Carbon Monoxide!?

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Weird The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured oout what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heating eff...
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Cranberry Mead

I am making mead today. It has a little cranberry in it, not much. I suspect it will be quite subtle in the finished product. The coffee can contraption holds the honey pot (jug) so the honey can all run out in just a matter of mere hours without having to baby sit. The recipe is as follows:


  • Water
  • Yeast, Lalvin EC-1118 Saccharomyces bayanus (Champagne) 15 grams (rehydrated)
  • 2 quarts Cranberry juice from concentrate
  • 10 pounds of Raspberry Honey from Howland Honey
  • The starting gravity turned out to be 1073.

The liquid that mead is made from is called "must".



The temperature is above zero out there for the first time in a couple of days. I think it is 3 above right now. The llamas seem happy, the chickens are happy anytime I give them sheep food. We got 4 eggs this morning so everyone is still producing.

I re-read the coal stove manual and discovered I was not using it as efficiently as I could have been. I had it in "weak draft" mode. My draft is excellent, I can run the hot gases through the internal chambers to more effectively extract heat to the room. It did make a significant difference. We add a log or two when the coal starts slowing down and the coal comes right back. The cats like it.

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Carbon Monoxide!?

-
Image
Weird The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured oout what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heating eff...
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