From: John Grochowski <jgrochowski@ephraim.org> Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2020 10:53:13 -0600 Message-ID: <CAOxuWTo13hs84jjVuqFNAKj9ORkUDJdBvEXXwXfz7GCa2X=BPg@mail.gmail.com> Subject: Re: heating historic buildings
Great Question Jarrod!
We have several buildings here in Ephraim, two have HVAC systems but only
one runs during the winter. Both of our historic barns have no insulation
and several gaps to the outside, so they cannot be heated. Our historic
house museum I believe also has no insulation, and would be too large to
heat. Our small cabin museum is drafty as well. We would also not be able
to install a traditional furnace in any of these buildings.
In our one room schoolhouse we installed a Bryant ductless min-split
system about three years ago. It works great heating in the shoulder
seasons and cooling in the summer months, but I was told by the company who
sold it to us that those units are not very efficient once the temperatures
get below a certain temperature. Our general store museum is the only one
that is heated during the winter. We installed a new energy
efficient furnace a few years ago, which has helped lower our heating bill,
and keep the store at 60 degrees.
While it's obviously best practice to heat all of our buildings in the
winter, it's not practical. The store is the only one that is feasible to
heat, and also has the most objects. The other buildings would be nice,
but not necessary. If your historical society only has the one room
school, I would encourage them to look into a ductless mini-split. We paid
$3,320 for it and it works great, especially cooling the building in the
summer, and it is very energy efficient. This would be better and cheaper
than a furnace. They would just need to find out if the system would work
effectively when it is super cold.
I hope this helps. I would be happy to talk with you more if you have any
other questions.
*John M. Grochowski, CTA*
Director of Operations
Ephraim Historical Foundation
3060 Anderson Lane, PO Box 165
Ephraim, WI 54211-0165
(920) 854-9688
ephraim.org <http://www.ephraim.org/>
*Ephraim...Where Door County’s Past Lives Today*
On Thu, Dec 10, 2020 at 6:52 PM Jarrod Roll <mclhr@centurytel.net> wrote:
> Hello friends.
>
>
>
> I have a question for you which I am asking on behalf of another
> historical organization which owns historic buildings. For those of you
> who own a standalone, small building (like a one-room school or church),
do
> you heat it in the winter? The historical society who owns a one-room
> school in our area doesn’t want to heat it in the winter because
it isn’t
> used and there is a significant heating bill involved. However, I know
> that even minimally heating an old building helps to preserve it. So, I
> would appreciate hearing from those of you who own a historic building an
d
> close it up for the winter—do you heat it or not?
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
> Jarrod
>
>
>
> Jarrod Roll
>
> Director / County Historian
>
> Monroe County Local History Room & Museum
>
> 200 West Main St.
>
> Sparta, WI 54656
>
> 608-269-8680
>
> www.MonroeCountyHistory.org
>
> Facebook: www.Facebook.com/MCLHR
>
>
>