The Weather

It's here.....again! Just starting to snow.
 

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Yesterday was our sunny, but not warm day. It was about 0F when I took this picture on the deck of the mobile home where Tubelab is currently stored. Cryo treated tubes anyone?

It has been between -5 and +9 F for 3 days. The 10 year old heat pump can not deal with this work load, and is struggling to keep the house at 60 degrees. It was -4 when I got up this morning, and -2 when I got home from the gym. Sherri refused to get out of bed. I plugged in two 1500 watt space heaters to get the upstairs living area up to 65 degrees.

I shut all the vents downstairs and closed off that area. That keeps the upstairs at 60 degrees without help. It however leaves the area where my computer is at about 40 degrees right now.

Tomorrow will be another day of near, or below zero temps.

Someone posted the following on Facebook.....'I feel like I live inside a snow globe, and some idiot keeps shaking the damn thing up."
 

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Heat pumps don't below about 20F. Strip heat kicks in and you pray for the best.

I've got a kerosene heater and a pellet stove going and am managing to keep the house at 65F.

I'm considering taking the day off tomorrow, except it is supposed to be colder Wednesday and Thursday.

Maybe I should wait?
 
Made it in to work this morning, despite the weather.

The snow is not the problem per-se, it is the Ice that forms when it melts and re-freezes. I spent a half hour chipping ice off the truck, and was unable to shovel the driveway. The salt I put down last night did absolutely no good and may have even been part of the problem as it melted the snow that was present and allowed it to freeze again last night. I believe I would have been better off not salting the driveway.


The Hiway was down to a single lane in much of the drive to work. The exit I take looked as if nothing had been done to the eastbound exit. fortunately I was smart enough to slow down well in advance of it, otherwise I would have gone sideways in the curve.

The joys of winter.
 
The pipes froze in my son's house -- early 1920's construction -- they are inside the exterior walls. Fortunately no damage. The plumber came over with what looked like an arc-welder. He attaches one node to to the water line after the water heater, the other node to the hot water pipe in the 2nd floor and let's it rip. In about 2 minutes both hot and cold lines were moving. In NJ this "de-icer" is no longer sold. Construction practices here moved the pipes to the center of the house sometime in the late 1930's.
 
The pipes froze in my son's house -- early 1920's construction -- they are inside the exterior walls. Fortunately no damage. The plumber came over with what looked like an arc-welder. He attaches one node to to the water line after the water heater, the other node to the hot water pipe in the 2nd floor and let's it rip. In about 2 minutes both hot and cold lines were moving. In NJ this "de-icer" is no longer sold. Construction practices here moved the pipes to the center of the house sometime in the late 1930's.

Grainger has them in their current catalog, compliance and restrictions - None.

RIDGID Pipe Thawing Unit,1/2 to 1 1/2 In,115VAC - Pipe Freezing and Pipe Thawing Units - 1XEA2|62747 - Grainger Industrial Supply
 
Heat pumps don't below about 20F. Strip heat kicks in and you pray for the best.

The old unit here does not switch over to heat strip. You must manually flip a switch to "emergency heat". The old unit will keep the house at 65 even as the overnight temperature drops to near zero. However in the last week the temperature has stayed near zero which has sucked all the heat out of the exposed concrete block walls on the lower floor, especially the north facing wall where my computer is.

Last night I came down here to the lower floor and turned on a 1500 watt heater, the computer with two displays, two vacuum tube power supplies, a scope and an audio analyzer. I was smoke testing a little tube amp to well beyond it's normal operating range, dissipating about 120 watts in the amp and dummy load. After about two hours of this the thermometer read 56 degrees. I shut it all off and 20 minutes later the thermometer read 47 degrees. All vents from the heat pump were closed about a week ago since this area is mostly storage for now.

The unit at the new house does switch to AUX HEAT by itself. I have seen that happen once since it was switched on 3 weeks ago. It seems to be able to keep a much bigger house and a full basement at 70 degrees despite the fact that there is nobody home and all the windows are exposed (no drapes). The hardwood floors were just installed, and the flooring guys say that the house must be kept at 70 degrees for two weeks.