Best wellyboot forward. Pips frugal edible garden adventures.

starnac

Looks good. I think I'll show the video to DH and he can make one for our north facing lounge!

Ellidee

I saw one on the interweb - maybe even MSE - someone had made one with an old crockpot from a slow cooker !

Pippilongstocking

Oh that sounds exciting Elidee must try and find that and Starnac the wee cornish one is really simple but I think having seen how hot it gets I'd have a go at something bolted together with the three pots.

If I can get the edge off that room for pennies that would be lovely. I don't expect to be in there in a T-shirt and shorts but not having to brace yourself everytime you go in might be nice.

I guess I could try and put it on early when TRG leaves for work and leave that room a wee while to see if it takes the chill off.

I guess given the size of the room you'd need three or so to make a difference in proper heat rather than just take the chill off.

Stopped for a cuppa - pesky report hindered by mad utubing.

Ellidee

It might have been the SHTF thread on here. I lurk but our Karmacat posts.

ZTD

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Hello. Its all quite new.

Bingo it (kitchen) was an adjacent outhouse and the conservatory faces west. Good summer sun, not so much from now on in til late afternoon, hampered by a pesky tree full of apples.

Right, so given that you probably want to try to cut down on heat emissions rather than soak up every last ray you can, so try to ensure your decor is light coloured rather than black. There are also window films to cut down on IR emissions, but that depends on what you wish to spend.

Also, bear in mind that you want to heat only where you're using. So if the corner of the kitchen nearest the conservatory is cold, then heat the corner of the kitchen nearest the conservatory - don't go and turn a heater on in the conservatory and hope it will filter through.

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Conservatory hosts the doors from both old cottage (directly into the lounge) and the door to the new kitchen/once shed.

Check both these doors and make sure they're properly fitting. If they're wooden, then they may have shrunk with not getting the rain any more, and so be draughty.

In fact check the conservatory itself. Make sure the rubber seals holding the panes in are still air-tight (on both sides).

Also check that it's not the brick walls with the doors in that are giving out heat. You may need insulating panels around the doors if they are.

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Rather than breaking through the wall between house and shed and going through a chinmey to put in an internal door they used the original doors and used the conservatory to bridge the gap.

Starnacs quite right the conservatory came first the kitchen second.

Which is why both doors have lips that folks trip over frequently.

We have a phrase for people like that. We call them "clumsy shiites..."

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Its quirky, but chillsome.

Do you have a ceiling/light fan in there? Air tends to stratify over time, with the nice warm air way over your head, and the freezing cold air chatting to your feet. A little bit of light mixing will cut down on that. Notice I said "light mixing" - you're not going for indoor tornado simulations. Any electricity used in the fan will dissipate as heat, so think of it as a mini Electric Heater With Benefits.

Also, replace any LED/CF lights with their incandescent/halogen equivalents. This is the point where the phrase "waste heat" makes me chuckle.

You can also get "heat bulbs", but you may want to try one of those first in case it's a bit too much.

Is the floor insulated properly?

In terms of heating, the good news is that every heater is 100% efficient. Unfortunately, some of the efficiency is spent heating the outside, as (assuming a gas fire) as you need to vent fumes etc. Electric heating, such as KC's oil fired radiators, don't need venting, but without a ceiling fan, will send hot air straight to the apex and warm the feet of the birds sitting outside on the roof.

You'd need to balance the price of gas, with the lack of venting needed for electricity.

Possibly the most efficient heater is one that heats the only thing that's cold - you. But that depends on how practical it is for how you work. (linky)

Hope this has given you some ideas.

ZTD

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Its not bonnie but its the proto-type. When I get my engineer home we can have a bash at something bigger over the weekend. Well its a laugh if nowt else. And heating up nicely. Don't mind the dust please.

Be careful about constructing things like this, there are a number of things that can go wrong.

So, for example, in the picture above, although ceramics are poor conductors of electricity, they conduct heat well. So if the device above gets really hot, the heat will go downwards through the plate, then downwards through the slate and do unfortunate things to the surface below. Really, instead of the slate, you want something like a cheap wooden chopping board which you don't mind if it gets a bit scorched here and there. Wood is a good insulator, so it will travel no further. After all, who cares if a cheap board scorches rather thank an expensive sideboard, or expensive table?

Also, the design above may cause the tea lights to over heat. Normally, wax in a candle doesn't vaporise easily - hence the need for a wick. The power output of the candle is limited by the surface area of the wick, so the power output is low as the surface area is low. If the tealight gets too hot, the wax will start to boil, ignite, and the power output is then limited by the surface area of the top of the foil "dish" - which is quite high.

I've seen this happen twice, within weeks of each other - two sisters who obviously didn't learn the lesson the first time.

If this happens to you:

1. Don't panic.
2. Don't use water. It's akin to a chip pan fire in that regard, and a small exploding fireball in your conservatory may make you the talk of your friends.
3. Try to smother the flame, but do not under any circumstances risk it spilling - that includes crushing the little foil tray. If it spills, the surface area goes way up, the power output goes way up and if you thought it was the Bad News Bears up to this point, you ain't see nuthin' yet...
4. Get it the hell outside onto a flame proof surface and worry about it later.

Unfortunately, due to the circumstances, I (yes, muggins had to deal with both of them) was unable to smother either of them, so had to carry both outside "live" as it were.

On the bright side, at least it was on the ground floor both times, so no wandering down stairs holding a (literally) flaming tealight holder, and also I managed to get hold of the first one before it completely melted though the top of the telly to spray burning wax inside.

And while I'm on the subject - don't leave burning stuff unattended... :cool:

Karmacat

:eek: coo! I have a piece of slate to use as the base for my candlelight holder too - I must have thought the same as Pippi, that its fireproof ... but I certainly have enough spare wood around that I can put a nice solid wood base to the slate <phew>

The base I have planned for mine is an old biscuit tin - the sides are just under 3" high, fortunately so spillage won't ever be a problem.

There are big holes in the flowerpots where crocks would go, if they were the right way up, so no candle should ever overheat in there. Bearing that in mind, I may stick the "thermal mass" on the outside, rather than the inside, because it doesn't then enclose the candles so much.

And Ellidee is right - I *do* post occasionally on the shtf thread (I thought it was going to be my dark and dirty secret :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: ) its all that science fiction I read about the end of the world. Z will tell you about my love affair with the apocalyptic works of Larry Niven :T

Pippilongstocking

Good points there Z - thank you. Lots to ponder. And I totally reiterate your points on candles and heat and combustion.
(there is a heat mat under the slate )


And I have one of those blankets (not pluggy-inny) and two warm hounds.

KC - love ya as always! And of course a bit of science fiction.

Goodluck with your efforts too.

The chill if def off the room but its not 'warm' not that I'd expect that at this time of night but its progress.

Dinners sorted (chook and barley broth, crusty bread) but himself is not back from work yet - so it might get put away and a snack more

While the stove is on I've batch cooked some rice and some pasta for easy grab out the freezers later in the week.

Chook out for over the weekend I think - an eating one, not a feathery one.

Shh if they ask what's for dinner just say lemons, they don't like lemons.

NDD
NSD
Store meals
6 eggs

All good.

beanielou

Did you speak to SAAS?

starnac

Wow ZTD you are a mine of info!

Also what is the SHTF thread please??