Yes, -3°F. It was warmer when I went to bed last night, but it must have been the wrong temperature for the radon-removal fan, which is on the other side of the outside wall from the headboard of my bed and which began to set up a terrible, ringing buzz right as I had almost dozed off.
I thought it was the furnace. The replacement A coil for the air-conditioning last summer required replacing the entire air-distribution box on top of the furnace and as a result, the ductwork has picked up an entirely new set of sounds.
Nope. Not a duct.
The refrigerator, perhaps? It has its own set of sounds, some louder and more worrying than others.
Nope. Not the fridge
So I found myself shivering in nightgown, robe and sandals, standing on the back stoop in the well-below-freezing cold, listening to-- Yes, there it was, drifting around the corner from the open end of the radon vent tucked up under the eaves: a sound like a distant air-raid siren.
It was late. I was sleepy. After an entire thirty seconds consideration, I decided the darned thing was either going to be okay, it was going to blow a breaker, or it was just going to fall apart and in any event, I needed to sleep and wasn't up tp just shutting it off. I went back to bed and ulled the covers up over my ears.
This morning it's running fine, as quiet as ever. At -3°F. Maybe there was a desperate squirrel draped across the open end last night, or a flock of shivering, vibrating bats in the pipe.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
5 comments:
Three below, Fahrenheit. Not fond of it.
The joys of owning a home.
Too cold for the bearings/bushings?
Kind of like the way my car heater howls when first started.....
Merle
Got to love the sounds cold makes on rotating stuff. Should hear my truck in the morning. I hear things rotating I did not even know it had.
"...or a flock of shivering, vibrating bats in the pipe."
It doesn't often get really cold here in Florida in the winter, but when it does, it gets *cold*. Like occasionally getting into the 20's. Yeah, I know, nothing like you 'Northerners' get, but dammit, this is Florida, not Buffalo!
One fine winter day years back, I was doing laundry. Always nice to run the clothes dryer in winter, the extra heat is most welcome.
Anyways -
There I was, minding my own business, loading laundry in the dryer and mashing the 'Start' button.
The dryer made an odd 'thump' noise just as I hit the button, so I opened the dryer door to see what had caused a noise that I never heard that dryer make before. Didn't see anything. Unloaded all the wet clothes and looked inside again.
Nothing. Huh.
Re-loaded the laundry, hit 'start' again, it made the usual dryer noises. 'Huh' again.
Let the dryer run it's cycle, everything seemed as it should. Thought nothing more about it for a few days.
Those few days later, I noticed an odd smell in the place. A day later, the smell turned into a distinct stench.
Suddenly recalled the odd 'thump' noise I heard the dryer make. Pulled the dryer away from the wall, and removed the corrugated metal vent hose from the back of the dryer.
And surprised myself to see a 4-foot black snake partially in the back of the dryer. Grabbed the decomposing creature and noticed the head of the little slithery fellow rather badly mangled.
He musta had his head up in the squirrel (snake?) cage blower. Trying to keep warm.
I guess it blew his mind...
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