Big Snow is Coming?

[Fishindude77]

Forecast is calling for a big snow storm Tuesday and Wednesday in the Midwest, predictions varying from 6" to 24"
Tractor and loader is ready to go. We'll see what we get.

[disneysteve]

We got the nor’easter this past weekend. I still had to go to work Saturday morning during the worst of it and I saw a whopping 2 patients in 8 hours which was a waste but they almost never close us.

[ua_guy]

I’m in Southern CA this week. It’s going to be cool here too. Low 70’s and sunny during the day

Actually, we came down this way after a nasty cold/snow spell in the Northwest. Was enough to have to drag out the snowblower a few times (a relic that traveled with us from our time in the Midwest!)

Stay warm, stay safe!

[bjl584]

They are watching (probably the same storm you are talking about) here in Pittsburgh.
Depending how it tracks it could be all rain or up to a foot of snow.
Worst case is if it is freezing rain.

But I'm ready no matter what.
I have plenty of supplies.

Kerosene tanks are full
I have oil for the lamps.
Gasoline for the generator
Diesel tank is full on the backhoe
Extra food in the freezer
I just got 200 gallons of heating fuel last week
Still sitting on about a ton and a half of anthracite

[disneysteve]

My friends in central Florida were posting about the temps there the past few days. Down into the 20s which is pretty rare there. Of course there were the falling iguana warnings on the news. It’s a real thing. They get cold and become dormant but are still alive but fall from the trees.

[kork13]

My friends in central Florida were posting about the temps there the past few days. Down into the 20s which is pretty rare there. Of course there were the falling iguana warnings on the news. It’s a real thing. They get cold and become dormant but are still alive but fall from the trees.

My father lives in central Florida (Sebring) and when we were talking last night, he also mentioned the falling iguanas. Hilarious, though quite problematic. Imagine a 10lb lizard suddenly dropping out of a tree onto your car, or onto you! Happens all the time when it's cold like that.

Meanwhile, we're here sitting at 30° on a warm day, single digits at night for most of the winter, let alone the wind. My pity meter is pretty low... Lol

[bjl584]

My friends in central Florida were posting about the temps there the past few days. Down into the 20s which is pretty rare there. Of course there were the falling iguana warnings on the news. It’s a real thing. They get cold and become dormant but are still alive but fall from the trees.

My mom lives near Bradenton in the winter. She said it was going into the 30's over the weekend.
A lot of the homes there aren't insulated the way homes are in the north
A lot of them also don't have furnaces. Usually just a heat pump.
When it gets below freezing the HVAC sometimes can't keep up and can start causing problems
We saw something similar happen in Texas last year when they got hit with a big freeze

[LivingAlmostLarge]

My father lives in central Florida (Sebring) and when we were talking last night, he also mentioned the falling iguanas. Hilarious, though quite problematic. Imagine a 10lb lizard suddenly dropping out of a tree onto your car, or onto you! Happens all the time when it's cold like that.

Meanwhile, we're here sitting at 30° on a warm day, single digits at night for most of the winter, let alone the wind. My pity meter is pretty low... Lol

Okay I'm freaked out by falling iguana.

And Steve maybe they can't close urgent care in case of emergency

[disneysteve]

And Steve maybe they can't close urgent care in case of emergency

They like to play games. For certain policies and procedures, they lump us in with other outpatient practices. For other things, they lump us in with the hospitals and in-patient stuff. They're never quite sure where to put us as admittedly, we are kind of a hybrid.

They could easily close the urgent cares due to a bad storm. Patients could still go to the ERs if needed. Plus we do offer urgent care telehealth and those providers work from home, so they could have continued that service regardless of the weather and just closed the physical sites.

Forcing all of us to go out during the peak of the storm when our area was under a declared state of emergency really wasn't the best decision. But we have this debate every winter and it never gets us anywhere.

[ua_guy]

Still sitting on about a ton and a half of anthracite

Interesting...for heating? How is it used?

[bjl584]

Interesting...for heating? How is it used?

Yep. For heating

https://www.keystoker.com/product_category/stoker-stoves/

If you are familiar with how a pellet stove works, an anthracite coal stoker sort of works the same way.
Anthracite is hard coal and burns as clean as natural gas.
My unit is hooked into my duct work and heats the entire house.

In this market, it is cheaper to heat with anthracite than oil.
They are a fairly common way to heat in the north east.
Anthracite is mined in eastern PA, so it's readily available where I live.
I buy it by the ton

[ua_guy]

Yep. For heating

https://www.keystoker.com/product_category/stoker-stoves/

If you are familiar with how a pellet stove works, an anthracite coal stoker sort of works the same way.
Anthracite is hard coal and burns as clean as natural gas.
My unit is hooked into my duct work and heats the entire house.

In this market, it is cheaper to heat with anthracite than oil.
They are a fairly common way to heat in the north east.
Anthracite is mined in eastern PA, so it's readily available where I live.
I buy it by the ton

Nice! I was not familiar with its usage. Is it easier to store than pellets? We had a wood pellet stove to heat a shop for a while, and had to be careful about moisture, torn bags, and rodents making nests out of them.

[bjl584]

Nice! I was not familiar with its usage. Is it easier to store than pellets? We had a wood pellet stove to heat a shop for a while, and had to be careful about moisture, torn bags, and rodents making nests out of them.

Yes. much easier than wood pellets.
We used to have a pellet stove.
It was nice, but as you said, storage of the pellets could be a pain.
Coal isn't affected by moisture, temperature, bugs, or pests.

I store it in 2 large hoppers in my garage.
Each one holds about a ton.
The price per ton is about the same as wood pellets, but it produces more BTUs

[james.hendrickson]

BJ, isn't coal bad for the environment?

[bjl584]

BJ, isn't coal bad for the environment?

Yes and no.

Coal has been demonized, but not all of it is the same.
My furnace only burns anthracite.
Anthracite is hard coal.
It burns smokeless and gives off about the same amount of pollutants and CO2 as burning natural gas.

On the other hand, bituminous coal is the more common soft coal.
This type burns dirty with lots of soot and smoke.
It is commonly used in power generation and in the steel making industry since it is more common and cheaper.

Here is a link that explains it in more detail:

https://www.differencebetween.com/di...morphic%20rock.