On the Island the temperatures are up to 3*C warmer than just across the water on the Mainland, today in the morning it was 8*C outside, now it's 12*C , not cold by other people's standards, but even then I feel the cold and it seems to creep into my bones and they take ages to thaw out again.
The thermostat controlled oil filled fin-heater I had been using was just not quite keeping me warm enough and the choice came three years ago of having to decide between replacing the broken wood-fired fire or getting a heat-pump. After pluses and minuses I decided on a heat pump.
The trick of heat-pumps is to keep them running 24 hours a day and rely on the thermostat to do its thing. ( A thought that makes most people shudder). I turn it on as soon as it gets cold, around the end of April, beginning of May and at first the pump is working hard. Then the walls, furnishings, books, clothes in the wardrobes etc. warm up and the heat-pump just tops up the air temperature. I keep the temperature at 18*C when I go to bed and bring it back up to 21*C when I get up in the morning.This is now its third winter and the house, which is not insulated, has stayed cosy.
But there were other things to learn about owning a heat-pump. The 2nd year the electricity account increased to the same cost as running the oil-filled fin-heater. Oh! I found out I need to regularly wash its air-filter screen. My neighbour Phil showed me how to do it this past summer and I was surprised how clogged up it was and easy it was to clean - and now, in comparison to last year, I am only paying on average $50 a month more than my summer electricity account. To compensate for the electricity used to run the household water pressure controlled pump, summer and winter I do only turn on my hot water every 2nd daythough and then only to heat the water back up to temperature again, and I only use the oven occasionally, using the covered frypan as the alternative.
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| Enjoying the sunshine on top of washing machine |
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