As we said, it was cold last night!
Torben took a picture of the Christmas tree around 5 p.m.
Kaitlin sent us this note this morning before we got up there (temperatures in Fahrenheit):
At around 6:30-6:45 today when Zo-Zo first wanted to get up it was 5.4 out and 66 inside. The sun was peaking up though so it may have been a little colder in the night. Now – 8:10 – it is 9.9 out and 67.6 in the house. We have not turned on a heater.
Maybe the snow on the greenhouse acted as insulation overnight? We have not gone over yet to see – are waiting until it gets a little warmer!
Tempi stole the blanket last night but we were prepared – we brought our down jackets to bed so were fine. Zoe pretty much stayed in her crate all night.
So the house did well last night with no active heat. And the greenhouse stayed above freezing and the plants survived. The next few days are supposed to be sunny, and the snow is melting off the roof, so it they should be safe for a while.
At the moment Torben, Kaitlin, and Andy are insulating one exhaust vent and its corresponding input vent so that should help a lot with heat leakage. As we told Rose last night, we need the other input and exhaust vents even in winter to keep the greenhouse from overheating.
Fun stuff, fun visit.
December 30, 2019
The greenhouse is warmer than my house was during our power outage last winter!
The temperatures Kaitlin was giving was for our well-insulated house, with a concrete floor warmed by the solar heating panels on the roof. It was still interesting because Andy hadn’t pumped heat into the floor for several days because of the weather, so it got cooler and cooler. It started warming up again today because the sun came out.
The greenhouse got down to about 34 degrees last night, but it got up to almost 80 today when the sun came out. The snow on the roof started melting, but not enough sun was hitting our heat-storing wall to warm it much. We’re curious to see what happens tonight and tomorrow. The greenhouse was designed to be a season extender and it has been working better than we expected. We have not been adding heat, the sun has been the sole source.
Good thing they had their down jackets since Tempi stole the blanket. 🙂
Yes! 😀
Odd to think that while your outside temperature is 9.9, in Australia they’re battling temperatures of 40 plus!
My heart goes out to those in Australia.
Mine too!
This is fun stuff to watch…I know planting against rock walls and things that will hold heat makes a difference.. but even so, this is amazing.
I think of the greenhouse as a big toy. It’s good for our mental health, and that’s worth a lot. 🙂