I got the (mucho necessary) new furnace, etc. today. It was quite a
challenge to keep control of a room full of not-yet-clipped flighted
baby birds who needed handfeedings while the workers had the outside
door propped fully wide open all day. I successfully fed all the flyers
IN their cage (in a room with a locked door...) without anyone getting
out!
The Honeywell electronic air cleaner is outstanding! It has permanent
filters that are DISHWASHER washable! I'm more excited about THAT than I
am about the furnace/AC! (NOTE: I wouldn't have this thing if I hadn't
whined to the salesman that throwing one in for free to sweeten the deal
would guarantee that I'd sign with their company...)
But the air cleaner still won't work if it clogs with feathers, etc...so
I set up one of the simple box fan/furnace filter combos in the (just
cleaned) bird room tonight. Within MINUTES of turning on the fan, the
back filter was already collecting down feathers (the tiels are ALL
molting at once right now). I could see down feathers crawling out from
under the flight cage across the floor toward the fan...it was almost
eerie.
During the installation, the bird room (finally) got its own furnace
duct and heat outlet, so maybe I won't need to use the oil-filled
radiator space heater down there this winter (at least not MOST nights,
anyway). If this works, my electric bills might actually go DOWN enough
that I can afford to bbs more often!  AND we got a whole-house
trickle humidifier that does NOT have a standing water compartment, so
it won't grow bacteria and mold! No more weekly bleaching out the
humidifier!
I didn't WANT to put all that money into the furnace, etc., but the
cracked heat exchanger kind of forced the issue. But I think that the
birds will benefit the most in the long run, so maybe it's not so bad.
(I'm telling myself this so I won't cry myself to sleep tonight...)
--Kathy
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