~o~
Monday 7th 47F/8C. Quite a bright start but a wet morning is promised.
Up at 6.20 after another quiet night. No ill effects from yesterday's ride.
Physio class.
10.30 50F/10C. Heavy overcast and intermittent rain. Back from physio after a good workout. I am really noticing the improvement while on my e-bike. All due to the intervals we do on the exercise bikes. The floor exercises are amazing for finding weaknesses and stiffness. My balance has noticeably improved. I had no idea I was so unfit and had such poor balance.
My illusion of fitness for my age [77] was pure fantasy. The e-bike was doing all the work. Mostly because I chose gears and modes which avoided my working too hard. Now I ensure I am working against more resistance. I no longer change down a gear too quickly when I meet a climb or headwind.
I am trying to convert my Trykit trike to straight handlebars for more comfort. This needs much longer cables. Both inners and sleeves. Though I wonder whether I ought to go for MTB style levers. The Trykit brakes aren't hydraulic. I can can use the trike to directly check my fitness without the help of a powerful motor. It is ideal for local shopping when I am in the mood. The nearest shops [supermarkets] are a hilly 5km away. So I'd get a reasonable ride and decent workout there and back.
It has been 62F/16.7C all day in the room. It was 67F/19.4C at bedtime last night. So it cooled off overnight. I have been sitting watching YT videos, or eating lunch in a fleece jacket and trousers. Over a T-shirt and jumper. It really isn't warm enough. Even the handle of my mug was cold to the touch when I tidied up after lunch.
At 16.00 I finally lit the stove. I have plenty of summer dried logs in the greenhouse. There is no point in suffering. I have twenty pairs of long-johns and thermal vests upstairs. So I should have started wearing those already. After the weather changed dramatically. The day long sunshine has gone. Which means that the greenhouse merely protects the house from the wind and worst of the cold. It provides no supplementary heat. The outside temperature is 52F/11C. The greenhouse shows 57F/14C.
While it is providing some protection for the area of house it covers [3/4 of the southern wall area] it is not nearly as good as real insulation. Heat loss is proportional to the temperature difference between the warm and cold side of walls, doors and windows. With added losses to wind. Permaculture uses multiple wind breaks to reduce heat loss from the house. I am protecting the greenhouse with close shrubs. Large trees on the boundary and beyond provide a wind break right across the western boundary from SW to NW.
The sealing of the greenhouse against the house wall could be better. So in windy weather, like today's, the greenhouse will lose heat. Which provides a poorer insulating barrier. Draughts can remove a lot of warmth and comfort from a house. So should be the first area for improvement. I found that self adhesive draught sealing for doors and windows is obscenely expensive for what is offered. Is often too stiff. Without offering the loft needed to seal wider gaps. While preventing a door from closing against the spring of the foam strip itself. Nothing has really changed in 50 years. Except for the price!
16.25 The room thermometer has risen only 0.2F. Though I can already feel the heat radiating from the stove window. Just as if the sun were shining warmly on my neck a face. I am about 2.5m from the stove. It will take longer for the soapstone cladding and body of the stove to start radiating and convecting.
The entire attic is connected to the living room by an open stairwell. So the heat rises upstairs. Which we took advantage of in winter for the time we were both here. Since my wife died I have brought my bed downstairs. The new stove is much warmer and provides a more comfortable environment downstairs. Where I sit at my PC rather than in the dormer window upstairs.
16.30 The thermometer sensor is shielded from the stove and 3m away. It is already showing 63F and rising steadily.
16.45 64.2F/18C in the room. I already feels much more comfortable. Time for an afternoon cup of tea and a toasted roll with marmalade.
17.00 64.5F/18C. The temperature rise has dropped off rapidly. The open stairwell may be carrying the heat away. [Just checked] Still only 62F in the middle of the attic] Or the air temperature is being reduced by increased heat loss to the walls and windows. The temperature of the walls follows the air temperature. So a steady temperature is matched by the walls. At least up to waist level. Higher above. Cooler below, when more heat is added. Checked with my remote reading thermometer. 70C/21C on the wooden boarded ceiling. 67F/19.4C on the highest bricks in the east wall. 60F/15.6C on the bricks at floor level.
17.15 65F/18.3C. A gain of 3 whole degrees Fahrenheit [1.6C] in an hour and a quarter. Yet it feels completely different. From uncomfortably cold to asking myself if I still need my fleece jacket.
The glass door [window] is at 615F. It is is this which radiates the most heat. It makes the room feel comfortable at any reasonable distance. Provided there is a direct line to the stove. Though it would need a firescreen to make it childproof.
I couldn't be bothered to cook anything. So it was beans on toast.
~o~
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