Home Heating

If you ran real low on oil what can happen is the burner pump can pull a vacuum in the oil line. When this happens the "slug" at the bottom of the oil tank may have been sucked into the filter clogging it up.Change the filter.

This is a annoying yet good thing. If the filter gets clogged and the burner locks out none of that "slug" will be pumped into the burner itself.

If your oil is a dirty as it is here in the US than you may want to keep a few extra oil filters on hand.

It makes a big difference where you are located, what resources are available, if you are working with new construction or renovating old existing work.

In general, any path to energy independence is going to start with conservation. With heating and hot water this may mean point of use heaters, insulation, heating surfaces instead of the air (radiant heating costs less in operation) ventilation instead of air conditioning, earth tubes etc. Start to satisfy your existing 100% of current energy demands you may be able to achieve 20 to 30% with conservation techniques.

We feel warmer if surfaces are warmed than if only the air is warmed. It is more efficient as the surface temps can be 10 deg lower than we would normally heat the air. Radiant heating in floors and sometimes walls works well with both solar thermal panels and geothermal as a heat source.

In new construction a masonry stove (not cast iron) can be a very efficient use of wood. It may be lit once per day to a very high heat. The balance of the day and night the massive masonry structure radiates heat to the dwelling.

Geothermal, ground source heat pump applications are a kind of alternative form of heating conservation. It saves heating costs but still requires some energy. It does not yet supply more than it requires.

Solar thermal is 60 to 80% efficient vs photovoltaic which is only about 8 to 22% for the homeowner. There is some speculation that solar thermal plus a stirling generator may be several times cheaper than photovoltaic panels for producing electricity. ($1/ watt vs photovoltaic $5/watt.) Heat is also easier to store than electricity. So store heat to make electricity. Solar thermal comes in several designs for residences. In new designs it is in passive solar heating. For both new designs and retrofits a solar sun room may provide additional heat. Solar thermal systems can active or passive. Active systems have pumps. Solar thermal panels can be flat plate or vacuum tube collectors water based collectors or air collectors that have no liquids in them. Solar thermal energy can be used for heat, hot water, air conditioning and to generate electricity with a mid temp range stirling engine/generator.

It also would be possible in more rural settings to generate your own natural gas with a bio digester. It would however require massive amounts of bio fuel. However if the supply exists it is certainly a possibility.

While wind turbines are a possibility for electrical energy there is the duel problem of having power when you need it. First the wind must be blowing with sufficient strength and secondly there needs to be some type of energy strorage capacity. This storage shoud have deep cycle capacity. Heating water or a phase change material may be one option. Chemical storage may be another (hydrogen) Pumped hydro may be practical in some locations. There is some discussion of using compressed air for storage. This might give a...

I'm not sure of this type but, it should have a "bleed" button on it, look around the carburetor, where the lines come together. There should be a button near the bottom. If not you'll have to call someone, the fuel company where you purchase the fuel or if you get another better answer.

www.firebird.ie/installation/S-Range-MANUAL.pdf

try this it is a full manual hope you find what you are looking for

hire a plumber maybe

Aga and Rayburn are two specific tradenames for mulit purpose ranges. Yes they can cook food, heat water and heat house all at once from one fuel source but they tend to be quite large items and many modern houses will not be able to accomodate such a "cooker" in the kitchen. The best way to heat hot water is with a solar panel on the house roof although the amount of solar radiation available depends a lot of location. For cooking and home heating however, modern gas or electric units are probably more efficient than a range. If you have a cheap source of wood fuel and a wood burning range, then you could argue that is a better environmental option than using fossil fuel even at a higher nominal unit efficiency. I still think the main problem with a range is the space requirement noting that it would need its own exhaust to the outside too.

By the time that current fossil fuels are depleted we will have more than enough renewable energy .... all supposing that the population does not outstrip supply first.

This from a couple of lads closer to you ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JggaBV_6pnk