Norwegian girl who thus became the First Wife. However, only after we were wed did I come to realize that being a Norwegian meant a stubbornness rivaling that of the stereotypical German! Alas, two stubborn people in the same house -- at the same time!! What hath God wrought!?

Well, we managed to sufficiently suppress our different opinions as to the "right" way of doing things so that our marriage endured. In other words, Grumpy learned to say "yes dear" most of the time when he would have much rather told his Bride that "we will do it my way, or else!!" [To which the Bride would have asked demurely, "Or else, what?!"] Amazingly, most of the time we both agreed, and that made the other times forgettable -- until the "next time" came along!

Which brings us to the present time: As the loyal readers of this BLOG will note, the Grand Mother recently underwent retinal surgery on her left eye - her "good" eye. The after-effects of the surgery left her functionally blind in both eyes, her right eye having been blinded by the doings of a careless Retinologist several years ago. Thus, she was/is totally blind -- or is she!?

Grumpy has been called into duty to cook, put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and run it when appropriately full; make beds (mine never needs it! Ha!); read the Grand Mother's mail [both snail-mail and e-mail] and the daily funny papers to her; put drops in her eye and meter out Insulin dosages to her specifications. Grumpy also tried to commandeer certain other duties, including washing the dirty clothes, putting them in the dryer and sorting and folding them after they are dry.

Arguments ensued over such things as whether the dosage she "suggested" were adequate, too much, etc. After all, Grumpy could see the line graph that he produced showing her twice- or three-times daily blood sugar readings and her Insulin dosages (usually twice a day). And Grumpy, being an Engineer, could "reasonably predict the future, more favorable results" of a certain modification in the dosage considered "proper" by the Grand Mother. But after seeing the futility of his arguments, Grumpy meekly(?) said, "Yes dear" but then predicted that the Grand Mother would be in serious low-blood sugar trouble by 3 or 4 in the morning.

Well, much to Grumpy's surprise, the aforesaid Grand Mother was resting quietly and comfortably when he checked on her at 3 in the morning and, when he reawoke at 7 a.m. and helped her check her blood sugar, it was 91 [100 is ideal]!!

Another, more recent disagreement took place just yesterday. The Grand Mother decided it was time to wash the dirty clothes -- a whole week and a half's worth! I pointed out that she wouldn't be able to measure -- much less be able to identify! -- the soap; that she wouldn't be able to see to sort the colored clothes from the whites, or the polyester no-irons from the cotton stuff, set the washer and dryer to the proper settings, etc. "No problem," she says, "I'll have Darrell carry the hamper down stairs and help me measure and set things up."

And so she did.

But then later, I caught her heading downstairs alone. I inquired what she thought she was going to do. She replied, somewhat tartly that she was going to take the clothes out of the dryer, sort them and fold them! I followed her downstairs, arguing along the way that she couldn't possibly sort or fold them; I could "do it for her". Talk about an infuriating phrase! "Do it for her" was right up there with questioning her integrity in its insult value!!

So Grumpy just stood by her side, watching as she removed the clothes from the dryer. As she picked up a towel, I asked her to identify what she was holding; "It's a kitchen towel, " she said smugly (and darned if it wasn't!). She folded it and put it with a previous stack of kitchen towels.

Not to be dissuaded by her obvious streak of luck in properly identifying a terry-cloth towel (heck, I'll bet I could have done that!), I asked her what she had now (it was a pair of briefs). She immediately replied, "It's a pair of Darrell's undershorts," as she folded it properly and placed in his stack of clean clothes. But then she picked up another pair of almost identical briefs (mine this time) and, after folding them placed them on the different pile that included my T-shirts and other undershorts.

Grumpy gave up, conceding silently that this poor, crippled little "blind" girl (and still my beautiful Bride, although she will never admit it!), must have eyes on the back of her head -- just like she always told our kids when they were young! Grumpy was (and still is) flabbergasted, to say the least.

The moral of this story: Never question or underestimate the abilities of a stubborn Norwegian girl to know what is right more often than not. After all, she picked me didn't she!?