Brrr

[saichele]

First real shot of winter. -6F this morning, going to a high of +3. And snowing...

The WWL cranking along, but even then it just can;t quite make enough heat and the furnace is tripping on.

Steve

 

[Roospike]

Now thats cold for Florida ! Or was it Alaska ?

 

[northwinds]

14 below this morning here in south central Wisconsin. Up to about 8 below now with the sun shining and the wind kicking up to 15-20 mph.

 

[MrGriz]

We finally found winter didn't we Northwinds.

-2* right now, which is our projected high for the day. Heading down to -12* tonight.

70* in my office right now, 68* on the main floor; all with no electric heat!

 

[northwinds]

We finally found winter didn't we Northwinds.

-2* right now, which is our projected high for the day. Heading down to -12* tonight.

70* in my office right now, 68* on the main floor; all with no electric heat!

Yep, running out to the mailbox in my slippers for the morning paper woke me up, for sure.

I can only dream of proper wood heat. My Majestic fireplace was eating through logs all too fast last
night. My wood supply is dwindling and the cords of wood stacked up on my land are not close to being
properly seasoned.

On the bright side, we met with the architect on Friday, and I made provisions for two wood stoves (main floor
and basement) in the plans. Just have to get our house sold later this year, and then we can break ground in the
spring next year.

 

[MrGriz]

Sounds good. I'm sure that taking the stove(s) into account in the design stage will pay off in better efficiency down the road. I know my situation could be laid out much better, but I'm pretty happy with the way the heat transfers.

Where are you building? Staying in WI?

 

[northwinds]

Yep, northwest dane county. The tree pic on my avatar was taken on my future building site. A little over ten acres of forest--mostly oak, shagbark hickory, elm, and cherry.

 

[webbie]

It's cold, but nice and sunny. Fresh air!

With gloves and a hat on it's not too bad - would not want to HAVE to be out, but when it is optional it is OK.

 

[MrGriz]

Beautiful spot Northwinds!

That better be one warm hat and a good pair of gloves.... -11* right now without the wind chill factored in (-26* with the wind).

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

this has been a brutal winter for us. the media has coverd the denver weather, but little gets mentioned about us weirdo's that choose to live another mile up from denver. This has been the harshest winter i have ever been in. -20's and 60+ MPH winds, snow blowing so hard that you cant see your hand in front of your face. The plows come through every day and clear out the drifts, but they come right back. You would think that the snow would run out and the drifts would stop but no... theres a endless supply of the white stuff this year. Living in a semi arid desert, in the summer time there are restrictions on water usasge. I dont think thats going to be a problem this year. The yuppies down in boulder valley will get to water there lawns this year.

 

[laynes69]

It was -6 here this morning. House held at 70 w/o any backup heat. Only problem was lost our water. The 1/4 inch line that runs to the points froze. Forgot to plug in the heat lamp. We will get a high of 8 today. Just good to know that we aren't using propane.

 

[G-rott]

Mr. Griz,

What type of insulation are you planing for your new digs? It makes all the difference. We just built last year with SIPs and I install Celulose and poly foam for a living. I will help out any way I can. It's just my contribution to the board and a life time of energy effency for your new house.

Garett

 

[sgcsalsero]

according to national weather service lookin' at -20 wind chill near lake erie, my swiss cheese house
has 5 windows totally iced over, I was fortunate enough to temporarily install 2in polystyrene under
a 24" by 7' cantilever a couple days ago . . absolutely no insulation in there for nearly 30 years . . baffling

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/forecast/Ma...e=3&site=cle&CiTemplate=1&map.x=184&map.y=115

 

[begreen]

Ryan, I don't know how you do it. I'd have moved to Mexico by now if I had to put up with a winter like you're slogging through.
But hey, you could be living in International Falls where it's currently -26F with a windchill of -42F!


We're hoverng in the mid-40's and foggy. Daffodils are about 6" tall already. I'm ready for spring.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

yea BG, quit sending your weather my way!! what is this now, round #7 or #8 coming from the northwest?? That one wendsday a few weeks back it was -20 and the wind was blowing so hard it was nocking down trees.
Normally, its quite nice around here. Sure its cold and we get lots of snow but its usually not so cold that you can die from exposure. Normally you can X country ski, snowshoe, go for walks, etc. This year i feel like i just want to survive it with out tearing up my vehicles worse.

 

[begreen]

No problem, we're thinking spring here. We'll try to warm you folks up too.

 

[babalu87]

With gloves and a hat on it's not too bad - would not want to HAVE to be out, but when it is optional it is OK.

THAT is the key, the option of being out in it.
Choppin wood etc, it isnt so bad but like my wife says, these are the days that you just never warmed up.
She used to operate heavy equipment but she was an oiler before that. Working outside is great, just not in this type of weather.

 

[Jay H]

This weather is biking weather... 6°F outside this morning on my bike commute...

Jay

 

[begreen]

How many of you are having to deal with square tires? I remember the first time I experienced that in sub-zero weather. Really freaked me out until I figured out what was happening.

 

[Larry H]

6 degrees outside here in beautiful East Aurora, N.Y. Wind chill -10 to -20, gusts in the 30-40 MPH range. Had about 3 feet of snow in the last day or so. I drive a plow truck for our town Hwy Dept. Home for a little rest right now. Our equipment is slowly breaking down and with the drifting we are making little progress. Here's a pic of our house myy wife took while I was out trying to keep the roads clear.

 

[restorer]

I first thought of giving you Easterners a hard time, but after the last six weeks, I don't want the bad karma. We went through the worst inversion in over twenty years. That's air you can cut with a machete. Couple that with temps 15-20 degrees below normal and highs in the teens and twenties. We didn't get the storms MSG got 500 miles east, but we got some nasty storms.

Today is a fine day currently 46* and could get up to 50+*. And something we haven't seen for a long time, Sunlight.

 

[webbie]

[quote author="WaterBoss" date="1170716429"]6 degrees outside here in beautiful East Aurora, N.Y. Wind chill -10 to -20, gusts in the 30-40 MPH range. Had about 3 feet of snow in the last day or so. I drive a plow truck for our town Hwy Dept. Home for a little rest right now. Our equipment is slowly breaking down and with the drifting we are making little progress. Here's a pic of our house myy wife took while I was out trying to keep the roads clear.



Wow, Lake effect!

We don't have even 3 inches here in Mass!

 

[PutnamJct]

Last night my Quad finally met it's match. It was 3 degrees F with a windchill of about 10 below. Sustained winds of 15-20 MPH with bigger gusts.
Woke up this morning to near water disaster, half the houses pipes were starting to freeze. Had water in the cold water pipe in the kitchen but not the hot one. I think the line that feeds the hot watertank and the upstairs must have started to freeze. Kicked on the oil drinking dragon and put a big a** electric space heater (on blocks just in case) into the crawl space. Had full water within the hour.
Guess I need to keep the oil furnace on for the next week or so, and come up with a serious plan to insulate the crawl space and plumbing come spring.

 

[PutnamJct]

Addition to above: The ceiling of my crawlspace has R-13 on it, would I see a huge improvement by going to R-25 or better? Does that partially explain why the floors (all hardwood) are always cold too? I love my weekend warrior house sometimes, the previous Bob Vila wanna be owners did some 1/2 arse improvements for sure......

 

[Roospike]

Last night my Quad finally met it's match. It was 3 degrees F with a windchill of about 10 below. Sustained winds of 15-20 MPH with bigger gusts.
Woke up this morning to near water disaster, half the houses pipes were starting to freeze. Had water in the cold water pipe in the kitchen but not the hot one. I think the line that feeds the hot watertank and the upstairs must have started to freeze. Kicked on the oil drinking dragon and put a big a** electric space heater (on blocks just in case) into the crawl space. Had full water within the hour.
Guess I need to keep the oil furnace on for the next week or so, and come up with a serious plan to insulate the crawl space and plumbing come spring.

Do you have your pipes wrapped with freeze tape and insulated ? If not then that would fix any freezing pipe problem.