"As two professors of energy studies – one British, the other Swedish – we have long puzzled over the stark contrast in how winter is experienced inside our homes in the north of England (Sheffield) and southern Sweden (Lund)."

#Energy #Heating #Sweden #UK

Cold and expensive v hot, cheap and eco-friendly: the contrasting histories of home heating in the UK and Sweden
https://theconversation.com/cold-and-expensive-v-hot-cheap-and-eco-friendly-the-contrasting-histories-of-home-heating-in-the-uk-and-sweden-275417

I can feel the ice storm looming on the horizon. Something about the charge in the air changes and I feel it viscerally.

When I heard the news I started looking around for a new kerosene heater. If the electricity goes out, electric heat and diesel electric heat are useless. They require electricity, obviously.

I have a wood stove but that is my last resort since it requires a lot of attention throughout the day. If the electric goes out, a kerosene heater will burn on low all night.

I can get K1 kerosene at the pump for 1/3 the price of the jugs sold in stores. It is a good hedge against power failure. Wood is cheaper if I cut and split if myself, but tending a woodstove is more time consuming.

The propane heater keeps things warm enough but propane heat is really expensive. Propane can cost $600+ to heat a small house for a month, or about $20 per day.

When I build my new house I plan to build a south-facing tromb wall with water pipes and a 5x8x8 insulated water tank set in a concrete pedestal housing. This way when the sun shines the heat will be transferred into a couple thousand gallons of water which can be piped to an interior radiator. The wood stove can be perched atop the concrete water tank housing with an insulated baffle that can be removed when the stove is burning, so the heat cast under the stove heats the metal water tank.

My dream home setup will also use deep geothermal ducting for cooling in the summer. About 300 feet of ducting running from a 30-foot deep well, buried six feet deep next to the shaded area of the yard will allow air to be drawn through and cooled by the cooler ground well, which is 15-20 degrees cooler in the well and about ten degrees cooler at six feet down.

This would allow a small fan to draw in cool air from underground during the summer, and push the higher warmer air up a vent, using far less electricity than a HVAC unit.

I like cooking on the wood stove. I can set a big iron dutch oven upon on a rack and let it slow cook all day. Chili and cowboy beans are almost effortless. I have also cooked pots of chili on the old kerosene heater, however one must be very careful to have a tight lid to prevent the kero odor from getting into the stew.

Right now I am getting ready to make a batch of baked beans with bacon, bratwurst, and ham. This fat mess will stick to my ribs and keep my blood warm.

#Heating #WinterStorm #IceStorm #Woodstove #Kerosene #Homesteading

It was 8°C or 46°F in the boat with no heat running, but with the dehumidifier running intermittently. (The dehumidifier emits slightly warmer air.)

That's not an unreasonable temperature. It only takes a bit of heating, and 2 hours, to get to a comfortable temperature.

#CanalLife #canal #boating #boat #narrowboat #weather #cold #heat #heating

🕯️ A candle gives both light and heat—not overly much of either. But there's another benefit, since heat rises. When the candle is low to the floor, it sets up a convection current which mixes the temperature zones from floor to ceiling.

The boat is always several degrees cooler at the floor. (The heat-powered fan on the wood stove points sideways, not down.)

Often, I'm comfy but with chilly feet.

@GeoffHale #CanalLife #canal #boating #narrowboat #boat #heat #heating #candle #stove #WoodStove

Automate your heating WITHOUT subscriptions! Use Home Assistant to heat smarter with local schedules & presence detection. 🏡🔥

👉 Check out the video: https://youtu.be/iAdOE-51oRg

#homeassistant #heating #tutorial

Hey, #handy folks of Mastodon ... the expansion tank of a domestic heating boiler shouldn't require a plastic baggie around it? Especially a baggie that's clearly contained some leakage water and rust damage

Visiting my elderly mother-in-law, and she was sold a new boiler a couple of years ago. It's never been reliable, and she has the heating guys in a couple of times a month. It looks to me like it's installed wrong, but I know nothing about #heating systems

As one who earlier this year fell victim to SMOS (Smart Meter Obsession Syndrome) the recent cold snap here in the UK has come as quite a shock. Every day busts my budget by a wide margin, causing daily anxiety attacks. I *think* I can afford to pay for the luxury of not freezing to death, but how to be sure?

Am I a hopeless case?
#smartmeter #heating #costofliving