Saturday, January 7, 2017
Snowmeddegon Under Way
The big storm is here. We drove to Wal-Mart to buy canned food stockpiles and one of those oil-reservoir heaters. Enough layers and it is almost tolerable (55 degrees inside). Our HVAC guy could not repair the internal gas leak because Suburban Propane locked the tank, assuming our HVAC guy would be able to unlock it, I guess. No fix until Monday. The cat will be encouraged to spend more time on my lap and hands.
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My father bought one of those oil-filled electric heaters when they first hit teh market in the 80's. He quickly relegated it to the junk shed. His complaint was it was very expensive to run.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that part of his complaint was the built-in hysteresis of a system filled with an oil. No idea what type of oil is contained, but lubricating oil has about 1/20th the heat transfer capability of water. What generally happens is when it doesn't get hot quickly, the control gets cranked up, and eventually it gets too hot, so it gets turned down, it stays hot, windows get cracked open, things get too cool, and the cycle gets repeated.
In your situation, just turn it on, and use a fan to move the heat around, and open rooms as needed to regulate.
Personally, I would have looked for a propane fired salamander(portable tank needed), and looked at running it in the garage and ducting the heat into the house (don't use kerosene, the smell in the house will not be appreciated, unless your wife is a former jet pilot. Maybe). Got a cat door? Consider setting it up to blow through that. Shield the door from the heat. Heating duct work from HD might be best to use to get the heat safely, and efficiently, into the house.
Consider it to also be a project for future heater problems or power losses. You could probably run a salamander on a voltage convertor in a vehicle, if needed. Built-in heater system, probably not. Too big a motor, most likely, plus re-wiring needed to isolate it from the house system. Unless you have a backup generator.
The snow reached down to Alexandrea Louisiana on Friday. I still have small drifts in spots here in Dallas. California is about to be washed away and yet the drought isn't even remotely over. And my sister in Rupert Idaho is also worried of flooding because the projected rains will melt the snow that has already fallen.
ReplyDeleteBut again the world has a fever and this year is already marked down as the hottest ever, even before we get to the summer.