Bioburner
Moderator
Freezing rain this early morning. Making the steps a wicked adventure. Temps fell below freezing at sunrise so anything more will be snow. Need to get a long list of things but will have to wait till tomorrow.
Right on schedule consumption wise...
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hossthehermit
Minister of Fire
Last year I hit the 50 bag mark on Dec. 7, this year it was Dec. 11, sunny this morning so I shut down for the one ton cleaning at 55 bags ............... track usage, cleanings, filter changes, snowstorms plowed, and plowings paid for with my little friend calendar ...........
Nothing here, just gloomy.
Thats probably the one thing I fear most is freezing rain and the possibility of falling. At my age (65), falling can be real bad. I lost one uncle and 3 friends to falling on ice (broken hips). A borken hip is a death sentence at my age. I think about falling all the time. I quit taking tub baths, just a shower because falling in a tub is common too. Just paranoid.
I'll probably get to go out and drive in anything that happens tomorrow. Got to go to Indiana and pick up a truck (tractor trailer) tomorrow..... Maybe I'll be sick.
One thing I found out and that is my stove don't idle well on corn. I had to increase the wood pellets to almost 90% to get it to idle without going out.
Boy, I'd like her to do my stove chores......lol (Don't believe the wife would approve however)
Good point. Maybe I'll hose her down outside or stick her out in the freezing rain and then when she comes into a 68 to 70* warm house it will feel toasty? Somehow I predict that would be an Epic Failure. We are not running any humidifiers but I might check into it. Might help with the annual sinus infections too from all the dry air and wht not.Part of that might the lack of humidity. It 'feels' cooler than it is when the TH is low. I try to keep the humidity up all the time with poatable humidifiers, one in the greateoom by the stove and another in the back of the house far from the stove. I go through about 7 gallons of water every 24 hours.
My issue is, I can't use well water (too much dissolved minerals that collect on the humidifier wick and render it useless) so I have to bring home city water from Toledo in plastic jugs for the units, six 7 gallon plastic RV water totes at a time. A bit inconvenient but a better alternative than changing expensive humidifier filters daily....
My wife is always cold too but that seems to help. Must be a getting older thing........
When your RH is low (and it will be very low, probably Arizona like less than 10% in a heated home when it's cold outside), it feels cooler than it it because your body is aspirating moisture so as it evaporates from your skin it feels cooler than it is, so you turn up the heat and that makes it worse. Humidification not only improves your nose condition, it also lets you be comfortable at a lower temperature. Humidification is SOP with me in ther winter.
Now the sun is out here....freezing rain...stay away.
We have a Honeywell Quiet Care works well, had it 2 years now. Has twin 2 gallon tanks and is a wick type. We had a Sunbeam but the tanks sprung leaks and the tanks cost as much (to replace) as the whole humidifier cost. The tanks on the Honeywell are much more substantial. Wallyworld has them btw......
hossthehermit
Minister of Fire
Already lookin' ahead to January, I'll keep you and flip posted on usage, then ...................
I remarked to the wife today that this sure isn't like last winter. This time last year we had snow piled up already. It got so bad here with snow, that I ran out of places to pile it with the front end loader and my big Lucknow rear mount blower got a lot of hours on it keeping the road open. We live in nowheresville so I'm the designated keep the road clear person. It's about 1 mile to the pavement from here. I have a 74" blower that will cut a 5 foot drift and I used every bit of it last year more than once.
I blew through 5 tons of Sommersets last winter (straight pellets) and had to get some from Menards ('cause no one around here had any so I went to the city and got them), stuffed in the back of my little GEO Tracker. Took 3 trips to get a ton and the car suffered the whole time...and they were junk (lots of ash) but it got me through.
Fast forward to this year, 5 ton again (pre bought and in the barn) but mixing with field corn so this year, even if it gets wicked cold, I'll have plenty...... I hope.
I blew through 5 tons of Sommersets last winter (straight pellets) and had to get some from Menards ('cause no one around here had any so I went to the city and got them), stuffed in the back of my little GEO Tracker. Took 3 trips to get a ton and the car suffered the whole time...and they were junk (lots of ash) but it got me through.
Fast forward to this year, 5 ton again (pre bought and in the barn) but mixing with field corn so this year, even if it gets wicked cold, I'll have plenty...... I hope.
Bioburner
Moderator
The early morning rain turned totally ugly at dark with high winds and blowing snow here. Go Jeep. Had to go get mother back into house as she had her hip surgery stiches taken out this afternoon. 74
Hope everything goes well with her.
FYI, you can keep that stuff up there, I don't mind...at all.
I remember back when I was younger, working on the lakes boats (I was a longshoreman)working for Mather, being in Duluth in the late fall and wondering if we'd get back to Cleveland in one piece, that last trip of the season could be a real scary one... I did a little stint on the Fitz btw. She was a big boat but she leaked constantly. I have a deep respect for Lake Superior needless to say.
I presume the Harman is keeping right up with the heat load?
Bioburner
Moderator
No issue with heating here. The Harman keeps the basement floor toasty and letting the biscuit cutter handle the air heat with its larger fan system eating straight cheap corn. The low test weight corn does prove to be a challenge once in a while. Had 4 power incidents today.
Mothers hip surgery should be almost a memory by New Years Eve. PT is going very well
Mothers hip surgery should be almost a memory by New Years Eve. PT is going very well
Anything hip scares me at my age. Mother Nature didn't provide us with alemite fittings for maintenance lubrication....
I tend to forget about outages, actually, the only reminder for me (that the power went out is the blinking digital clock on the microwave), having the 17KW standby genny makes life more bearable, especially having to heat water tanks for the stock.
I'm set up with 45 seconds after loss of utility power, I'm on standby, not even enough time for the stove to burp.
Next year as long as corn stays below $3.75/bu, I'll be firing on corn with pellets mixed in sparsely.
It's down in the high 30's here right now and the stove just came off idle and is ramping up toward HR9. Hopefully it will burn off the accumulated soot from the glass thats accumulated from idiling so much.
Stay warm up there....
I tend to forget about outages, actually, the only reminder for me (that the power went out is the blinking digital clock on the microwave), having the 17KW standby genny makes life more bearable, especially having to heat water tanks for the stock.
I'm set up with 45 seconds after loss of utility power, I'm on standby, not even enough time for the stove to burp.
Next year as long as corn stays below $3.75/bu, I'll be firing on corn with pellets mixed in sparsely.
It's down in the high 30's here right now and the stove just came off idle and is ramping up toward HR9. Hopefully it will burn off the accumulated soot from the glass thats accumulated from idiling so much.
Stay warm up there....
Wilbur Feral
Minister of Fire
Bought an Idylis from Lowes. Holds 14.6 gallons so only need to fill it every 1-3 days, depending on outside humidity and need for running it. It's frankly not all that sturdily built, but it does the job for the entire house (almost 3000 SF). I find that the little ones that hold 2-4 gallons just don't hold enough and we're always filling them up. If you forget, then the house is dry. Also has wheels so I just wheel it to the sink that has a hose.
Oh, and having an OAK definitely cuts down on need for added humidity, but an average house (average air sealing) will still often get dry in winter when it's cold.
The Honeywell is pretty substantially built (I presume it's made offshore). but didn't look. It has wheels too btw...(small ones). My regimen is fill it every morning after coffee (which I just did). It has a humidity level control so it cycles by itself.
I'd like a faucet to fill unit but with our mineral laden well water, the transfer wick would be toast in a short period. We get the wicks (usually go through 3 a year) through Amazon.com. Less costly than even the box stores (Menards has a good selection btw) and 3 gets free shipping.
I'll check out yours at Lowes.
Polar Bear
Feeling the Heat
Wilbur Feral
Minister of Fire
I think Honeywell is likely a better brand, but the Idylis was all I could find at a decent price locally, and the boss was complaining of dry skin that day after a cold snap. Thought about adding a steam unit to the central HVAC (almost never runs with pellet stoves) and using fan on that, but $900 even if I installed myself! So for just a few weeks of use each year, the little wheeled unit it is...
BTW, also have a well and installed a series of filters in-line, right after the pressure tank. Really cut down on minerals and sediment and highly recommend it. Won't eliminate things that are fully dissolved, but really helped us. I go 10 micron, then 5, then 1 - and then run through an 8gpm UV light for the bacteria (live downhill from a horse farm - 'nuff said). Sorry to hijack thread, but hopefully useful.
No hijack in as much as I'm contemplating some sort of system for the well. We have animals (cattle) and a couple nags (horses that are the wife's) so we too have a manure (n) issue ongoing. We are pretty deep 150 feet and cased but it's a concern nonetheless. Thanks for the input, always appreciated. 40 and windy with rain. here. this morning. Better than snow (that will be here soon enough). I'm consuming about 5 pounds of pellets and 5 of corn in 12 hours. I'm sure that will change upward shortly.
I'm well into my second pallet but this unseasonal warm spell has cut my usage way down and appreciated by me btw.
Polar Bear
Feeling the Heat
I hear you... I actually had my stove off from 8:00PM to 6:30AM this morning, and the house only went from 23C to 20C
TimfromMA
Minister of Fire
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