When the inspector was reading through the manufacturer’s installation manual, he couldn’t find the part that said exhaust vent clearances only need to be 9″ from windows and doors if a fresh air vent is used. The reason he couldn’t find it is because it wasn’t in there. When I realized this, I began to sweat. Then, I remembered that the updated version of the installation manual was online…that’s where I got those clearances from. I quickly went upstairs to print out the pages I kept telling him about. I ran back downstairs and gave him the paperwork. He approved the install with no more issues.

I really like this installation because we don’t need a protective layer between the stove and the floor, since it’s on the new basement tile. That’s pretty cool, as well as a money saver. Also, we used hardly any exhaust pipe. That’s another money saver.

After the inspection, I called the pellet stove place to complete the order for four tons of pellets. I wanted to make sure the stove would be operable before finishing and paying for the order. They will get delivered in mid September.

I also called the insurance company to inform them of the new appliance. They liked this and added $11 to the homeowner’s policy. Not bad…

On the way home from Home Depot today, I saw a sign that offered a cord of wood for $200. Boy, prices have gone up. Even pellets were about $2.50 a bag a few years ago. Now, they are averaging about $5 per bag. If you were ever thinking about getting into a new business, alternative energy is it. This stuff is HOT right now.

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It took the installers about 3 hours to finish the installation. When everything was in, they fired it up to make sure everything was working properly. One of the installers noticed one issue…the auger wasn’t turning, so no pellets were falling into the burn pot. the auger motor was working fine, just not the auger itself. We made an appointment for the service guy to come out today. By the way, I could have fixed this. It was easy. I actually was almost done fixing it when the doorbell rang. That’s me beating my chest.

Today, the repair guy came out and fixed the auger issue. The small set screw on the auger shaft wasn’t tightened properly, so it wasn’t catching on the auger motor.

I must say, this unit is very nice. It has auto-light, which was very important. I am going to hook up a thermostat, so the pellet stove can shut down and start up on its own. Also, the auger and fan is much quieter than the Harman. The whole system just seems to be more elegant. For a few hundred bucks more, I am happy that I went with this model.

Here are some photos…

St. Croix Prescott EXL pellet stove

St. Croix Prescott EXL pellet stove control panel

St. Croix Prescott EXL pellet stove inside venting

St. Croix Prescott EXL pellet stove outside venting

What’s nice is that the outside venting is under the porch. The necessary clearances are 24″ away from the porch and 12″ off the ground. Also, since we used the fresh air kit, the clearances from windows and doors is only 9″. I would say that’s one of the huge benefits of pellet stoves.

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Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives. Most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the result of creativity. What makes us different from apes–our language, values, artistic expression, scientific understanding, and technology–is the result of individual ingenuity that was recognized and rewarded.

5 Reasons Why Sleeping In Every Day Boosts your Productivity

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Solar Efficiency Record Broken

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Algae Gets Another Endorsement As Biofuel Of The Future

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Save the planet? Buy it

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During the LinuxWorld Expo in San Francisco, I met with Bob Sutor, IBM’s vice president of open source and standards. We discussed document standards and the implications of ISO’s controversial decision to grant fast-track approval to Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) format.

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What would happen if we each used 10% less gas?

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Texas likes to do everything big, including wind farms and investing in clean energy. The states has been given the thumbs up for a $4.9 billion plan to set up transmission lines to carry the wind power generated in West Texas to surrounding urban areas.

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I stopped by the local pellet stove store the other day to pick out my new Harman P68 Pellet Stove. This is top of the line and has everything I want in a stove. There is a thermostat and auto light and everything else I can think of. You can understand my excitement about this after I received a “price lock-in” at $4.85 a gallon from our heating oil company. As it turns out, a lot of other people are excited about Harman stoves as well.

I walked into the store and told the sales guy that I wanted a…He said, “If you are going to say Harman, you aren’t going to see it for a while.” He explained that all the Harman stove models are way back ordered and I wouldn’t see it until way into the season. While this annoyed me, it also gave me a chance to look at some other stoves.

I looked around and picked out a St. Croix Prescott EXL. This has the thermostat option as well as auto-light. When it gets too hot, the fire goes out. When it gets too cold, the stove automatically fires up again and cooks until the whole thing happens again. I am telling you, these things have come a long way.

I put a deposit down on that stove and they are going to come do a site visit, just to make sure the whole thing is going to work out, permit-wise. I think it will.

I also looked at some wood stove inserts for the fireplace upstairs. They look really good. I told the guy that I really wasn’t all too attracted to bringing wood inside again, since my childhood was filled with that. Then, he showed me the bio-brick. A bio-brick is a two pound brick made out of compressed saw dust. Basically, it is a big wood pellet. You can order them by the ton, just like pellets. I though this was wicked cool and now plan on getting a regular wood stove insert for the fireplace next season.

I will let you know what happens with the site visit.

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After that, we ran up to Super Stop and Shop in Glastonbury for some food shopping. Laura’s family is stopping by for a visit in a few weeks and that is going to require an entire Costco ordeal. In the meantime, the local food store is good enough to hold us over.

I stepped on the scale yesterday and noticed that I weigh 190lbs. I am not sure what the ideal weight for a strapping 6′3″ genious is, but I feel like I am five pounds overweight. I am really going to have to hit that indoor tennis center in East Hartford soon. After all, that is about 90% of the reason I wanted to move over here. It’s the little things with me. I am serious about the tennis though.

Since I am waiting for the cooler weather to come to join the tennis club, and possibly because Laura thinks I am getting fat, we decided to go for a nice long walk down the road today.

In general, I usually have no complaints about walking down the road, except for the hill. The hill is where I usually begin to sweat and I hate that. The reason I hate sweating on the walk up the hill is because I cool off on the way down the hill and that usually means another shower for the day. If you are anything like me, you understand multiple showers per day during the Summer.

I thought we could beat the sweating today because it is cooler than it has been lately. Unfortunately, with all the rain, it is also very humid. I didn’t beat the sweating. Either way, I did take some nice nature pictures along the way.

Walking trail in woods.

Water in marsh near walking trail.

Slow river near walking trail in woods.

Road approaching the hill.

Larger river down the road.

Same river at the other side of the street.

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Since I am energetic too, I fit right in. I actually went for my first bike ride up the road yesterday. I had to pump up my tires a little bit, but everything went very well. I would like to swap out my mountain bike tires for some street tires though.

Yesterday evening, we decided to head over to Gay City State Park to do a little walking. We have been hearing good things about this park and its large trail network.

Since we really had no idea where to start after we pulled in the park entrance, we decided to pull into the first parking lot and start walking.

This is the entrance. I believe the park closes at sundown. There is a fee if you want to visit on the weekends, but I think during the week is free.

We had a map, but forgot it back at the house. We used this one to see where we were going to walk. I would estimate our walk was about two miles.

The trails are nice and wide (well, most of them). They are rated…easy, medium, difficult. Since many people use them to ride their mountain bikes on, this is helpful.

All the way in the back, there is a lake that youngsters can swim in. It reminded me a lot of Lake Tonetta back when I was a kid.

There are tons of parks around this area, and from what I hear, they are very well kept up. We are planning on going back tonight to do a few more miles. It was nice to get my heart pumping again. Between this and the lawnmower, I should be in good shape.

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