Hot weather survival

[Toddy]

Well yes but. Used to sell a UK watery epoxy for old wood stabilization.

I am actually for repairing old wood with new similar wood.

Actually that's his point; doing so is architectural vandalism. Many of the oldest buildings we admire are wooden framed, yet if instead of stablising them, and the craftsmanship that created them, we throw them away, it's like making a copy of a painting.
The wood and the woodwork in itself is as important as the stonework.

M

 

[Toddy]

I think you're probably right, I just mean the UK is historically built using bricks/stone and mortar... its continued like that forever... because I suppose we haven't really had deathly cold winters (as standard), "making do" has always been the port of call - draft excluders, jumpers, fires or even those gas bottle heaters!

You guys have I guess been forced by the elements to be efficient, it's created a much better environment for efficiency than the UK. Currently it's like 23°C inside (according to the thermostat)... during the winter I can have the heating flat out and where the thermostat is (coldest part) it'll take a while to hit 21°C... at a stretch might hit 22°C, but if turned off at night it'll easily drop to below 15°C... Wife and I are normally used to rocking about 16-17 degrees in the winter...

We aim for 20˚C in Winter, but the heating is off at night, and it drops down below 15˚C here then too. It comes on in the morning again about twenty minutes before anyone's up.
I can't sleep when the house is too warm.

 

[TLM]

We aim for 20˚C in Winter,

That would be considered fairly normal I guess. Every winter even in the south we have -25C (fairly often -35C) on the outside, meaning 45C (55C)temp difference across the walls and windows. That is the reason for all the insulation and concern for heating methods.

 

[Toddy]

We do get really hard cold spells, but they never last long. We're rarely below freezing for both day and night kind of thing. It's the constantly fluctuating just below and just above that makes things hard. Not just on things that grow, but stonework, harling and the like too. The constant contraction and expansion can be very destructive over time.

M

 

[TLM]

The constant contraction and expansion can be very destructive over time.

While that is true, it depends on the temp differences, large differences create large forces. Though the number of times does certainly have an effect.

What makes things difficult from moisture control point of view is if temp (and moisture) gradient changes directions. (Remember wondering why moisture barriers were put on the outside of buildings in UAE, the inside is basically always cooler so the moisture wants to go that way)

 

[Toddy]

It is not unknown for the temperature here to fluctuate daily between -2 and +2˚C for weeks on end....and it's wet, so there's constant rain while the weather is +C and then slush when it drops below....which then partially thaws the next day, and freezes overnight, to thaw again the next day. We call that Winter, and kind of long for days of long cold hard bright white snow/frost just for some relief from the cold grey wet.

 

[Robson Valley]

The snow sublimates here. Shovel off most of the concrete side walks, doesn't need to be perfect, it will be by tomorrow or the next day.

Only been one short spell of a few days when I really did feel trapped like everyone else. We got an overnight 'dump' of snow, I measured 44" off my front door step. Took some time to dig out from that one! Usually, we never see more than maybe 8" at a time.

Hot WX is here. Should be a few days over 30C, most of you have experienced much hotter than that. Here's some stuff to dream about:

 

[Robson Valley]

Great News! The Boil Water Advisory and the Water Conservation Advisory from June 17 have been lifted, noon today. Like last year, it seems to be a lack of capacity to deal with mineral sediment load during the alpine melt.

The notion is that microbes might be hiding behind microscopic mineral grains and the UV treatment doesn't see them. Odd but in a 4 liter jug, there's no turbidity, nothing to see, not even any discoloration.

So I ignored everything and continued to drink the cold, sweet water as our heat wave builds up.

 

[Toddy]

Our water comes from up on the Lanarkshire moors. The Daer Reservoir is the dammed up Daer Water from the Lowther Hills and the rain. When there's a flush on at times the water used to come through whisky coloured with the peat. Now they add alum to the water to floculate the particulate matter before it hits the screens, and then they add chlorine.
I know the chemical treatment is supposed to make the potable water safe but it's not good like it used to be. It's still soft, clean, etc., but it's not the water that it used to be it tastes so different that we have a house filter at the kitchen sink.

The local wells here come up through layers of sand and sandstone, and the water is beautiful, clear, cold, crisp and even smells fresh, but these days almost all the wells and seeps are capped and everyone just uses the tap water. I think only those my age and older will mind the taste and smell of 'real' water from the wells. It's a busy place now, very suburban.

 

[Robson Valley]

It's a shame that your wells aren't used. Must still be some outstanding water quality hidden under there. The nearest city here is built on more than 100m river bottom glacial gravels. Bunch of high capacity wells pounded down 50-100m. It's OK but certainly not the best for taste and Manganese stains.

When I used to travel every week or two, I carried several 2 gal and 5 gal water tanks in the back of the Suburban from spring until freeze-up. Not always for me but for those who run out of water for whatever reason(s).
Even after a few weeks in the tanks, that water was still better than most I was offered on a trip.
Here and there along our mountain highways, there are bubbling springs. If the water is potable, often there's some form of a pipe-works or a catchment basin. There's enough geothermal activity up here that a few stay open all winter and their sulfurous stench crosses them off my list. I'd rather melt snow.

Many of the local tributaries to the Fraser River are clean mountain streams free of agricultural run off. The Dore and the Goat are often glacier blue and milky with rock powder. Others like the McHale and the Bowron, you just want to wash your face in them and drink handfuls, they are so good.

 

[Toddy]

It's strange because Lanarkshire was heavily mined, heavily industrialised, but the ground water that comes up from the old mines when the rains are really heavy, and sort of spouts into the burns, is clean. You'd think it'd be black with the coal, but it's not, it's clean and clear.
Just so much rain that has flushed through I reckon.
Our water is very soft, it astonished me the first time I saw limescale on a kettle when I was down south. I thought this was some weird growth, something rotting the metal, and soap didn't lather up properly either. My natural dyes here are crisp and clean too, and I get very different results using water elsewhere. It got so I could tell what I'd get, where

We've had a lot of rain yesterday evening, and everything's growing lush again. It broke that horrible heat that made everyone feel headachy and unable to sleep. Bit of a relief to be honest. It's been a lovely Summer, but I'm glad it rained again for a bit too.

M

 

[Robson Valley]

It lends a lot of credibility to the notion that whiskeys and beers depend upon the water for some nuances of taste.

We have a very good artisan's brewery about 90 km east of us with 6-8 respectable products. They claim that it's the water which keeps them there. I hope some day soon that they announce a little distillation of a rye grain Canadian mash.

Back in the late '50's and 60's, my uncle was so proud of the well water on his farm. You could pump hard 24/7 and never draw it down. That was understandable once you tasted it. No damn wonder he got it all. Less than a mile away, at his brother's place, wonderful and sweet.

 

[Herman30]

For the last few days temperature has been at +26C daytime so I needed some practical way to carry some water with me when on and about away from home.

It hit me that I have this little shoulder bag/pouch that never have seen any good use.
So the pouch/bag + Nalgene Oasis 1 litre canteen = problem solved.



As the picture show; they´re like made for each other.


And as the bag/pouch seems to be made of cotton canvas it is possible to soak the bag and chill (to some degree) the canteen by evaporation.

 

[ManFriday4]

I have just read through this entire thread and searched it and not found "Wet Bulb Temperature" mentioned at all.

I find this really surprising & also not surprising and this isn't a judgement.

"Wet bulb temperature is the lowest temperature to which air can be cooled by the evaporation of water into the air at a constant pressure. It is therefore measured by wrapping a wet wick around the bulb of a thermometer, and the measured temperature corresponds to the wet bulb temperature."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/wet-bulb-temperature#:~:text=Wet%20bulb%20temperature%20is%20the,to%20the%20wet%20bulb%20temperature.

We rely on sweating to keep ourselves cool. When sweating ceases to cool us, we are in serious trouble.

Wet bulb temperatures are a combination of heat & humidity. Its high humidity which makes it difficult to keep cool.

I have put a °F & °C wet bulb table on my blog. These should be download able and I would recommend printing them and keeping them with or near an outside thermometer & humidity gauge. You need to know both reading to estimate survivability of the temperature.

Why Severe Heat is More Dangerous than Severe Cold.

This is the Pyrocene, the Age of Burning . The Age of Fire The Northern Boreal Forests are on fire, there are wildfire across southern Europ...

climateriskresearch.blogspot.com

Sitting in the shade with your feet in cool water, iced drinks & keeping well hydrated as well as doing very little is how to keep cool. A fan is a good idea.

People most at risk are the very young, elderly and people with chronic illnesses.

Sent from my SM-S901B using Tapatalk

 

[gg012]

I have just read through this entire thread and searched it and not found "Wet Bulb Temperature" mentioned at all....
Sent from my SM-S901B using Tapatalk

Yes, humidity is much more of a problem than most people realise. I have been in 40°C plus temperatures in the desert and in tropical regions, I know which I would rather! Southern England at 32°C can feel worse than a desert at 42°C!

Sent from underground

 

[TLM]

We used to have sauna thermometers that had both dry and wet temps and curves showing equivalences. Nice toy but not really useful in any way except curiosity. You stay as long as it feels comfortable and if not you go out. Works very reliably.

 

[ManFriday4]

We used to have sauna thermometers that had both dry and wet temps and curves showing equivalences. Nice toy but not really useful in any way except curiosity. You stay as long as it feels comfortable and if not you go out. Works very reliably.

I'm not sure that it would give you a proper wetbulb calculation. This will:

Wet Bulb Calculator

With humidity and temperature you can find out the value of the wet-bulb temperature, and if it's any different from the normal air temperature.

www.omnicalculator.com

 

[TLM]

I'm not sure that it would give you a proper wetbulb calculation.

It can, the curves were just the results of that calculator.

 

[ManFriday4]

It can, the curves were just the results of that calculator.

Great, it might save your life one day.

The thing is if you are on a camp or expedition and the heat & humidity are high this is the killer. Knowing how to cool down is important. Wetbulb temps kill, fast.

 

[TLM]

The thing is if you are on a camp or expedition and the heat & humidity are high this is the killer.

You can feel it, a separate calculator is not necessary.

We Finns practice it in 70-110 C once a week and summertime more often.