Belts and braces

Or not.

After patting myself on the back the other day for having a backup water source it got so bloody cold that even the wrapped-in-heating-tape cistern pipes have frozen, so no water coming out of my taps until the thaw. Hopefully that will be soon after Friday when it starts to rain and warm up. Meanwhile, I guess I’ll be heating water for a bucket bath. 

Elsewhere on the belts and braces front, I had come to the conclusion that…

I did not like the heat pump there.

I might not like it anywhere.

I did not like it on that wall.

I did not really like it at all.

Yes, after spending close to $5000 on a heat pump all I could think about was the bloody good holiday I could have had with that money. Not that there was really anywhere else it could go, but this (directly above the chair where I read and facing the spot on the sofa where I sit to watch telly) was not a good spot. I thought it would be nice to have warm air blowing on me, but that’s not exactly what happens. If I put it on the sideways fan mode, it blows warm air in one direction and cool air on the way back. If I don’t put the fan on and I’m sitting on the sofa, my left arm and head are warm, but my right hand is not. And when it reaches the requisite temperature it doesn’t just stop for a while, it blows cool air until it needs to start heating again.

Also, unlike the woodstove with its fan which does actually warm the whole house, the heat pump does not. People keep assuring me I will be grateful for it next summer when the next heat dome envelopes the island and I suppose that’s true, but $5000! (There’s a French language course in the south of France aimed specifically at older students that I’ve wanted to take for years, but couldn’t afford. The cost of the heat pump would have covered most of it.) 

And it’s next to useless at warming anything when it gets this cold. Ergo I was glad I’d managed to find some firewood in October. 

The “path” from the kitchen door towards the woodshed.

I’m not taking everything I’ve just said back, but in these frozen times I have discovered one thing I like about it. I do have a fire going in the evening, but when I go to bed I switch the heat pump on and it manages to warm the house to the point I don’t have to get a fire going as soon as I wake up. So, not a complete waste of money. Still.