ICE STORM!

So wasn't that Ice storm nice yesterday?

After having about 20 inches of snow on the ground, we had to add another 3 inches of ice and slush. At least here in southern Rhode Island we were not like the rest of the state with flooded roads due to blocked drainage. However, my driveway is a sheet of ice.

My driveway sucks. It's crushed asphalt about 125 feet long with a 30 degree grade hill. So needless to say, if there is a little bit of ice, I'm not getting up to the house. So last night when I was returning home from karate, I turned to get up the driveway (thinking that it hadn't iced over yet) and slide right back down into the road. So here I was stuck perpendicular on the road, the backend of the truck stopped in a snow bank. After about a half hour of shoveling and some wood under the tires, I got freed.

Luckily the house is located on a dirt private road with only 5 homes.  

Sick day and Furnace

Well-

I wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I had to take a sick day.
However, since I'm a father and a homeowner, my day of rest and relaxing to get better was filled with furnace mishaps. On Wednesday I had to move some plumbing on the furnace. I have an oil furnace with three circulating pumps. Two of them are going to two different air handlers for the forced hot air (one in the basement, the other in the attic) and the third pump goes to the hot water tank.
So I had to move the return and supply going to the basement air handler, no big deal. I used CPVC and shark bite fittings. Took me about 20 minutes.
After wards I pressurized the system back to 15 psi (or so I thought).
The next morning when I woke- no heat and no hot water.
Turns out that the gauge on the furnace was broke and stuck at 15 psi. The filling valve that  I was using to pressurize the system was stuck closed. So needless to say, I was never pressurizing anything! There was a little bit of fluid in the system, so the no water sensor never went off.
OH and to add to the fun, the supply going to the air handler in the attic froze. Luckily they used the old PEX piping so the pipes didn't break all it took was a space heater to thaw (I know Antone- not de-thaw. I had to get it correct since you are the only one who reads these) then every thing worked fine.
A word to the wise, if your heating system requires antifreeze, you should insulate your attic more. The attic in this house has R-30 everywhere including the attic floor. But not in the attic eves which I've been slowly insulating with the air baffles. I guess I should have done that sooner.

Waiting for the storm to hit.

Well- it looks like we in New England are going to get our first big snow storm of the year.  Some forecasts predict about 12 inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow. Other forecasts predict up to 24 inches. This will be our first bid snow storm in the Brightman house. The only thing I'm worried about is losing electricity. I have not bought a generator, so I might be regretting that soon. We have lost electricity before but only for brief periods. This storm caused quite a mess down south already with lots of power outages.

We do have a wood stove for backup heat, but it's a small soapstone stove.  These stoves don't produce a lot of heat and just work on radiant heat. Still we could gather around that and I'll tell stories of Star Wars just like in Family Guy.

I think everything will be OK. This Brightman house does get a little scary being on top of a hill. The wind can be pretty awesome during a storm. And because of all the window, when there's lightning you think it's going to strike you in your bed. I am always jumping for my life during a lightning storm.

Just remember, all of this snow is because of global warming, or climate change, or global cooling, or the hole in the ozone, or the gay baby arctic polar bear being abused, or…..