jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in Energy Use & Conservation #1

west central MA near the ct river: today my wife comes back from an errand to inform me the sweater im wearing will be too warm for the 65 degree weather outside today on jan 6.

so, what's interesting where you live?
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  • crewzer
    crewzer Registered Users, Solar Expert Posts: 1,832 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    Forecast hi for today in Vienna, VA (a bit west of DC) is 72 F :-o We turned off the heat last night, and we have doors and windows open today... We're also expecting a 25 degree drop over the next 48 hours...

    On the other hand, our youngest son headed back to school in Laramie, Wyoming, this morning. Today's forecast hi there is 25 F, and tonight it's supposed to be 12 F... :-o :-o

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  • Roderick
    Roderick Solar Expert Posts: 253 ✭✭
    #3
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    65 degrees F is not unusual as a high in the San Francisco Bay area of California at this time of year, although it is typically a little cooler. Our forecast says high of 56 today, 61 tomorrow, 64 monday. At night, if the skies are clear, we have frost. We typically turn off the heat when going to bed, unless someone is sick, or we have guests from a warmer climate.

    Last Thursday was heavily overcast and drizzling rain lightly all day - bad for photovoltaics. I think we only got 3 kWh all day, in recent days, when the sky is clear, we have been getting about 14 kWh a day. Being the rainy season, the sky is more often cloudy than not. On one dark day, we got only 1 kWh.
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  • mwilsonnm
    mwilsonnm Solar Expert Posts: 26 ✭
    #4
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

         In NW New Mexico we had 2" of snow yesterday....Sunny today with a high of 37 F and expected low of 1F tonight. More snow this year than in the 10 years I've lived here.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #5
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    Virginia City, Nevada 23 tonight, Sunny and a comfortable 48 tomorrow. And
    the best place in the world live.

    brad
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  • Roderick
    Roderick Solar Expert Posts: 253 ✭✭
    #6
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night
    mwilsonnm wrote:
         In NW New Mexico we had 2" of snow yesterday....Sunny today with a high of 37 F and expected low of 1F tonight. More snow this year than in the 10  years I've lived here.
    Wow!

    And I thought California was cold when I first got here from Hawaii years ago.

    At the other end of the spectrum, on a 75 F, humid, lightly breezy night in Honolulu, we had visitors from Thailand, and they were shivering.
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  • Brock
    Brock Solar Expert Posts: 639 ✭✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    We hit 40F yesterday. Our furnace hasn't run in three days, it is usually in the mid teens this time of year. I don't miss shoveling and we have had a LOT of rain, which would be snow otherwise.

    Roderick, it was funny when we went to Pearl City visiting relatives based at Pearl, in January people were wearing what we call winter jackets and it was a whooping 65 at night. We were in short sleeve shirts and shorts and people had jackets and jeans on. I suppose you get used to it :) Beautiful state you have there.
    3kw solar PV, 4 LiFePO4 100a, xw 6048, Honda eu2000i, iota DLS-54-13, Tesla 3, Leaf, Volt, 4 ton horizontal geothermal, grid tied - Green Bay, WI
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    it definitely is what you get used to. when we had a slight cold spell recently it was 20 degrees f and a wind chill of 6 degrees f. i had taken a midnight stroll with my coat unzipped and walked about a mile and a half without really getting cold. my throat area had a chill and that was about it. i can take cold better than 90 and 100 degree temps and i used to be an ice man as one of my first jobs out of high school. that lasted 2 years until the owner moved from pittsburgh to go to phoenix for the ice business was seasonal here. he offered for me to go and i opted to stay here because my friends and family were here. i've often wondered if i should've gone as those friends weren't friends and those left of my family suck. :roll: :-(
    as to the higher general temperatures, i am experiencing them too. a few of those days i think shorts would've been in order as i overheated somewhat during my walks.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #9
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    welp, today on jan 15th is the second time this winter when i was supposed to wake up to see A couple inches but only see rain. wonder is if we'll get a snow fall this yr. looks like we're on the fast track for 07 to be another chart topper along with 05 and 98 as hottest years recorded. i hope somebody pays for all the deception and confusion about environmental issues so prevalent in our society. i just regret that i too didnt have a clue until recent years.

    woody harrelson has a neat little enviro video out if anyone hasnt seen it, in documentary section of blockbuster. its a bit hippie dippie even for me but makes some valuable points . its called further (named after what you older folks?) :mrgreen::wink:
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #10
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    it will come matt. but just not as much as we normally get i suppose. so far this year we've received 1.5 inches of snow and i know december alone is supposed to be about 10 inches by itself and i think the average for the year is supposed to be about 43 inches. with the rain that has funneled in here in the last few days it would've amounted to about 14 inches of snow, but without freezing temps that can't happen. i also fear the bugs next year will be terrible because they aren't being killed off by the prolonged deep freezes.
    ammended: i forgot to mention the bees were out for a few days also. this is january right?!
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #11
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    i think about that: bugs/rodents/disease .. oh my. :(
    ive noticed increased pollen and bees around last yr already.

    saw some geese flying who knows which direction today. that is NOT normal this time of year, hope they make it!
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #12
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    The damage to the environment is so severe in southeast Texas that it's supposed to freeze here for the next several days!  I read that it's freezing in southern California, destroying all the citrus and avacado crops.  Not only that but all points between here and there are freezing too, that's HALF of the continent below freezing!
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #13
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    Hey Bad Apple,

    Don't forget the land on the continent goes almost to the north pole! That makes it about 80% of the continent below freezing.

    Need to squeege off the panels today.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #14
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    snow!! first time any real accumulation this year (2/2/07) looks about 2" so far. cool. (so to speak, gosh im such a comedian when i have lack of sleep, ill shutup now). really though its good to see.
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  • Brock
    Brock Solar Expert Posts: 639 ✭✭✭✭
    #15
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    Well this is what we get for a warm start to Jan, it's just getting dark and it's -6.4F outside right now. Suppose to get to -15F tonight, probably when I leave work, the diesel will love starting in this weather :)
    3kw solar PV, 4 LiFePO4 100a, xw 6048, Honda eu2000i, iota DLS-54-13, Tesla 3, Leaf, Volt, 4 ton horizontal geothermal, grid tied - Green Bay, WI
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  • crewzer
    crewzer Registered Users, Solar Expert Posts: 1,832 ✭✭✭✭
    #16
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    It's 6F outside my house this AM... what a difference a month makes!

    Brrrrrrrrr!
    Jim / crewzer
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #17
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    oh yea, similar here. im trying not to complain ;)
    just bought myself a samlex pure size wave 600w inverter from NAW&S yesterday, hoping to run the pellet stove on it when its sunny.
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  • crewzer
    crewzer Registered Users, Solar Expert Posts: 1,832 ✭✭✭✭
    #18
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    Mattl,

    I have a wood-burring stove insert w/ a catalytic combustor in my family room's fireplace. It's a monster, and it alone can keep the whole house warm except in the coldest of conditions. Its fan draws about 75 W in the "Lo" setting, and my battery bank can run it all weekend long in the worst of weather.

    We rely on the convenience of a regular ol' gas furnace and its set-back thermostat to warm the house during the week. But we really enjoy warming the house on weekends using RE wood (the cumbustor cleans the smoke) and PV-generated electricity.

    Enjoy!
    Jim / crewzer
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #19
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    ythats nice!. i saw one of those w/a catlytic converter last week. the wood stove i bought a couple years ago is a nice quality Lopi designed for powerless convection heating without a catalytic converter. not sure how it would work in a side by side but we've been pleased. the prob is tyhat its the small one so we can;t quite make itn through the night as i recall. . i ASSURE you i am getting another chord or 2 next year as its been all pellets this year. i had a fire for a couple hrs the other night with wood scraps from home projects and it was nice. re: power, i just found this post i put here in oct 0-5 when we got the stove:

    "ok.. i measured and documented.. the igniter runs for about 5 mins whether the fire has started or not, its a 350w igniter, the stove will start out using a total of 350 (no blower) to - 500w (blower on low) on startup. if i turn off the room blower since the stove isnt up to temp it uses 350, jumpts to 400w when the auger turns (every 10-15 secs). once the igniter is off the stove hums along at 100 to 160 w(when auger turns). I can run it with no fan and it sits at 45w (jumping to 100 when auger turns) , the combustion fan appears to run constant (and appears to be the crucial part in getting such a hot clean burning flame with pellets)."



    as you can guess its not an insignificant addition to the electric bill. i think i need to bite the bullet and have some construction done this spring that will allow for a better location of my offgrid panels so that i can run the stove. the last couple weeks oin sunny days ive been hitting float before the sun hits the midday tree shading of the neighbor. been able to run my office pc on 12v a few days recently (like now :)
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #20
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    wow, you guys have it nice and warm compared to myself or brock. i've been waking to below 0, like -5 for me and highs around 8 and i'm not including wind chills which have stayed below zero all day yesterday. btw brock has it about 10 degrees colder than me. i wish i had the money for a woodburning furnace addon. a fireplace or regular woodburner doesn't bode well in my home of 3 stories.
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  • Brock
    Brock Solar Expert Posts: 639 ✭✭✭✭
    #21
    Re: jan 5, 07. turned the heat off for the night

    Yup is was -13 when I left for work yesterday morning, with a wind chill of -40, darn cold. We finally got above 0 today, first time in 4 days :)
    3kw solar PV, 4 LiFePO4 100a, xw 6048, Honda eu2000i, iota DLS-54-13, Tesla 3, Leaf, Volt, 4 ton horizontal geothermal, grid tied - Green Bay, WI
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