"Arthur I told you 8 years ago the picture you showed was ugly and it still is. I'm glad you cut it off." Of course it was ugly, that is why i pruned the spike a a few times to produce it and still produce the pic. from time to time. AND " I tried to give an overview of the history of what makes the one type, yours and Arthurs, as opposed to where the newer multi-spiked Phals originate. Obviously neither of you know about them or wish to have them. I don't own anymore of the long spiked Phals except two species because I don't like them. The complex hybrids I do grow are the shorter spikes with waxy blooms and most are fragrant." This is absolute imperious twaddle! The OP didn't name his plant so i suppose he posted on another forum otherwise how do you know what type it is? There is nothing wrong with those large phals with cascading spikes except that I do not have room for them. Sorry, i am not into Phals in great detail but there is a trend for smaller flowered types so as benching marshal at the local orchid society I introduced a Class Size for flowers less than 75mm width.

Well I'm back, after having consulted with 2 geothermal installers. One is doing a complete load calculation and evaluation for geothermal versus an air-source heat pump, for us to compare against the quotes we have for just doing a/c. The other guy won't do a full analysis, including potential cost savings based on our individual usage patterns, without us paying a large fee for that service (US$700), but he was definitely there to try and sell it. Both gave a ballpark of the cost being about 3x (at least) of our a/c-only quotes, and both said that we'd have to have a split system (two systems?)--one in the basement going up to the first floor, and the split being in the attic coming down to the second floor. And because of that, the cost goes up. The first says we have enough room to trench, while the other says he prefers drilling vertically, saving horizontal loops for unlandscaped/non-lawn areas (like for brand-new construction). Both did say that our access in our unfinished basement and attic are generally good. We have one more home visit by another geo person, but I can already tell that my husband thinks it's way out of reach, though he loves the idea of geothermal. He's now back to thinking that we should just buy window a/c units, as the easiest and cheapest option (he also thinks it would be more energy-efficient if we only get 2 for the hottest 2 rooms). I guess I won't discount geo until I see a hard number from the first guy and compare it to the air-source heat pump option (which I had not considered, either). But there's the update, anyway. I'm very envious, Pyropaul, that your cost did not end up being prohibitive for your old house retrofit! Do you have a split system, too?

Does hydro make any sense? In a few words, HELL YES! I would NEVER abandon a functional hot water system, especially not for forced air, and especially not in an older, likely under insulated and likely under sealed home in a cold-weather state. Simply put, I believe it's the most comfortable heating there is. Designing ductwork that works well with both hot and chilled air is difficult, as they have very different properties. Where are they locating the ductwork for the cooling? Near the floor, or in the ceiling? If in the ceiling, it's perfect for AC, because cold air drops. But, because hot air rises, ceiling ducts aren't so great for heating. And vice versa. There's no reason why the heating pipes in the basement have to remain low hanging. Circulated hot water isn't nearly as sensitive to pipe pitch as is either gravity hot water or steam. Where you live most of your emphasis is on heating. Yes, cooling is nice in Connecticut, because it does get hot and humid up there, but I've been through some New England winters and they can be downright nasty. Were I in your shoes? I'd stick with a dedicated hot water heating system with a high efficiency indirect hotwater storage tank, and leave your AC system just that, AC. You can run the AC fan in winter to help keep air circulating and also to provide filtration. As for gas over oil... Things are looking ugly on the oil front. I'd probably go with as high an efficiency boiler as I could get.

Sue36--You're not understanding Buehl's duct. The opening is in the floor, next to the wall. It's not spaced out from the wall where she could use a floor duct. The duct is not coming up into the stud cavity. This style of register is quite common here in the upper Midwest though they were new to me when I moved here from the south central part of the United States. My house has them & is 30+ years old. And it is the overwhelming choice for forced air systems in new builds. They looked weird to me for a while, until I got used to them. Now, I don't notice them because they're 'normal'. We've owned houses with both styles of registers. I prefer these because less dirt & stuff gets into the duct than what does with floor registers. And, there's no need to attach a deflector to them, either. Moving that opening out from the wall is a big deal if she has rigid metal ductwork. I can guarantee blood loss & depletion of one's French vocabulary. :) And for no good reason other than, to a few people, a minor aesthetic one. No one is going to notice that duct except for Buehl and only for a few days and that's because she is admiring her beautiful new floors. Everyone else is going to see the gorgeous floor, the pretty windows & what's outside the windows and the duct is going to disappear in the same way that outlets & switches do.