I’m almost afraid to ask (or go to the Globe’s site and look), but is there round five coming through this coming weekend?
Regarding why west/east coast have different weather patterns. Think of the jet stream which has moved cold air from the far north (in Canada) and headed south and east across the continental landmass. High/low pressure areas. This is why central Florida will have freeze warnings tonight into tomorrow morning and have lows below those of the Pacific northwest (Seattle) despite the open water on three sides of the FL peninsula and huge latitude difference.
Having bought furnace/heat pump air conditioner units for houses north and south I understand why they can be too cold or hot. Also know why furnace versus heat pump choices are made. The size is based on the usual temperatures in an area as well as the size of the space. In Florida (and other southern places) the air flow comes from the ceiling- practical when you mainly want air cooling and warm air rises. In the north heat (cooling) vents are at floor level. Plus different levels of insulation are recommended for different climates. I remember our WI house struggling to cool the upstairs when the temps were in the 90’s. No big deal for FL summers. Now we get warm air that may not reach all areas before it gets sucked into the near floor return vents in our on slab single story house. This crazy climate puts water heaters in the garage (actually saves energy when it is hot) and water softeners outdoors. I also appreciate water from the refrigerator except now- ground water up north is 55 degrees and here it is 70 plus (except this winter it feels colder).
There is a reason most plumbing is on inside walls. This was reinforced when our house was designed and I noticed how shower heads are on the inside, not outside wall of a tub et al. The problem area being that kitchen sink placed on an outside wall so you have a view.
My sympathy for all of you facing extremely cold temperatures and house heat/water problems. Remember the long glorious summer days- they will return.
I’m almost afraid to ask (or go to the Globe’s site and look), but is there round five coming through this coming weekend?
I don’t think so. I saw a forecast which shows 40’s here on Sunday (not that I counting on it.)
Honestly, I can no longer figure out what’s coming. Looks like this weekend won’t be as bad, snow-wise. May go over 40 on Sunday, break out the shorts. Most homes around here have long icicles. Sun melts roof snow and air temps freeze it as it drips down. Mostly on the south sides of homes.
- 19 windchill in south jersey -school closings in Philly due to cold.
27 degrees this morning in Tampa, Florida. Cold for us this time of year.
@ thumper-
It sounds like you have zoned heat (that you have two thermostats). My first thought would be that it could be the 1st zone (Downstairs) is not getting proper circulation (for example, the valve for the zone that the thermostat opens up when it calls for heat, is not fully opening), or if the baseboard units have air in them that is stopping it, but if that has been checked, if the baseboards feel hot, then it is something else (and I assume you had that checked out and it all checked out fine.
There could be several reasons the downstairs is colder than upstairs:
1)If the downstairs is truly ground level, on a slab, it will be colder. I have a split, and the area that is on a slab is a lot colder than the upstairs areas, always has been…but if I read correctly, you have a heated basement
2)The downstairs area might be less well insulated then upstairs, plus depending on the house style, the upstairs area might be smaller. In this kind of weather, where the temperature gradient is much higher (ie 0 to 68 versus 20 to 68), the downstairs area may be leaking a lot more heat than upstairs, and for the amount of radiation you have on the first level, it can’t keep up at this temperature.
There are a couple of things you can do in this case that I have seen:
I seem to recall seeing piggy back units for copper baseboard, in a sense it takes a single unit and makes it a double decker. In older houses, where the baseboard units were in a kind of alcove, this was relatively easy to do, the modern ones that are low profile with aluminum covers that are common in modern houses would not be easy to do.
Likewise, if it is an older house with the alcove where the heating unit is, people replaced the copper with cast iron units,because of the nature of cast iron it can radiate more than copper will (the downside is it takes longer to heat up). I know that works, it was common in the neighborhood I lived in years ago, that had older houses.
I also have seen circulating fans that can be mounted on the baseboard unit that basically blow across the baseboard and helps circulate the heat, something like that might be worth looking into.
If the unit otherwise is working, and works with normal temperatures (I was shocked to figure out typical highs this time of year in our area are supposed to be upper 30’s, with lows in the upper 20’s), then you may just need to ride this out.