It’s nice down here with our warm winter sun and full southern exposure. We have 75% sunshine even in winter.
I simply cover an existing porch with woven poly Oct to March. It has a tin roof. Replacing that with double layer polycarbonate would add even more heat. But I’ve already got too much on half the winter days.
We have a wood boiler as well and love it. With lots of wood on our property (and both of us don’t mind cutting wood.) it feels like “sorta free” heat, at least there is no monthly bill. A bonus, is that we added a feed to my 16’X 20’ greenhouse, put in and old radiator and a used furnace fan to circulate the heat. I sell cut flowers and plants at the Farmer’s Market so it certainly helps. Without having to be afraid of high heating bills, we can start the greenhouse earlier in the spring and I close it up end of Nov. We also added a smaller feed to run thru a copper pipe under a metal shelf that I use for a seedling bench, works wonders for rooting grape cuttings etc. I am reading all I can on this forum from the experts that are growing fruit. I have learned a lot, thanks guys, you have knowledge that should be in a book.
Now that the Alaska frozen air is starting to head south winter has finally arrived here, very late and the unseasonably warm weather had my lilacs greening up two weeks ago and a few pussy willows bloomed, not good. Last night was -23C and the wind that is taking it down to you all is a bugger. I love the winter, cold and all, breathing that crisp air is something I look forward to. That and the fact the grass and weeds have all died as well as the work that goes with it. But I tell ya, I certainly could do without the wind, it is what makes winter miserable.
Was wondering that myself.
Went down to 15 F last nite and the electric heater came on in my sunroom - I have it set to 40 F to keep the potted citrus from freezing
It is supposed to dip down in the upper 20’s here tonight and all my trees are all fully leaved out. My big pecan trees are just now starting to loose their leaves.
I had apples and persimmons in pots outside and was waiting for them to go fully dormant before I brought them in. They were frozen solid when I finally had time to go outside to get them last night. I wonder if they will make it through having frozen roots?
Several were seedling apples. So I suppose I will just cut scions and graft them to trees I have. Otherwise, it will be a test of G.969 hardiness and persimmon root hardiness.
On a sunny day when its 0F with my south facing home and quite a bit of glass i can sit at 70F all afternoon…its funny though…the minute that sun starts to go down the furnace starts back up and its game over for “free heat”. I’ve insulated my basement over the summer (use to be bare cinderblock walls) and i’m hoping that makes some difference.
Minisplit systems out now can work below 0F, but the COP falls off a lot as you get that cold. There is still heat in -20F air.
9F this morning…with no snow. If we had snow it would have easily been a 0F or below. Showing 6 to 8 inches of snow today/tonite…and then into the freezer.
Some -20Fs showing up in these parts mid week.
-4 here this morning. Predicted highs in the below zero range next week.
@BobVance if one is looking to build a sunroom/greenhouse on a budget, there are ways.
On my smaller GH, I used sliding glass door units (the insulated glass part not the frame) for the S facing wall. Those glass units, in standard sizes, can be had relatively cheaply new and even less expensively if you are willing to scrounge used units and pull the glass out of the doors yourself. Then one just needs to frame the wall with the right sized openings for those glass units (or use a face mounting system) and you have your sunroom wall.
One could also frame in the full sliding glass doors, if you wanted easy access to the outside and more ventilation.
My local energy company says our home is in the top 10% in energy consumption locally (adjusted for surface). Two things:
during the day and night the temp is 55F. It goes to 65 5:30-11:30pm and for an hour in the morning
I added 8 inches of insulation to the attic for less than $1000. It is now 20 inches. I had to add plywood all around to the trap door to avoid spilling the foam when I open it.
when I work from home I have an electric heater in the office, and 55 everywhere else.
We are going to get 7 inches of snow this week end, and then we will be in the single digits by Tuesday. Today I was in the garden transplanting dormant celery and covering the last beds with leaves. I am 154 lbs but I do well when I wear 4 layers on top and two below. One of the layers is a pijiama, I only have one set of thermal underwear, so two PJ are recruited in the rotation. No real worry about the trees as we have had several nights in the 20s already.
Glib: have you noticed any reduction in your heating bill after 8 inches of insulation?
We live in a house built in 50’s and it’s not well insulated. We keep it at 72 degrees and paying an arm and aleg. Mostly because of the kids.
This Thursday High for us is 24 and low is 12 with a real feel of -3 degrees!! Brrr…where is spring …!!
Warmwxrules: free heat in the winter is great. But how do you deal with it in the summer? There must be no cooling down the area?
We are doing an addition to the house with lots of Windows. We will love the light. Also free heat in the winter as you mentioned. But worry about cooling the area come next summer . I guess i will have to get thick curtains.
For passive solar heating of a house using southern facing windows you want an overhang on the roof such that sunlight enters in winter but not in summer. And insulation if reasonably priced is about the best investment you can make in your home.
Yes. I am guessing 1/6 less consumption. Most heat escapes from the roof after all.
So I woke up at 5:45, drank a cup of tea and started shoveling about 1000 sqft of 9 inches relatively heavy snow. A colleague called that today was a snow day, I was able to finish it in one hour, not just the city mandated parts before my commute. Thursday will be our first day below 14F maximum, below 0F minimum.
9 inches of snow this weekend…in the teens right now with not a cloud in the sky. Tonite the temp should plummet nicely.
Models continue to put 6 to 12 inches of snow down Fri/Sat of this week with another cold shot…then next week turns mild up until Xmas.
I have a ranch house with very long overhangs. In summer no sun gets in the house. This time of the year the sun makes it deep into the interior of the house…72F in here right now and the furnace hasn’t run in a few hours. The roof does take a pounding all summer (asphalt/no shade) and i need to get solar panels up there or a metal roof (white?)…
15 Below F on Sunday, They Say
That’s more like January than December, for here
Christmas day 2000 it was -26F here… Looking like a mild Christmas this year, although very snowy.
I’m not sure what you consider mild is what I consider mild, lol.
Ugghhh! That is gotta worry about not having a peach crop next year weather. Let’s hope that the relatively decent stretch of cold weather means the peaches are fully hardened off. The GFS looks nasty for Sunday morning.
Yikes, are y’all under that -21 area? I would venture to say that is brutal, even for your neck of the woods for mid December. That’s a bring the dog in, crank the heat up, and pray yer water lines don’t freeze up kind of night. We had one night like that in Feb of last year, and it did freeze/break our water line under the house. Hope to not see that kind of weather again.
I don’t feel so bad about it being around 10 Wed and Thurs nite here.
Yes. That’s me. Right under that -21F. No peaches for me in 2017 if that happens. I can consistently expect about 5 degrees below the forecast temperature by virtue of having my backyard in a local depression.
It will depend on the amount of snow that the storm on Friday/Saturday brings us. The local forecasters won’t call snow totals until 48h out, and their forecast is about -1F for the same Sunday morning. So I’m hoping for a dusting of snow and not 6 inches.
Yes, that is brutal for us in Mid-December. But as WarmWxRules says up in the thread, it was -15F here on Christmas of 2000. So totally not out of the realm of possibility.
