Woohoo, internet returned today. 4 days no phone, 7 days without the grid and 9 days without internet has set a new record for us. It's nice to get back to normal and not to have to head to the library for internet and work. I think I have scoped out all the local wireless nodes by now. We're sure glad the power is back before Christmas. The crews are pushing hard to have the entire region back by tonight or tomorrow am at the latest. My hat's off to them. They have put in a monumental amount of hours restoring infrastructure.
We were much better off than many. Our candle and lantern stock was good and we had a generator to keep refrigeration going, but sure missed hot water.
The Jotul went through about 28 cu ft of wood and kept us comfy. We always had a warm 200 deg stove to resurrect in the morning with plenty of coals. Actually sometimes, towards the end of the day, there were too many coals. The bed was so deep that it would spill out the front if you weren't careful. This isn't really the stoves fault, but it points out an interesting thing we are learning about the new stove location. We are having to run it hot to keep the downstairs at about 68-70 because so much heat is heading upstairs now. This is kind of the opposite problem that a lot of people complain about. The stove is putting out the btus, but a lot more of them are heading upstairs than earlier, prior to the remodel.
Before when it was at the end of the house, in the kitchen annex, most of the heat stayed at the first floor level. Even with our open floorplan, there were a couple lower openings between rooms where enclosed support beams slowed the circulation of hot air. This setup kept about a 5 degree difference between downstairs and upstairs. In the new stove location the warm air has a much shorter path to upstairs with no ceiling blocks. We have a large open stairwell to upstairs. The result is that the upstairs is now the same temp as the living room due to a robust thermal loop. Upstairs, I measured 69 at 5 ft. and 65 on the 2nd from the top stair tread. I like it better to have it a little cooler upstairs and will experiment with some temporary ceiling blocks to see if I can reduce the upstairs flow of warmth.
We are really glad to get back to the world of the wired. Electricity is a wonderful thing. I hope you all have a great holiday season and a wonderful New Year!
We were much better off than many. Our candle and lantern stock was good and we had a generator to keep refrigeration going, but sure missed hot water.
The Jotul went through about 28 cu ft of wood and kept us comfy. We always had a warm 200 deg stove to resurrect in the morning with plenty of coals. Actually sometimes, towards the end of the day, there were too many coals. The bed was so deep that it would spill out the front if you weren't careful. This isn't really the stoves fault, but it points out an interesting thing we are learning about the new stove location. We are having to run it hot to keep the downstairs at about 68-70 because so much heat is heading upstairs now. This is kind of the opposite problem that a lot of people complain about. The stove is putting out the btus, but a lot more of them are heading upstairs than earlier, prior to the remodel.
Before when it was at the end of the house, in the kitchen annex, most of the heat stayed at the first floor level. Even with our open floorplan, there were a couple lower openings between rooms where enclosed support beams slowed the circulation of hot air. This setup kept about a 5 degree difference between downstairs and upstairs. In the new stove location the warm air has a much shorter path to upstairs with no ceiling blocks. We have a large open stairwell to upstairs. The result is that the upstairs is now the same temp as the living room due to a robust thermal loop. Upstairs, I measured 69 at 5 ft. and 65 on the 2nd from the top stair tread. I like it better to have it a little cooler upstairs and will experiment with some temporary ceiling blocks to see if I can reduce the upstairs flow of warmth.
We are really glad to get back to the world of the wired. Electricity is a wonderful thing. I hope you all have a great holiday season and a wonderful New Year!
