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September 2020 Discussion


moneypitmike
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Just now, dendrite said:

It looked like the Japanese flag up here this morning with the mostly red sun around 645am and white/grey haze aloft.

I checked just after 6:45, but I also think the OE stratus off to the east blocked that. Last night almost seemed too smoky. It comes in waves as you can see on satellite, so if we can get one of the more thin areas to move in...we should have a great sunset. 

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3 minutes ago, dryslot said:

The weekend may be an issue here, Temp has not got down low enough for a frost/freeze yet, I only have peppers and tomatoes left so i may just pick the remainder before the weekend.

Carrots and greens will grow almost until the snow flies, beans have done their thing.  Terrible year for the 3 apple trees.  The late-ripening Haralred had zero blossoms, resting after 2 straight bumper crops.  Ultramac with about 2 fruits and the Empire's hundreds of blossoms resulted in maybe 6 apples.

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2 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Carrots and greens will grow almost until the snow flies, beans have done their thing.  Terrible year for the 3 apple trees.  The late-ripening Haralred had zero blossoms, resting after 2 straight bumper crops.  Ultramac with about 2 fruits and the Empire's hundreds of blossoms resulted in maybe 6 apples.

Hmm, I'm curious to how the apple orchards did this year, Have not been to Wallingford's or Ricker Hill yet as I've been way to busy, Is that normal to have that much of an off year? Or waqs it because of the dry summer?

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4 minutes ago, dryslot said:

Hmm, I'm curious to how the apple orchards did this year, Have not been to Wallingford's or Ricker Hill yet as I've been way to busy, Is that normal to have that much of an off year? Or waqs it because of the dry summer?

Two of the 3 trees had a fair amount of blossoms, which opened after the May snowfall.  Did not see many bees round them during blossom time, though plenty in the jewelweed later, so maybe poor pollination or perhaps the June 1 freeze killed lots of baby apples.  The complete lack of blooms on a tree which had produced bushels of fruit for 2 years (and 3 of 4) seems strange.  I hope it's just a pause to recover, as the tree looks healthy otherwise.

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Just now, tamarack said:

Two of the 3 trees had a fair amount of blossoms, which opened after the May snowfall.  Did not see many bees round them during blossom time, though plenty in the jewelweed later, so maybe poor pollination or perhaps the June 1 freeze killed lots of baby apples.  The complete lack of blooms on a tree which had produced bushels of fruit for 2 years (and 3 of 4) seems strange.  I hope it's just a pause to recover, as the tree looks healthy otherwise.

Strange indeed.

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23 minutes ago, J.Spin said:

 

I’ve actually been meaning to ask PF about that when I see some of the comments about the heat coming on.  I always thought it was most practical to turn it off for the summer, then you don’t have to worry about it turning on inadvertently during cool nights or these shoulder seasons when temperatures are marginal and it’s not really needed.  It just seems like unnecessary wear and tear and energy use for a couple of degrees here and there, but maybe some setups have to be kept on?  I know some systems are full climate control for heating/cooling, but even for a system like that I’d still have it off and regulate by windows whenever possible (which up here is essentially everything except cold season).

My wife won’t do temps in the 50s inside.  It’s a deal breaker.  She definitely isn’t a Vermonter.  I had ours set to start if the inside gets 59F but then I also left the windows open yesterday.  It’s mostly just negligence, to be honest.  And our windows suck even when closed lol.

The wear and tear definitely is something to think about, can’t be good to turn on for two hours then back off again for days at a time.  I’ll turn it off completely this weekend and see what happens :devilsmiley:.  Maybe I’ll be sleeping in my car by Monday.

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22 minutes ago, J.Spin said:

 

I’ve actually been meaning to ask PF about that when I see some of the comments about the heat coming on.  I always thought it was most practical to turn it off for the summer, then you don’t have to worry about it turning on inadvertently during cool nights or these shoulder seasons when temperatures are marginal and it’s not really needed.  It just seems like unnecessary wear and tear and energy use for a couple of degrees here and there, but maybe some setups have to be kept on?  I know some systems are full climate control for heating/cooling, but even for a system like that I’d still have it off and regulate by windows whenever possible (which up here is essentially everything except cold season).

Up until 2-3 years ago, my oil fired boiler provided our domestic hot water too so it was on all the time.  When we went to the hybrid heat pump/electric hot water heater I figured I would turn the boiler completely off during the warm months since we didn't need heat.  That was a mistake.  The seals in the boiler dried out and leaked all over the floor.  At first I thought something broke and I would need to put in a new boiler but the repair guy told me to try turning it on so that water would circulate.  That worked, no more leaking.  I turn the thermostat off in the summer and the boiler only comes on to keep the small amount of water in the jacket at temp.  

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9 minutes ago, mreaves said:

Up until 2-3 years ago, my oil fired boiler provided our domestic hot water too so it was on all the time.  When we went to the hybrid heat pump/electric hot water heater I figured I would turn the boiler completely off during the warm months since we didn't need heat.  That was a mistake.  The seals in the boiler dried out and leaked all over the floor.  At first I thought something broke and I would need to put in a new boiler but the repair guy told me to try turning it on so that water would circulate.  That worked, no more leaking.  I turn the thermostat off in the summer and the boiler only comes on to keep the small amount of water in the jacket at temp.  

I had the same type of pin boiler before the new install of the cold fired one, It would run every time you used the hot water, Or if the water temp dropped in the boiler to bring it back up to temp, Already have realized a $750 saving in just the last 5 mos of having the new cold fired boiler with separate 45 gal hot water holding tank, Well worth the investment so far, Going from a 1gal/min nozzle to a .6 gal/min nozzle is huge too.

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39 minutes ago, J.Spin said:

 

I’ve actually been meaning to ask PF about that when I see some of the comments about the heat coming on.  I always thought it was most practical to turn it off for the summer, then you don’t have to worry about it turning on inadvertently during cool nights or these shoulder seasons when temperatures are marginal and it’s not really needed.  It just seems like unnecessary wear and tear and energy use for a couple of degrees here and there, but maybe some setups have to be kept on?  I know some systems are full climate control for heating/cooling, but even for a system like that I’d still have it off and regulate by windows whenever possible (which up here is essentially everything except cold season).

We have a forced hot water system with an oil burner so we can't shut off the heat without losing the hot water too.  We just turn the thermostat down to as low as it will go.  

37F as I left the house this morning.  I forgot to see if it had been lower at some point but I doubt it as it was 39 when I got up.  No sign of frost at the house but saw some pockets of it on the drive in to the office.  Lowest I saw on the car thermometer was 36.

On an unrelated topic- why is it pronounced ther-mom-eter and not thremo-merter when it is reading heat levels?  

 

 

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I got rid of oil and went solar with heat pumps but I saw a billboard this morning for $1.29/gallon heating oil. A friend stocked up on pellets as he thinks it's cheaper but when I crunched the numbers for him it was almost double the cost per btu. Propane here is almost triple the price per btu compared to oil.

Efficiency maine has a cool fuel calculator you can compare with. 

https://www.efficiencymaine.com/at-home/heating-cost-comparison/

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36 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

My wife won’t do temps in the 50s inside.  It’s a deal breaker.  She definitely isn’t a Vermonter.  I had ours set to start if the inside gets 59F but then I also left the windows open yesterday.  It’s mostly just negligence, to be honest.  And our windows suck even when closed lol.

The wear and tear definitely is something to think about, can’t be good to turn on for two hours then back off again for days at a time.  I’ll turn it off completely this weekend and see what happens :devilsmiley:.  Maybe I’ll be sleeping in my car by Monday.

Ahh, got it.  We’re the same as your wife though; 60 F is a good break point for us on the inside temperature, and if the house can’t maintain that ambiently then it’s time to get the heat going.  I’m fine with 50s F if I’m sleeping, or working out, or not at home, but trying to sit and work at a desk for hours (or do most things in the house) in those temperatures really isn’t practical   Our setback for nights is 55 F, but it never gets down to that upstairs before the heat will have kicked on via the downstairs thermostat.  It’s fun to play a bit with initially turning on the heat in the fall, but we really don’t wait long – it’s not worth sitting in 50 F temperatures for an extra week in October to save what would probably amount to 10 or 20 bucks.

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1 hour ago, Ginx snewx said:

Wow beautiful at the beach 66 degrees. Zaators first day at the beach, doesn't like the pounding surf but the water is warm and the surf is perfect for me.

Screenshot_20200915-105626_Gallery.jpg

Screenshot_20200915-105651_Gallery.jpg

Perfect last day of bodysurfing? Maybe Teddy though? 68 degrees,  water near 70 ,no wind. Can see 12 miles away Block Island windmills behind BID in the far distance. Gonna miss this

 

 

20200915_123444.jpg

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1 hour ago, BrianW said:

I got rid of oil and went solar with heat pumps but I saw a billboard this morning for $1.29/gallon heating oil. A friend stocked up on pellets as he thinks it's cheaper but when I crunched the numbers for him it was almost double the cost per btu. Propane here is almost triple the price per btu compared to oil.

Efficiency maine has a cool fuel calculator you can compare with. 

https://www.efficiencymaine.com/at-home/heating-cost-comparison/

My oil burner guy discouraged me from going the Nat gas route on the boiler.

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