Update: There's an utterly gorgeous crop of lettuce growing in the system right now. Most other plants aren't as far along; the lettuce got an early start. Some lettuce roots stick out the bottom of the pot, but rather than those exploratory roots dying off like I expected, they still look white and healthy. I guess they're getting O2 somehow. Well, I'm not going to complain. :) Germination was poor in several pots, although almost all of my seeds are old. My spouse dropped our (non-waterproof) pH meter in a bin. It shorted out. She took the batteries out and let it dry out, then put them back in. It behaved very strangely -- not only was it off on the pH, but it still ran when the meter was turned off -- just with a dim screen! Thankfully, this latter symptom has gone away, so I think all we need to do is recalibrate it. Tip #1: When suspending the light fixture with a taut hitch, tie an additional half-hitch at the loose end of the rope. This will prevent the taut hitch from accidentally pulling undone over time. We lost a taut hitch and our light fixture fell down (thankfully, it didn't break any bulbs, since what it ran into was the floating trays, which absorbed the shock). Tip #2: Silicon gel should not be used to patch leaks. It seems to work at first, but it doesn't last; the leaks will just open back up in time. Instead, use "3M High-Strength 90". It's one of the only adhesives in the world that your average consumer can readily acquire in small quantities which can get a good polyethylene bond (I should have gone straight to it the first time, as I have dealt with polyethylene film before for different purposes and came to the exact same conclusion). And it's really convenient to use, since you can just spray it out in big swaths across the plastic, and it'll foam up a little and fill in the gaps. Tip #3: When making homemade nutrient mixes, a spare coffee grinder will work *wonders* for dealing with the pelleted nutrients. Tip #4: When dealing with calcium nitrate, never leave it exposed to air for more than a few minutes. It'll absorb moisture from the air until it liquefies itself! Tip #5: To get dilute mixes like lettuce to have a proper (read: very low) EC, you'll want to keep all of your cations down to the bottom end of their normal range except potassium, which you should have below the normal range (lettuce doesn't like it much). Try to hit the minimum sulfate (~60ppm), then make the rest of the anions nitrate, since lettuce loves nitrate. High-EC plants like tomatoes are easy, but tomatoes also don't like much nitrate (~80ppm); for the most part, use sulfate salts in a tomato formula composition. Remember that (from what we've read) seedlings like to start off with extra-diluted macros, but micros should always be at full strength. Also, to keep EC reasonable, we found we could only manage 30 ppm silicon in the dilute and semi-dilute mixes, but we were able to manage 100ppm silicon for the tomatoes. Apart from all of that, it's all pretty noneventful. :) Plants just sit over there growing.

Wallynut, So would I be correct in saying that I need to find out how many kilowatts are needed to keep this house at X temperature using Hydro-air and compare that to kilowatts used, using the electric baseboard. I probably can find the existing usage from my local power company, but where could I find how much power these Hydro-air units use? Would the installer be able to provide me with estimates? I am in NY so I'm guessing were in the same "boat". Any help would greatly be appreciated. Jim

Jasdip, I saw an induction cooktop at Costco for under $100. I almost bought it but thought I didn't need another appliance to store in my kitchen. In Windsor we just switched over to time of use and I am waiting for my first bill to see how I did. Up until then my rate was 0.083 kwh. The prices will be going up May 1st which shows in the link below to Windsor's water and electricity rates. I had a credit of $196 in March when we changed over to time of use so I didn't have to pay my bill. I generally use less than 195 kwh in the winter and that is with my 46 year old furnace running. My equal billing plan went from $100 to $110 per month starting with my April bill. I do most of my cooking in the off peak time after 7 pm and along with the rest of my chores. I just changed over some of my CFLs to LED bulbs and I seem to prefer the LED light. I still have one tri light CFL I bought almost 20 years ago that I still use everyday. It is the taxes and the debt retirement charge that I don't like on our bills. Sure we get that 10 percent rebate every month but they need to get rid of the HST. I like that my new computer has a 9 hour battery life so if I have to use it during the day I am off the grid and charge it during off peak hours. My problem is when I let the dog out at night I forget to turn off the porch light and that still has an incandescent bulb in it because I can't reach it to change the bulb until I get a step stool. Here is a link to Windsor's Enwin Utilities rates. Not sure if the new rates are listed yet. Here is a link that might be useful: Windsor's Electricity Rates

Whatever system you go with, it's best sized and designed by a third party (usually not HVAC sub) for optimum performance and comfort. Normally it's mechanical engineers or others associated with achieving EnergyStar certification or performance based code modeling services. Manual J is the most used load calculation for sizing systems and it's based entirely on the home's design. Your experiences with uncomfortable forced-air systems are probably based on inefficient homes that did not benefit from this type of service. Most older systems have only one or two fan speeds blowing into poorly designed ductwork. The systems are also usually serving older, building envelopes with crappy windows, pathetic insulation and horrendous air leakage. Newer, code built homes on variable speed systems with appropriate ductwork will have such small airflows, they are barely noticeable to the occupants. Many feel that properly designed and sized forced-air systems are the most comfortable because they have the fastest response to thermostat settings. In addition to the AC considerations, most outdoor air ventilation systems (international code requirement for health) rely on a certain amount of ductwork and blowing air for better distribution. Again, good designs have such low flows, you shouldn't even notice when they are running.