If I freeze to death, I did it for science...

[Red Squirrel]

That reminds me, one thing I CAN do now to save on gas is to switch out my water heater. That thing has a pilot light running all the time, and it's an old style water heater where most of the heat goes up the chimney. Need to decide if I get a regular electric one or a heat pump style one (called hybrid). Hybrid is like 3 grand vs like 1 grand for regular, but the heat pump one will be cheaper to run, especially once I have the wood stove as it uses heat from the room to heat the water. I would probably just run the pipes to the server room as it's physically easier since the ceiling joists line up.

Gotta watch going electric though as once everyone starts making that move they'll just jack up the hydro prices too. I don't really have enough solar capacity to make a big enough difference on the bill.

May look at thermo electric generators once I have the wood stove setup though.

 

[Captante]

One thing about a pilot-light equipped furnace or water heater .... it still works when the power goes out!

 

[IronWing]

The temp in here seems to have gone up to 10C (50F to you) - I think I heard the cold-snap is starting to recede.

When I was a child only posh people had central heating. We had individual gas fires, and they weren't turned on till Christmas.

The increase in gas prices recently has been mind-blowing. It literally feels like burning money to turn the heating on. Even considered finding a way to turn the pilot light off to save the gas that uses.

I'm hoping that being in a (pretty well-insulated) block of flats means I don't have to worry about frozen pipes - or at any rate, my having my heating on or not won't make much difference if it's going to happen in the block or not. I suppose I'm counting on everyone else turning theirs on!

PS I really dislike Farenheit. I have no problem with thinking equally in both metric and imperial for everything else, but temperatures in F mean nothing to me unless I do the maths.

My wife’s grandparents lived in a row house outside of Liverpool. They had a coal fireplace until the day her grandfather died. Literally an hour after he died, her grandmother was on the phone ordering a gas log. That was in 1990.

 

[pmv]

So is the house getting damp and getting hyperthermia and/or pneumonia!

Aren't you a medical professional? I'd have assumed you'd be more careful about the distinction between hyperthermia and hypothermia!

(I wonder how many medical errors occur due to errant autocorrect spellcheckers?)

 

[MrSquished]

Proper merino wool layers and a nice down outer jacket with a shell if needed for precipitation does wonders. I have to walk my dog through rain, sleet and snow regardless of temp as he is a 60lb guy, so he needs his exercise. Can't be little 5-10 minute walks either. Merino wool has saved my life.

 

[Red Squirrel]

One thing about a pilot-light equipped furnace or water heater .... it still works when the power goes out!

Yeah that is true. Water heaters run at 240v too, so it's a bit harder to setup backup power for. Going to need a split phase inverter or generator and those are much more expensive.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I want to see the exact number on the thermometer and exact wind speed/direction along with barometric pressure etc not hear some smiling a$$-clowns opinion of what it "feels like" outside.

I get what you're saying now, but for "your average joe", that just wants to know approx. "how cold" to dress appropriately, it can be a helpful approximation.

I guess I assume that there's some formula involved, it's not just the weather-person pulling a number out of their butt. And even if they are, if they're trust-worthy and have experience, it might not be so bad.

 

[IronWing]

I get what you're saying now, but for "your average joe", that just wants to know approx. "how cold" to dress appropriately, it can be a helpful approximation.

I guess I assume that there's some formula involved, it's not just the weather-person pulling a number out of their butt. And even if they are, if they're trust-worthy and have experience, it might not be so bad.

 

[WelshBloke]

Aren't you a medical professional? I'd have assumed you'd be more careful about the distinction between hyperthermia and hypothermia!

(I wonder how many medical errors occur due to errant autocorrect spellcheckers?)

YHPM BTW.

 

[pmv]

View attachment 73113

I could be wrong, but I don't _think_ that formula has any physics-based reasoning behind it - it's just something they cooked up that produces numbers that seem to _feel_ right.

Would be interested to know if I'm wrong, and there's actually some physics behind it.

 

[IronWing]

I could be wrong, but I don't _think_ that formula has any physics-based reasoning behind it - it's just something they cooked up that produces numbers that seem to _feel_ right.

Would be interested to know if I'm wrong, and there's actually some physics behind it.

There is empirical data to back it up but it does make the assumption that people move around. The original chart was based on the time it took to cool a stationary bottle of water from a set water temperature to freezing under different ambient temperatures and wind speeds. A formula was backed out of the empirical data. The formula was later adjusted to more closely relate to human perception which is influenced by the fact that humans move around a lot and so the difference between temperature and wind chill people "feel" is not as extreme as the empirical data suggest. The formula was last adjusted in 2001. With the adjustments, the reported wind chill is not as low as it was historically. Back in the early 80s, I experienced a reported wind chill of -89°F (-67°C). Using the current formula, that same condition would be reported as a wind chill of approximately -74°F (-59°C).

 

[dullard]

I could be wrong, but I don't _think_ that formula has any physics-based reasoning behind it - it's just something they cooked up that produces numbers that seem to _feel_ right.

Would be interested to know if I'm wrong, and there's actually some physics behind it.

The formula was last adjusted in 2001.

This article describes the 2001 adjustments:

Maurice Bluestein, Who Modernized the Wind Chill Index, Dies at 76 (Published 2017)

While shoveling his daughter’s driveway one winter day, Dr. Bluestein, a scientist, realized something: The wind chill index was wrong.

www.nytimes.com

There actually is physics behind those 2001 adjustments. The old formula also had physics behind it but was based on water bottle freezing times which ignores things such as humans having internal heat production. The new 2001 formula is based off of how much heat is actually lost from skin on the face.

"Mr. Osczevski, an environmental physicist who worked for the Canadian defense department, had built a temperature-controlled artificial human head to monitor heat loss at a height of five feet, closer to the height of a typical human face, and had performed experiments at a military laboratory in Toronto. These focused on the face, because it is typically the most exposed part of the body on a winter day.

As part of the project they conducted a series of experiments with 12 people, male and female, measuring heat loss from the face in cold and wind as they walked on treadmills in a wind tunnel at different temperatures."

 

[NuclearNed]

If I ever make it to Sweden, I'm totally looking up Sabaton and/or Tommy Johansson