h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We've been having some very cold weather recently. It is in fact the longest spell of cold weather ever recorded in Ireland, having been below freezing or just above it for more than three weeks.

By the standards of other countries, this is nothing, of course, but it comes as a shock to our poor little Irish eyes, which keep smiling despite being frozen in their sockets. Temperatures of minus 10 are being predicted by the weather people most nights, and we've had lovely clear skies and bright stars, when it is too cold to go out and see them.

Many people I know have fallen on the ice in the last few days, now that we are back to work.

It's brought it home to me how bad the insulation in my house is. It's a traditionally built house, made from concrete cavity blocks, with wooden floors, and vents to allow air to circulate under the floors, preventing the build-up of condensation in places where I can't get to. Condensation is the biggest problem with houses in Ireland, due to our normally extremely high humidity levels compared with other countries. The ventilation also makes the house very cold at the moment.

When we had our house insulated, we decided (albeit mainly for financial reasons) to leave out the ventilation option. However, as we are in the middle of a huge landmass (1000 km any direction to the sea ) we have a completely different climate to cope with. Having said that, in the hot weather we do have extremely high humidity levels.

Ventilation is enabled by means of opening the windows for a short while each morning and the wood-burning fire, which has ventilation shafts, and, of course, a chimney.

The insulation is 24 cm thick and has really made a difference. Now it's the windows (which we put in new 20 years ago) which are the weakest point regarding insulation.

Oooh, I feel for you, there is nothing worse than being cold. You will have to do as I do in the depths of an English winter and find a blanket for over your legs in the evening, to stop those cold draughts.

Hope it warms up soon!

If you did make such alterations to your house, would the Irish government support you? We had a very large grant for the work we had done - proviso was that we undertook at least three energy-saving measures.

There are some grants we can get for insulating our houses.

Some people have started to apply insulation to the outside of the house, which makes the house bigger. But we've a semi-detached house, so we could only do that if the neighbours wanted it too.

Yes - that certainly can be a problem. Yes, our house is now bigger, but we have lovely deep window sills which were adorned with bright window boxes all summer.

My central heating failed over the weekend

The plumber's booked to come today, but we've just had heavy snow, so I don't know if he'll make it through

We use gas-fired central heating, an electric oil-filled radiator and a coal fire. If it really gets cold we turn on the electric fan oven in the kitchen.

We converted to wood pellet (from gas) and solar panels earlier this year. There was some sun over Christmas which, once it had melted the ice on the panels, gave us some more free hot water!

Heh, a couple of years ago, a friend of mine that lived in a neighboring subdivision that was just recently built, once had to give shelter to his next door neighbors.

Keep in mind this is the Gulf Coast of Texas so one can expect some folks to not be accustomed to cold weather...

So, in the middle of the night my friend is awakened by a knock on the door. It's 3:00 am. The family next door is asking if they can stay in their house since their central heating went out in the night. He invites them in, of course, and makes up the spare room and the sofa for the couple and their two kids.

He's telling me this story with a straight face in a way that makes me think he's done an heroic thing...

I find out that the neighbors have been in his house for four days as they wait for the repairman to get everything sussed (the repairman was an idiot and also didn't have the right parts in stock).

Anyway, he finishes his personal story of sacrifice and neighborly kindness and notices the smirk on my face.

I ask, "are you serious? Your neighbors were serious? They couldn't survive a night without central heating? They couldn't bundle up? Throw on a few more blankets? The next day, they couldn't make a trip to the store to buy a couple of electric blankets or space heaters?... Really?"

He hems and haws a bit, and then I point out, "It's only in the 40's and low 50's for BoB's sake!"
... ...

Central heating engineer couldn't make it - we've re-arranged it for next Tuesday

Think I'll build an igloo.

They're predicting -8 degrees tonight.

Blimey! I'm beginning to feel almost guilty.

hehe


http://igoogle.wunderground.com/US//Lanzarote/GCRR.html


I didn't leave a moment too soon!

Hah!


Show off!

sorry, just couldn't help it. The day before I left we were actually snowed in for a few hours.

Good to know you got home safely

They now say that the cold weather is going to last another 10 days. There's a committee meeting today to decide whether it is to be declared a National Emergency or not. I walked and trammed it into work as normal without any problems.

Hmmm... I guess it is a bit chilly over there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8447023.stm

Wow - that is the prettiest satellite photo I have ever seen. Thanks for posting it!

Wednesday's 5cm of snow (that's 2 inches, folks!) is said to have cost the Dublin economy 80 million euros.