First night of single digits.

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JP11

JP11

Minister of Fire
May 15, 2011
1,452
Central Maine
Wind is howling! I took a look at my zone controls.. Looks like a Christmas Tree! Every zone was calling. Tanks were providing 195 degree water and it was coming back at 160.

I took a quick ride out on the Kubota to repair a bit of damage that a friend caused when he got the Geo on tracks stuck grooming snowmobile trails. If you gotta get stuck.. getting stuck in the driveway of a club member, who has a cab tractor and all kinds of implements... that's the place to be!

I went out for a few minutes and used the bucket to fill in the ditch so he won't get stuck again.

Came back in.. tanks are at 175 or so. Gonna stuff the Vigas full of softwood.. and see how it fares the night. I gotta think that with min fan speed of 25% it should put the tanks at 195 and match the output needed for the house (about 90k BTUs an hour at 10 below zero)

So.. theoretically.. tanks should be ready for a fire when I get up at 6. We'll see how it works.

JP
 
5 degrees @ 8:45
 
Boiler seems to be putting about 100k btu an hour into storage.. Plus supplying the house.

Stuffed it full to the top for the first time. Math seems about right for rated output.

14 gallons of oil burned since oct 1.

Gotta get going on wood. Holidays left me with a new saw, but no time to cut!

JP
 
Nice temps for the boilers. Burnin through some wood now. So nice when you see the oil truck go down the road, and keep going.
 
Only 14 degrees here this morning. Filled Vigas last night, storage at 180 degrees. This morning still coals in boiler and storage at 171 degrees, house at 70 degrees. Will start boiler around noon.
 
My storage was at 175 top when I put a half load in on the way to bed last night. It's still that now. Not nearly as cold here yet as in Maine (-10c & sunny right now for good solar gain), but it's coming this way the next day or so. I'll keep the late afternoon/early evening fire lighting routine going as long as it works.

I really feel bad for those people who rely on oil or electric for heat - lots of fixed income people in bad situations just trying to get through the winter without freezing.
 
A few days ago we were predicted for single digits later this week. I'm happy that it's changed to the teens now but the wind was something the other day, just made it miserable to be outdoors for any length of time. The boiler cycle timer has gone into hibernation now with the temps keeping the zones calling for heat often enough to keep a nice bed of coals going.
 
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