Pellet heads!! What's up today?

Well, today is 12/16 so we can legally feed deer so all cameras went live at 8:00 AM and first feeding at 8:15

To see the Deer here is a link https://www.youtube.com/brownvillesfoodpantryfordeer

 

I hear you! So far every day in December has been 10-15* colder than normal - and a lot of days didn't even get up to the average low temp for the day. Well, except yesterday when it got up to 30* (which was 10* warmer than Monday). Actually got some sun yesterday (which has been extremely rare this month) and the wind was just a tiny breeze so it felt really warm in comparison.

I still have a bunch of snow on the roof from the 12/2 storm, much less any of the smaller snow falls we've had. Unless something happens fast, I will "beat" my old low record for solar production, which was 89 kwh last February (historically my lowest production month anyway). I could feasibly end up with less than 50kwh for December (I'm usually 140-180 kwh).

 

Here is Cousin Billy.

 

Yesterday it was a really nice day, sunny and almost hit 40*. Also, the winds were just light. I took the opportunity to do a deep clean of both stoves, including LBT. Am leaving for 5 days soon and don't want them to act up for the pet sitter.

Even with the sun and warm temps, some panels on the E & W sides are still covered or partially covered (S side is clear). Gotta love that one on the east side that gave 11wh - LOL But, the array made 1/2 as much as I used yesterday, so that is a huge improvement over the lprevious 16 days



All snow on the roof will be taken care of by the warm temps and rain later today. Just in time for a flash freeze then more snow tonight/tomorrow . Snow pack on the ground isn't going anywhere and the paths still show evidence of the light snows I've gotten since the storm on 12/2 (when the paths were snow blown). Even my asphalt driveway still has snow/ice coverage. The ground is just too cold - which is not normal this time of year

 

Me stay in watch deer and birds.

 

Did some shower dodging a bit ago and ran a couple barrels through Munchy.
Just wrapping up when the next shower hit.
A small spritz.....Munchy was back inside....Tractor and I got a bit damp.
Not sure when we will be able to unload the last dumpster load we got..

Weather is not playing nice.

 

Yesterday was heavily overcast with some rain and drizzle. The winds were supposed to hit hard too, but for my place they stayed high over head and I just got occasional gusts. Other places in NH were seeing up to 50mph winds. Find it interesting that, according to explanations (for the specific front/circumstances yesterday), the wind was not too high overhead (in the grand scheme of things), but couldn't make it's way lower unless the lower level was disturbed - aka, heavy rain fell to stir things up. So, those places that got heavy rain got the wind too. Those of us that got slow rain, did not get the wind. Even without the wind, I lost a lot of the snow cover

At 12:45 pm yesterday afternoon, the paths had widened significantly and the snow pack was down by quite a bit (it had been still around 9" early morning). At 3:45 pm, the difference was very noticeable. These pictures are from the south side of the house, looking toward the west-ish corner. If we had gotten any sun, the affects would have been elevated.



As has been the case for 90% of the days this December, the only sun, or almost sun I've gotten has been as sun set.



It got up to low 50s for highs - they said some records were broken. Even without any sun I noticed the P43 didn't run at all between about 10am and shortly before 4pm. Once the sun set, the temp dropped back down into the 30's and the stove has been starting up every once in a while. Sometime last night a different front approached, and now I'm getting some pretty good wind and gusts (as they forecast on the 6pm news).

 

We didn't have any real strong winds over here yesterday either. Some gusts to around 20mph but no 50mph like were forecasted. Rain washed away a lot of the snow.

Had a couple power flickers but no outages.

Sam

 

It's been cold and very windy. Had some new snow through the week, probably 5-6 inches total. Had a warm up the other day with some rain. Still plenty of snow on the ground and 5-6 ft drifts.

Another Short power outage Thursday night, only lasted a few hours. More wind later today with dropping temps and snow. I think only a few inches are expected.

 

I was looking at thermostats as I will need quite a few of them. I've been using lux brand for years. They've always worked good till I replaced them. My favorite feature is how well you can dial in the temp swing I guess it's also called deband.

I wanted to have at least a few of them wifi. Apparently Johnson controls that makes them are no longer making them or supporting software and sold the residential hvac to Bosch.

I did find a Bosch wifi thermostat that I'll likely try. It does have temperature swing adjustment, but nothing like what lux offered.

If anyone has recommendations? I really like dialing in the temperature off set.

 

I haven't had but one feed blockage in the P61a in all the time I've had it (none in teh P43 - KOW). This morning I went down to get more cat food and realized it was cold down there - 59*. We did have a power blip early last evening, so I thought maybe it had caught the stove at just the right time where it turned itself off. I turned it off, then back on and saw that the auger wasn't pushing in any pellets.

Oh, fun times! I had to shovel out at least 60 pounds of pellets fromt he hopper (it has an extension). Thank goodness that I didn't completely fill the hopper last night. Just above the plate, I found a fist-sized mass of balled up sawdust. Once I got that out, I could hear pellets clinking down while I was scooping out the last of the pellets.

The GS I got last year from HD have not only a lot of dust, but several bags have large clumps in them (not all - or even a lot, just a few on each pallet). There are no breaks in the bags, and since these are HW pellets, there are none of the "breathing" holes in the bags either - so no way for moisture to get in. Since these were full pallets, with all wrappings intact when delivered, my guess is that these weren't completely dried before bagging.

The good news is, that this happened BEFORE I leave tomorrow to visit family. Both me and the pet sitter would have been freaking out if it happend while I was gone. That being said, I'm going to see if I can find a room heater for down there in case this happens while I'm gone.

 

Looking forward to the next week or so......can you guess why? Could set a record on Christmas day if it hits 75º or above. Guess I'll have to cut the grass again.

 

Going to have some single digit lows here (but, at least fairly seasonal highs in the low 20's to 30's). Pet sitter will have to turn off the mini-split Thursday night into Friday and let the P43 take over.

Flight out this morning should be just before the snow arrives. When I get back on Sunday, should be a wintery mix. I'm hoping that the Sunday weather is better than that. I don't want to drive from the airport, in the dark, in a mess like that. That is, assuming that my last flight doesn't get cancelled.