Hope those in the artic deep freeze are alright and coping.

[Frostbit]

Bridgerman, 2jotultom, and Rocketman - you guys are my heroes. I may never get a chance to test my two stoves capability like you just did. I'd have to get it 110 deg inside to do what you did. Wood heat rocks!

It is this kind of cold that caused my pipes to burst on my hot-water baseboard heat system. With my stove keepin' the house at 70, the water never circulated through the system. The pipes close to the wall froze and burst. I knew that there had to be a way to prevent this from happening. I searched and searched and couldn't find anything. I developed the ThermGuard to circulate water through pipes, no matter what temperature the thermostat thought it was in the house. Now I can stoke a fire in the morning, turn down the thermostat to 50 and leave for the day. I know no matter how cold it gets, my pipes won't freeze.

Don't forget the 10% discount and free shipping for Hearth.com members.

Bring it on! 7 cords stacked up and thermguard watching the pipes....wooohoooo

Stay warm all!
John

We most all use hot water hydronic (baseboard) heat up here; oil fired boilers. The remedy for keeping pipes from bursting on the outside walls is potable antifreeze. There's several brands, most propylene based. I mix my heating system capacity to a 60/40 glycol/water solution and fill it all up to 18 psi, bleed the air, good to go. The heat transfer suffers some (straight water is best for this, even in an automobile), but its absolutely necessary.

 

[Frostbit]

Hasn't happened yet this year, but three years ago at my cabin I had -54F outside and a balmy +78 in the cabin. Wood stove is a Blaze King Princess w/blower, non-cat, burning seasoned black spruce.

Starting the snowmobiles the next morning was a real feat.....then riding the 75 miles back home


The coldest straight temperature I have personally be out in was -62F, in January 1976 Fairbanks Alaska, dead calm. Oooffta.

Wind chills? What's them wind chill temp when you can't stand up and its minus 20? Been there many times.

 

[Rockey]

Hasn't happened yet this year, but three years ago at my cabin I had -54F outside and a balmy +78 in the cabin. Wood stove is a Blaze King Princess w/blower, non-cat, burning seasoned black spruce.

Starting the snowmobiles the next morning was a real feat.....then riding the 75 miles back home


The coldest straight temperature I have personally be out in was -62F, in January 1976 Fairbanks Alaska, dead calm. Oooffta.

Wind chills? What's them wind chill temp when you can't stand up and its minus 20? Been there many times.

Sounds like the Princess had you at Hello.

-I was watching the History Channel last night and they said the coldest recorded temperature was at Vostok Antarctica at -132 F. To bring living quarters to 68 would be a differential of 200 F. Maybe they can take some notes from you.

 

[bcnu]

Beginning to unthaw a bit after a few days of cold weather for Oregon. Got down to 12 above with a high of 25 and a couple more days all below freezing. Hey, it's the best we can do(and that's the coldest few days in a row in 12 years). We have relatives coming from MN next week and I hope they don't embarrass us by wearing shorts and sandals while here. :red:

 

[InTheRockies]

We are currently under a heat wave !!

It is only -9 outside.
Back to the single digits below zero.
By, Thursday they are talking about it actually being above zero and maybe Friday we may get into the double digits above 0, 18 forcasted for a high! Looks like I will need to break out the suntan lotion and the summer gear.

Enjoy! We're not getting a break in my area--it's to remain extremely cold and we're to get more snow--1 1/2 feet through Thursday night (we got a foot when this damned cold air pushed in). Our high temp on Friday is to be 0F (-17C) and then will start falling again. Supposedly, we're to be stuck in this deep freeze through Christmas week. I'm hoping we get a break. Two weeks of this is more than most lower 48ers can handle; three weeks is sheer hell (an oxymoron, I know--a little heat from there would be welcomed at this point).

 

[LLigetfa]

Beginning to unthaw...

Unthaw... is that like refreezing? %-P

 

[MontanaBob]

Hey John in Bozeman - We may hit the 100 degree outside/inside mark Saturday night! This is getting a little ridiculous.......

 

[bcnu]

Beginning to unthaw...

Unthaw... is that like refreezing? %-P

What was I thinking. Perhaps my brain is beginning to unthaw in this weather

 

[Frostbit]

In reading the most interesting points in this thread, one common one is with the cold snap, folks outside are worried about their water service line freezing as the ground freezes deeper.

Here where I live the water utility services your home with two water lines. In each home where the two plastic lines come in, a Grundfos stainless steel internals pump circulates the water in on one line, loops back immediately down the second line to the main. This pump, and it working, is the sole responsibility of the home owner. Mine, like most, is on a switch, so it is turned on the first week in October, and is turned off about the first week of May.

The two 1" plastic water lines are housed in a larger plastic carrier pipe, which is foam insulated and covered with culvert-like aluminum. It is direct buried in the ground about 8 feet down. The nice thing about this plastic water pipe is if it freezes (if your circ pump fails), it does not burst, as copper or steel pipe does. The lines are disconnected at your "arctic box" (the terminus where the utility service meets your home service; an insulated box on the side of your house), and a 3/8" diameter plastic line is inserted in each line. Water is pumped down this line, and fed through the ice as it melts. Once you hit the main, all clear. Zip the tubing out, close the valve, reattach your connection, good to go. I've done this before...pretty amazing how fast pressurized cold water will melt solid ice.

 

[bridgerman]

Hey John in Bozeman - We may hit the 100 degree outside/inside mark Saturday night! This is getting a little ridiculous.......

Well...we got that to look forward to...I keep trying to go chop a Christmas tree and I am being thwarted. If it isn't the job, it it the sub-zero weather on the weekend. Oh well, how does the song go....Put another log on the fire, fix me up some bacon and some beans

 

[bridgerman]

Bridgerman, 2jotultom, and Rocketman - you guys are my heroes. I may never get a chance to test my two stoves capability like you just did. I'd have to get it 110 deg inside to do what you did. Wood heat rocks!

It is this kind of cold that caused my pipes to burst on my hot-water baseboard heat system. With my stove keepin' the house at 70, the water never circulated through the system. The pipes close to the wall froze and burst. I knew that there had to be a way to prevent this from happening. I searched and searched and couldn't find anything. I developed the ThermGuard to circulate water through pipes, no matter what temperature the thermostat thought it was in the house. Now I can stoke a fire in the morning, turn down the thermostat to 50 and leave for the day. I know no matter how cold it gets, my pipes won't freeze.

Don't forget the 10% discount and free shipping for Hearth.com members.

Bring it on! 7 cords stacked up and thermguard watching the pipes....wooohoooo

Stay warm all!
John

We most all use hot water hydronic (baseboard) heat up here; oil fired boilers. The remedy for keeping pipes from bursting on the outside walls is potable antifreeze. There's several brands, most propylene based. I mix my heating system capacity to a 60/40 glycol/water solution and fill it all up to 18 psi, bleed the air, good to go. The heat transfer suffers some (straight water is best for this, even in an automobile), but its absolutely necessary.

But ThermGuard is so easy....just attach two wires to your thermostat and program it. No need to mess with antifreeze that will break down over time and need to be drained and replaced. I've heard that antifreeze, even potable, is still corrosive to your system. When the warm weather comes back, just switch it off and you have all the benefits of plain H2O in your pipes. No need to worry about even potable antifreeze getting into your drinking water supply. And at $63 with a Hearth.com discount, it is a lot less expensive than gallons of antifreeze and labor to install, whether yours or some plumber.

Just my $0.02.

Cheers,
John

 

[MishMouse]

I was at the 100 degree difference Wednesday morning, it was -27 outside and 73 upstairs, in the basement where the stove is it was at 81.2. Today we are in th single digits above zero.

Winter storm coming Sat 8+ inches expected with high winds.

Where is Elnio when you need it?

 

[begreen]

Storms are making havoc here, especially with our hills. There's another one coming tomorrow. I'm ready for Hawaii or Mexico.

This O chit! moment happened in Seattle a couple hours ago. That's I-5 underneath:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/392969_bus20.html?source=mypi
http://www.komonews.com/news/36458659.html

Someone is going to need some fresh underwear.