The Weather

The EGO 24" show thrower is pricey, but it does a great job with a pair of 7.5A 56V batteries. We have dogs with short legs (corgi's and a RatChi) so I have to plow paths for them through the yard after clearing the driveway. I can usually clear the 100' driveway and make several paths around the house before the batteries overheat.

We are in the Maryland mountains next to Preston County WV, and we got at least 10".
Electric devices make sense, but ... I have to wonder how the batteries, even if Lithium, stand up to a couple of hours at -20°c? It gets colder than that here, the coldest this past January at -40°c, but I'm not wielding a snow blower when it's anywhere close to that.
 
Once the batteries start to discharge, they get warm, and then they actually get hot, so the cold is not a problem unless you store the batteries outside. I keep mine in the garage. We average 106" of snow in Oakland, MD and it usually takes me less than an hour to clear what I need for us and the dogs. Then I recharge the batteries and do it again as needed. If I had to spend hours continuously moving snow, I would have purchased a gas-powered snow thrower, but this EGO has been great for the three years we have used it. It always starts, it is quiet, and it is light enough to transport easily. I've also got 2 EGO chainsaws and a leaf blower that can use the same batteries.

 
Interesting, though I'm sure expensive. I think I'll just be content with solar gain through windows for now. As long as it's a sunny day - quite common here, including winter - the solar gain is impressive with the low sun angle. Lots of overhang - carefully planned - stops the high angle summer solar gain.
 
Once the batteries start to discharge, they get warm, and then they actually get hot, so the cold is not a problem unless you store the batteries outside. I keep mine in the garage. We average 106" of snow in Oakland, MD and it usually takes me less than an hour to clear what I need for us and the dogs. Then I recharge the batteries and do it again as needed. If I had to spend hours continuously moving snow, I would have purchased a gas-powered snow thrower, but this EGO has been great for the three years we have used it. It always starts, it is quiet, and it is light enough to transport easily. I've also got 2 EGO chainsaws and a leaf blower.

Good to know. Thanks.
 
Interesting, though I'm sure expensive. I think I'll just be content with solar gain through windows for now. As long as it's a sunny day - quite common here, including winter - the solar gain is impressive with the low sun angle. Lots of overhang - carefully planned - stops the high angle summer solar gain.
It is supposed to be very good for overcast and colder climate. Basic collectors are more efficient if you have more direct heat radiation.
We are not known for warm sunny weather here.
Not that expensive compared to most alternatives, excited to see how it will work in practice and if it turns out to be something I would recommend others.
 
Last edited:
Wow, I cannot even imagine what that's like in summer. Must be hot.
Yes. Summer-like heat starts mid-May and lasts until the end of October. June is rainy season, but still hot and very humid. July and August are oppressively hot and humid. I do feel like I am acclimating fairly quickly, although I absolutely must wear shorts and breathable t-shirts while many Japanese walk around in jeans and long sleeved shirts in that type of heat. I find it rather unbelievable. Renovating our home last summer with no AC I was basically wet all the time. Good thing beer is cheap!

Another shocking thing about the weather here, more about the people really, is that schoolchildren wear shorts and t-shirts for outdoor physical education classes all year round. 5 Celsius? Yep, they are out there! Wow!

People seem extremely tolerant of both heat and cold here.
 
Last edited:
Its surprising how much heat a body can make.
I can be sat in front of my pc cold.
Then get up to populate a pc.
With the moving around to get parts and soldering I can get too hot.
You mean you are sweatng in case it doesn't work!!!

Thank goodness it is warming up next week as my electricity consumption is around 40kwh / day. (two storage heaters on the Octopus Agile tariff, no gas)
It's been too cold in my workshop/spare bedroom so various jobs have been on hold and daytime power is unaffordable - 99p/kwh all day this week so I use an inverter and two 12v batteries for TV & Broadband.
 
Meanwhile in LA California...

https://www.latimes.com/california/live/pacific-palisades-fire-updates-los-angeles

1736591903946.png
 
Electric devices make sense, but ... I have to wonder how the batteries, even if Lithium, stand up to a couple of hours at -20°c? It gets colder than that here, the coldest this past January at -40°c, but I'm not wielding a snow blower when it's anywhere close to that.
People are working on iron batteries and salt batteries for this reason. I ride an electric bike 7 months a year, but park the LiIon battery in the garage under a heating pad in freezing weather. 6 years old, still holding up. I attempt no 27 mile bike trips to my summer house in the winter.
We had 15" of snow in So. Indiana the same week that LA had 80 mph winds, no rain, and 10000 houses burned. I think I moved the right place in 1983. Even though I shoveled snow 5 days to access the garbage pickup site, and the mail box the snow plow sheared off. How do I know it was a snow plow? End of box battered, upright twisted off, no tire tracks in the snow.
 
Belgium is an iceskatefield now, It's so slipery that emergency services are complete overloaded with people who fell over in certain regions. We had a few cm snow last week also and we are in the 3th day of frost all day long. But we belgians are not used to a lot concerning snow and ice i'm affraid, winter here means mainly a lot of rain and wind and temperatures between 5* and 0* C. Snow is rare. So the chaos is complete (even on sunday).

And tomorrow i have an important meeting at 9am about 150km from here and the conditions will be worse they say...
 
Belgium is an iceskatefield now, It's so slipery that emergency services are complete overloaded with people who fell over in certain regions.
With 12" of snow & ice still outside, I am wearing a bicycle helmet any time I go out. Lots of old men go to the nursing home until they die after a fall for brain injuries. It is supposed to thaw in about 10 days. I did make it to the grocery 3 blocks away for lettuce & zero sugar milk substitute 4 days ago on plowed streets, but had to get off and push the bike through ice that had formed from snowmelt at the entrance. Then 5" more snow 3 days ago.
 
Last edited: