Pellet heads!! What's up today?

So he admits and claims in the same sentence, me thinks he should go back to bed and crawl out on the other side.

 

The other day when we were running Munchy....I was bringing in barrels of 1/2 shells to crush and just happened to notice one of the tall posts on the deck looked a tad odd......
It had a large knot that had fallen out and a big azz crack running sort of diagonal up through the center of the post.....One spot looked a tad "Pithy" but was not really bad....Wood peckers been poking at it some....

We get heavy wet snow here and can get a bunch on the deck.....I started getting nervous about that post.

A big job to jack up both beams (Posts are between two 6"x 12" beams) and stuff in a new post.

Decided to add one new post on either side of the original and lag then in......

Measured things real carefully and made the cut....Sweeeeet....They both came out to be a 5 pound hammer snug fit.....Put 4 long lags on each side...Staggered so they did not hit....

I am going to sleep much better now...

The posts are 10'-10" tall.....
New ones were a tad damp....Douglas fir.....Straight and minimal knots

Much better feeling after getting the new posts in place....

Today the 4x4 posts would not be allowed....6x6 is the standard for this height.

Our deck was built back in 1993 and passed inspection then......Having the extra posts is much better.....
I always wondered about those tall skinny posts.....They have held up to 2 feet of wet heavy snow and then ice on the deck and always held fine.....BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT ??????

After nearly 30 years up in the weather.....Better to fix it.

4x6 posts would be fine on this application......I never liked having only 1/2 the width of the post under the beams...

Thinking that we may go ahead and add a pair of extra 4x4 on the other posts all the way across.....JUST BECAUSE....

 

I'm even later, hope it was a good one.

 

Running the stove at night and off during the day but I suspect that will change tomorrow, supposed to get seasonably cold over night.

 

I think you have a good plan to go ahead and add the extra posts - Definitely better safe than sorry.

 

During the solar install, I had to clear the space in front of the breaker panel (it had a clear walkway and access, but I didn't know if the guy working at the panel would be extremely hefty - plus, didn't want to give town inspector anything to be fussy about). While that corner was clear, I decided to get that portion of the wall more "finished" - up to this point it it only had rigid foam and a layer of Reflectix. So I installed some furring channels and a couple of pieces of sheetrock (leftovers from other projects). Then set up my oversized pallet that holds 8 bags to a layer, and brought in 80 bags from the garage. In the first pic, the green strip of sheet rock and pink foam is just there for a place to store them that is out of the way.



This pic shows 78 bags, but two went into the stoves to fill up the hoppers.


And yes, there is plenty of room to fit between the pellets and the wood chests to get to the breaker panel.

 

Exactly.
I am thinking about doing all of the posts across the front and adding posts on each side.
30 years on this deck......A big crash in the dark of night would suck......

 

Roasting pellets at a low rate of consumption. It's 70 in here, I'm all good with that. Ikeep everything in the barn. Back when I burned wood, the inside 'stash' was always bug city.

 

A nice even heat is far better in my opinion than the up/down that the T Stat controlled stoves give.

We run our stoves in stages.....The little one until it can't do it....Then start the big one and shut off the little one...Adjusting the big stove from low to the upper medium level... (I never run our stoves on high)
Once the upper medium will not hack it....Then we fire the little one back up and regulate the big stove to keep the temps 70-73F
The little stove needs to run on the #1 setting only....More than that and the pot will not clear fast enough with the shells.... Even on #1 the pot needs to be cleared of clinker about every 6 hours or so.....
The burn pot design is just a bit wrong......But for the cheap heat....I can suck it up and clean it every so often....Just a quick shut down of the feed....Allow the fire to die to coals...POP the door and give the fire a quick switch with the putty knife and shut the door and turn the feed back on...

The big stove has a similar issue....just way longer between "Pot Swishes"


72F is my sweet spot IF I CAN GET IT

Nothing is perfect.....Including me and my stoves...

 

aawwWWwwaaa

 

Too warm for us. 70 is fine but I want at least 50% RH as well.

 

Yesssssssssssss...Too low of RH and it sucks....too high is about the same game.

Out here in the PAC NW...Getting 50# RH is an easy things to get... right now it is 79% here.....
Clear skies for a few days.....

 

We have 50 in the attic and foamed in, in the walls and in the 1/2 crawl under the shack. The 6039 keeps everything toasty including the upstairs (with the upstairs door slightly open). Only cold room is my bathroom in the back west corner but then a cold john makes a toilet trip that much quicker. A cold tirlet seat makes for cold buns. I bought the Therm Guard on recommendation from a poster here and it works, just not quite enough on fan time.

 

Are there no programs where you can get insulation done done at a steep discount from your electric provider?

 

Doesn't work for most of this crowd, boo only citified folk, hiss boo!

 

Not here in Mass….my son bought a house and was looking to change from oil heat. Program here is called MassSave. $20k for new high efficiency mini-split unit, all new ductwork and air handler in attic. Total turnkey new. Program paid 50% of the total cost and has an interest free loan on the balance. Picked their own contractor.