The Shoulder Months

A feature of this house are the five foot overhangs on the south side.  These prevent the summer sun from penetrating the interior space, and hopefully keeping the house cooler.  But they allow the winter sun - lower on the horizon - to directly shine into the interior, thus warming up the house, albeit somewhat.  The issue is the shoulder months - the cooler months where direct sunlight would help warm the house but the overhangs don't allow it - like March and April and October and part of November.  These months are trickier to keep the house at a consistent temperature.  Sometimes it's too warm outside that using the outdoor wood boiler is more trouble than its worth, yet the house is too cool for comfort.  It's definitely a transition time.  The solution, sometimes run the boiler to heat the house up for a day and then shut it off and let the house cool slowly until the temperature is once again unbearable - like 61℉.  Bearable for a few days, perhaps, but not for long.  This spring seems to be much wetter than normal, which means more cloudy days.  Not enough natural power to keep the stove running, and not enough excess energy to use the dump load to heat domestic hot water.  I did need to use the LP water heater quite often.  April has begun just as rainy, although the warmer temperatures are now keeping the house around 67℉.  It is time to clean out the wood boiler and put the cap on the stove pipe for the summer.