Wow, I can't imagine the cost of a frozen and ruptured engine block. My diesel truck (Ssangyong Musso) has a block heater which I'm using a lot these days. I have to pre-heat the engine for about 20-30 minutes before going out. However, I'm thinking of moving it into my insulated shipping container when the floor is done. I maintain the temperature in it at 10-12C. (pictures coming soon). I'm generally worried that every night out is not great for my truck, although it was cheap ($3.5k) and parts are plentiful and cheap.
My total loss from the heating failure was $200 for a new water pump and $50 to fix the previous one. But now I own two. So you could think of it as a $50 loss. It could have been worse.
Speaking of extreme cold. Gers/yurts have an interesting property, especially mine with large windows and glass doors. Even though we have to heat a lot at night, we can turn the heating OFF completely when the sun comes up. We essentially get 6-8 hours of FREE heat, assuming a sunny day and most days are in winter. Except today which is a light snowy day but that makes it warmer at night so maybe it's a wash. The passive solar effect of putting windows facing for maximum sun exposure is phenomenal. Very impressed.
No passive solar today unfortunately. Ginger is temporarily being renamed to Frosty.
I can not overemphasize this effect. When it's -20C outside and we can get free heat to maintain around 20C indoors, we're maintaining a 40C (100F) difference due to passive solar heat. In the future, I hope to harness the solar power for something useful at night, with solar panels and batteries. With cheap electricity rates, I'm not sure if it's worth it financially.
Despite cheap electricity rates (about 5c per kWh) Our last electricity bill was a shocker though at $300 for one month. However, it was an unusually cold November and December might be a bit warmer. We're using electricity to heat about 114m/2 (1227 sq ft) of indoors (including exterior buildings).
The good news is we're in for some relief from the government soon which apparently will give FREE electricity at night from December to March, which is off-peak for them but peak use for us. Hopefully that will cut our bill substantially. We'll see when we get our January bill.
As I've said before, we get supplementary heat from firewood. I've no idea how to convert for the USA (cords?) but it costs us $2 per sack. A sack is about 11kg (25 lbs). Half a ton delivered here cost us $75. A picture might help.
At current use, that could last us through the cold season. We had a young local cut down some of our dead trees but it's not really worth it when I have to pay him. I really should do it myself but it's hard work and I'm old and not broke. I'll pay one way or another. Cash or sore muscles. Which should I chose?
Re: New, modern yurt build in Mongolia
Linear Mode
