Holy crackers it's cold

[Dave Baker]

One thing I was hoping for after moving up from London to Aberdeenshire this year was a proper winter for once with shed loads of snow and biting temperatures instead of the mushy slush we used to get darn sarf. I'm not disappointed. I stuck a thermometer outside last night and got -5C and the landscape is resplendent in its white coating. The boiler is barely ticking over though to maintain 23C inside and the single rad in the kitchen isn't even fully hot most of the time. Good insulation and double glazing I suppose in this 20 year old house. It would have been miserable in my old

1920s built place with single glazed metal windows and no cavity walls at temperatures like this though.

Just need more snow please. A couple of feet of it would be ideal.

[Dave Liquorice]

Yeah, I detest the just above freezing damp, it's just miserable and saps everything out of you. Bring on sub zero and therefore dry cold, just bung on a jumper to keep warm.

I think may find that is not "cold" by Aberdeenshire standards. B-) Below -10C is more likely to be considered cold. Our min last night was

-5.9C under gloriously clear and starry skies. Then the cloud came in and the wind picked up only -1C now but with an F5 SW'ly pushing the wind chill down to -15C. The anemometer had frozen up, just been out to unfreeze it with WD40 (it's proper use) only out in the wind for a minute or two and been back in 20 mins but still feel chilled.

Looking at the radar looks like something will arrive in the next couple of hours. Same for here. Might go and light the woodburner in a while that wind will be taking the heat out of this place like it's going out of fashion. B-(

[Nightjar]

My recollection of the Scottish ski slopes is that the snow there was always rather wet.

Hope you have enough supplies to last you through the winter if you get that much snow this early in the year.

Colin Bignell

[Broadback]

All I say is thank goodness I brought the decorative brass monkeys I have indoors last night, otherwise their wives would be moaning!

[The Natural Philosopher]

Great idea for a product.

Brass monkeys with one of the temperature dependent magnetic materials and some magnet-equipped brass balls, so when it goes below -5C the balls fall off.

[polygonum]

Merge with a hear-no-see-no-speak-no - and you could have one ball for each temperature below zero -1 to -6!

[Nightjar]

If you had a set of three wise monkeys, you could have a graduated indicator, with each ball dropping off at a different temperature.

Colin Bignell

[Brian Gaff]

Its been pretty cold last night here in da souf too. -3 min last night. Unfortunately this house though terraced does not have cavity walls, and this is when you wish it had!

Brian

[The Other Mike]

-5 deg C isn't cold. It's about the temperature you should start considering wearing trousers rather than shorts.

[mogga]

I think our postman has been taking your advice this week!

[The Natural Philosopher]

Patent it!

[js.b1]

60mm Varme insulation, Mapei Keraflex bonded, to SBR'd painted solid walls.

You go from shivering, agonising at the cold around your ankles, to "where did the HEAT come from?". The heat is your own body heat, heating the room. Even with single glazing (metal will still create a drop draught so you need overly long curtains).

You lose the external wall thermal mass, but retain the internal wall thermal mass - and ridiculously silly warm up time. As in 2kW fan heater for a few minutes will rockets the temperature - which holds up for some time.

Very surreal.

[Geo]

Ours was still wearing them in the snow yesterday but had changed today. (Central Sotland)

[whisky-dave]

But who would go around collecting the monkey's dropped balls and re-afix them ready for the next time.

[polygonum]

ready for the next time.

If everything worked out well, they would drop off as the temperature fell and re-attach as it rose. So long as they distance they fall is small, it seems feasible. Whether it would actually work is another matter.

Some childcare book I read always opened at a section about undescended testicles...