December 2018 tale of the tape

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 9:32 am

1,413 lbs. coal fed into the Coal Gun in December. 945 HDD's. I currently presume 3 lbs. per day for DHW and the rest for home heating. (1413 -93)/945 = 1.397 lbs. per HDD for home heating only. A bit worse than my November figure. Having the over the fire air port open may be decreasing my boilers efficiency. The efficiency over the past week or two really fell off.

swyman · Post by **swyman** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 10:08 am

lsayre wrote: ↑
Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 9:32 am
1,413 lbs. coal fed into the Coal Gun in December. 945 HDD's. I currently presume 3 lbs. per day for DHW and the rest for home heating. (1413 -93)/945 = 1.397 lbs. per HDD for home heating only. A bit worse than my November figure. Having the over the fire air port open may be decreasing my boilers efficiency. The efficiency over the past week or two really fell off.

What website do you use to see your HDD?

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 11:15 am

swyman wrote: ↑
Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 10:08 am
What website do you use to see your HDD?

I compute them myself.

nepacoal · Post by **nepacoal** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 11:45 am

I've been using this site so far. Seems accurate enough:

https://www.degreedays.net

swyman · Post by **swyman** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 12:11 pm

Do these take wind into consideration or strictly temp?

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 12:13 pm

Temperature is the only consideration, as well as the only consideration required.

swyman · Post by **swyman** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 12:22 pm

lsayre wrote: ↑
Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 12:13 pm
Temperature is the only consideration, as well as the only consideration required.

Should I have one of them professional companies come in and do an assessment on my house? When the wind blows my heater really runs. It can be 30 degrees and if the wind is whipping, so is my furnaces squirrel cage. It can be -10 and no wind and my heat calls are few. I really thought I cleaned up the air infiltration when I added the addition as I don't feel the drafts like I did before but something has to be happening somewhere? That might give me a good number on how much heat I need to heat my house?

Post by **Rob R.** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 1:06 pm

swyman wrote: ↑
Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 12:22 pm
Should I have one of them professional companies come in and do an assessment on my house? When the wind blows my heater really runs. It can be 30 degrees and if the wind is whipping, so is my furnaces squirrel cage. It can be -10 and no wind and my heat calls are few. I really thought I cleaned up the air infiltration when I added the addition as I don't feel the drafts like I did before but something has to be happening somewhere? That might give me a good number on how much heat I need to heat my house?

In my opinion, if you can have a blower door test done for a reasonable price, it would be a good idea. That assumes you will actually attempt to plug the air leaks they identify. Call around and tell them what you are looking for, and ask for a cash price.

Degree days are a good way to compare how you have done in the past to how you do after improvements. I have spent a fair amount of time tightening up my old house, and per my records of before and after, I now burn 25% less coal for the same degree days.