The Honest Courtesan

After that double power outage we had around Christmas, I was rather peeved at the gas company for failing to connect my new heater in November or early December as they were supposed to (not to mention failing to return my calls about the delay).  So a month ago today I called again and happened to get the technician himself on the phone.  He apologized profusely for mislaying my paperwork, and volunteered to make room in his schedule to get us connected as soon as possible.  That was Monday, January 9th, and as you can see it’s now all hooked up and running perfectly.  It was a few days before we could switch the water system over to the new heater, but we got it done two weeks ago today and I’m very pleased with it; the temperature range is basically the same as the electric, but the temperature doesn’t fluctuate as much, so one needn’t fiddle with it throughout the duration of the shower.  I don’t think I’m going to save any money in the log run; Dr. Quest crunched the numbers for me and it looks too close to call, plus it cost twice as much to have the new line run and connected as the heater itself cost.  But it’s going to be worth it to have hot water the next time the power goes out.  Once we got it all connected I made an insulated box to go over the works, but I didn’t include it in this picture because it’s pretty featureless (it’s just plywood with a layer of the same styrofoam insulation I used for the bathroom ceiling).  Once I install some skirting on the north side, that will help prevent heat loss as well, and next winter the wood-burning stove will keep the atrium at least temperate, if not actually warm.