Billhook

Sort of “spot the birdie” Christmas Quiz!

Fieldfares, Redwings, Mistle Thrushes to name a few

We had such an abundance of fruit this year that we just let the apples fall, having given so many away that nobody wanted any more.  However it was very important for these birds in this recent cold spell.

And a Happy Christmas to you all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck-FMAMmCrE

Billhook has the biggest sweetbreads on Arbtalk!

1 hour ago, Dan Maynard said:

You'd have to have a short memory to say this has been a cold winter though, I was working outside in a t-shirt in November.

We will need to review this thread in March!

On 09/09/2021 at 10:29, Billhook said:

Not like a farmer to be optimistic but perhaps with the current hike in gas and electricity prices, coupled with the net zero initiative and the move to all electric cars, people may find it hard to pay the increases to keep warm.  Keeping warm is the greatest cost.

I see they had to fire up a coal power plant recently as the wind power had faded. Gas being phased out and the electric demand will no doubt cause power cuts

what d’y’all think?

I’m going to change my name from Billhook to “The Oracle”!

I see now that the Troll from Trondheim is due to drop temperatures to minus 12 up to the New Year.  Deafening silence from Global Warming alarmists.  It looks as though power cuts will be probable rather than possible .  
Ambulances and hospitals choked with victims of the cold and strikes, all that is needed for the perfect storm is another Covid variant….

Hats Off!

18 hours ago, Vedhoggar said:

Is that a heated grain drying floor? Do you leave the split logs like that or do you turn the pile from time to time? How long is it taking from fresh cut to get to <20% MC?

I ran out of one ton potato boxes when I reached 150!  The Challow floor is ventilated by a large three phase fan and in the old days of grain we could indeed put a propane heater in front of the inlet but even in those days it was too expensive.  The only time we used heat was if we wanted to avoid a penalty when we sold it. 

Heating wet grain can be tricky as you can produce a wet layer which moves up through the heap and prevents airflow and results in rotted grain.  The best way to dry stuff is to wait till the moisture in the air  falls to a point where to blown air starts to take moisture out of whatever you put in there.  For that we have a relative humidity meter which switches the fan on and off according to the RH. 

I do not turn the pile, it would be easier just to run the fan for a day.

A fan is necessary with densely packed grain or oilseeds  but leaving the split wood on a dry floor with the shed door wide open to the West wind seems to do the job after a year or even shorter.  Same with the old potato boxes which are stacked in an open fronted shed and the air can flow easily through the slats in the boxes.  Whatever the theory it works well in practice.

9 hours ago, Mesterh said:

I thought the exact same thing when I tried to work ours out! I gave up but with a bit of help from your mathematical skills I may have another try

 

 

It reminds me of my maths lessons at school where I would just go into a trance and my gaze would go from the blackboard to the window to watch the girls playing games in the field outside!

The caloric value of natural gas is the parameter that changes. It's usually around 40.0; depending on the quality of natural gas it can deviate +/-5%. 1.02264 is a correction factor, and 3.6 is the conversion factor for kWh.

Pay attention at the back Billhook!!

As my father used to say “. ‘tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good “ and the Lockdowns were painful but at least they made me look for something to do so the Lockdown Splitter and a good heap of split Ash and Sycamore are drying nicely in the old grain store.  
The great thing about wood is that the work has been done and you can really enjoy the heat without having to keep monitoring dials and thermostats

So I just thought I would try and work out the cost of heating our house with natural gas per hour.  Simple I thought, just read the meter.

My meter is relatively modern and measures in M3 or cubic meters.  Some people will have to do another conversion if their box still measures in cubic feet.  Even the meter box is not that clear!  You wonder at first whether the red numbers are units or fractions of units and why the number in the right hand box is shown in a bigger red box

So I ran our Saunier condensing boiler for seven hours.  It is linked to the wood boiler via a Dunsley Neutraliser so that when the wood fire dies down over night the gas automatically cuts in.  Therefore the house is already warm and all the gas boiler has to do is maintain the temperature.

So they really make it easy to calculate the cost of heating your home per hour or per unit

I don't know what Fleetwood has been taking, but he looks as though he is on another planet!

I think that people underestimate the Winter conditions in the UK.  By saying that we do not know what cold is all about by comparing us to conditions in Norway/Sweden/Canada.  In those countries Winter is usually predictable, it sets in , people prepare, roads vehicles and heating are all in order.  

Here in the UK hovering around the freezing mark, conditions are highly changeable, together with occasional high winds.  Months of moderate temperatures mean a change to Winter tyres is unnecessary, so when a cold snap comes chaos follows.  But the cold snap is never usually long enough to warrant taking Scandinavian precautions, so we are where we are...

4 minutes ago, sandspider said:

 

Our elderly neighbour had some form of brain incident that required brain surgery. She had lingering dizziness, and was unable to drive for about 6 months, but can again now. Not sure how much of the dizziness was due to the incident or to the anaesthetic/ surgery, but the anaesthetic was a factor I remember.

Thanks for that, good to know that it happens elsewhere

Slightly more explanation here

8 hours ago, Big J said:

 

Nice. You've hit the nail on the head I think. The heat source is secondary in importance to the insulation. The UK has never had the incentive to insulate properly because of the relatively mild climate and ample supply of North Sea gas. Times change though.

 

Here, highly effective insulation is none-optional. Your typical Wimpy home wouldn't last a single winter here, and we're in the mild part of Sweden!

 

I wish your wife a speedy recovery

We live on top of a hill in a very exposed position.  When I built the house in 1983, I was very aware of this and doubled the amount of fibreglass in the loft.  The first floor is a dormer roof and the regulations said that I had to have soffit vents all round.  The force of the winds actually forced cold air through the soffit vents and under the fibreglass insulation, freezing the ceiling panels and the secondary double glazing was moving away from the seals due to the air pressure difference on either side of the house.  Marriage does concentrate the mind and I had my orders!

I filled a 12 ton trailer with all the fibreglass , a lot of which had turned black with mould and having done much research into foam, went for the icynene. open cell.  The closed cell foams are the ones the insurance companies and mortgage people become exited about.  But my goodness what a difference that made.  The whole house was just like it had been wrapped in an eider down!  Further down the line put some Scandinavian quality double glazing in.

But the main lesson here was that insulation is no good unless you control the draughts.  You need a tiny amount,of air movement, hence the icynene as the wood in the roof needs to breathe,

17 minutes ago, Big J said:

 

 

 

I wish your wife a speedy recovery

Thanks for that  Big J,

She was under anaesthetic for over an hour and it seems to be lingering in her brain leaving her feeling too dizzy to drive, even though the op was some time ago.  Anyone else know someone who has been affected in a similar way?

This was taken in March so there has been as much again so I hope not to run short this Winter!

4 hours ago, Big J said:

 

I think you misunderstand.

 

30 kwh is the total electricity usage for everything. That's 98% of our heating too. Our house is about 240 square metres.

Our house is about 240 square metres as well , and has modern insulation, icynene foam in the loft, which is water based and breathable, four lots of underfloor heating, two bathrooms , a conservatory and a kitchen.

The Aarrow Stratford is linked to the gas boiler with a Dunsley neutraliser, but we have not had the gas on at all.  Two hot water cylinders, one heated by solar tubes which does all our Summer hot water.

I am becoming progressively creaky so I need a hot bath every evening.

My wife has had an operation and is housebound while she recovers, hence the heating is on most of the time.  One benefit of the Lockdowns was giving me time to build the Lockdown Splitter and make a good heap of split Ash and Sycamore

Just been working out our consumption.  25KW boiler stove with 15 radiators.  Wife does not like the cold so we are using a 2 cu metre or 72 cu ft box of loose stacked dry Ash which I think would weigh about 750 kg or 3/4 ton a week.  Stove is on all day and most of the night.

I just gather all the bits and pieces falling from my box wedge splitter.  You can see at the end of the viseo.  I have now rigged up a bag for them to fall into rather than picking them up off the floor.

17 hours ago, Rich Rule said:

 

 

44 minutes ago, KateH said:

I don’t understand about the gravel. A mouse with a sense of humour? The waders is proper karma though 😂

Not only the gravel in the bag, but all that gravel in the tray.  Did he mistake them for nuts?  Perhaps he was just nuts!  (Must have been a He , a She would never have done it!)