12 May 2010


Thing I'm Not Going to Miss #2: A furnace that sounds like a freight train. (Freight trains actually go by two blocks from the temporary house. We can't hear them when the furnace is on.) Of course, now that it's about 150 degrees out, we're already happily not missing the furnace...but we look forward to the new HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system nevertheless.

If you've been dutifully reading over the months, you are well aware of the geothermal heat pump with hot water assist for the water heater, but have we mentioned that it's a three-zone system? Today the thermostats went in. There's one main thermostat in the mudroom hall:

And two smaller "satellite" thermostats in the master bedroom and the front bedroom hall:

The main thermostat has most of the controls for the system (including humidity, which will allow us to make the house more comfortable without actually changing the temperature). However, this thermostat only sets the temperature for one zone (the master and the bunny room, and maybe the mudroom...don't remember). The satellites control the temperature for the other two zones -- great room (including kitchen and dining) and possibly mudroom, and the bedroom wing. This will allow us to keep the bunny room cool during the day without having to air condition the entire house, and it will also let us save power in the bedroom wing when we're not using those rooms.


  1. Thanks for posting replacement pictures of the thermostats - showing the inside with the little door open this time really helps out a lot - this shows the amount of buttons a user will encounter and the possible skill level needed to operate the device

  2. No problem -- I realized that not only was it useless to show the thermostat shells with none of the good stuff, but the pictures didn't reflect the relative sizes of the units, so I took new pictures and meant to mention that in yesterday's post but forgot.

    Thank you, dear observant and detail-oriented reader! (Would it violate some principle of internet anonymity if I asked who you are?)