cold

So why is no snow melting where it vents?

Then there must be a lot of fools because the sun hasn't been shining when it was that cold.

For the size of our house five cords is actually not a very large amount of fuel in this area. >10 years ago that was different, back then two cords was fine and then it started creeping higher year after year.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

new growth? sounds like less energy in each cord?

RM > new growth? sounds like less energy in each cord? Did he switch from cords of oak to cords of pine?

The chill from Obamacare >:-} ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142   Skype: Contacts Only  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

It's always been the same wood, from almond orchards. In fact, in the first 3-4 years we had some pine mixed in and now it's all hardwood. So the average BTU per cord were actually lower in the beginning.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

We lucked out and could keep our gradfathered plan, at least for 2014. Whew. With Obamacare premiums would have shot up by a whopping 50% for a plan of lesser quality.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

It's getting enough heat to keep the vents clear. You a have built in test chamber since you know the cross-section of the duct, then the input air te mperature and velocity should get you some kind of mean energy input per du ct, or input-output air stream temp would be easier to measure.

Insulation always settles so that always accounts for a little. Air leaks f orm where caulk disintegrates or separates due to settling or shrinkage, es pecially wood, with age. Structural members just plain separate a little. Y ou just need a hairline crack to develop but if it extends a few hundred fe et, like around the perimeter, it ends up being equivalent to a small open window. You can get a blower test performed where they pressurize your hous e and measure the leakage, plus track down the bad leaks with thermal imagi ng gear. I think going from 2 to 5 cord would justify the cost, they're not real expensive tests, depends who does it, could be as little as a few hun dred $.

I guess that "global warming" then means "burn more wood to create more CO2 to help all of us to warm up".

..as compared to..?

rote:

ly, a recent huge floe fragment, 200 ft thick and hundreds of sq miles, was put into some kind of Euro-satellite track system because it will drift ar ound in the shipping lanes for next 20 years. That continent is pretty much the handwriting on the wall.

Actually, the Pine Island Bay iceberg.

It may not, seen in isolation, but Antarctica is losing about 100 billion t ons of mass a year, which does suggest that global warming is having some e ffect. It's only about a millimetre or so per year's worth of sea level ris e, and the whole Antarctic ice sheet equates to about 60 metres of sea leve l rise, so it isn't exactly an urgent indicator.

It the ice sheet gets mechanically unstable, and starts sliding off into th e ocean in large chunks, as the Laurentian ice sheet did at the end of the last ice age, life would be come a lot more interesting - particularly for those living close to a sea coast, but the Greenland ice sheet - which has only a tenth of the mass - is losing mass twice as fast (200 billion tons p er year) and probably deserves closer attention.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

My bill was $69.05 last month.

--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to 
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

Yes, I remember that state, every year you had a guarranteed -20 for at least two days! You can die in that weather!

Actually, our dress code IS a bit lax around here. But, in defense, the laundry bill is quite low.

The previous house would average ~$300 minimum in Winter, peak at ~$750 in summer. Our late Summer (when we moved in) bill was $145.

This appears to be built in European-style... tight as a drum, then add a fresh air inlet cycle to the heating/cooling system. ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142   Skype: Contacts Only  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

There are a bunch of reasons why the energy use is down to 20% of the old h ouse. A big one is the SEER (BTU/WATT) rating of your newer equipment has t o be at least 2x the older ( assuming it was 1990s or older), also simple m atter to reduce heat gain/loss with modern insulation, better windows, bett er air sealing techniques.

As small as the duty cycle should be now, I wouldn't think they would tie t hat into your HVAC. It should be a separate ERV (energy recovery ventilatio n) system, just runs continuously, small blower usually sized for one compl ete whole house air volume change per every three hours, translates into so mething not much larger than a computer fan CFM-wise. They can blow it thru the HVAC ducts.

The top of the roof remains covered and that's the only place warmed air could come out.

Highly doubtful because we are not the only ones. Everyone's heating fuel consumption is going up around here. Plus you need a little fresh air intake, else you get stale air, mold and become tired.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Didn't you say the roof is ventilated???

There is no mysterious reason for a 2.5x increase in heating fuel consumpti on. Were all the houses experiencing this built at about the same time? Is the winter average getting colder there, significantly? Is everyone getting older and needs it warmer inside? Is everyone now working at home all the time so no more tstat setbacks? There has to be a reason, if none of the ab ove, then the houses are becoming leaky.

Actually, burning wood is almost CO2 neutral except for the truck ride, splitter, chainsaw and such. We get wood from grown-out almond orchard trees that are then re-planted with new trees. Our wood merely releases the CO2 that it has collected from the environment. In contrast to many of those microphone-wielding warmingists that flew into Copenhagen in their private jet or innocently flick a li'l button on the thermostat at home.

Heating with wood is work but if it's done right it is very good for the environment. Unfortunately the majority of older "wood stove experts" does not have a clue and they let their chimney smoke all day.

I do not believe in global warming but I do believe that we all must do a better job in reducing our pollution footprint. Not just with heating. The combined mileage between my wife's care and mine is around

3000mi/year and a chunk of that is business-related. Our electricity use even in hot summer months rarely gets above 800kWh/mo including business usage. It can be done. Warmingists usually become quite silent when I ask for their numbers.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

G > Wimps. G > Greg in Iowa RM > Yes, I remember that state, every year RM > you had a guaranteed -20 for at least RM > two days! You can die in that weather! Amazingly balmy compared to Minnesota where I was born and raised.