My Random Life....: An Update Long Overdue

So often we focus on updating what everyone else can see and we neglect the most important parts of our home. Tony and I are so guilty of doing this. We've lived in the house for ten years knowing the boiler needed to be updated. This was one of the projects we knew would be extremely costly and really not as exciting as new paint, floors or cabinets. We really should have done this years ago. The energy cost savings would have paid off the cost of the boiler by now. Well that is all in the past now, because the new boiler is installed and working beautifully.

I wanted to blog about this because I have had so many people question why we are replacing the boiler and not installing a forced air furnace. For me eliminating the boiler and radiators is not negotiable. Everything we have done in this house we have tried very hard not to compromise the character of the house. We are not trying to hide the age of the house. It is old, all over, from the claw foot tub in the bathroom, to the antique light fixtures, to the push button light switches. Don't get me wrong, we have plenty of modern here, wall mounted surround sounds speaker jacks, TVs on the wall, recessed lights, etc...

We are not blind to the fact that things do have to be safe and efficient. We knew this boiler was old, but really when you shock every heating/cooling guy that comes to look at it you know it is time to update the system. The manufacturer of our original boiler sent a rep to look at it and they told us it is eighty years old. I'm thinking that the home owner really got their moneys worth when they bought that boiler. And the fact that the manufacturer is wanting to purchase the door from our boiler with their name on it you know she's something special.

Forced air has it's good points I'm sure. For us it came down to a few definite reasons we would not install it. First of all the cost would be extreme. Huge house, duct work from scratch, no way. Plus forced air creates more dust, this girl hates to dust. And let's face it, I straight up love my old antique radiators. I cannot imagine getting rid of them. If this effects resale later for us then I guess we will stay here. I can't imagine anyone would ever buy this house that didn't have a love for the old.

I have to add one more comment. Our heating guy told us that he will almost bet that the electric/gas company will come and install a new meter when they notice the drop in our usage. I found this rather funny and a little sad. Our heating bills during a cold winter have exceeded $700 per month in the past. I do hope that Ameren doesn't have to lay off workers in their loss of revenue. I'll let you all know if they change the meters.