HDD Update for the first week of December

In the first week of December I have used 15 bags of pellets to heat the house and shop including hot water. This weeks heating and hot water costs were $64.50.  In the last post I calculated a monthly usage of 68 bags if this month followed the trend for December 2012 Heating Degree Days (HDD).  So with 22.6% of the month gone I have used 22.0% of the fuel predicted.  Probably not a good sign considering it will get colder as the month goes on (probably).  In the first week the HDD were 224 in Springfield, VT.  Last year the first week of December there were 211 HDD and not until the 3rd week was the weekly total as high as 224 barely topping this years first week at a whopping 226.  So this may indicate a colder month than last year’s December.

No further progress on the boiler rebuild, I got distracted by obtaining a “free” hot tub.  It had a fried control board, as well as a fried pump motor.  I am sure the two are related and this should give me a clue as to how to fix the control board but, I have decided to replace the control board with a home built board consisting of relays.  Several of these relays will be controlled by switches by the operator, and several will be controlled by an Arduino  for example controlling the circulator pump and heater as well as reading the temperature sensors and reading the operators desire to raise or lower the temperature.  That will probably keep me occupied in my spare time for a week or so.  The second project in the shop is a sander which is giving me problems.  I ended up buying a second sander to make sure I would be able to meet my contractual obligations but in the meantime, there is a sander taking up a lot of space while I wait for parts.  It is a treat to work on it inside however, so I am not complaining just rationalizing why I am not working on the new boiler feed for chips.