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December Cold in Minnesota
In article ,
Andrew Price wrote: On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:38:15 -0600, Tim McNamara wrote: [---] At 4:15 when I left the workshop to go home, the wind had picked up and the temperatures felt much colder- it's dropped 13 degrees F since 1:00PM to 8F now, and will be dropping to 2F tonight and -14F tomorrow night. Sigh. I'm not a real Minnesotan and I don't enjoy this stuff. That I can well sympathise with - living in Western Europe, to me, those temperatures look really mean. How do you cope with it indoors - double/triple glazing on windows and lots of insulation? I imagine that heating costs must represent a considerable part of the household budget, too. I live in a 100 year old house which doesn't have double glazing but has the usual double-hung inner sashes and storm windows. If you keep the weather seals in good shape, the cold air intrusion is minimal and the heat loss moderate. The house is well insulated and thus summer I had all the old badly damaged siding replaced with Hardieboard, so I will be interested to see if the heating bills are lower. The house is certainly much quieter with the new siding. In the peak (trough?) of winter, the heat bill has been about $200-300 a month depending on energy costs; the local energy monopoly has a program to spread those costs out year 'round- part of the year we are paying in advance of winter and part of the year we are paying off the balance. It ends up being about $125 a month year 'round for natural gas and electricity combined. We pay a little extra to support development of wind power in Minnesota. |
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December Cold in Minnesota
On Dec 21, 12:56*am, Tim McNamara wrote:
In article , *Andrew Price wrote: On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:38:15 -0600, Tim McNamara wrote: [---] At 4:15 when I left the workshop to go home, the wind had picked up and the temperatures felt much colder- it's dropped 13 degrees F since 1:00PM to 8F now, and will be dropping to 2F tonight and -14F tomorrow night. *Sigh. *I'm not a real Minnesotan and I don't enjoy this stuff. That I can well sympathise with - living in Western Europe, to me, those temperatures look really mean. *How do you cope with it indoors - double/triple glazing on windows and lots of insulation? I imagine that heating costs must represent a considerable part of the household budget, too. I live in a 100 year old house which doesn't have double glazing but has the usual double-hung inner sashes and storm windows. *If you keep the weather seals in good shape, the cold air intrusion is minimal and the heat loss moderate. *The house is well insulated and thus summer I had all the old badly damaged siding replaced with Hardieboard, so I will be interested to see if the heating bills are lower. *The house is certainly much quieter with the new siding. In the peak (trough?) of winter, the heat bill has been about $200-300 a month depending on energy costs; the local energy monopoly has a program to spread those costs out year 'round- part of the year we are paying in advance of winter and part of the year we are paying off the balance. * It ends up being about $125 a month year 'round for natural gas and electricity combined. *We pay a little extra to support development of wind power in Minnesota. We just noticed that the duct work is dripping moisture where it goes along the outside of the house. Probably will need to wrap it before mold starts to grew. It hasn't been quite this cold in a few years. Sometime I'll have to ride in the sub zero weather just to add it to my resume. |
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December Cold in Minnesota
"Tim McNamara" wrote in message ... In article , Andrew Price wrote: On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:38:15 -0600, Tim McNamara wrote: [---] At 4:15 when I left the workshop to go home, the wind had picked up and the temperatures felt much colder- it's dropped 13 degrees F since 1:00PM to 8F now, and will be dropping to 2F tonight and -14F tomorrow night. Sigh. I'm not a real Minnesotan and I don't enjoy this stuff. That I can well sympathise with - living in Western Europe, to me, those temperatures look really mean. How do you cope with it indoors - double/triple glazing on windows and lots of insulation? I imagine that heating costs must represent a considerable part of the household budget, too. I live in a 100 year old house which doesn't have double glazing but has the usual double-hung inner sashes and storm windows. If you keep the weather seals in good shape, the cold air intrusion is minimal and the heat loss moderate. The house is well insulated and thus summer I had all the old badly damaged siding replaced with Hardieboard, so I will be interested to see if the heating bills are lower. The house is certainly much quieter with the new siding. In the peak (trough?) of winter, the heat bill has been about $200-300 a month depending on energy costs; the local energy monopoly has a program to spread those costs out year 'round- part of the year we are paying in advance of winter and part of the year we are paying off the balance. It ends up being about $125 a month year 'round for natural gas and electricity combined. We pay a little extra to support development of wind power in Minnesota. Tim McNamara is quite right about the cost of heating an older house in Minnesota in the wintertime. I live in a barn myself (not literally, but the house leaks like a barn) and I only heat one room and yet the bill for a single month can still run over $300. I must be heating the whole outdoors! The only good thing that can be said about Minnesota is that you do not need air conditioning in the summer as we normally only get a few hot days. Regards, Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota aka Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota |
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December Cold in Minnesota
Hi Andrew,
Andrew Price wrote: On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:38:15 -0600, Tim McNamara wrote: [---] At 4:15 when I left the workshop to go home, the wind had picked up and the temperatures felt much colder- it's dropped 13 degrees F since 1:00PM to 8F now, and will be dropping to 2F tonight and -14F tomorrow night. Sigh. I'm not a real Minnesotan and I don't enjoy this stuff. That I can well sympathise with - living in Western Europe, to me, those temperatures look really mean. How do you cope with it indoors - double/triple glazing on windows and lots of insulation? Quite well, actually, and IMO *much* better than in countries like F or GB, where winters are milder but where single-pane windows are prevalent. (Some days ago I was in Paris, and froze in my hotel room even though the temperature was above 0C.) It can actually get too stuffy indoors, especially when there are older folks around who prefer setting the thermostat at 75 F (I'm quite comfy at 65, even 60). (German-style individual thermostats on radiators are practically unheard of). What bothers me most is the groaning of the furnace. I personally miss "real" winters. The downside to "real" winters is that cycling is a 6 month/year activity. Of course, there are some real die-hards, like here (the temperature was probably something like 20F): http://radio-bip.qc.ca/deneigement/v...janvier%202006 http://radio-bip.qc.ca/deneigement/a.html I am not one of them. Even if I had snow tires, the corrosion would ruin the bike in a season. (Was Sheldon a 4-season cyclist?). Here in Berlin I have a problem finding good handgloves which will keep my fingers warm in the wind. I imagine that heating costs must represent a considerable part of the household budget, too. Indeed. It's a pity oil prices came crashing down, we must really get off the hook. Heat pumps, passive houses, solar panels, urban heating, the works. Alexandre |
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