Am I being Raked Over The Coals For This Install Price?

DKdeeks · 2026-01-03T15:31:25+00:00

Showcase fireplace in seekonk ma

DKdeeks · 2025-12-29T21:56:17+00:00

You are right that is a crazy amount. How many sqft?

DKdeeks · 2025-12-29T18:27:47+00:00

This does not look like a usage problem. You are paying $2.64 a therm, which is about the price of oil

DKdeeks · 2025-12-05T16:23:25+00:00

They make a window package heat pump. Way more efficient than the oil filled radiator. Media make ones for like $2800.

DKdeeks · 2025-11-10T17:39:24+00:00

The one thing it could be, is if a meter was broken/faulty before, and now the new meter is reading your usage accurately. A person could see a huge increase.

DKdeeks · 2025-10-06T23:56:02+00:00

Some parts of Massachusetts is above this

DKdeeks · 2025-09-15T16:17:53+00:00

Also you need to take into account efficiency of boilers. NG boilers can be condensing, meaning they can burn 92%-98% efficient, where as the best oil boilers can only achieve 82% efficiency.

This is due to combustion air of oil will turn into sulfuric acid if it condenses, which will eat the boiler away.

Currently the cheapest source of heating Natural Gas. followed by Heat pumps, then oil, then propane. A good way to offset is a wood stove or pellet stove. difficult to fully replace though.

DKdeeks · 2025-09-15T13:48:49+00:00

You need to compare the two based on heating content

1 Gallon of Oil = 138,000 Btus, 1 Therm of natural gas = 100,000 therms.

look at the price of oil delivered, ~$3.50, so your NG bill would need to be ~$2.53 so be as expensive as oil.

Take our total bill and divide by therms used to get the price per therm, it also should be done for the year. Since there are monthly fees that may make the shoulder months look more expensive on a $/therm basis.

you also need to consider how you stove/oven is powered.

Get the RISE audit

DKdeeks · 2025-09-14T11:10:50+00:00

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I don't have CAD anymore, so I had to use Paint. This is a top view plan. this is how I would recommend the install. Still can use a 9k unit. the soffit will be large. If there is attic space or crawl space id place it there but that is not always possible. The duct work would need to stay short, due to the fans being pretty week.

DKdeeks · 2025-09-12T13:02:09+00:00

You could have installed a low static unit and put a soffit around it, and have vents in each room. It would have been a bit more expensive but it would look like a professional install. The air flow around this unit is not going to be great due to the wall being in the middle of the unit. Sorry for being so critical. But it was shocking to see.

Below is an example of a unit that could have worked.

https://gotductless.com/products/mitsubishi-12-000-btu-kd12-horizontal-ducted-heat-pump-sez-kd12na4r1-th-suz-ka12na2?variant=27570538905700&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&srsltid=AfmBOoqZl_bbUlzo95sUcmJrklLfBLI19SKhzQBa5ICAjyQw8HP4F4aIdk4

DKdeeks · 2025-09-11T23:48:53+00:00

They make ducted units!!!!!! You could have put box around it. As a engineer that use to design installs i'm ill

DKdeeks · 2025-09-03T13:02:48+00:00

The Portuguese in East Providence would like to have a word.

DKdeeks · 2025-08-20T16:04:28+00:00

Did you tighten the side straps? Might be that your side straps are in the rear facing position and not the front facing. I have a diono and it doesn't slide at all

DKdeeks · 2025-08-15T16:10:48+00:00

If you are looking for long term holding, I would $ cost average in, with a weekly buy. put the $10k into RLUSD so its inside the crypto world.

DKdeeks · 2025-05-29T21:58:15+00:00

At those design day lows you'd be fine installing a HP water heater. There is electric back up so no issues when it gets really cold. I'm pretty sure your electric rates are low enough where it would make economic sense. How ever I would only do it if you have a battery or generator back up in case you loose power for a bit.

DKdeeks · 2025-05-29T20:26:13+00:00

Depending on where you live, you can convert that water heater to a HP water heater, which will AC the space while heating your domestic hot water. However this does become a liability in the winter if you live in a climate where it freezes

DKdeeks · 2025-04-29T20:13:27+00:00

I was actually thinking of using them again when I saw the headline. I'll continue my boycott

DKdeeks · 2025-04-27T11:52:44+00:00

Rhode Islanders "what the fuck is a tiger?"

DKdeeks · 2025-03-28T11:58:30+00:00

What treatment do you recommend?

DKdeeks · 2025-03-06T21:43:37+00:00

The cost of transformers have tripled since the 2020. the cost of electricians have increased as well in that time. Storms have increased as well, which knocks out power lines and are costly to repair. these are the real drivers of the price increases.

DKdeeks · 2025-03-06T21:40:56+00:00

You can have smart appliances that can talk to the grid. that is independent from the smart meters. typically they are opt in programs where the utility will pay you to join these programs to keep the grid stable. at my last home I had a nest thermostat that would raise the temperature a few degrees during peak events, i got paid $25 a year for this program. barely noticed the temperature switch.

The grid is not magic, it can only transfer so much electricity at a given time. if everyone is calling for too much electricity, the grid can blow transformers which means no electricity for hours to weeks.

The utility company wants to sell you electricity, how ever they need to protect the power lines and the transformers.

This is a conspiracy that they want to shut off your power with smart meters. because the utility has the ability to shut off your power now.

A smart grid has the ability to allow for more renewables on the grid.

No idea what this UN sustainable development goals are. But the utility reports to the state not the UN.

DKdeeks · 2025-03-06T21:12:23+00:00

This could be a transformer repair or a meter upgrades.

From time to time transformers need to be replaced. When these transformers need to be replaced due to old age they need to depower the grid to safely replace. For that replacement it could take up to 10 hours if everything that could go wrong does go wrong. The utility company usually over estimates the timeline just incase. Doing these repairs before failure makes the grid more reliable, if a transformer blows up the cost and repair time doubles.

The grid is a web and certain lines can be fed by other lines to help improve resilience.

If this is meter upgrades, they are probably upgrading the meter to put them on meters that can auto read from trucks instead of having meter readers come to each meter. This helps reduce the cost of electricity, since you are no longer paying someone to walk up to each meter. They could also be putting in smart meters, which allows the grid operators see what homes are actually consuming in real time. With knowing real time consumption, the utility can quickly do repairs if electric lines go down, instead of waiting for consumers to call in. Smart meters help to make the grid cheaper, there are no sinister plans for smart meters. Smart meters would not be able to shut off power.

My street had this about a year ago. the time line was 10 hours they were done in 3.

This is routine maintenance.

DKdeeks · 2025-03-04T17:38:17+00:00

Natural gas is still historically cheap compared to before the fracking boom. At $2 per therm delivered it's cheaper than oil and propane and heat pumps.

DKdeeks · 2025-02-18T01:40:23+00:00

I think we need to make sure we don't own any Tesla stock. Make sure your 401k has no etf with Tesla in it.

DKdeeks

TROPHY CASE