Are any of those four theaters reasonable drive from you so you can have a chance to go back to a theater and enjoy yourself more?

Wish every Maine theater had 'em. Or at least a couple theater areas set aside in theaters that had it. Maybe that's part of why the fun of going to the theater has lessened for me.

It was 13 degrees when I woke a couple mornings ago. Heat pumps were still blowing warm air. (Efficiency probably goes down a bit, which is why I still have the oil boiler ready to go.)

I’ve never seen as many roadside memorials along such a relatively short stretch as rt 9 from Calais to Bangor. That piece of road needs its own spooky country song.

Did the halfway point close? With the pie and the adjacent rest area?

Even more fun: places on 9 that don’t get salted! That big fucking hill in Wesley is white knuckle during fair weather in daylight, nightmare fuel in the winter.

Rent somewhere cheaper

Another retiree and grumpy handyman here, can confirm - it's a full-time job.

If you go with a heat pump setup, you might want to skip the energy efficient varieties due to the size of your house and because it can take a bit of time for the temp to get up to/stay where you want it. Some will poo-poo that as a small consideration but if it is important to anyone in your house...

Electric vs. NG vs. propane.

Asked around a few years ago on the makes family members use in other states and the 5 which are used are Magic Chef, Lennox, Amana, Trane, and Carrier. The latter 2 are used by several. Magic Chef was bought out by Lennox ~ 1990, so I am guessing that unit is way old. Opinions on Lennox are of the meh variety, primarily due to fuel used. 2 Amana units in ranchers are HE electric units which have some issues on sub-20 degree days. The Trane and Carrier units are most often used and are highly regarded, although one Carrier had the burner box installed incorrectly. Servicing is an issue due to lack of trained technicians and pricing. Amazing how much that changes from state to state. Guess it really is a buyer beware thing.

Pellet stoves. It’s a little bit of work but with the right placement you can heat a lot for a little. 10 tons of pellets is only 3000 your paying that every two months now

So.. frankly sounds like my house (and not that far away from me either so we have similar weather)

The quick answer is not to 'replace' the oil furnace. Central heating systems are expensive.

Adding a heat pump could make a big difference for you. Keep the oil heat as backup. But the new heat pumps are good down to -15 and we rarely see that these days. Larger heat pumps can support multiple units so you can spread the heat throughout the house (upstairs and downstairs or whatever your layout).

Heat pumps are not as expensive as new central heating. They are easier and cleaner than wood (though it never hurts to add a wood stove if you have the time, money or inclination or if you are worried about extended electric outages).

Wood is great if you are active and able. But at my age.. I'm about over wanting a woodstove. The wood heat is lovely.. the work is exhausting. And the heat pump will also cool the house in August.

Snowflake, a clump of cells is not a baby. The fake Christians - after all support pedos, religious groomers and letting babies starve because of taxes. You're the murderer along with your whole violent radical republican ilk.

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So I guess the thing is what is your monthly bill with oil and electric now and is your furnace in good shape or will it need to be replaced soon? There is a good rebate for heat pumps now from Efficiency Maine, but they are not cheap and neither are solar panels. And you would still have a sizable electricity bill in the winter to run the heat pumps. Maybe do a cost analysis?

(We are using heat pumps in the winter and have solar panels which generate our summer/early fall electricity. Wood burning insert for back up. Older farmhouse near Wiscasset with some insulation. )

We first took off the bottom six to eight inches of siding and sheathing. We cleared out the mouse nests and other debris from the old stud bays. We scarfed in some new wood in a few places where there was partially rotten sill. Put PT sheathing over that. Drilled a two-inch hole at the top of each floor's stud bay. Blew in cellulose until it wouldn't blow in any more. This requires a special blower, not the one they rent at Home Despot. Put two-inch foam board over the old siding, glued at the edges. Put 7/16 OSB nailer over that with long screws. Then my wife put up shingles, which she likes to do. The house was built of rough cut hemlock, fully four inches, which at R3.8/inch for cellulose is about R15 for the stud bays, and the foam board makes it R25. But it's the air sealing that does most of the work. It was still drafty until a couple years later when we put spray foam over the top several feet of cellar wall and over the joist bays. It's not hard. We did it ourselves with the canisters they sell at Home Depot. You have to suit up and wear a very good respirator. It's recommended that you use the kind with an air supply. I didn't, and survived, but I should have done. But you can get a contractor to do it for you and they have all the proper kit.

And at below freezing low temps they could be more costly than oil. Our electric prices are around 30 cents in New England. My big 48k btu heat pump with 5 heads used between 1,500 to 2,000 kWh in December.

“R40 cellulose blown in the attic, four inches cellulose blown into the stud bays, and two inches R10 foam board over the entire outside.“

I’m curious about this. Do you mean the outside of the house? I’ve done a lot of insulating and air sealing but I think my fundemental problem is that my foundation is from 1961 and they never insulated foundations back then. I was thinking it was too big of a job to retrofit that.

Forced hot air. Ducts were redone a few years back so they should be well-sealed with efficient paths.

In your situation, an energy audit from a BPI certified Building Anaylst Professional will likely be the best next step. They used to cost between $0-$500, depending (Idk currently.) The results will be really handy in guiding next steps.

Maybe the quickest, cheapest next step is just getting a wood stove. An audit can help guide here, too, especially in looking at how to avoid negatively affecting the safe venting of any existing heating unit and how to avoid moving too much moisture into attics. (An auditor should be seeing how everything in the house is connected in one interdependent system.)

I don't recommend a pellet stove. They blow warm air, they DO NOT RADIATE like a wood stove. The amount and quality of the heat is very different. If you want the ease of a pellet stove, go with a mini split heat pump. Easier, cleaner, provides AC too. But doesn't work when power is out without deep cycle batteries and an inverter.

Before shelling out on more shiny heating technology, cover the basics with an audit and go from there. There might be all kinds of open chases into the attic (around the chimney, open wall tops especially around plumbing and wires.) The old bathtub could be built to be open to the wall and framed around, there may be connections from porches that are cooling a ceiling that can be bagged and blown. The sills and basement door may be leaky. The sills and foundation may be uninsulated. There may be opportunities to do IR-guided dense pack cellulose in the walls. The audit should include IR inspection, a blower door to quantify and qualify leaks, a good visual inspection with photos of the attic and what's under the insulation, and a cost and savings for individual insulating, air sealing, and new heating systems tasks. If it shows you that over 10 years solar will cost $20k and reduce your heat bill by $10k, but dense packing will cost you $6k and save you $20k, that is the kind of guidance I mean. In some cases the monthly savings can be greater than the loan payment. Whew. Didn't know I was going to write so much!

My parents have a house that's broadly that size (I think) and put ductless mini split heat pumps in about 8 or 10 years ago. They kept the oil furnace both as a backup and also because it provided the house's hot water. Overall, they love it. The oil bill went way down and as a bonus they now have air conditioning in the summer. It probably helps that the downstairs is relatively open, so they get away with one heat pump downstairs, positioned near where they spend most of their time. The upstairs is much less open, but their bedroom is the only room that gets regular use upstairs (they're empty nesters), so they have a heat pump in their bedroom and just let the other rooms upstairs run a bit cool (probably like 55-60°F). If guests come over and actually use the other rooms, they just use the oil heat to make them comfortable for the brief period guests are there. It's probably also very helpful that their house is set up so that basically every room has its own zone for the oil heat, so it's very easy to turn the oil heat up or down in just one room if it's needed for whatever reason.

Have you done an energy audit? It can be hard to know where your heat is going without one. The basic one seals your door, pumps air into the house and sees where it leaks out. Most utilities have a program where you can get a basic audit for free. This will help you find out what can be done to tighten up the house.

Take a look at your furnace, the last time it was serviced they'll have put a tag on it, see what it's efficiency is. If it's under 80% it's quite likely a new furnace will pay for itself in a relatively short time. We're actually due for that at my house.

Finally you mention new windows. Sadly I see a lot of windows installed poorly. Feel around the edge of your windows and make sure there aren't air leaks. A good installer will have insulated around the windows, either by packing in fiberglass or with spray foam. Otherwise your windows have vents that just suck your warm air out. This is where the energy audit really helps.

Found the Trump bootlicker

I would be curious how many 2nd homes are owned by Mainers as Camps

Get a wood stove or pellet stove for alternative heat

Same cost and results for me. I’m quite happy. Electric bill went up about $100 a month year over year, so much less than the 2/300$ I was paying for propane.

I’ve got heat pumps and they work fine as a primary. They keep it at 70 for us year round with minimal fuss. I didn’t pay an extra huge premium for any fancy model either as far as I know. Newer ones work well into single digits very efficiently and still work into lower temps than that, but not as efficiently or quickly. Having a backup source for the coldest nights is a good idea but not a necessity. Heat pumps and air sealing/insulation work would be my solution for the OP.