27.01.2026 Not our cameras?

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  Tuesday 27th 30F/-1C. Overcast with light snow showers possible. 58F/14C in the room.  41F/5C  in the greenhouse.

 7.45 I have been tidying and cleaning around the stove before the sweep arrives. Who is here on time. Presently standing on the roof and brushing the chimney. It was interesting how the magnetic door closure. Slowly moves the stove backwards. Each cushioned closure of the heavy door adds its own impact. Perhaps I should place something non flammable behind the stove. To stop it's slow crawl.

 8.10 The sweep has just left. No problems and very little soot or ash. All thanks to the modern stove and clean fuel. I have now lit the stove. To warm the place up before leaving to visit my friend. I now have a new reserve of wood flakes to use as kindling. Which saves buying sacks of the stuff at the sheltered workshop.

 I was going to check the traffic cameras for road conditions. It seems the cameras are still working but public access to their website and the cameras has been blocked! These were presumably installed at taxpayer expense. As is the government controlled website. 

 Do we still fund the cameras and their maintenance from our taxpayers' contributions? Their excuse? They can sell the camera video to private businesses? But deny the Danish taxpayer all of the benefits of actually seeing real road conditions at a glance? Does not compute!  

 I drove over to see my friend. Had a pleasant chat over Danish pastries and coffee by his wood stove. Drove home via another charity shop. Looking for thicker curtains but without luck.

 Dinner was a salmon pasty, chips and peas.

 

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26.01.2026 No new snow.

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  Monday 26th 30F/-1C [8.30] Overcast with snow promised. They are calling it a snowstorm because of the NE wind. Expected to gust to 15m/s. Over 30mph.Which is very likely to cause drifting or driven snow. Up to 20cm is possible in total. Currently no new snow lying. The trees and hedges are moving.

 Just under 58F/14C in the room. So the curtains around the open stairwell had a more limited effect last night. It was 2C colder outside overnight than the previous night. The stove was going well at bedtime at 11pm. I have enough logs for today. I could get some briquettes from the supermarket to last a couple more days.

 The snow is not supposed to arrive here until lunch time. I can fetch a trailer full of logs before the snow arrives. The small amount of snow on the drives shouldn't hinder me too much.

 Up at 7.50 after a fairly quiet night. The sweep will be coming early tomorrow morning. If he can get through the snow! 

 10.00 Back with a trailer full of logs. The roads were fine. Now I just need to get them into the greenhouse. 

 10.40 28F/-2C. 59F/15C in the room. Half of the logs are dumped in the greenhouse. I can stack them neatly after I recover. The remainder in the trailer is safely covered and in the carport. Along with the car. A huge relief to have enough logs again.

 It is horrible out there! My eyes and nose were streaming constantly in the cold wind. The fitted trailer tarpaulin blew away until I had it fixed down. No new snow yet. Though it seems to be limited to a southern strip of the island. Morning coffee and then I'll drive into the village. To stock up with essentials. In case I am snowed in. Nobody clears the drives and I am no longer fit or strong enough to do it myself.

 Back from the shops. I bought some thick wool socks because it said "Wool" on the cardboard sleeve. After I came home I discovered that "Wool" meant only 30%! The rest is micro-plastic waste.  

 14.10 63F/17C. Still no snow. The snowfall area is sliding westwards just south of my location. It is supposed to head slowly northwards later.

 7.45 30F/-1C. 66F/19C in the room. No new snow yet. Just  a dusting on the car inside the carport. The radar shows the snow clouds sliding to the SW but evaporating before they reach me. Dinner was one of my ugly omelettes. The sausage was cut into small pieces and slowly fried.  The mushrooms added after a while. Then the whipped eggs poured over the cooked contents of the frying pan. It was fine. I washed up while it cooked. I suppose that make me a domestic robot. Just better looking.

 

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25.01.2026 More thermal pottering.

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  Sunday 25th 31F/-1C [5.15] Overcast. About 1cm of overnight snow. Possible snow showers. A snowstorm warning has been released! Up to 20cm over the next 48 hours with strong NE winds. 

 62.6F/17C in the room.  Has the curtain stair enclosure reduced heat loss to the upstairs? It would seem so. The last two mornings were 3F cooler with the same outside temperature. Perhaps the room will cool further by normal breakfast time.

 I got up at 5am after being awake for two hours. I was too hot under the heavier duvet! 🙄

7.15 The room sank to just under 62F/16.7C before I lit the stove. That is still a 3F reduction in heat loss compared to the rather chilly, 59F of the last two mornings. The curtains I used to close off the open stairwell were really quite thin. Multiple thicknesses might reduce heat loss further. Still at very low cost and effort for this first experiment. 

 Appearance is obviously important in the longer term. Not that I get many visitors but for my own visual benefit. I don't want a huge eyesore in the room!

 This new thermal image [top right] is interesting. This is before the stove has warmed the room at all. In fact it has only just been lit. There is almost no stratification on the stair curtains. While the massive chimney is still holding heat from last night. [Just out of view to the left] Though the heat has spread to the adjoining, brick wall.

 The cold glass of the door to the entrance hall, on the right of the image, could usefully be insulated. The entrance door itself is solid pine board. Poorly insulated and draught sealed. It has had white frost on the inside surface in cold winters! I have long planned to replace it. With a properly insulated door faced with grooved plywood. Probably home made. An air lock porch has also been long planned but never progressed. 

 The second image shows the chimney [65cm square]  before the stove has properly warmed up. It is clear that it stores a lot of heat and releases it steadily to the room. Thermal mass at its best. Since it costs nothing. The stove surroundings are ceramic tiles and these also get warm to thanks to the stove. So a very large area radiates heat into the room. Once it has stored the heat coming from the stove. 

 It is not exactly free heat. Because the stove's output is partially stored. Instead of heating the room directly. The benefit is, of course, a much longer heating period for the same input of wood. The same is true for the very expensive soapstone cladding on the stove itself. Intended to prolong the benefits of the stove long after it has gone out. It can often feel warm in the morning. 

 Much is made of mass stoves or mass ovens efficiency. Where a small burn can provide heat for days. The cost is twofold. A literally massive structure in the room. Somebody knowledgeable has to build it. 

 The third image shows the area around the stove is already warming the surrounding walls. With the stove cladding yet to take up the heat.

 The chimney upstairs radiates heat to the attic. Though I was never really aware of it. Even though our bedheads were right beside it for three decades. I only discovered all of this after I invested in the Topdon thermal camera. A plug in attachment for mobile phones. It cost about £200 equivalent. Competitors are now available.

 The advantage of these infra red sensitive cameras is that one can see at a glance where heat is being lost. They can also be used to check for electrical faults and poor building standards. Images are easily captured as they are stored on the phone. So a permanent record exists.

 9.10 I couldn't stay awake. So I had a half hour nap. Very fine snow is falling. This doesn't help my need for more logs! I have more than enough for today. I have brought in all the remaining logs in the greenhouse.

 16.00 31F/-0.6C. 65F/18.3C in the room. I can't be certain but it felt cooler. When I went upstairs to hang up some laundry. 

I have taken the recycling bin along the drive. The snow made it far easier than usual. To see where I was going in the dark. 

 20.00 32F/0C. 67F/19.4C! This is ridiculous! I am sitting here and sweating in a T-shirt! 

 Dinner was cheese on toast. I was a bit mean with the grated cheese.

 

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