Lost my rant, firepladce and propane

[cigmaker]

I won't lie to you and say installing an insert properly is cheap. Care in buying a used stove is of utmost importance and having a full liner installed is expensive. On the other hand while it may not heat your bedrooms well it will add meaningful btu's to your home. A night spent with an extra blanket vs a night spent with a frozen water glass kinda deal. As far as size goes your correct in needing the measurements of your fireplace to see what it will accommodate. I personally like to be over gunned when it comes to heat. You can always flip your propane on if it's fifty degrees but when it's fifteen I want the ability to crank some heat with my insert. Something in the 2.5 cubic foot and above make for really nice 24/7 heaters but many do it with less.

 

[abbott295]

An update and probably the end of this tale. The new propane company's tech came out today to pressure test the system and later the delivery was made. I was here all day, but had things to do to keep me busy, but it is a good thing we are not busy at work. The forecast is for it getting back below freezing at night for several days. Good thing I got gas. Never heard anything more from the old gas company. Thunderstorms for tonight and temperature dropping tomorrow..

I had a fire in the fireplace last night, but it wasn't near as cold as last time. The fireplace just doesn't like to have anything less than a good blaze going, or I get smoke in the house. With a window open last night, I pretty much only got smoke this morning when I stirred up what was left (and maybe some of that was not as well seasoned) before it took to burning.

Thanks all for all your input and suggestions. And thanks to the new propane company for understanding a customer's needs.

Incidentally, the tech who came out to do the test is the manager of the office too.

 

[Patrick62]

I am glad it all worked out for ya. I have a suggestion that I am amazed wasn't thought of....
you could run the place temporarily on bbq bottles. The 20lb would not last that long, but the 30lb would be workable. If it was gonna happen very often I would have a 100lb tank handy.

 

[abbott295]

I had thought about the possibility of using the bbq bottles, but I don't have any on site. At the Kroger store on the way out, buying a bottle was $50, about $20 for a refill. I had doubts about how long 20 pounds would last, and don't know what it would take to hook into the system. It I can manage to keep an eye on my fuel and call before it gets below 20%, I should never need a back-up.

I can remember as a child, my parents having a set-up with two large cylinders that the gas company would change out on a rotating basis. That may have been before they got LP space heaters in the house and probably got a big tank outside. May have just been running water heater on the two cylinder system. House heat was an oil-fired heater in the middle of one room downstairs. Bedrooms were cold in those days. Snow was deep. School was a 3 mile walk up hill. Waking home was worse. Had to out run the dinosaurs through the snow all three miles uphill again.

 

[unclemoustache]

Yup - a 'proper' solution is to ditch the gas and get into firewood.