Alrighty, back to it! Happy to report the new furnace has made a massive difference and we are no longer freezing in our own home. The bills so far haven't been massive (approx 180/month max so far) for Enbridge...but that's not too bad.
A few other items I'm working on and am hoping for some suggestions....
- Wifi seems to have a few dead spots in the house. We are considering one of those wifi mesh systems...anyone have experience with that? Or something along those lines to properly set up the entire house. I assume it's the block walls that are having the largest effect. We have those white cube Rogers modem/router combos.
- Trying to wall mount a tv in the basement above the chimney. However, the old owner made the hole in the rock (decorative pieces glued onto cement board) only 7x16" and the bases for anything over 40" need more space. Thinking of putting in a wooden base to fit that space and then a larger wood base to hold it all up...thoughts?
- Thinking of going to a 200A panel on the house. Along with a sub-panel to the laundry as the previous owner move the panel out to the garage for whatever reason...and I have junction box after junction box in the basement. It's a mess, and as mentioned before I don't have a ground in many outlets so outside of re-wiring the entire house, may just set this up at the panel.
Thanks!
oioioi had some good answers.
1. For my house, I have multiple wireless access points, but can get away with only using the main one. The others were remnants of systems past and are being used as bridges. I initially had the wireless router in the garage near a block wall and couldn't pick it up at the back of the house. Raising the router 8' put it adjacent to a stud wall and now it covers the entire house. If you are going mesh, read reviews. Mesh seems like a great idea but it is expensive and many people report innumerable issues/failures with much of the hardware.
2. Your idea may work. What kind of mount are you planning on using? If you are using a flat mount, it is hard to go wrong as there is very little leverage. If using a full motion mount, you can get the weight a few feet off the wall and mounting becomes more critical. I am assuming you have 7" tall and 16" wide? Hopefully the 16" catches two studs and isn't just a random 16"?
3. How much power is coming in to your house? You may be able to check the electric meter and/or wire size headed to the current panel to get an idea. I'm no electrician, but I don't think you can just whack a big panel on a small service. Subpanel seems like a great idea to minimize rewiring pain. Make sure it is done properly, neutral and ground cannot be bonded together in the subpanel.
My current panel is in the garage and it is definitely not my preferred location. It creates 100 penetrations that need to be smoke and fire sealed. On the upside, dropping a few more circuits in the garage or adding heat or vehicle charging is simple. I'd rather have a 100A subpanel in the garage and the main panel in my house though. One penetration, sufficient power for garage needs.
If I was putting in a new panel now, I would definitely configure for a standby generator even if you don't put one in right away. It requires some planning in which circuits you want on the generator. You can get panels that combine generator backed and grid only circuits. Retrofitting is a mess so if you are starting from scratch, you might as well make your future life easier.
IIRC (and I may be wrong), I think you can use GFCI on ungrounded outlets and they will trip. This is a better solution than nothing and could work as an interim step, but it is expensive and I would prefer properly wired outlets.
I can't remember if electric vehicle charging was in your plan or not, but regardless of code, I think putting a smoke detector in the garage tied to activate the interior alarms is a great idea. Probably smoke only, not CO as it may get more nuisance trips. Hell, with a little ingenuity you could probably wire the smoke to only be active when the garage lights were off preventing nuisance trips if you are working in the garage.
For any electrical advise above, consult someone that knows code and what they are doing (preferably an electrician) before implementing any of my hair-brained ideas.
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