Staying warm this winter 2022

[Mortblanc]

I just looked out the window and saw a huge flight of geese, a half dozen V formations, circling low looking for open water. That is scarce right now, anything liquid is frozen.

The temp got up to -13c a few minutes ago and I had to turn the heat down. Yesterday I woke to see -27c on the gauge and 50mph wind gusts to give a wind chill of -60c. The temp never go above -25c all day and the wind remained at 20mph for the entire day. I never got the inside temp up to 15 all day.

At that temperature the laws of physics and the nature of home heating advertisement changes. It is almost impossible to generate enough heat to overcome the outside temp intrusion even with good insulation and a powerful furnace. You often crank everything you have to full up and still watch the inside temp fall while you stand there helplessly.

It does not matter what kind of heat, backup heat, or emergency heat you have, you simply can not keep the temp up to comfort level and barely up to survival level and that is with all utilities in place and working.

Over heating chimney pipes, flue liners and shorting out electrical cords for small heaters is common at these temps and houses burn down in a snap. The fire brigade could not even reach my place if needed, the roads are impassable.

Above -27c, our 0 F, you can keep things going well enough. Below -27 you are fighting things you never visualized.

I am fully insulated, sealed, wrapped and physically protected. My water system is protected, wrapped and "winter proof". However! When the temp is low enough that one can throw a pot of boiling water into the air and have it freeze before it touches the ground imagine sewage running through a sewer pipe at that same temp. If the trip from appliance to underground is more than 2-3 meters that sewage is going to freeze in the pipe before it dives underground. An ice plug is forming with each use.

Crawl spaces that usually are protected are vulnerable in this weather. Most people have sewer lines that run under the floor for several meters before connecting to the main. Ask me how I know!

The one thing I failed to check was the sewer, heating lines. No shower for me until the thaw arrives.