Sunday, June 17, 2007

Old Habits Die Hard


During 30 odd Canberra winters, the oft heard cry in this house was "Shut the door", ie. passage door, loungeroom door, family room door, or nearly any other door, in order to try and keep the heat in the rooms in which we happened to be at that moment. No need to worry too much about the bedroom doors because there was no heating in them anyway.
Having had ducted heating installed last week, we now have to reverse the habits of the last 3 decades. The doors have to be left open so that the warm air can circulate and find its way back to the return air vent in the front hallway. I'm now opening doors almost at the same rate that I used to close them, especially as I don't think Richard quite believes that the rooms will stay warmer with the doors open. Seems illogical, doesn't it?
The heating was been very welcome during this very cold week, and it really got a good workout during Tuesday morning's -5ยบ frost. I happily report that it was more than adequate to the task.

10 comments:

Merle said...

Hi Alice ~~ I was very interested in the ducted heating you had installed
I am so glad for you that your house is now warm throughout. I didn't
realise that the doors have to be left open (as with the ducted cooling) My son is toying with the idea, and also wants me to consider it. Must look into it.
Take care, Love, Merle.

Val said...

Alice, I continue to rejoice with you in your new comfortable heating. How you must have been rubbing your hands with glee (not cold!) when those cold temps started up and you were toasty warm.

Kerri said...

That newly warm house must've felt really good during those frosty temperatures. I'm chuckling at you having to run around opening doors after Richard diligently closes them :)
I'm sitting here scratching mosquito bites because I just went out and watered a little in the twilight, with shorts on. Not a sensible thing to do! They ate me up!
I'm also smelling a lovely vase of peonies and Sweet William (much more pleasant) that sits on the dining room table behind me as I type. Delightful!
I hope you're having a lovely Monday Alice. xox

Lynn said...

That's great!
I remember doing that at my Grandma's house that had coal furnace heat.

I am laughing though, because when I first glanced at the title I thought it said, "Old Hobbits Die Hard"!

Gardenmomma Chris said...

I wish I could package up and send you some of our Texas heat!

Alice said...

Merle - with warm air being pumped into the rooms, it has to go somewhere otherwise you might blow the roof off your house ...lol. It needs to be recycled through an outlet vent where it is then reheated and circulated again. As the return-air vent is in the living area of the house we need to leave the passage door open a bit so the air from our bedroom at the other end of the house can be recycled too. We keep the doors to two other unused bedrooms closed as the air is switched off to those rooms until such time as it's needed.

The heating really is brilliant and makes such a difference to our outlook. No more hot and cold patches in the house.

Michelle said...

I think you should just remove the hallway door - none of us kids will ever get over the habit of closing it!!!..ever!!

Merle said...

Hi Alice ~~ Thank you so much for the
info. I wondered about 2 bedrooms that do not get used often and I see
you even covered that aspect. That
was very kind of you, Many thanks.
Take care, Love, Merle.

SnowWhite said...

I am so jealous of you guys our lounge is in the center of the home with four bedrooms coming off it (two on either side) then a big 3mtr wide window wall on one end with my kitchen and dayroom and dunny off the other end but we designed it to be open, not good for winter weather lol, need to get some breeze brushes on the deck doors wee have 3 decks and all open plan arghhh, about to put the cooker rings on to heat the place lol Just kiddin will go get another jumper.

xx
shona

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

A heating system or a heating stove will be one of our major purchases for this coming winter as our old one gave out at the end of last winter. It's really hard to think about the cold winter months right now with the temps in the 90's F here.

Oooh apple sauce...I love home made apple sauce and granny smith apples are really good eaten fresh off the tree.

Your cloud pictures are lovely and I wish a rain cloud would appear overhead for us. We desperately need the rain...even our large tree branches are beginning to droop. I also enjoyed going on your winter walk around your hill. You can see for miles and what a lovely view you have.