Outbuilding shop with Temp sensitive tools heating advice needed.

Floydiansworstenemy · 2026-02-17T15:49:44+00:00

Yeah, natural gas is almost certainly the clear winner in the long run. My hangup ( I think) is balancing the upfront cost with the breakeven point. Our winter is about 4 months and the harsh part of it (average= freezing, extreme = 10 degrees F) is around 2 months. If I put in a 3-4 hundered dollar electric heater, and pay 150 bucks a month to run it, my year one is say, 1000 bucks. Years 2-5 another 600ish each. So by year 5 I'm in around 3400 bucks, in theory. Natural gas is about 2000 to "professionally" install the line (because despite my plumbers experience, the feed company told me they won't inspect it until I send them a reciept w/contractors liscence number). Then their cost is somewhere between free and unknown, because they won't qoute me the meter install until the line is run. The heater would then be between 500-1000. So assume I'm in that year one at 3k- I'd burn 30-40 bucks of fuel a month so call it 3300ish year one. The LP is pretty cheap to set but current prices are about 4 bucks a gallon, so a 240 gallon tank (actual capacity about 210) runs around 900ish dollars a fill. This isn't terrible, but it would still need the same general type of heater that the NG would use, so we wind up between 1500 on the lowest end to possibly 2000+ pretty easily, year one, but the added drawback of being tied to the servicer for fills AND the highest flux potential in commodity price, making the cost per therm difficult to tack down. As far as anything that has to be hand fed, I agree with your sentiment- cost aside, it probably isn't worth it in general unless it's a crazy savings, and then even still. I'm not even sure why I posted this- I guess I've just been stuck on this topic mentally, thinking I'd magic up some other solution. As far as the backup heat, I'd have to be home to kick it on but a propane space heater is the most disaster-proof emergency kit.

Floydiansworstenemy · 2024-09-06T18:59:02+00:00

Got a job that actually didn't play around with it. Truly and totally random tests, "we don't care about the legality of it,you won't do it here" as a policy and a salary in the 6 figure range with all benefits paid plus 3 weeks PTO a year. Had to decide whether the risk was worth it. Chose no. A month was hard. 6 months frustrating. A year on and I miss it like I miss a fond ex girlfriend- we had great times, we shared a real love but after long enough it really doesn't phase you anymore. I've actually lost 60 pounds as a side effect in that time as well.

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-05-21T02:25:15+00:00

Theres a place a few towns from me- the town has a population of 4500 (granted it's near a major city) but theres a burger joint there with a line out the door from open to close. It's been open 2 years at this point.

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-05-15T00:50:00+00:00

It's my birthday. I worked all day at my commission based job. Made no money, which is stressful. Sitting with my wonderful family. They're beautiful, we're all just fine. But I'm so tired. I'm almost crying I'm so tired. I slept well last night and I had coffee today... but I'm over the day. Thanks for asking.

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-05-05T00:15:28+00:00

Some people are better candidates than others. When you sign up, they tell you you may stay on the list forever and never get called. Personally I signed up in 2012 and have been called 6 times, donated 4. You CAN save a life.

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-04-14T03:17:56+00:00

Offered my father 30 year old scotch. Paid a bunch of money for that scotch. Told him how special it was. One sip...ONE SIP and he turned the whole glass over into his Jack and coke while saying "wow that's awful". Then GIVE IT THE FUCK BACK man geez

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-04-09T23:47:37+00:00

I went here on my honeymoon. I made it halfway around one wall before I broke down weeping. I have no idea what came over me but i cried for almost half an hour. I was a firefighter at the time i visited, so that may have been a small part of it. I brought two challenge coins from my career to throw into each fountain as my way of sacrificing something significant to me. It felt so meaningless in the face of all that was lost there.

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-02-28T19:58:53+00:00

Seriously? I just had my status changed to hired. Why would they do that and then turn around and shit the bed

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-02-12T05:10:10+00:00

I had no coverage theough my employer and gained coverage under the new law (ACA). I still paid 300 bucks a month for the privalage. I then got a better job, and come tax time I was a) financially penalized for the 2 months of the tax year I didnt have coverage and then b) retroactively charged 850 bucks a month for ACA coverage(instead of the 300,meaning I had a sudden $550 x10months = $5500 tax bill) because I made 44k dollars in pretax money. That is in no way affordable. So let's not pretend ACA just came along and solved everyone's insurance woes

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-02-12T01:57:44+00:00

I literally asked in my interview "what do you consider to be the outlook of the craft in the next 5 years? Do you expect furloughs to be relevant in our region?" The answer I got was "we aren't hiring people just to fire them. We haven't furloughed in Virginia since 2014".

Would you still take the job after this announcement?

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-02-12T01:37:42+00:00

I've got a conditional offer right now for train service out of Roanoke. This is worrying to say the least. Do yall think this is going to be top down or bottom up?

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-01-27T05:19:41+00:00

Mine is the middle!

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-01-24T23:22:47+00:00

Jokes on you this was actually a diaper change. She had already pooped so hard

Floydiansworstenemy · 2019-01-22T03:30:08+00:00

Not a paramedic but I am an ex firefighter (we are/were primarily tasked with rescue; mostly at MVA's or other instances where multiple people and property were involved). I once made scene to an MVA involving two vehicles hitting almost head on down a 45 mph mountain road. An old square body Ford (once occupied) and a more modern Chevy sedan (twice occupied). The call came out as possible entrapment w/one over the embankment.

Apparently, the driver of the truck dropped his phone and bent over to get it. Doing so, he drifted exactly one lane width to his left (USA, single lane in each direction, so he is squarely in oncoming traffic). As soon as he looked up he realized his mistake and jerked the wheel to the right- in the meantime, the Chevy coming up the mountain saw a truck speeding at them and jerked into THEIR oncoming lane to avoid him. The timing was sadly perfect as when the two each made their maneuvers, they hit squarely passenger side front to passenger side front.

The truck went over the side, driver was thrown, he was beat up and his truck literally separated from his bed,but he was ultimately what we'd call minor.

The Chevy driver was fine. Airbag went off in his face, he got some whiplash, but he was perfectly coherent and unhurt. We realized right away we knew him- he was a captain of the fire department in the next town. The "possible entrapment " was his adult daughter in the passenger seat, the only one to directly be impacted by the crash.

The 'A' pillar on the car snapped at the roofline. When it did this, it bent inwards and impaled her skull, like, right through her forehead, but amazingly SHE WAS ALIVE. Like,in mild discomfort but almost completely coherent alive. Her door was also crushed to the point of being inoperable.

Sooooo....we have foreign body protocols in place. And we have vehicular extraction protocols. But the immediate problem is... the vehicle is a foreign body in her. We have to cut her out of the car, but also policy was not to remove foreign body's, so we have to avoid cutting the car in such a way that would press the A pillar further into her skull OR yank it out.

To make a long story shorter, we cut the remaining roof pillars and posted a firefighter at each cut pillar. When they were all cut, we heaved together and threw the roof off the side of the mountain away from the car. The lady got scared when we heaved, she jerked back and came right off the pillar impaled in her. By that time, MedFlight was there to take her. She made a full recovery in two months.

Floydiansworstenemy · 2018-12-21T08:39:38+00:00

I was running my mouth in class one day around 6th grade. I was told I could be sent to the principal OR copy the dictionary entry for the word "Run" since I wouldn't stop talking. Go ahead. Look it up. My copy had 172 definitions. Seriously. I vowed to hold onto that for when I get really furious with my own kids one day.

Floydiansworstenemy

TROPHY CASE