'Bout to get reeeaaaaal cold, who's ready?

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Both stoves cranking, but I've seen our living room temp drop 2 degrees in 2 hours (from 70F to 68F) in the older part of the house. Meanwhile, the big 3.0 cu.ft. Firelight in the adjacent room has been holding a steady 600F, but it just can't keep up.

The new part of the house, with a second Firelight, has been holding 70F. Normally it would be 72 - 74F with that stove set where it is, but I'm happy with 70F.

I expect the old part of the house will be very cold by the time I wake up at 7am. Last re-load was 10pm, and I don't expect to do a middle of the night reload. Currently 0F outside, headed to -2F in an hour, where it will hold till dawn.
 
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Up here in northern Wisconsin the forecasted low for Sunday is -40F with a high on Monday of -15. Wood up here is free if you do ask around.
 
Woke up later than anticipated (7:45am ) to 62F (thermostat setting) in new house, and 65F in older/larger part of house. Both stoves below 200F, which was a surprise to see them go thru a full load in less than 10 hours, even with the higher air setting. Cold weather, stronger draft.

I did find ice on my inside door handles, which was a first. This handle is all black, the white is ice.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1388843701.596207.jpg


Of course, this is a very old basement door, which is less than ideally sealed to its natural stone threshold. That's daylight peeking in below .

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1388843740.279641.jpg
 
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BrotherBart said:
Aw come on Jake. There are lots of President's names left.
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I know . . . I know . . . woke up this morning to find my wife was thinking of calling him either Link (Lincoln) or Jeff (Jefferson). I'm still resisting and have mentioned calling the ACO . . . she says we should bathe him first. She doesn't seem to be in much of a rush to do this though. ;)
 
"If you're under 40 (years old), you've not seen this stuff before."

Yup. I remember -20F nights during a cold snap in the early 70s in CT when I struggled to keep warm and there was another one earlier that I now have forgotten when (1961?).
 
Joful said:
Both stoves cranking,
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I broke down and decided to fire up the FP insert to supplement the box stove. But before I could do that I had to get up on the roof and remove the rubber cap I put on the chimney liner for the '12-'13 season. So now we'll have them both running at least until the sub-zero temps move out.
 
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begreen said:
"If you're under 40 (years old), you've not seen this stuff before."

Yup. I remember -20F nights during a cold snap in the early 70s in CT when I struggled to keep warm and there was another one earlier that I now have forgotten when (1961?).
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Never seen this stuff if you're under 40? 99 and I heard this today and are still laughing! We get this EVERY year!
 
yooperdave said:
Never seen this stuff if you're under 40? 99 and I heard this today and are still laughing! We get this EVERY year!
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I saw this post and am still laughing. I don't live in the UP. ANY year. ;lol
 
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:) The cold is normal here, just a little earlier this winter.

Today's balmy 26 degree high saw me outside trying out a set of gift snowshoes. They didn't work well, the cold temps caused the snow that has fallen to have a very powdery consistency, and there is no hard crust or packing at all. I was sinking nearly a foot rather than just a couple inches.
 
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arbutus said:
:) The cold is normal here, just a little earlier this winter.

Today's balmy 26 degree high saw me outside trying out a set of gift snowshoes. They didn't work well, the cold temps caused the snow that has fallen to have a very powdery consistency, and there is no hard crust or packing at all. I was sinking nearly a foot rather than just a couple inches.
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We received 24 inches of powder last week that has settled (due to the cold) to 12 inches of cement. Last week I was up to my hips and today I was up to my ankles. It doesn't help that nearly all snowshoes today are made for groomed trails...not powder.

Andrew
 
arbutus said:
:) The cold is normal here, just a little earlier this winter.

Today's balmy 26 degree high saw me outside trying out a set of gift snowshoes. They didn't work well, the cold temps caused the snow that has fallen to have a very powdery consistency, and there is no hard crust or packing at all. I was sinking nearly a foot rather than just a couple inches.
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I've been snowshoeing a lot this year. It's a great way to stay active even if it's really cold. But I tend to ski on trails so the powder isn't a problem. The Ice Age Trail is just a hop, skip and a jump from my house. 0.7 degrees here. Real cold is still coming. Schools are closed tomorrow already.
 
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Really weird weather overnight and this morning. It warmed up from the 20's yesterday to the mid-40's overnight. It is going to be back in the low 20's tonight and -9 on Monday night.

I let the stove cool down with the warmer temps. It gave me a chance to clean the stove again. Glass, screen, and catalytic convertor are all clean and ready to go.
 
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toddnic said:
Really weird weather overnight and this morning. It warmed up from the 20's yesterday to the mid-40's overnight. It is going to be back in the low 20's tonight and -9 on Monday night.

I let the stove cool down with the warmer temps. It gave me a chance to clean the stove again. Glass, screen, and catalytic convertor are all clean and ready to go.
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Guess it's cold, all over. Was wishing I was in your part of the country, quite a lot, this winter. Stay warm.
 
Tonight the temp will be down to -38 or so. That should be a good test to see if the stove will keep the house warm.
 
Joful said:
I'm real interested to see how the exposed piping and water heater in our unfinished (and unheated) 3rd floor attic hold up, as well as the plumbing and sink in our attached garage. Previous owner claims he never had trouble with either, but I don't know exactly when either item was added. This will be the first time we've seen temps below 10F in my two years in the house.

Still have two cords of wood left for this year, so we'll be warm this weekend, but I've burned thru 3.5 cords already. We'll be switching back to 100% oil heat before February is done, at this rate.
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some up here will let their water drip over night on the really cold nights. With the water molecules moving they won't freeze up as easily as just a water filled non running pipe will.
 
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hermancm said:
some up here will let their water drip over night on the really cold nights. With the water molecules moving they won't freeze up as easily as just a water filled non running pipe will.
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We did this for years in our old house, picked the furthest faucet and let it drip/almost run when it was cold. Now it's got heat tape on it.
 
Swedishchef said:
Joful and Jharkin: don't worry....where I live we can get snow in April. And considering I only started burning in mid-November and have currently burned 1/3 of my stash it may be a cold month of March/April inside our house..Ha!

My FIL can't keep his house warm with his stove. It is too small and it eats wood (dragon). The problem is that he has an electric/oil furnace. It was a deal with our utility company: anything warmer than -13C and pay $0.05/KWh. Anything colder and pay $0.21/KWh. So the furnace switches to oil at -13C. BUT he disconnected the chimney and hooked up his wood stove.

On another note, my neighbor called me today asking for 40 pieces of wood. :( Her son was going back home and he has a fireplace in his apartment. 5 less fires for me this winter ;) I hope Eco Bricks go on sale soon..She told me to let her know what she owed me and I couldn't charge the lady. It's the coldest day of the year and her son wants some ambiance in his apartment...
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Last winter we had snow until mid May! And a winter storm that dumped 22" on May 8th of all things! just us fools up here! I'm sure Kabeck can have the same Misery happen.
 
firefighterjake said:
Here's the cat . . . tempted to keep him . . . but that would make #7 and would officially put me solidly into Crazy Cat Guy territory.
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Up here a neighbor had a good many outdoors cats that stayed in out buildings. We liked to set food out for them and they came by often for the meals until my next door neighbor shot them all he came up here a year before that and told everyone that he didn't want anything to do with neighbors but he did like his barfly friends coming by so he could tell them how he got rich with his Milwaukee restaurants. We live way too close since we are on a lake and the lots are long and narrow. And of course he said he would shoot my dogs when they were jest pups and got over to place a few times. They don't any longer good thing! I just had the vent I guess...
 
hermancm said:
Last winter we had snow until mid May! And a winter storm that dumped 22" on May 8th of all things! just us fools up here! I'm sure Kabeck can have the same Misery happen.
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One time, April 2007, we got 102 CM of snow between the 3rd and the 5th. Ick. It happens. And when it does, there's a rush at the psychologist's office.
 
If it ain't cold now, it probably will be soon. This week will tax a lot of systems.
 
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