Small things matter

[Joeboy]

Oh dear! @ 08.30hrs, -3 outdoors. Not sure 'enjoy' is the correct word but i do like to see my wee systems tested now & then. Not through any plan you understand, just the chaos of life.



@08.33


08.35, 1 of 6 running


Edit 09.30hrs. kettle on, sausage casserole on, full load of towels drying and temperature on the rise.

[Joeboy]

Got to that stage in the year where the front woodstore is becoming depleted. Lost a couple of hundred logs for this year to a roof leak.

Going through the remaining dry logs so I can restack the wets at the back and begin splitting & drying of next Winters load.

Had a nice aha! Moment when i finished filling the usual kindling box.

The WBS, WBS fans, clothes horses & sock hangers along with the dehumidifier have been so successful this Winter that the garage clothes dryer has not been needed.

It is now the kindling store (one of them anyway). Double Duty as the final drying spot too although that function is not really needed.



Each kindling bundle will be about ten days worth here.The dryer holds 6.

7 bundles ready so far. If my interest stays I should be able to get most of next seasons kindling ready out of the remaining front logstore before the real fun of splitting and stacking begins!

We have used significantly less logs this year. I put this down to the new door and glass seals I fitted at the start of 2023. The roomseal WBS has been a great way to go as has the multiple stovefans although SWMBO says I'm taking the Mick running all 3 at once on the same stove. She has a point. Doesn't half get the washing dry fast!

[Joeboy]

Topped out this evening at nine basic alt energy storage bundles. Just doing this with a hand axe. Really makes me appreciate the end result.

More tomorrow, hopefully clear the store for reboot.



SWMBO said a nice thing. "Oh, just drop the bundle into the basket and cut the string". That was nice.

[Moxi]

Sounds like a great day JB, I have to confess to a good one here too, wall to wall sun and no wind today so from 11am we were on solar and battery charging.

That in itself was nice and quite a rare thing at that time and this early in the season for our west facing array.

Move forward then to 2pm when I casually checked the SoC 35%, I was well chuffed, imagine my surprise then to see the battery fully charged at 4pm and we were exporting to the grid ?

That’s 8.8kWh from my 3.6kWp west system and two panels lent against the wall on the south, the 150 and one of the new 400’s. I really need to get the two panels on the porch roof permanently and two new ground racks built so I can deploy the other two panels, oh and get another 7kWh of pylons which the wife sanctioned only five minutes ago from the settee

Moxi

[Joeboy]

Sounds like a great day JB, I have to confess to a good one here too, wall to wall sun and no wind today so from 11am we were on solar and battery charging.

That in itself was nice and quite a rare thing at that time and this early in the season for our west facing array.

Move forward then to 2pm when I casually checked the SoC 35%, I was well chuffed, imagine my surprise then to see the battery fully charged at 4pm and we were exporting to the grid ?

That’s 8.8kWh from my 3.6kWp west system and two panels lent against the wall on the south, the 150 and one of the new 400’s. I really need to get the two panels on the porch roof permanently and two new ground racks built so I can deploy the other two panels, oh and get another 7kWh of pylons which the wife sanctioned only five minutes ago from the settee

Moxi

That is absolutely excellent to read! Nicely done. We'll be a while yet for that but nice to read that it's out and about down there.

I'd defo agree with stretch the resources and get those bad boys in place and working for your family. Nice one on the extra storage.

[Joeboy]

All three WBS fans doing a hyper dry of the towels. It really is quite surprising to see the towels moving in the breeze.


Got 800W coming in too which is slowly charging the stack.

Very slowly.

Classic FM on via my new to me secondhand £5 dab radio. Enough kindling for a while too.

[Joeboy]

Purely for my own reference in a years time.

Garage has enough stacked to end of month at least.


Once the garage store is finished we would be at end January 23 point where we started into lower woodstore.

We are 1.5 cubic mtrs of logs and 12 bundles of kindling ahead of where we were end Jan 23. Likely down to stove maintenance and a better burning regime.

Remember to split and moisture test logs in front woodstore side pocket Winter 24, they were soaked. Might be 2 years before useable and they are all the way to the back of the sidepocket.

[Moxi]

JB

That reminds me you asked about my logs moisture sometime back and I couldn't reply as my meter was over at the caravan at the time, but typically, 14 to 20% at the side of the stove ready to use. We mostly burn softwood as thats what our local lumber yard grow for fencing materials etc, they supply coed tan (fire wood) loose by the cubic meter (rough) or in plastic sacks at 8" or granny logs at 4" ready to burn.

We supplement this with some home sourced stuff gathered over the preceding season but since the EWI was fitted some years back our consumption has significantly dropped.

Moxi

[Joeboy]

JB

That reminds me you asked about my logs moisture sometime back and I couldn't reply as my meter was over at the caravan at the time, but typically, 14 to 20% at the side of the stove ready to use. We mostly burn softwood as thats what our local lumber yard grow for fencing materials etc, they supply coed tan (fire wood) loose by the cubic meter (rough) or in plastic sacks at 8" or granny logs at 4" ready to burn.

We supplement this with some home sourced stuff gathered over the preceding season but since the EWI was fitted some years back our consumption has significantly dropped.

Moxi

That's great. I would like to do more insulation but tbh I've hit the limit of what I can achieve without ripping into the fabric of the build. Could fit triple glazing but it was replaced in 2009 and 2011 with new double glazing. I can't quite convince myself to rip it out, straight to landfill...

It's great you've got a local source. We've got just enough power coming in that put on the solar diverter for half an hour. Going to use the remaining incoming PV power to run the logsplitter and keep my logging carbon count as low as I can for a WBS.

We were out deep in the countryside last night and some of the WBS's were absolutely honking. They're just not doing it right or caring. I'm obsessive as F about how I do this. Partly my parsinimous nature but also the engineering side of maximising each log. It comes down to respecting what I have and so much of that is reinforced by being hands on with the process from start to finish. Even SWMBO does her own wee burn boxes with chippings, splinters and pine cones.

[Joeboy]

JB

That reminds me you asked about my logs moisture sometime back and I couldn't reply as my meter was over at the caravan at the time, but typically, 14 to 20% at the side of the stove ready to use. We mostly burn softwood as thats what our local lumber yard grow for fencing materials etc, they supply coed tan (fire wood) loose by the cubic meter (rough) or in plastic sacks at 8" or granny logs at 4" ready to burn.

We supplement this with some home sourced stuff gathered over the preceding season but since the EWI was fitted some years back our consumption has significantly dropped.

Moxi

Just finished stacking garage store and those logs came from the big woodstore down the garden. Broke the seal so to speak. Tested at 14.7% moisture which is excellent .

Couldn't be bothered splitting as it is beginning to form freezing fog out there.
Retreated to big room with a book and WBS instead. Classic FM on.