Graham Lake Ellsworth Maine (Bangor, Mexico: car, trees, area)

[Zarathu]

American Girl,

What do you use to heat the house itself?

I have an old Riteway which in my highly insulated house burns about 3-4 cords a year. But its only about 55% efficient. The house that I'm moving into in MDI has "uncertain insulation" though I plan to put 4 inches of foam on the outside under the the wood slats which I will take down and put up again.

I will be using a new Pacific Energy Summit Model stove which burns at about 80% efficiency, with a patented thermostatically controlled extended burn technology. I have to buy it this summer to get in on the $1500 tax credit, even though it will have to sit in the garage along with the stove pipe liner until the following summer when I move in.

zarathu

[American girl]

Originally Posted by Zarathu

American Girl,

What do you use to heat the house itself?

I have an old Riteway which in my highly insulated house burns about 3-4 cords a year. But its only about 55% efficient. The house that I'm moving into in MDI has "uncertain insulation" though I plan to put 4 inches of foam on the outside under the the wood slats which I will take down and put up again.

I will be using a new Pacific Energy Summit Model stove which burns at about 80% efficiency, with a patented thermostatically controlled extended burn technology. I have to buy it this summer to get in on the $1500 tax credit, even though it will have to sit in the garage along with the stove pipe liner until the following summer when I move in.

zarathu

The main house had a Weil McLain oil furnace when we bought it. It does a good job, is pretty efficient. The house was built in the early 70s as a seasonal home. It has new windows but it wasn't built with year round, on the lake living, in mind. It too, has "uncertain insulation". We got up one morning to find snow on a window sill. We winterized the porch ourselves but the windows are summer porch windows. We have insulated blinds for them, and that helps. However, when it's 10 degrees with a 40 mph wind roaring across two miles of frozen water a small woodstove - even an efficient one - just can't keep up.

Our old place was built for wood heat and our Avalon kept it toasty. The house was nestled in the woods, though and that surely helped from a wind chill factor.

Living on the water was always a dream so we've learned to adapt to an older home. Backing up to a roaring wood fire on a freezing cold night provides a warmth like no other heat source and we miss it......but only just a little

[American girl]

Just finished clearing out New Year's snow in anticipation of today's storm. A surprising amount of snow! YAY We snow shoed a few miles and we got out xcountry skies. Musher's wax coming from Amazon soon. Hoping it solves the doodle's snowballs-between-the-toes problem. Halibut chowder tonight made with clam juice for extra oomph. We just love winter

[wabanaki]

are the snow shoes practical thing to have, do they keep afloat on the puffy snow,would they also good for slippery icey snow.
thanks.

Originally Posted by American girl

Just finished clearing out New Year's snow in anticipation of today's storm. A surprising amount of snow! YAY We snow shoed a few miles and we got out xcountry skies. Musher's wax coming from Amazon soon. Hoping it solves the doodle's snowballs-between-the-toes problem. Halibut chowder tonight made with clam juice for extra oomph. We just love winter

[American girl]

Originally Posted by wabanaki

are the snow shoes practical thing to have, do they keep afloat on the puffy snow,would they also good for slippery icey snow.
thanks.

Yes and yes. You'd sink some in real light snow. Mine have metal teeth so no slipping on ice. I also have top of the line StableIcers for walking or hiking when the snow isn't too deep. Expensive and kinda heavy but well worth it.

[American girl]

Walking the dogs in the pitch black 1/5 mile off the main road, headlamp bobbing, lost in thought when we ran smack dab into two young fellows coming along with flashlights too. Elders of the Mormon church, they were. Asked me if I believed in the power and I replied, yes in the power of the Doodle (who was choking himself to get a lick in while the chihuaha pappillon is screaming YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME!) We had a pleasant chat and went our separate ways. You just never know........

[crb01]

Originally Posted by Zarathu

I have a set of retired couple friends here in PA(one was a 3rd grade teacher, and the other a college professor) who own a cabin on Graham lake. She wants to keep it as a summer cabin; he wants to insulate it and make it a year around house for them, as well as enlarge it. She says that there is no one living there in the winter and she would never get stuck out there; he shrugs his shoulders and goes up in the winter for 2-3 weeks at a time by himself.

Too bad the house isn't in a place where there are people in the winter like MDI..... not really much of a winter community around Graham Lake in the winter I don't think.

zarathu

Small world. I believe I know the folks you are referring to and if it is them, the wife is correct. The area their camp is at is about a mile away from any year round residents. It's okay in the summer time with people coming and going to their camps but in the winter you could be all alone for days, if not weeks.

[Zarathu]

Originally Posted by crb01

Small world. I believe I know the folks you are referring to and if it is them, the wife is correct. The area their camp is at is about a mile away from any year round residents. It's okay in the summer time with people coming and going to their camps but in the winter you could be all alone for days, if not weeks.

He's a retired college sociology professor(FIRST NAME IS HANK), she's a retired 3rd grade teacher. He's taller than I, and I'm six four. Same people?

Well.... when we move up, you can visit us out on the island in the winter for a shared potluck dinner! Retired people don't have dinner parties, they have shared dinner parties.

Z

[crb01]

Same people. Wife likes to walk her dog early in the morning. I've only spoken to them a couple of times but they seem like nice people. We have a camp on the same road as theirs but don't get up there as often as I would like.

[American girl]

Open water on Graham Lake! A warm 38 and breezy. What month is it?