by Bea Peterson
Bob and Linn Becker live in the elegant brick house at the corner of High Street and Parsons Avenue that was built in the early 1830s. “We’re only the third family to live in this house,” said Bob. Becker said the first owner was Levi Chandler Ball. Originally the house was encompassed by a 400 acre farm. The house next door was the home of the farm supervisor. According to Becker, there wasn’t a kitchen in the house until 1960. Both the Ball family and the George McKearn family, the next owners, had their meals prepared at the farm supervisor’s home and brought over to the main house.
[private]The 6,500 square foot house was built with seven fireplaces. “All of which are still here,” said Becker. Those fireplaces were the only source of heat for the enormous rooms with their magnificent high ceilings. McKearn purchased the house in the early 1900s, and in 1912 the house was restored and renovated and a coal fired boiler was installed. “It was the first central heat,” said Becker.
Some pipe remnants of that system still remain, along with a large coal bunker in the basement. After the passing of McKearn the house was vacant during the 1950s. Then in the early ’60s the McKearn daughters donated the house to the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese, and it became a convent. The Diocese converted the house to oil hot water heat.The Beckers purchased the vacant house in 1991 and converted the heating system to a high efficiency oil fired hot water heating system, augmented with a wood pellet boiler. “The 12 inch thick mason walls provide good insulation,” said Becker. They added Windotherm panels to all the old, large windows for greater insulation. “We’ve insulated as much as possible,” said Becker. And, like many families with large old homes, they close off some of the rooms in the winter. Still, in 2010, their cost for heating oil was $12,000.
Last year the Beckers went a step further. They had a geothermal heating and cooling system installed. The oil burner remains as backup for extreme cold weather and for domestic hot water. September marked one year the system has been in place. The cost for auxiliary oil and electricity to operate the geothermal system for the year was $6,400, a savings of 48 percent over the previous year. Becker noted that last year was a mild winter. However, with today’s oil prices and a normal winter, he estimates heating the house with oil alone would run about $14,000.
The cost to install the geothermal system was $46,100. They received a federal tax credit of 30 percent, lowering the cost to $32,270. “In less than six years the system will pay for itself,” he said. “And now I have a marketable house.” With this system the house is also air-conditioned. That is a very nice bonus, he added. “This summer we were very comfortable.”
How Does It Work
Becker said, “The system takes advantage of the fact that deep in the ground, about eight feet down, the temperature is a constant 56 degrees. Nine thousand feet of coiled pipe, contained in nine trenches, ten feet long, are buried eight feet deep in the Beckers’ front yard. Water is extracted and returned through the pipes entering the house at 56 degrees. In the winter it takes less than an additional 30 degrees to send heat to various rooms through the forced air system ducts. The same principal works for cooling the house in the summer. Each room has individual controls. Becker admits it is not a quick recovery system. “You have to plan for heat to be in the rooms used,” he said.
There are different methodologies used for various ground systems, said Becker. Other systems include driven wells.
So far the Beckers are very pleased with their system. Their backup system, for very cold days and for domestic hot water, was installed by Carlton Coon.
At the moment the front lawn is not at its very best. In 2011 it was dug up for the pipe installation. Then the lawn needed time to settle. This summer, said Becker, weather conditions were not good for planting a new lawn. He expects it will be all smoothed out by next summer. Small inconvenience for such a great savings.
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