Saturday, February 11, 2012

Reality Check- Heating your Hovel

This past Thursday morning I was awoken by the wife who said there was an outlet fire in my two year old sons room, there was no actual fire but there was an electric burning smell and bubbling of the paint next to the outlet where his nightlight projector toy is plugged in. There was no immediate heat so I sped downstairs to turn off the circuit and i heard a strange high pitch whining noise coming from the heating systems return vent, the blower at my home gave up the ghost and decided it would blow no more, leaving us with no heat. We had electricians and heating techs come over to confirm no electric fire and dead blower. The blower is currently being re-built hopefully they'll get it back here as soon as possible,

Luckily we have a woodstove. Unluckily I had connected it yet. After a bit of frustration and a few minor cuts the woodstove was ready for the local fire chief (who lives three doors down) to drop by and inspect: It wasn't great but we are allowed to burn to keep the place from freezing as long as we get the upgrades in as soon as possible. The wife is having the devil of a time finding a spark-mat or hearth-mat to catch sparks in front of the stove just in case one shoots free while loading. (anyone know a place that has such a thing in stock in southern /nh?)

The reality check I've made is that for each hour of woodcutting with crappy tools and fallen wood it's possible to get eight hours of heat in my fair sized home with a good woodstove . This isn't early 21st century luxury heat but still a comfortable enough range 0f 50-63 depending on a host of variables and locations in the house. Of course tis was with outside being 40-21 and a colder day or two is coming.

So in closing: 1 hours work for 8 hours of heat and 50-63 is so much warmer than freezing.

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