A White Christmas Suitable for Mike Wilson

[mwilson]

Tried to capture just how hard it is snowing...

Hoopty is stuck in the driveway just beyond the Yukon, deal with it in the morning...

The way the wind is blowing it is hard to guess accumulation so far, rough guess of 16” at least already...

 

[Wayne M.]

This has been a strange winter so far. The wind is non stop- and strong. The temps are getting to a point I can’t recall. We may get to zero this weekend. The weatherman on tv was rattling off some offshore weather stats, and a bouy somewhere out past the canyons was recording 45’ waves. He was making a big deal of it.

 

[TFucili]

I just want to know why everything now has to have a warning associated with it. It's January in the mountains of PA. What do you expect it to feel like outside. Now we have to have a wind chill warning because the temp is below zero and the wind is blowing. The local news can't go 30 seconds without talking about it.

I have to agree. We were in PA over Christmas and everyone was apoplectic because it was cold. Ummmm, yeah. Saw below zero temps plenty o'times growing up there. Saw something like a month at a stretch without going above freezing. Winter in the Northeast, folks. Nothing new.

 

[Jim W]

Yes, but this generation of younger adults have never experience the late 60's and 70's in the winter. In 1967 Chicago Il had a 24 hour snowfall of 23" inches. This was the only time school was closed for me. Still had to get to school for our wrestling practice, for me we all walked to school that day. Now school is closed in some areas if they forecast 3" to 6" snow. In the late 70's we had some terrific winter storms. This is when I first heard about wind chills. When we had three years in a row of supper cold weather and a lot of snow, starting in 1976 to 1979. But that was history and the younger adults can not relate to that so, to them the end of the world is approach now. All because of Global Warming! Really?

 

[jgillott]

I have to agree. We were in PA over Christmas and everyone was apoplectic because it was cold. Ummmm, yeah. Saw below zero temps plenty o'times growing up there. Saw something like a month at a stretch without going above freezing. Winter in the Northeast, folks. Nothing new.

I can't tell you the number of years when I was young that there was snow on the ground here from Thanksgiving all the way to April 1. Back in the late 70's, 1977 maybe, we had a storm on Thanksgiving that knocked out the power for weeks. I remember that everyone up here on the hill ended up staying at my grandparents house since they still had a coal furnace and stove. Those were good times.

 

[jgillott]

Yes, but this generation of younger adults have never experience the late 60's and 70's in the winter. In 1967 Chicago Il had a 24 hour snowfall of 23" inches. This was the only time school was closed for me. Still had to get to school for our wrestling practice, for me we all walked to school that day. Now school is closed in some areas if they forecast 3" to 6" snow. In the late 70's we had some terrific winter storms. This is when I first heard about wind chills. When we had three years in a row of supper cold weather and a lot of snow, starting in 1976 to 1979. But that was history and the younger adults can not relate to that so, to them the end of the world is approach now. All because of Global Warming! Really?

We were just talking about this yesterday. One of the things that the older kids used to get to do was to help the bus driver put the chains on the school bus when the snow got deep or push when we got stuck. Can you imagine the outcry if a kid was let off of the bus now to do something like that.

 

[RUSSELL5000]

It was 60 degrees today. So two weeks later my roof is clear, my walks and driveway are clear, roads are clear, etc. Now I have a lake in the backyard. Maybe I can stock my backyard with some yellow perch and have my only miniature Lake Erie.

 

[jhenderson]

Things change fast. A few days ago it was -10. Yesterday it was 56f and raining. We got 2.5 inches. It washed away 15 inches of snow overnight. It was 53f at 5 am this morning. Now at 11:30 am it 36 and forecast to drop to 10 above tonight and a high of 15f tomorrow. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

 

[JR]

^^^ Sounds like our weather to a tee, except we got about 6 hours worth of freezing rain before it turned. EVERYTHING was froze shut here. What a mess it's been.

 

[mwilson]

In the cooldown here as well...Yukon frozen shut, entry door to the MIL house frozen shut. Entry latch to my garage frozen, etc....

Ditches washed out, and when it freezes solid again it will be a mess..

 

[BIGNASTY]

I'm looking at replacing our old outdoor wood boiler next year. I've already had to weld on the exchanger twice and it's not something I'm interested in putting money into. The dilemma is I don't want to be married to another one another 10 plus years but being we have a heat pump I have to have SOMETHING to heat the house with during power outages which is all too common on our road. I like the outdoor units because it keeps the wood out of the house. I'm really looking at one of these

http://www.airstove.com

If the website is to be believed they are supposed to be very efficient. Ties right into existing duct work. The appealing aspect to me is I wouldn't even bother running it when temps are anything above low to mid 20's because our heat pump is very efficient. Its when it gets cold enough to kick on the Aux heat strips that really turns the meter. I could run this when it's cold or during power outages and literally let itself burn out and forget about it until conditions warrant again. That's not so easy to do with a boiler. I just wish I knew someone with some first hand experience with them.

JR installed a Heatmaster OSB at this house the Central Boiler in Montana is a TOY in comparison. I did the install ITS THAT EASY!!


http://www.heatmasterss.com/g-series-outdoor-wood-furnace/

I noticed the link is for the G100 ours is the G200 EPA 2020 standards are already met.

 

[jhenderson]

I'm looking at replacing our old outdoor wood boiler next year. I've already had to weld on the exchanger twice and it's not something I'm interested in putting money into. The dilemma is I don't want to be married to another one another 10 plus years but being we have a heat pump I have to have SOMETHING to heat the house with during power outages which is all too common on our road. I like the outdoor units because it keeps the wood out of the house. I'm really looking at one of these

http://www.airstove.com

If the website is to be believed they are supposed to be very efficient. Ties right into existing duct work. The appealing aspect to me is I wouldn't even bother running it when temps are anything above low to mid 20's because our heat pump is very efficient. Its when it gets cold enough to kick on the Aux heat strips that really turns the meter. I could run this when it's cold or during power outages and literally let itself burn out and forget about it until conditions warrant again. That's not so easy to do with a boiler. I just wish I knew someone with some first hand experience with them.

You mentioned power outages. How are you going to move air from an outdoor furnace to your indoor ductwork, then circulate the hot air without electricity?

 

[JR]

The only thing electric on the Hopsco is a 1/3 hp blower motor 7 amp max load. I could either run it with a small generator or more optimally a solar panel/battery bank with enough reserve to run it.

The furnace does not run at all with these units, I would simply be using the existing duct work.

 

[mwilson]

What a mess!!! 51 degrees Friday, rained and snowed Saturday morning and now a high of 6 degrees...

This is how bad the Road slop is freezing to the vehicles on contact, 20 mile trip returning grandkids...

 

[jhenderson]

The only thing electric on the Hopsco is a 1/3 hp blower motor 7 amp max load. I could either run it with a small generator or more optimally a solar panel/battery bank with enough reserve to run it.

The furnace does not run at all with these units, I would simply be using the existing duct work.

Understood. I didn't know if the wood furnace fan alone would would move air around the whole house. Sounds like you've done your homework.

 

[BIGNASTY]

I have to wonder just how much heat loss is going to happen with the ducting exposed to the elements NO MATTER HOW WELL INSULATED THEY ARE!!

Its probably just me but I wouldn't like it that close to the house, but the further away the more the heat loss.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Don't know if this is the same company but same idea
https://www.wood-heating-solutions.com/hyprotherm/thermowind-1000/

 

[JR]

I have to wonder just how much heat loss is going to happen with the ducting exposed to the elements NO MATTER HOW WELL INSULATED THEY ARE!!

Its probably just me but I wouldn't like it that close to the house, but the further away the more the heat loss.

And this is why I would love to find someone that's used them to talk to. Hopsco claims 5-7 degree air temp loss at 20 feet of exposed pipe. I'm not sure how they can quantify this given all the variables.

If I pull the trigger I've already decided on burying the pipe which would help with heat loss. I'd like to keep it away from the home but don't want 20 - 30 feet of large duct hanging out in the open.

 

[BIGNASTY]

5 to 7 degrees is a lot of wasted heat, The product I used to connect the Water to air heat exchanger lost less than 1 degree in 40 ft. I went a little deeper than required to get below the frost line of 36" I went 5ft the ThermoPEX line doesn't like sharp bends so in order to make a nice entry into both the boiler & house it cost a little more.

I know this won't help your air duct system but just tossing out the fact that 5 to 7 degrees is a lot.

 

[JR]

5-7 degrees is their published heat loss on the maximum recommended run of unexposed pipe. Keep in mind outlet air temps are over 210 degrees so I'm not sure if 5 degrees would be noticable (they say it isn't) but I'd both bury and insulate the duct.