Happy New Year!
Thought I would give y'all an update on the HFGH, the wireless temp monitor, and RMH. We've had a fair bit of rain so some of the larger logs are wet. So we've been burning the wood surrounded by pellets. The pellets burn much hotter and get the thermal mass warmer faster.
The average temp this month vs last year this month is 3 degree lower (47 vs 50). However, with the RMH our kwh this month vs last year this month is 507 lower. The resulting savings are $40.16. We used the last of the 2 bags of pellets on Monday and purchased 4 more because of the wet wood.
We haven't had any issues locating free wood. It is abundant. Our neighbor had a large tree branch fall and we offered to cut it up free of charge in exchange for the wood. That probably represents 2 cords of wood. On the hunt for a chainsaw and thinking about getting the log splitter that is on sale at HF today with the super coupon 25% off (today only). Using a saws all currently.
The RMH is working brilliantly! We are able to get 20 degree drops, which the orchids LOVE! We see lots of bud preparation happening on the plants. On the frigid nights, we bump up the back up electric heater to come on earlier so that we can sleep longer. We are averaging 3 times up at night to stoke the fire on the nights below 40 degrees. The other nights above 40, we are usually able to sleep through.
The pan of water on top of the RMH barrel helps with the humidity. Also, the RMH really makes the panels create condensation and that really helps with humidity.
The wireless temp monitor by AcuRite is AWESOME!!! It allows us to sleep until it sends a text alert instead of setting an alarm to wake up and check the monitor. The AcuRite is peace of mind when we are at the BB games. I can check the server on my iPhone. I do recommend the Lithium batteries as advised by the instructions. Cold weather drains batteries much faster.
The weather stripping on the GH is doing a great job. We have 4 drip points, but it is not enough to worry with and the extra drips add to humidity.
