Power Failure

Louisville recently got hit by a major snowstorm (major for here, a 'light dusting' for most other places I've lived) and the temperature dropped substantially. As the temperature dropped, people got cold - so they turned on the electric heat.

As a result, the power went out last night. The hallway lights were still on; but the apartments in multiple floors were out. Too many electric heaters were on, and the mainline breaker downstairs tripped. After about an hour, the power came back on.

Half an hour later, it went out again.

An hour later, it came back on. Half an hour later, ... you probably get the idea at this point.

Some time around midnight, it came on for good, though what they had to do to manage it is unclear to me.

This afternoon, maintenance was going around to each apartment to clean the filters in the hot water radiator headers. The plan is to improve the hot water heat, so that there's less load on the electric heaters. So far, it seems to be working, in that my apartment is a good 2-3 degrees warmer than it used to be.

None of this takes into account that the patio door is drafty as hell, and sheets of ice cold air slough off the windows to practically cover the floor in a layer of ice. While improving the heaters will help, the core problem of the windows being insufficient remains unaddressed.

Ahh, winter

The last few days have been interesting. It's been pretty cold, which isn't a huge problem on its own; as long as it's dead calm outside, you draw all the shades properly, and you don't turn on any fans, the temperature in the apartment stays livable. Uncomfortable, but livable.

Unfortunately, the wind has been blowing like crazy. I never realized before now the sheer level of draftiness here. Perhaps I was simply not looking for it before.

There are of course the obvious candidates of the sliding glass door and the seals around the heating units. But the real surprise was the kitchen: apparently the space behind the dishwasher and garbage disposal is connected directly to the large utility space between the walls. That utility space is cold as hell and the wind pushes it all into the kitchen.

It never really occurred to me to block off the kitchen of all places, but doing so has helped the heat situation a lot. Just another helpful tip from an 800 building resident!