I arrived here in the evening of 9/30 and after a short while went to get Char at the New Boston Inn where she was waiting with Bill and Lygeia, who had driven her up.  Lots of rain and fog.

This trip:
Cleaned spider webs from porch, vacuumed the floor furnaces, prepared dried herbs from garden for Sarah, vacuumed spider webs in basement, placed mouse traps in kitchen, continued cleaning linens, towels, etc. from drawers in long bureau, purchased toilet flusher arm/knob to replace the old, broken one in the toilet downstairs, tested heater in downstairs bedroom.

LEAKS UPDATE
Again, more rain this weekend and we're becoming increasingly concerned about the leaks.  It may be our imagination but they appear to be getting worse (or we may not have seen them at their worst before).  In any case, they don't seem good.

I've left Gary Danko, the contractor we spoke to, a message today about looking into this further and getting estimates.

10-1-11

10-1-11

10-1-11

10-1-11 - Office

10-1-11 Long Room

Internet
The internet here is via satellite provided by DISH and, after some research, I compiled the stats listed below, some of which are educated guesses because the account is, by necessity, still in Rena's name and cannot be accessed by me.  This is because spots on the satellite network are limited and, if one were to cancel and try to sign up again, you'd be put in a waiting list.  It is not possible to simply change the name and address on the account.

Satellite Modem and Wireless Router

I purchased and installed a wireless router (network name: Netgear) that does not require a password to use but is accessible only in the front area of the house.  The internet is slow and becomes spotty, or goes out completely, when it rains.

The internet plan has upload and download limits that work on a rolling 30 day schedule, not on a calendar month.  I don't know which of the three available plans Rena has but will assume it's the lowest one, meaning that the upload threshold is 2.3GB and the download threshold is 7.5GB.  When 80% of this is reached they will send Rena an e-mail warning, as happened in 9/2011, probably after downloading Bridesmaids from iTunes (which took 12 hours) for Char's birthday.  (BTW, it's a chick flick).

The router is a Netgear N150 and the manual can be found here.

Dish Network 800-333-3474

Acct. Name: Rena Gill

Acct. Phone: 212-989-8422

Possible password: sandisdish

Possible wireless requirements (to hook up a wireless router)

Connect using ethernet (not PPPoE)

DNS Server: 75.104.128.61

Domain Name: Wildblue.com


Furnaces
I removed the floor registers and vacuumed out both furnaces.  There was a lot of compacted dust and spider webs.   And a spoon.

Floor furnace in long room - the register is visible left - the heatshield (not visible here) is removed for cleaning.

The long room furnace is made by Temco, a company that no longer appears to be extant.  It appears to be model GVF70-1S and outputs 40,000 BTU.

Floor furnace in front room - heat shield (not visible here) removed for cleaning.

The floor furnace in the front room is an Empire model #5088-1, Serial #H40 7169, generating 45,000 BTU.  One side of the frame of the floor register comes off but is easily re-attached - make sure to do so correctly or the register will not support weight properly.  Artifacts found during cleaning were a nickel and two melted pens.

Pilots on both furnaces have been re-lit with thermostats set to 55 until we get cold!   The thermostats are Model PSP511 made by Lux (luxproproducts.com).  I don't see that exact model on their website but the manual appears to be on another site, here.

I tested both furnaces for a bit today.  They are incredibly effective, heating the room quickly and continue to generate heat even after the flame is out (perhaps from the hot metal parts?).  I would suggest using a CO2/gas detector when using them for extended periods just to be safe.

FURNACE UPDATE

10-9-11: In the course of inspecting the chimneys/leaks with Gary Danko and his mason, it was discovered that neither of the floor furnaces properly vent and that the Carbon Monoxide they produce goes into the basement and, potentially, the house, not the chimneys.  This creates a possibly DANGEROUS situation and Gary's opinion was that they should not be used until they have been properly inspected and repaired.

MICE!
The season's first evidence of mice has appeared in the kitchen.  I'm placing traps with peanut butter.