Everyone ready for winter?

[panthera]

Texass Drivers in Pick'ubp tr'ks

Are the bane of our streets. They are too arrogant to learn how to drive in Winter, they don't turn their lights on (I kin C jus' fine, not mah proplum), and actually believe that vehicle stability control, 4-wheel drive and abs will bail them out.

Military base here and all the 'strats from Texass just refuse to learn.

Mother Nature, red of tooth and claw just loves lernin' them all about the laws of Nature. Unfortunately, there's too much collateral damage. If they just killed themselves, it would be a net gain. Sadly, they usually hurt other people in the process of skidding out of control and wrecking.

All-Season tires? How cute. The 'all seasons' they refer to would be those of LA or Tampa Bay, right?

 

[washman]

I am a firm believer in winter tyres

in fact, have run them on every vehicle save for the Dakota since I moved up here.

I've run non union Cooper Weathermasters, Mastercraft Glacier Grip and this year, I went with a General Alitmax Arctic, union made in Korbach Germany (owned by Continental)

Whilst the tread design on the General tyres don't look like the traditional design we're used to seeing, they do in fact provide very good traction in the snow and on slush, I can at least turn with wheel left/right without any adventure

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=General&tireModel=Altimax+Arctic

 

[DADoES]

 
Weather blew in.  Temp dropped to 44°F within a few mins, continue dropping through the night.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

I'm in my new apartment 5 floors higher than the one I left. It's much windier. I don't notice a difference with the new windows as most of the leakage is from around the outside of the frames, lol.

The Cube is ready for winter. I have the -30F stuff in the washer reservoir and the snow chains in the back. My car is garaged so if I need the chains I can put them on without being exposed to the weather. I'm stuck with all-season tires as I've no place to store a second set:-(

Drivers: I used to try to explain to people that no technology actually GIVES you more traction; the tech just lets you use more of what's there. The laws of physics can't be overcome. If the road is slippery enough, you'll continue straight ahead when the road curves. Tech doesn't come into play. However, I now keep my mouth shut because one too many people told me that these facts are my feelings and opinions.

 

[panthera]

Jim,

I hear you. Friends back home in Munich used to say to me, Es gibt kein schlectes Wetter, nur schlecht bekleidete Menschen. That is, there's no such thing as bad weather, just poorly dressed people.

That saying died right quick the day a few came to see us here in the Rocky Mountain West and it was -27 F at the airport - and we live 3000 feet higher. Was -32F at our house. Yee-haw. Nobody wanted to go for a walk....

You can't teach things to people who refuse to learn. Mother Nature, red of tooth and claw, just loves to explain her Natural Laws to them. In gruesome detail and with great thoroughness. I imagine she's got some fun lessons up her sleeves for the climate deniers.

 

[frigilux]

Here's one to beat. This is actual air temp; not the wind chill (which is currently -36). I have company this morning and turned the heat up to 70 luxurious degrees.

 

[launderess]

What "Winter"?

Temps reached near 60f today in NYC. What little snow that feel yesterday is gone.

 

[luxflairguy]

When will it be over?

Still below freezing and snowing heavily here in my little area of Washington.!  2 full weeks and counting!  Supposedly it's going to be in the 40's and raining on Tuesday.  I can't wait.  I also can't wait for my furnace to stop running.  I paid last months bill this a.m.--$44.00.  This next one will be at least double!  Budget?  What budget!!

 

[wayupnorth]

After 6+" of snow thru last night, freezing rain turned to heavy rain most of today. It would have been useless to try the snowblower as it would constantly clog. Shoveled by hand for 2 hours of basically cement. Temps are falling rapidly and anything not melted away will be glare ice tomorrow. My back is sore now and I am not going anywhere.

 

[gusherb]

The night is still young here. Supposed to be -14.

 

[tolivac]

Was 70 degrees yesterday-raining and cooling down.Supposed to be freezing rain tonight.We have a funky situation at work-one of our 4160V-208/120V transformers failed last night and so some of the site functions are on small generators.Not much fun gassing those in the night during the rain!Showed our new Powell MV breakers really do work!!

 

[tolivac]

Another thought-WOW if its -26 outside and you have 70 inside-better get out your blindfold when your utility bills come next month!

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Schlechte Bekleidete Leute...

I grew up in a small town 15 miles NW of Plymouth, the heart of Cranberry country. So of course every out-of-town visitor wanted to see Plymouth. In the spring and fall we'd always advise to wear a T-shirt and to wear/bring a sweater and a windbreaker to wear over that. Most didn't listen and were shocked to find that between the two towns there could be a 15F temperature (+wind chill) differential (either way) and sunshine in one place and rain in the other.

My personal favorite was the localized snow squalls in Plymouth in March and November while it was warm & sunny at home. People learned the hard way that the 'bay effect' is not imaginary, lol.

 

[vacerator]

26 degrees F.

would feel like a heat wave this morning in Chicago, etc. The wind chill makes it feel even colder than minus -12 f.

 

[vacerator]

Wow,

the heating bills in the rockies, plains, mid west and northeast will be astronomical. In the hundreds of dollars for one month.
Unless one has a pellet or supplemental wood stove.
I have a wood fireplace (not an insert) with a high efficiency gas log set in it. Either way it makes the hearth room and kitchen nice and toasty.

 

[DADoES]

 
Current temp:  73°F.

Predicted temp for Christmas Day:  77°F+.

 

[gusherb]

Our gas bill was $180 for the cycle ending December 16th. 3 weeks of that cycle was winter temperatures. Gas was 30 cents a therm, dirt cheap. I'm happily enjoying keeping the thermostats at a comfortable temperature round the clock all winter long while its that cheap.

 

[wayupnorth]

It seems that we are going into the same pattern here we had 2 years ago with every other day storms and up and down temps. I hope not. Last winter was a blessing and hope it comes back like that this year. Not freezing, and have to clean snow up before another storm. Its already getting very old.

 

[DADoES]

 
11 AM, 76°F.  Air conditioning at 74°F has been cycling lethargically for past couple days.

 

[washman]

Brief warmup to be followed by colder air. Only snow we have is what has not been washed away by rain.

At least the union made Goodman furnace gets a respite of sorts.

 

[circlew]

Went to my sister's near Toledo for Christmas. No snow here, but started seeing a little on the ground near West Liberty, OH. Somewhat more after I got up around Kenton, and ground was totally covered at my sister's. This was Fri. PM. It got much warmer Mon. morning, and it all melted. It got up to around 70 in Cincinnati yesterday, but only low 40's today.

 

[DADoES]

 
81°F yesterday, ~84°F today, same-ish tomorrow.  Weak norther Thu/Fri, then 70°Fs for a few days until the next.  Some area peeps hitting their (heated) pools.

 

[thespiritof76]

Here in Wichita......

In my historic 1903 Craftsman home, I have Big Bertha. Big Bertha, is my antique boiler, and with her I have good old cast iron radiators. She was originally a coal burning system (she is still in the coal room of my basement, with the cast iron coal shoot door), then she was converted to gas at some point in time. I have been in this house 6 months on the 10th of December, and being one that has always has forced air systems, I didn't know what to expect. But I have been pleasantly surprised! She keeps my house nice and toasty, and it is a nice soft, even heat, that doesn't blast me like forced air. So over all I am very pleased, the only thing is I have yet to master her temperature. It seems that she heats about 5 degrees higher than I set the thermostat at, but I guess that is just part of the relationship we have to build.

 

[philr]

These thermostats are adjustable. I have never tried to use that one but it has adjustment screws inside.

This one has a tag that says "old store, still good" and "replaced on December 11th 1963"!

 

[lordkenmore]

I like Big Bertha! Wish I could see more of her (the insulation jacket--while practical--hides most of her. But then I suppose she might be modest.)

 

As I mentioned above, we had some sort of radiator system in one house, and my mother talked about how comfortable that house was until the end of her life. My mother did not like cold in the least, so she was a bit of a connoisseur of heating systems. (Although she was practically minded. She wouldn't have sat, glued to a computer monitor, watching, say, videos of old furnaces. That's what her crazy son might do, naming no names...)

 

As for the temperature rise of 5 degrees above the thermostat setting--it seems like a bit of playing should get the temperature where you want it. One aspect: when the boiler isn't running, there is probably a lot of residual heat in the system that will continue heating the house. Point #2: the thermostat may have calibration issues. I have a far newer thermostat, and it's 5 degrees off. You can probably learn to adjust. (Unless the thermostat becomes a problem, I wouldn't replace. A digital thermostat would seem just plain wrong in that house!)

 

By the way, is the house a true "Craftsman" (Gustav Stickley) or just from that era? My mother absolutely loved Stickley design...if she'd had the money, she'd have had one of his houses, fully furnished with his furniture.

 

[gusherb]

You may not wanna hear this if you're into the aesthetic of the thermostat but I would replace it with a Honeywell focus Pro 5000 to be honest, I have some vintage thermostats in my collection including that particular Honeywell and I don't think they were ever that accurate to begin with, add 60+ years and it's pretty inaccurate and resulting in what you see. You will probably have higher gas bills as a result of that too. I would put the thermostat on display somewhere and just use a much more accurate one like the one I mentioned.

 

[lordkenmore]

I would put the thermostat on display somewhere and just use a much more accurate one like the one I mentioned. 

 

A fairly reasonable, practical approach. I have to admit--I hate digital thermostats, but this might be a practical move.

 

One option occurs to me. I think I've heard the suggestion of having an old fashioned mechanical thermostat wired in parallel in case the digital thermostat malfunctions (such as a battery dying when its freezing out, and one is out of town for the weekend). If that would work for this system, the old thermostat could stay on display, set to some sort of minimum temperature to provide "fail safe" backup, while the digital thermostat does the day to day work.

 

[washman]

Jae DeVine

Digging the boiler. There are many holder homes up here in my neck of the woods with boiler heat.

 

FWIW, I grew up on forced air gas. Except for the 15 or so years we heated with wood.

 

I'm partial to it due to fact temp changes can happen quickly and I guess I am used to it.

 

But to those who have boilers, I've yet to hear a negative about them

 

[philr]

I also have a small collection of vintage thermostats but none in use!

I already had to deal with the replacement of other parts of the old heating system in the house I haven't moved in yet and I'd like if I could afford replacing the boiler with a more efficient one. I'll have to deal with other stuff first.

 

[petek]

Our boiler is original to the house 1958 and still working perfectly.  As for efficiency I dunno. All I do know is that we keep our house at around 73 and our gas bill is less than many neighbors with forced air gas who keep their t-stats set lower.  It also keep our basement toasty warm from all the residual  heat. Not very much maintenance is required, once a year, sometimes two years, all I've had to do is go around with a small wrench and bleed some air out of a few baseboards.  I'd be wary of buying a new boiler,, we had one in the small aprtment building we had for a few years.. it had a few issues with the electronics.