17.02.2024 Feel the free warmth!

 ~o~

   Saturday 17th [?] A grey start became sunny later.  Up at 6.15. Wasting time on the computer and laundry. 62F/17C in the room. I haven't lit the stove.

 10.30 41F/5C. Bright sunshine but feels cold. The forecast is 7C/44F maximum this afternoon. I should be doing something interesting out[of]doors. Let's start with the trailer. See how much useful firewood is in still in there.   

 11.15 42F/5.6C. Bright sunshine. I split the oversized logs to overfill a wheelbarrow. I am sweating but it probably represents a whole day's worth of logs. Why does the timber yard operator not split these large logs using the power of their hydraulics? Laziness? If an old fart, like me, can split them with a maul. Then they aren't much of a problem. 

 I emptied the trash wood splinters in the trailer into its large container. For possible heating emergencies. Or useful kindling. The real garbage wood dust goes down to the path at the bottom of the garden. Some wildlife might enjoy it.

 It is over 80F in the greenhouse. So I have opened the internal doors to share the warmth. The room is still only 61F/16C but should warm by a few useful degrees. All without lighting the stove. Which is far more important. Full sun all day today. Rain all day tomorrow. Use it if you've got it. 

 13.00 The heat exchange between the 90F greenhouse and the [now] 65F indoors is too weak. I have tried opening a window out to the greenhouse but now it feels like a cold draught. Ideally the greenhouse would have top and bottom vents in the house wall. To form a natural circulation system. This is not possible in this house. A pillar fan in front of the greenhouse door might help. To cause forced circulation into the dividing hall between the kitchen and living room. 

 The white painted house wall does not offer much heat gain or storage. Measures 28C/82F The inside of the same wall is showing 18C/65F. So it is tracking the room's air temperature. The greenhouse floor is bare brick on sand. So must be absorbing some heat. If only a little. Which will probably be released overnight. I cut down the front hedge to shoulder height. To allow winter sun to reach the greenhouse floor. Though the sun is already far too high to worry about the beech hedge now. 

 13.20 44F/6.7C. Both the living room and kitchen are now showing 66F/19C. I have opened more windows in the greenhouse covered, house wall. Even if the warm air doesn't come directly from the greenhouse. The sunshine passing through the open windows will warm items indoors. The carpet is showing 28C/83F! 

 The temperature sensor behind the cardboard is showing 94F/34C. The card itself is showing 34C. I have added a white paper towel in front of the card. The indicated temperature has already dropped 5F. Two layers of paper towels over the white card = a 7F drop. My air temperature measurements in the greenhouse are obviously biased by the sensor's immediate surroundings in bright sunshine. This needs more work.

 13.45 It has reached 67F/19C in the kitchen and living room. Both digital thermometers out of direct sunshine. My LG computer monitor is reading 30C/86F on the screen! Useful waste heat on a cold day. It will also be radiating heat towards my face and bod while sitting around 90cm/3' away. 

 14.00 68F/20C in both the kitchen and living room. Greenhouse sensors reading 85F/29C. 

16.30 Returning from the shops. . I couldn't put the shopping off any longer. Came back the long and hilly way through the forest and into the wind. It felt freezing! Caught up with a chap on a racing bike weaving all over the road. Oblivious to anyone overtaking him. I selected Turbo mode and went past at 42kph. Staying as far away from him as I could. A Dane stopped in his car and asked for directions. 

 I was descending a long hill at 37kph and decided to see how a more streamlined position would help. I hit 46kph with my nose on the bars. Until I sat up again. Back to 36kph. On the trike I used to see 32mph/51kph on that descent when it was still. The road points west in long a straight line. Which usually means a headwind. Only 15km/10 miles today. 

17.00 The kitchen is still at 68F. The room at 66F. The greenhouse at 67F. Despite the sun now being behind the tall shade and wind protection bushes. I have all the cycling clothing hanging up out there to dry.

 The white van is still outside the house next door. So something might be happening after standing empty  for two years. It was already black with mould two years ago. When I had a peak in through the windows. Which can't be healthy.

 18.00 38F/3C. Clear, with the moon overhead. I have lit the stove and brought in the cycling clothing to dry indoors. It is too cold in the greenhouse, at 56F/13C and falling fast, to dry anything properly. I have caught up with the laundry backlog. I know it should be washed soon after wearing something. Another roundtoit.

 Dinner was a bit of a disaster. How badly can poached eggs on toast go wrong? One of the eggs was full of water like a bladder. I foolishly thought it was just the white. It promptly burst onto the toast making it all wet. So I had to start again with the toast. Luckily both eggs were still warm and tasted fine after a change of bedding.

  ~o~