Harry “Dutch” Dresser, Ed.D.
Maine Energy Systems
Bethel, Maine 04217
I’m at the “bucketlist” end of life trying to get in a few things that have been crying out to be done most of my days while I can. I have recently had the great fortune of being supported in a nine-month absence from the office to go sailing with my wife. Together, we sailed DAWN 6,842 nautical miles on a route that took us from Maine to Virginia coastwise, from Virginia to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands on bluewater, down the Leewards, into the Windwards, back to the British and US Virgin Islands, to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, through the Turks & Caicos and the Bahamas, and back up the US east coast to Maine. (http://www.sailblogs.com/member/svdawn)
While we were away we rented our beloved Bethel home to a family in which the wife was a ski coach at Gould Academy. As you well know, our home is heated with a MESys wood pellet boiler, so part of the orientation to the house before our departure included teaching our renters how to check pellet levels in our storage tank, and how to empty the ash container occasionally.
From our privileged perch in the Caribbean, we “watched” as New England had a very cold, very snowy, very long winter. We weren’t inclined to ask our renters about their experience with our big, old house during such a winter, and there was little reason for them to be in touch with us, so we assumed the best.
When I returned to the office today to begin hearing stories of the winter’s experiences and set my sights on projects to undertake, I learned my boiler had done a job above and beyond the call of duty this winter.
Our renters fell in love with Bethel and Gould Academy and decided to buy a house in town. One of the very first improvements they made to their new Bethel house was the acquisition and installation of a MESys pellet boiler. The renter/new owner told our technician before buying the house, “if we buy this house, the first thing we’ll do is put in one of those pellet boilers. It’s fantastic.”
It’s too bad everyone doesn’t have the opportunity to test drive a pellet boiler; our job would be so easy.