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Just a little long exposure silhouette I took for fun tonight (and froze my face off doing it).



Around 20 here tonight and due to be a stupid 60 again by Saturday. What a screwy winter here in Virginia.

Night!
 - Aaron

[Ridgekid]

Cool shot!!!   Our skies were clear tonight too. Unfortunately I know this because our electric went out and i was setting up a generator at my sons house to keep his family warm. As of this posting it was out 3.5 hours at 0*. I lost 10* inside during that time. He lost 10* in the first hour, so it was only fair he use the genny. That and the fact my genny could not kick on my furnace fan anyway.

Ok time to crawl back under the covers! 

[BoilerHouse]

Great picture.  Thanks for sharing.  5 below (F) here last night.

[Bull]

Very nice picture, Thanks for sharing

[newmanab]

Cool shot!!!   Our skies were clear tonight too. Unfortunately I know this because our electric went out and i was setting up a generator at my sons house to keep his family warm. As of this posting it was out 3.5 hours at 0*. I lost 10* inside during that time. He lost 10* in the first hour, so it was only fair he use the genny. That and the fact my genny could not kick on my furnace fan anyway.

Ok time to crawl back under the covers! 

Ridgekid ---you have peak my attention, what type of insulation (sprayfoam???) and how big is your house? You have an very tight house.

[Bill G]

     Cool picture!  Sure was bitter out this morning!


Ridge,
        Tough break loosing elec on the coldest night of the year thus far...Hope all returned to normalcy by now???

     Had 6 deg for low last night.  Not too bad but couple more pieces of the good oak disappeared and house stayed perfect.  Owb does far better when it has to work a bit.

[Ridgekid]

Cool shot!!!   Our skies were clear tonight too. Unfortunately I know this because our electric went out and i was setting up a generator at my sons house to keep his family warm. As of this posting it was out 3.5 hours at 0*. I lost 10* inside during that time. He lost 10* in the first hour, so it was only fair he use the genny. That and the fact my genny could not kick on my furnace fan anyway.

Ok time to crawl back under the covers! 

Ridgekid ---you have peak my attention, what type of insulation (sprayfoam???) and how big is your house? You have an very tight house.

House built in 1992. 2000 sq ft Two story with 700 sq ft basement, 6" walls with pink panther fiberglass and foam board on the outside, Exterior vinyl siding. Double hung Anderson windows through out. Attic insulation blown in, topped off in 2010 from settled 12" back to 40". 

[mcarter]

Ridge, lets figure out a way to get our gens to run the furnace fan without being concerned that the heat pump or electric grid could possibly fire up if the generator is operating!

[woodman]

Thats easy, turn off your main disconect, backfeed through a 220 outlet, power your entire house with a 5000 watt geneartor.

[Ridgekid]

     Cool picture!  Sure was bitter out this morning!


Ridge,
        Tough break loosing elec on the coldest night of the year thus far...Hope all returned to normalcy by now???

     Had 6 deg for low last night.  Not too bad but couple more pieces of the good oak disappeared and house stayed perfect.  Owb does far better when it has to work a bit.

Bull-

It was nice I didn't lose heat very fast, but when it kicked on of course my heat pump started with the back heating strips. electric meter was flying! Very quickly the heat pump went off as the circulation pump on the Dragon finally reached the house, but the back up heat stayed on. Then I realized if I lower the set point of the thermostat and slowly raise it as it reaches it's set temperature i could get the house warmed back up without aux heat. This took about 1 1/2 hours.

Got me seriously thinking about that back-up generator, that's for sure!

[Ridgekid]

Thats easy, turn off your main disconect, backfeed through a 220 outlet, power your entire house with a 5000 watt geneartor.

My problem is I have a 2000 Watt generator (120 VAC) that can't feed a 220 VAC furnace fan. Luckily my sons furnace did!

[Ridgekid]

MCarter-

If you don't have an auto switchover, ALWAYS turn your main breaker off before connecting a generator. You'll just have to depend on a neighbor to see if powered is restored.

[mcarter]

I have a 10kW Generac with Automatic Transfer Switch.  RSI mentioned something about relays which im interested in but I dont have schematics and dont know what components to use.  I would simply like to wire the furnace fan separate from the electric grid in the furnace.

[Ridgekid]

Oh I see. I know the until outside on mine has a removable fuse link to kill the compressor unit. But I think if it's dead the furnace fan won't run. (Somehow the thermostat "sees" it). And if it's not running it auto switches to EMERG HEAT.

If you have a generator you should not have much worries. What keeps your heat pump from running now? A Aquastat?

[mcarter]

Ridge, I have two thermostats, one for the OWB and one for the heat pump.  The heat setting on the OWB is set higher than the thermostat for the heat pump.  I think mine is just that simple.