Pellet heads!! What's up today?

x6 you monkey of stoves you !!

 

X7!

 

Thanks everyone!!! Another year of getting old(er).

 

X8!

 

Hummer sighting Standish this morning.

 

Just received a package in the mail with my new hummingbird feeder and ant guard. Also got a suet cage and some suet cakes. I don't think this will attract rodents.

 

On that suet it depends, mammals hate the pepper stuff.

 

Squirrels are more than happy to eat suet. So are raccoons and maybe a few others. As SmokeyTheBear says, if it is laced with pepper, it may keep them from enjoying a meal. I had one squirrel years ago that was happy to munch on this type of "mexican fiesta" though, so it's basically a cr*p shoot.

 

I lowered the temp for the basement to 62* a week or so ago. Then turned off and unplugged the P61a on Wednesday. It had almost run out of pellets by then, so figured it was time. Have to clean it, especially the exhaust, then plug up the exhaust on a dry day, and unhook the OAK for summer storage.

P43 still has a bunch of pellets in it. It will be run a couple more times on cooler mornings when I have washed my hair - it makes a great blow drier

 

P61a taken care of yesterday to get it thru the summer. I did a deep cleaning including both a soot eater treatment in the exhaust and LBT treatment once everything was mostly clean. I hadn't done either of those thru the winter so needed to really get it clean. Sprayed dry graphite on the catch for the plate in front of the exhaust fan to help it move more freely, then sprayed the exhaust fan itself as it seems to help keep ash from sticking to it. Covered up the exhaust pipe outside.

Then, after seeing the outside humidity was in the low 40's % RH, removed the OAK from the stove and covered that opening up. I think I need to do the door gaskets before it's put back on duty next fall, but for now it is wrapped up for the season.

The P43 is running this morning as I had turned off the mini split when the sun came out yesterday afternoon and didn't turn it back on before retiring for the night. It was 73* in the house at that time and I thought the outside temps would stay in the 50's - but instead it is 40* outside so the house cooled down more than I like at this time of year. The living room temp was 67* when I got up this morning and I figured the birds and cats would appreciate the nice shot of warmth as much as I do.

 

I had the P68 cleaned and serviced by Rocky's stove shop. I also had the gas furnace cleaned by Fielding during their cleaning special. The only thing I have been doing with the mini-split is cleaning the filter.

 

Had the combi-boiler yearly service done on Thursday. Need to do that because of the water, scaling and condensate (and to keep the 15 year warranty). I waited 2 years for the mini split service and everything was fine. It seems that just keeping the filters clean, as long as nothing untoward happens, is probably the majority of its needs. I think I'll keep a 2-3 year cycle for it's maintenance just to ensure the fluid pressure (or whatever) are keeping it at optimal performance.

 

We ordered 3 tons of Vermont pellets a couple weeks ago during Fallon's Home & Hearth sale. Just got a voice mail from North Atlantic Fuels out of Epping saying they would be delivered Wed. Guess Fallon's is subcontracting deliveries or maybe partnered with them as NAF does do firewood and pellets.

sam

 

Got our pellets delivered today, within the window they said it would be (10am-noon). Interestingly didn't have to sign anything, it's like Amazon, he just takes a pic and sends it to their system.

Last few days have seen the return of the hummingbirds to our feeders.

sam

 

Another fire at the Athens Pellet Factory:
Blaze at Athens wood pellet manufacturer leads to injury (centralmaine.com)