TRIVIA: the logic of icicles
 

What's the logic behind this? --

I'm in a semi-detached. I have about a foot of insulation in our loft by
now. I'm willing to bet that my neighbour has 3" or 4" at best.

On the front of the houses (SOUTH facing) I have loads of icicles:
neighbour has none. On the back of the houses (north facing) (yes I
know you could have worked that out but I wanted to emphasise that the
houses are *directly* on an east-west axis), he has LOADS of icicles,
and I have virtually none.

I can't work out what's going on, icicle-forming-wise. The roofs, by
the way, are respectively heavily covered (mine) and more lightly
covered (his).

Cheers
John

TRIVIA: the logic of icicles
 

"John L" wrote in message
...
What's the logic behind this? --

I'm in a semi-detached. I have about a foot of insulation in our loft by
now. I'm willing to bet that my neighbour has 3" or 4" at best.

On the front of the houses (SOUTH facing) I have loads of icicles:
neighbour has none. On the back of the houses (north facing) (yes I
know you could have worked that out but I wanted to emphasise that the
houses are *directly* on an east-west axis), he has LOADS of icicles,
and I have virtually none.

I can't work out what's going on, icicle-forming-wise. The roofs, by
the way, are respectively heavily covered (mine) and more lightly
covered (his).

Cheers
John

This may seem obvious but

You have no icicles at the back because there has been no thawing on that
face

You have icicles at the front because you have some thawing on that face

Neighbour has icicles at the back as some thawing on that face (heat loss
from inside)

Neighbour has no icicles at the front as lots of thawing due to heat loss
and external warming) so no re-freezing on that face

Tony

TRIVIA: the logic of icicles
 

On Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:56:47 +0000, TMC wrote:
You have no icicles at the back because there has been no thawing on that
face

You have icicles at the front because you have some thawing on that face

Neighbour has icicles at the back as some thawing on that face (heat loss
from inside)

Agreed. Not necessarily heat loss, either; I've seen recommendations to
reduce the amount of insulation at the edges in the roof-space, because
too much can keep that portion of the roof above too warm and promote
thawing (and then freezing). A lot of ice weight can do quite a bit of
damage...

TRIVIA: the logic of icicles
 

On 6 Jan, 15:45, John L wrote:
What's the logic behind this? --

I'm in a semi-detached. I have about a foot of insulation in our loft by
now. I'm willing to bet that my neighbour has 3" or 4" at best. *

On the front of the houses (SOUTH facing) I have loads of icicles:
neighbour has none. *On the back of the houses (north facing) *(yes I
know you could have worked that out but I wanted to emphasise that the
houses are *directly* on an east-west axis), he has LOADS of icicles,
and I have virtually none.

I can't work out what's going on, icicle-forming-wise. *The roofs, by
the way, are respectively heavily covered (mine) and more lightly
covered (his).

Cheers
John

Your gutter leaks at the front and your neighbours leaks at the back.
Simples