Preparing for winter IV

mineallmine

nicki wrote: »

How did you know which sized foam stuff to buy? The condensing pipe on my boiler is about 3m long and a shallow angle so needs covering but I have no idea which size to buy as they all look the same to me.

We asked the plumber. Could you ask your one? Or, Perhaps measure the diameter with a dressmakers or ordinary tape measure.

There's only so many widths of that foam insulation. Perhaps look online at wickes or home base to check what's available.

We'll probably have to refresh this foam stuff every few years as its not watertight despite taping it.

I suggest 100% that you talk to a plumber to be safe. It's what we did before we did anything :A

nicki_2

mineallmine wrote: »

We asked the plumber. Could you ask your one? Or, Perhaps measure the diameter with a dressmakers or ordinary tape measure.

There's only so many widths of that foam insulation. Perhaps look online at wickes or home base to check what's available.

We'll probably have to refresh this foam stuff every few years as its not watertight despite taping it.

I suggest 100% that you talk to a plumber to be safe. It's what we did before we did anything :A

Thanks for that, only problem is my condensing pipe is at first floor level so measuring it is a bit difficult :rotfl: I'll go and have a look outside now and see if there's any joins on the outside where the pipe diameter changes, if not I'll try and measure the tiny bit that's inside. Then I just need to find a tall enough ladder

Fruball

If it is on an outside wall, can you count the amount of bricks long it is, then measure X amount of bricks at a lower level that you can reach?

nicki_2

The length I can work out no problem, its the diameter thats the problem and unfortunately the inside pipe is different to the outside pipe Nothing is simple in this house! Looking at the pipe it appears to be about a brick high, this is a 1932/33 house so I should be able to work out how thick the pipe is by measuring a brick The second cup of coffee seems to be kicking in :rotfl:

tina_malteser

just checking out mother natures way of forecasting a harsh winter and these are some things to look out for appparantly

Thicker than normal corn husks
Woodpeckers sharing a tree
Early arrival of the Snowy owl
Early departure of geese and ducks
Early migration of the Monarch butterfly
Thick hair on the nape (back) of the cow’s neck
Heavy and numerous fogs during August
Raccoons with thick tails and bright bands
Mice eating ravenously into the home
Early arrival of crickets on the hearth
Spiders spinning larger than usual webs and entering the house in great numbers
Pigs gathering sticks
Insects marching a bee line rather than meandering
Early seclusion of bees within the hive
Unusual abundance of acorns
Muskrats burrowing holes high on the river hank
“See how high the hornet’s nest, ‘twill tell how high the snow will rest”
Narrow orange band in the middle of the Woollybear caterpillar warns of heavy snow
The squirrel gathers nuts early to fortify against a hard winter
Frequent halos or rings around sun or moon forecast numerous snow falls.
:T

craigywv

pigs gathering sticks lol i can just imagine that what do they do with them im not being cheeky just cant stop giggling at that , my immediate thought was the 3 pigs and the ill huff and ill puff wolf.

tina_malteser

craigywv wrote: »

pigs gathering sticks lol i can just imagine that what do they do with them im not being cheeky just cant stop giggling at that , my immediate thought was the 3 pigs and the ill huff and ill puff wolf.

:rotfl:

i think i'll look for Halos around the moon,
another was fog in August???

mineallmine

Thick frost here. Don't forget to get some basics in like UHt milk, bread mix as well as if you have pets their food and meds, as well as yours.

Keep warm all :A

Confuzzled

tina_malteser wrote: »

just checking out mother natures way of forecasting a harsh winter and these are some things to look out for appparantly ...
Mice eating ravenously into the home

Spiders spinning larger than usual webs and entering the house in great numbers

i've had issues with both of these this year. been in this flat for 3.5 years and this is the first time i've had to deal with mice. i'm upstairs too so they MUST be determined! i had one that i swore was trying to eat it's way through the floorboards, my goodness he was loud

they even chewed away behind the tiles at floor level so several tiles fell off! sorry to say i've had to deal with them swiftly and have cleared 6 of them now, i think it's dying down though, the 5th was a week after the first 4 and this 6th one is 10 days after the fith.

the trees were stripped of berries in september this year, even the rowan that gets left til last so i guess i'm not surprised really. and the spiders omg, i've had twice the normal and even got a nasty spider bite which hasn't happend before.

i think all the wee beasties are thinking how much nicer it is to be in our homes than theirs right about now! given that it's -2C with a realfeel of -5C i guess i can understand that

Rummer

Oh I could weep as I mentioned before my energy supplier has hugely increased my monthly payment and after investigation I have found out they are the cheapest supplier for the amount I am using so I am going to have to drastically cut my gas and elec usage.

I thought I had done well with my winter prep but clearly have to do more, any big hints/tips?