Just incase you are in denial about winter!

[Sacto Diane]

If you want a reminder of winter, just looks are what the folks in Europe are going through.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/02/deep-freeze-spreads-across-europe/100239/

Diane

[Texas_Ranger]

If you want a reminder of winter, just looks are what the folks in Europe are going through.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/02/deep-freeze-spreads-across-europe/100239/

Diane

Yup, it's COLD here! Starting to warm up again though, tomorrow it's supposed to go above freezing for the first time again. We didn't get much snow in Austria though.

The rising temperatures make life fun - as the ground thaws a little, all the breaks in frozen water mains become visible!

[lupinfarm]

It was warm and windy here today probably about -5c as I could go out without a snow coat, gloves and hat etc. But Saturday
it was -10c with high winds. I spent the morning trying to load my pony onto a trailer. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.
I hope it is not to cold as i may have to shut down my furnace as we seem to have a problem with gasses coming back
into the house. Called the repair guy but he cant come in until Wednesday morning. Our problem this winter has been the
swings in temps, + values one day -values the next creating a sheet of ice all around the house and down the driveway.
I have folks who live in the U.K and they are in their 80s they must be finding this weather hard to deal with as they both
like to get out and remain active during the winter months. They don`t drive so they must be stuck ins at the moment.
Lets pray for the terrible weather to end.

[Texas_Ranger]

+5C and pretty strong winds here today... supposed to stay mostly above freezing for the rest of the week (dips to -1 at night).

We might have to go without heat in one part of the place from late March onwards... our ancient (70s) gas boiler didn't pass the last inspection (too much CO2 in the exhaust for current environmental regulations) but we don't want to replace it since we're supposed to get a new solid fuel heating system for the entire house around that time. I don't really trust the deadlines for the new heating system though. Excavation and construction for pellets storage in the back yard were scheduled for January, but with the cold spell they didn't do anything of course. Now I'm wondering whether we should try to find someone who can tune up the old boiler, try to find a used boiler or get some wood stoves. We have chimneys in every room, so it would be possible to install wood stoves.

[jeepnstein]

Relatively warm and muddy here in beautiful Ohio. My rose bushes are starting to bud. I can't wait to see what my gas budget does this year.

[lupinfarm]

+1c today and driveway very slippery. Had HVAC people in yesterday to look at my crapped out furnace(1985 Clare direct vent oil). Unfortunately it was condemned.Seems the bolts holding the heat exchanger onto the outside of the furnace have corroded and it has been leaking CO2 into the house. One of the bolts was repaired sometime back, maybe by a PO, but
has since rusted away and fallen out and the other disintegrated into dust when the repair man touched it with the nozzle of
his vacuum. They did a patch up job, but by law I only have one month to source out a replacement ( estimate $3,000.).The
contractor will be back in a month to decommission the furnace and if I dont have a new furnace by then he will notify my insurer. He says he hates doing it but its the law. Now my kitchen re-do is on the "back burner" excuse the pun. I did want
to get the kitchen and living room done and put the house up for sale this spring. This cant happen now. Hopefully the
weather will stay warm and we can save on heating costs.

[Texas_Ranger]

Well, let's see... would it help you to survive until summer without replacing the boiler? It's mid-February now, so it might be possible to get by using space heaters until spring.

Weather report: maximum was +5C here today with awfully strong winds. I painstakingly removed any leftover snow because it was half-melted and we're supposed to get some night frosts again - I certainly don't want the half-melted snow to freeze over again!

[downtowndahlgren]

Well, we really haven't had much winter here in VA this year - last weekend was the first and only REALLY cold weekend I can remember. But tomorrow we're supposed to have 1-3" of snow. And we occasionally have March blizzards, ugh.

[lupinfarm]

HI Texas Ranger...I could easily survive until spring with out a furnace, only problem is I cant as my insurance company
insists i have a furnace. The HVAC contractor will be back in a month ( as per Fire dept edict) to remove the furnace as
it could leach carbon monoxide again. Getting in trouble with local fire department is not a good idea. Plus dont really
know what the weather will do, heating with Electric heaters could prove very costly in an old drafty house as we pay
farm rates for our hydro which is about 1/3 more per kw/hour than more sensible residential users.
just took this of a heating contractors website it outlines what the responsibilities are for the HVAC company when
a furnace is deemed unsafe.
If anything went wrong with your furnace-if there's a cracked heat exchanger, or a rusted vent pipe, or insufficient combustion, or a poor quality installation-it could be a real hazard.

In cases where there is clear and present danger, the gas technician is required by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) to issue a furnace red tag. That means the appliance has to be shut down completely, and the gas turned off. The homeowner is stuck without their furnace (or boiler or heater) until they repair-or more usually, replace-the equipment. That's not a position anybody wants to be in.

There are several levels of authority involved: the contractor who makes the decision (such as AtlasCare), the gas utility (Enbridge Gas, Union Gas), and the safety regulations of the TSSA-which is responsible for governing home safety in Ontario.

Only when the red tag situation has been taken care of, and the hazardous appliance repaired or replaced, can the heating company notify the gas contractor that corrective action has been taken. At that time, the red tag can be removed.

[Texas_Ranger]

Could you get a used one? Around here people occasionally rip them out during a remodel just because. That's what I'm looking for right now, possibly a free used boiler, or very cheap at least, ideally one I can even give a test run before I take it. And preferably one with an inspection tag that's still good for a few years!