Jeri, you're making me feel horrible that I don't live out your way! One day I'll have to make a trip the the cemetery...Its the type of trip that I need to add to my bucket list, I'll just have to find something interesting for the DH to do while I'm in rosey heaven :) and, wow, 87 years old in the 1880's, quite a feat! Tammy

Velleta, What you have described is Liquified Petroleum Gas (sometimes abbreviated LPG) used for the stoves, also known as propane or butane. That's what we had at home before we got natural gas (the underground pipe kind). However, I don't think it's the issue either. It wouldn't choose one plant. I only meant to say that the phrasing of that bit of advice wasn't really accurate and yet I'd found it multiple places. Added: Since sometimes other readers find these threads, I looked up "cooking gas" and it does seem to refer to LPG or the "bottled" gas instead of the natural gas. I think natural gas might do the same thing, but I don't want to sit a plant beside my unlit stove to see. I've had a couple of blossoms brown when they were near the cook top, but I only sit plants there waiting to repot them and I tend to neglect them for a day or two so I don't know if it's the gas or the neglect. It's on an island so they sit right beside the stove. I'm happy it's nothing incurable too. My understanding of the botrytis blossom blight is that it then progresses. There are a lot of photos of it on other plants and it looks like something I've seen on outdoor plants. It's not exactly slimy but mostly looks either decayed or moldy on those ones. Diana This post was edited by quimoi on Thu, Apr 10, 14 at 11:30

I don't know if anyone offers a "pretty" remote but you can certainly use one of the remotes designed for the car or a keychain and with a bit of double sided tape mount inside a convenient cabinet door. You could even mount in under a cabinet so it would be out of sight.

Let me run something by you. All modulating systems run out of modulation and start to cycle at some point whether they are boilers, compressors or furnaces. Zoning, vs. more systems, makes you reach that point sooner.* You will, of course, have some spill-over demand from areas that are not calling for heat or cool. Well in some situations I think it is more about putting the cooling or heating where you want it. Will there be spill over? Sure there can be, but the idea is to be more comfortable in the area of the home you are actually using. This will reduce operational costs because the system won't have to run as long. Could this cause more cycling... sure you bet. But if you are more comfortable for less operational cost what is there to argue unless the system breaks down more. So far I simply haven't seen more breakdowns in zone systems that I've installed. (I've seen it in zone systems installed by builders.) Commercial applications have had zone systems to varying degrees much longer than the residential market for the sheer reason of not only trimming operational costs but also reducing the number of comfort complaints. As far as modulation goes or cycling -- whether regarded as short cycling or load satisfying sure every system is going to cycle at some point because the loads are reduced to that point. Short cycling in my view is only detrimental to a zone system when the system doesn't run long enough to return oil back to the crankcase of the compressor. The absence of oil will seize up the compressor. Other than that.. what difference does it make? If this situation happens infrequently it could lead to the demise of the unit. But it's unlikely to happen for a very long time. Even if you run the system without zoning there is wear and tear. So I think this is more related to being told one specific thing but not applying it properly to what is actually happening. I am seeing differences in my last house to this house, but I am using different equipment than the other house. While it's nearly identical in comfort for the most part the bill is a bit higher. (I think) I haven't sat down and really compared bills that closely. This house I am living in is not complete like the other house as I know I have some thermal envelope problems still in this house I am in now. So until I get these fixes done and see the results I just won't know. The other difference is my system for this house is a 4 ton 2 speed AC where as the other home was 3 ton 2 stage or 2 separate compressors. The 2 speed is merely 1 compressor with 2 different speeds. So it should be interesting over the course of the next couple years to see how this plays out.