What did you do today?

[Ed Kennell 40,316]

Warm 40F temps forecast today, so I shut down the wood burner last night and cleaned the stove pipe today.   She has been burning 24/7 for several weeks.

This is what came out of the 8" pipe. Nothing in the masonry  chimney.      Keep em clean.

 

Ran the Escape thru the car wash to get PennDOTs brine off.

 

[cleat 6,940]

We have had a few days of light flurries so I thought I might as well give the driveway a quick cleanup.

Yes it is gravel so I have the blade raised up a bit on it's skids.

 

[Bar Nuthin 907]

Got a 2nd dusting of snow this morning - maybe an inch or so. What would probably have taken an hour or more with my snowblower, was knocked out in 20 minutes using the plow. 

And to think, I was originally thinking about selling the plow because I didn't think I'd use it. 

[ebinmaine 70,404]

12 hours ago, Bar Nuthin said:

And to think, I was originally thinking about selling the plow because I didn't think I'd use it. 

 

whhhaaa?

 

Crazy talk I tell ya. Crazy talk.   🤪 

[WHX?? 50,570]

No snow here but brrr cold so hard water fishing  ... should be working on horse projects.  

[SylvanLakeWH 27,260]

Eh... @WHX?? I'm noticing her's is bigger... 

[WHX?? 50,570]

3 minutes ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Eh... @WHX?? I'm noticing her's is bigger... 

Life is better if I let her win ... 

[Ed Kennell 40,316]

8 minutes ago, WHX?? said:

I let her win

Time to forward a note...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[8ntruck 7,344]

The local high school robotics team i am mentoring is about two weeks into build season.  We've had several snow days, so the team has been meeting virtually.  CAD design of this year's robot is almost done.  

 

I've been working with the kids on various bits and pieces - a coaxial drive gearbox for the manipulator arm, teaching how to lay out gas spring mounting points on the game piece gripper, and prototyping the climber mechanism to work out geometry and gearing for the drive. 

 

Got the first climb last night - until it didn't.  The climber got the prototype rig off of the ground as expected.  Then, one of the students wanted to see how much higher it would go.  The mechanism went into a bind, and before we realized what was going on, we had bent two of the 1/2" aluminum drive axles and broke a #25 roller chain.  The power source for this is two Falcon 500 brushless motors geared at 100:1, running on 12 volts.

 

The students thought it was a disaster.  I saw it as a learning opportunity for them.  I started by reminding them that a prototype was built to find unexpected bugs - like we had just seen.  We discussed what and how it had failed, and what our next steps would be.

 

Meanwhile, the groups working on the rest of the robot weren't liking the way the various subsystem were packaging as a whole.  The decision was made to set robot mark 1 design aside and spend a day or 3 investigating a different concept.

 

Will be interesting to see where this leads.

[Bar Nuthin 907]

On 1/15/2025 at 8:35 AM, WHX?? said:

No snow here but brrr cold so hard water fishing  ... should be working on horse projects.  

 

 

Lot of nice meat on dat dare Nordern!!! 

 

Years ago, an "old-timer" told me they used to be considered a "junk" fish and people would club them and toss them back in the lake.

Personally, one of my favorites!

[Wayne0 869]

3 hours ago, Bar Nuthin said:

 

Lot of nice meat on dat dare Nordern!!! 

 

Years ago, an "old-timer" told me they used to be considered a "junk" fish and people would club them and toss them back in the lake.

Personally, one of my favorites!

Pretty tasty, but, they are like eating a pin cushion.  Any White Perch there?

[Bar Nuthin 907]

6 hours ago, Wayne0 said:

Pretty tasty, but, they are like eating a pin cushion.  Any White Perch there?

Old timer taught me how to zip the y-bones out - EZ-PZ

Edited January 17 by Bar Nuthin

[Pullstart 64,388]

Did some service work at a couple homes this past week.  During an LP to Natural conversion, I found the lint inside the dryer cabinet had started fire and smoldered about inside the appliance.  I refused service and insisted they replace.  They did not argue.  I then proceeded to clean their dryer vent.

 

 

[adsm08 2,574]

On 1/13/2025 at 5:45 PM, Ed Kennell said:

Warm 40F temps forecast today, so I shut down the wood burner last night and cleaned the stove pipe today.   She has been burning 24/7 for several weeks.

This is what came out of the 8" pipe. Nothing in the masonry  chimney.      Keep em clean.

 

Ran the Escape thru the car wash to get PennDOTs brine off.

 

 

What are you burning Ed?

 

I don't burn, 24/7 anymore but we are through a few cords already this year and my pipes don't look like that.

 

I usually only clean out at the end of the season and you have more there than I get from the whole chimney and stove pipe together.

[Ed Kennell 40,316]

Just now, adsm08 said:

What are you burning Ed?

Most is hickory with some oak.   All dried 4-5 years.    I burn 24/7 and get no soot in the masonary chimney, but get this amount in the 3 feet of 8" metal pipe about every 4 weeks.

[Horsin'round 149]

10 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

get no soot in the masonary chimney, but get this amount in the 3 feet of 8" metal pipe about every 4 weeks.

 

That would be the sign of a cold chimney.  Try increasing your draft. Maintaining chimney temperatures above 250° is critical. We burn 3 to 4 cords a year and get about that much deposit in a 2 story chimney,  cleaning once a year. 

[adsm08 2,574]

44 minutes ago, Horsin'round said:

 

That would be the sign of a cold chimney.  Try increasing your draft. Maintaining chimney temperatures above 250° is critical. We burn 3 to 4 cords a year and get about that much deposit in a 2 story chimney,  cleaning once a year. 

 

I agree.

 

Grab one of these and slap it on that pipe. They aren't super acurate, but better than nothing. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/rutland-stove-thermometer-burn-indicator-3198420?store=2713&cid=Google-Local&utm_medium=Google&utm_source=Local&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4rK8BhD7ARIsAFe5LXLWSCFipdpHHaOdx-w7-A6TFMGdlHkGN9AqmGCLilmjOqryRaJalBEaAt2EEALw_wcB

[Ed Kennell 40,316]

13 hours ago, Horsin'round said:

 

That would be the sign of a cold chimney.

The oven thermometer on the outside of the pipe where it enters the chimney measured 135F this morning.  I wonder if I reduced the pipe to 6 inches if that would increase the pipe temp.

I can't really increase the draft as the stove will get too hot.      14F this morning Mark.   And the wood stove is heating the entire house to 71F.

[Ed Kennell 40,316]

14F and 5-6 inches of fluffy drifting snow this morning got me almost 2 hours of seat time behind the dually Ber Vac.

  Blowing the 5 driveways with the 520H takes nearly twice as long as plowing with the 312H, but it is much much more comfortable in the 55F  cab.

[Handy Don 13,272]

25 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

The oven thermometer on the outside of the pipe where it enters the chimney measured 135F this morning.

At 135, you are definitely getting flue gas condensation inside the pipe. I suspect you have too much stove for the area you are heating and hence have to throttle it down. 

[lynnmor 7,549]

1 hour ago, Ed Kennell said:

14F and 5-6 inches of fluffy drifting snow this morning got me almost 2 hours of seat time behind the dually Ber Vac.

  Blowing the 5 driveways with the 520H takes nearly twice as long as plowing with the 312H, but it is much much more comfortable in the 55F  cab.

I just wanted to see what the temperature is in my unheated cab, during my 2 hour snow blowing it averaged 38 degrees.  Should have used my usual tee shirt and coat, but I added a flannel shirt and was actually warmer than I wanted to be. 

 

I have a plow with a thick UHMW scraper and I doubt that it will do much to the base layer of ice, so I might put the steel only blade on another tractor and try that after lunch.

[lynnmor 7,549]

So I did mount the steel blade and it took off the bulk of the remaining snow/ice.  I'm trying to do as much as possible today since the next few days there will be nothing melting.  Back at it.

[Ed Kennell 40,316]

1 hour ago, lynnmor said:

in my unheated cab, during my 2 hour snow blowing it averaged 38 degrees.

That's pretty good...about 2o+ degrees above outside.   I assume that's on one of your 520s.

[lynnmor 7,549]

1 hour ago, Ed Kennell said:

That's pretty good...about 2o+ degrees above outside.   I assume that's on one of your 520s.

Yes, 520.  I guess there was a bit of solar heating with the clear sky.  Finished the open station plowing and that wasn't quite as pleasant with the wind chilling my legs, should have layered up.  The plow was the ticket, there are some black areas opening up already, but that may stop soon. 

[Ed Kennell 40,316]

3 minutes ago, lynnmor said:

The plow was the ticket,

I much prefer to plow, it's quicker, quieter, and more fun.   But at 14 degrees and some wind today, I hid in the warm cab.   Might have to look for a cab for the plow tractor.