Daydream thread continues.....

choille

The wind has dropped here thank goodness. It was bitterly, bitingly cold & really savage. They are renewing the electric poles. They've been up since electrickery came here about 60 years ago. The new pole cross beams were damaged in the gales.....Hydro Bruce reckons we had 115mph gusts round about, yet on the forecast it said 20mph....typical.
Work ground to a halt as they all had to go to the isle of Arran where things are desperately bad & they have mammouth snow drifts & are digging dead sheep out. They've had no electrickery since a week past.

I really do think the council should insist on two heat sources for new houses. Why build a house without a chimney...although open fires are not allowed in new applications......what do these civil servants in Edinburgh know, fresh out of uni......rant, rant, rant.

Have to agree about vintage flannelette sheets - like felt they are. I have some that I got at auction years back....about 20! Hard to get decent new ones that don't moult. Friends bought us a light blue pair last Chrismas. I wake up with what looks like dust in my hair/there again it could very well be dust.

We are doing the floors in the build. Insulating the floors really thickly. Poking the stuff in on top of the foam stuff. Fibre glass everywhere. Try & keep warm LIR. Get those thermals on & keep your feet & head warm. I have a faux fur trapper affair - not an illicit affair with a trapper ( that would keep ya warm right enough) but a hat thing with long bits that dangle down & has pockets. It looks like I skinned a badger & plopped it on my head........it is so warm.

Itismehonest

choille wrote: »

The wind has dropped here thank goodness. It was bitterly, bitingly cold & really savage. They are renewing the electric poles. They've been up since electrickery came here about 60 years ago. The new pole cross beams were damaged in the gales.....Hydro Bruce reckons we had 115mph gusts round about, yet on the forecast it said 20mph....typical.
Work ground to a halt as they all had to go to the isle of Arran where things are desperately bad & they have mammouth snow drifts & are digging dead sheep out. They've had no electrickery since a week past.

I really do think the council should insist on two heat sources for new houses. Why build a house without a chimney...although open fires are not allowed in new applications......what do these civil servants in Edinburgh know, fresh out of uni......rant, rant, rant.

Have to agree about vintage flannelette sheets - like felt they are. I have some that I got at auction years back....about 20! Hard to get decent new ones that don't moult. Friends bought us a light blue pair last Chrismas. I wake up with what looks like dust in my hair/there again it could very well be dust.

We are doing the floors in the build. Insulating the floors really thickly. Poking the stuff in on top of the foam stuff. Fibre glass everywhere. Try & keep warm LIR. Get those thermals on & keep your feet & head warm. I have a faux fur trapper affair - not an illicit affair with a trapper ( that would keep ya warm right enough) but a hat thing with long bits that dangle down & has pockets. It looks like I skinned a badger & plopped it on my head........it is so warm.

Yes, only one source of heat is silly but, even with more than one, the second often relies on the first which is silly. For instance, all new Aga/Rayburns needed electricity to fire the jets which is why we stuck with our old gravity-fed one.

Strange you brought the subject up because I've just this minute finished reading an article which sort of surprised me..... until I actually stopped to think about it. I'd put it here but it's in Foreign.

Basically, the area around Venice has noticed a significant increase in certain pollution levels since 2010 - the start of the real bite of the crisis - & now exceed the watch level.
It isn't down to vehicles (the usual favourite) it's because people are burning wood & other things instead of using gas etc.
The figures are surprising. Domestic heating is the cause of 47% of total emissions of PM10 & 52% of PM2.5. Traffic does not exceed 26% of either. 99% of that 47% & 52% comes from traditional stoves, open & closed fireplaces &, albeit to a lesser extent, from modern wood pellet stoves of the latest generation. In short, stoves & fireplaces generate 98% of pollution for 18% of the heating.
It pointed out how people are against things like large biomass plants because of Nimbyism but that the strict controls & monitoring of what they burn & what they emit mean they are actually much better pollution-wise. People are burning all sorts on domestic fires & are unmonitored.
I guess the same applies all across Northern Europe. Made me stop & think, anyway.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

choille my youngest wears those hats....and beanies,

Interstings Facts ITSME...we burn more wood now than coal, as its cheaper, and quicker to light and get more or less instant heat..

TBH I am soooo glad we didn't change our heating over to gas when we moved in, and stuck to the coal, alot of people thought we were still sticking with coal, with all the 'mess', but now those very people are getting log burners etc...

Hubby an I were talking about the Cyprus banking crisis etc, about how the government are going to take % of people's savings, and only allowing them to take x amount of money out everyday....

A radio programme compared them to the icelandic bank collapse a few years ago, and compared how the two countries are dealing/dealt with it, and how Iceland are now a good economy, where as Cyprus ???????

Just hope our government don't have any ideas:mad::mad::mad::mad: as it seems the 'land tax' thing has gone a bit quiet:o

(but then I don't know why I am worrying, I havent got any money)

Itismehonest

I think the crux of what the article was saying is that a) we will chose cheap over environmental & b) unless we're all careful we look set to return to the air quality problems of the 50s.

I remember the smogs - they killed members of my family.
I also remember the Clean Air Act & having to swap over to smokeless fuels.
I guess the bottom line is that it's easy to be green & environmental until it hits the pocket then the human race tends to say "Stuff that. As long as I'm OK b*gger the environment" :think:

The Cyprus bank thing has certainly set a precedent but at least they've back-tracked on taking anything from the savers of up to 100,000 which the EU said was safeguarded. If they'd continued with their plan to do so nobody would have trusted having any money in a bank. That could have led to runs on the banks across the whole EU, I suppose.

Land tax is a dumb idea. Unfortunately, some people who live in towns seem to think land = monetary wealth. Those of us who live in the country probably all know people who have land but not 2 pennies to rub together.

rhiwfield

Lir, your rooms must suffer a fair bit of heat loss Will you be able to add insulation to them to improve heat retention?

Itsme, though my woodburner in theory is suitable for smokeless zones, it is clear that it is generating particulates. I'm a big supporter of renewables and a reluctant supporter of nuclear. If ASHPs worked I would consider installation but a lot of evidence points to them not working well in the UK. So my heating mix is oil and wood with a bit of leccy for spot heating.

The trouble is, after people have reduced energy demand by use of insulation and up to date efficient boilers/appliances, they still need to heat their houses and all the signs are that reliance on the State to manage energy supply is a real gamble. Successive governments have wasted opportunities to tackle the twin themes of supply greening and demand reduction, through a mix of incompetence and slavish reliance on market forces.

If (when?) we get blackouts it will have to be a case of sod the impact, I'll burn candles for light, wood for heat/cooking backed up with camping gaz. I've even got a wood gas stove that could be used in emergencies.

This extended winter has brought home how rural dwellers need to be preparded and keep prepared. In mid March we'd used our winter supply of wood and oil was running very low. A snowfall then would have hit us very hard so it will be a case of larger wood stockpile and keeping oil tank topped up in future.

ukmaggie45

lostinrates wrote: »

Willow throws out very little heat I find. The leyland (I have used bits) does seem to 'burn hot'.

We have some more oak to chop and stack too (hurrah).

Nice poem on this site as well as notes on different kinds of wood.

Itismehonest

I absolutely agree, rhiw ...... although, as you know, I think the choices of solar & wind as the main renewables are very suspect for the UK & would prefer that more reliable alternatives were looked into despite their apparent higher expense. I base that on the fact that cheaper will be a total waste of money if they don't prove efficient. Rather like the concrete high-rises of the 60s which were lauded as the brave new world but within 30 years were being pulled down as unfit for purpose.

Power cuts were a frequent occurrence here for the first few years We have everything to ensure we can tick along without any external power source. It may mean not being completely comfortable but we can do it.
I haven't used wood for many years but we still have a whole shedful - must be very well-seasoned now :rotfl: It will be there for the new owners should they want it.

Everywhere has problems but I'm starting to think that I'd really rather live in 'misery' in the warm (or at least warmer & dryer) than live in 'misery' in the cold & wet ::rotfl:

choille

Trees, like peat, capture carbon, when you burn them you release that carbon.

The main thing is insulation. The regs in Scotland are really high for insulation, but some of the regs are a nonsense and a matter of jiggling figures to get a sense of normality. But solar gain is a must.

W will eventually install a micro hydro system as we have a waterfall - a rather large waterfall that we will tap for energy.

Most electric here is hydro power. Once it's installed - the big dams - you don't get much greener. And we got pleeennnnnnty o' water here.

Willow wood is a bit rubbish for heat, but when it's dry it goes well with other wood. Birch & ash are good - grow easy, are hardy & you can burn 'em green. I've just finished hauling ancient bits of willow across the croft. The sheep love the bark - that's what aspirin is made from.
Easy to just jab in 'twigs' and it grows like billy-'o.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

today is officially the start of the end, and a begining of a new chapter :D:beer::beer: Longish story, but you can pm me if you want to be nosey:p

4 days of free listing on the old bay....so going to see if I can get some listings done... We have provisionally be approved for a royal mail online business account, which will hopefully be up and running in approx 2 weeks, so in the meantime I will list 'thin' things or heavy bulk items that can go via parcel monkey ( might list some welsh blankets)

Alfie.... how's the ponies doing with their feet????

lostinrates

rhiwfield wrote: »

Lir, your rooms must suffer a fair bit of heat loss Will you be able to add insulation to them to improve heat retention?


.

This is the first year we have had loft insulation (over 300 mm thick and highest u value). The new (restored) part of the house is very heavily insulated but not significantly warmer, it also has double glazing.

The problem is that the heating is not sufficient to leave much to retain!

When we still. Had the old oil boiler, when I ran it and got the house warm it stayed warm for a good couple of days when the heat was off. Things should be better now. With loft insulation and the improved north 'wing'.

The new bit IS better at retaining heat I think, but it just cannot make it when not enough is provided.