Air Heat Pumps? In Oulu?

Besides looking at purchasing provisions for your home in Oulu, I will be looking at systems for the home which may influence your cost of living. the first of these is the Air Heat Pump which is becoming popular in Finnish homes.

This is a product making much headway in Finland. It is known as the Air Heat Pump (In Finnish: Ilmalämpöpumppu).

Benefits of a Heat Pump System

• Because a heat pump does not burn fuel, it is safer and cleaner to run than a gas powered furnace.


• A heat pump provides a more uniform temperature throughout a building. It does not produce a sudden blast of hot air as traditional furnaces do each time they kick on.


• In the heat mode, heat pumps do not dry out the air the way traditional heaters do. The higher humidity maintained by heat pumps during cold weather provides healthier environment.


• Heat pumps are more efficient and cost less to run than electric furnaces.


• Because heat pumps are used year round (for cooling as well as heating needs), they cost less per hour of use (cost of purchase and installation divided by total number of hours used per year) than do individual heating and cooling systems, which each sit idle for a good part of the year.

Record sales are being reported in Sweden where the Government is helping to install these pumps so as to reduce the amount energy utilised for home heating in summer and air-conditioning in summer.

When I received a call a couple of days ago, I asked them to speak to Annikki, who set up for a representative to visit Kampitie to explain it to me.

A young sales representative, Sami Kiventerä, representing the company Pumppumestarit was on time. We spent about an hour going through the system.

Diagrammatic representations from HEAT PUMPS

Cooling Mode

• The compressor (1) pumps the refrigerant to the reversing valve (2).


• The reversing valve directs the flow to the outside coil (condenser) where the fan (3) cools and condenses the refrigerant to liquid.


• The air flowing across the coil removes heat (4) from the refrigerant


• The liquid refrigerant bypasses the first metering device and flows to the second metering device (6) at the inside coil (evaporator) where it is metered.


• Here it picks up heat energy from the air blowing (3) across the inside coil (evaporator) and the air comes out cooler (7). This is the air that blows into the home.


• The refrigerant vapor (8) then travels back to the reversing valve (9) to be directed to the compressor to start the cycle all over again (1).

Heating Mode

The difference in the two diagrams is the reversing valve (2) directs the compressed refrigerant to the inside coil first. This makes the inside coil the condenser and releases the heat energy (3-4). This heated air is ducted to the home. The outside coil is used to collect the heat energy (3-7). This now becomes the evaporator.

From what I know of heat pumps, it is generally efficient in countries which have average temperatures between -5 C and + 30 C. So the claim that it was useful in Oulu which has winter temperatures as low as -40 C and summer temperatures as high as +30 C, was of great interest to me.

The air heat pump works on the principle that it has a low temperature fluid which absorbs heat from the air and expands to be a gas, thereby cooling the air. In reverse it exchanges heat from the liquid to the air and can be liquefied again using a compressor.

The Finnish company is offering units from Sanyo and from Mitsubishi, both Japanese companies. Unlike most units, these work right down to -24 C and shut off at -25 C. At +7 C the efficiency is rated at 4.35 kw while at -24 C it is just 1.5 kw after which makes it no longer viable as a heat exchanger.

The main unit is located just outside the house and piping brings the liquid to the wall unit mounted inside the house. The unit inside the house has a fan which causes the air to be forced out at a rate of up to 5 cum / minute. It also has a thermostat unit which can be set to the temperature required.

By careful balancing of this along with the main home heating system, the company claims a reduction of 30 to 40 % in energy utilisation.

The sound generated by the fan is a maximum of 21 decibels, which is just a little more than a hum.

The humidity in the home is greatly reduced with this unit, so one must be careful with use of alternate humidity control systems. Also condensation on the pipes in winter and defrosting of the pipes is absolutely essential.

The filters have to be cleaned every couple of weeks using a vacuum cleaner or some such device.

The guarantees are 1 year for the installation work, 3 years for the unit and 5 years for the compressor. The various units are suited from areas as low as 50 sqm to 140 sqm.

When I looked at the aspect of Kampitie which has a cellar, the ground floor and the upper floor, and our need to keep the temperature at +27 C as Annikki's mother at the age of 87 needs to have this temperature, this unit would never be efficient as an alternate heating and cooling system with our low cost night energy heating system. If we were to use it only on one floor mainly to control the air quality and not the temperature, it could have some potential. But I have looked at the economics and it does not quite suit our present needs.

However, if anyone in a home suffers from allergies to dust and, say, cat fur, then this would certainly be a good investment.

Our daughter Joanna, in whose family a couple are plagued with allergies, this could be useful, although one would have to look whether there would be a significant impact in oil consumption as they have an oil heating system.

With oil prices sky-rocketing and expected to hit $ 100 per barrel early next year, such economies would certainly be worthwhile, as has been realised by the Swedish Government.

Single floor houses or apartments, where heating cost is not included in the rent or is the owner responsibility would certainly be the best market for this system.

Good buys at Tokmani today

Visit Tokmani today.

In Oulu there are three Tokmanis. The one near the University at Kaijonharju and the one on the south side of the city at Jukolantie have foodstuffs as well as hardware, clothes, etc. The one at Topila only has non food products.

I got two XL sweaters for just € 10. I also got two winter long johns also for € 10. There were also cotton long johns at just € 1 per piece, but unfortunately they did not have my size.

On the food front butter was just € 1.69 for half a kg, both normal salt and with extra salt. Oven ready chicken pieces, spiced, is available at just € 0.99 per kg.

The oranges are still only € 0.99 per kg at Citymarket. Fresh cucumber is also just 0.99 per kg.

Wednesday good offers

At Citymarket today, oranges are € 0.99 per kg, Costa Rica bananas are € 0,99 per kg, good quality carrots are € 1 for 2 x 1 kg plastic bags, washed potatoes are € 1 for a 3 kg sack. Good quality Italian seedless green grapes are € 1.49 for plastic containers of 0.5 kg. Check carefully that the bottom layers are not damaged and brown.

At Lidl today crushed tinned tomato are € 1 for 3 tines, each of 400 gms.

Monday's Best Buys

Not many offers today, but the Citymarkets are offering Bananas and Oranges at € 0.99 per kg.

Lidl is offering Ocean Trader prawns at an attractive price of € 3.49 per 500 gm as also Alaskan breadcrumb covered frozen fish at € 3.29 per 800 gm. Party stick Gherkins are on offer at € 0.99 per bottle. Cucumber is also available at € 0.99 per kg. Another good buy from Lidl is 3 tins of crushed tomatoes for € 1.

The turkey sausages (Metrilenkki) at Prisma at € 2.29 are still a good buy for those who do not eat pork sausages.

Destroying a valuable Best Buy outlet

I have been wanting to write this blog entry for a long time. I have held back for various reasons.

I saw the cards on the table as long as 2 years ago. Slowly and surely, one of the outstanding Best Buy identified outlets was taken over and destroyed by the Kesko Group.

CASSA in Rajakylä, a suburb on the north of Oulu had great prices for many products. It had a range of products not seen in many other shops.

I used to enjoy driving the 10 km to shop at this store as I could save quite a bundle (usually up to 18% on a trip).

Many Best Buy Blog readers used to take the trouble to go out to this CASSA to do their shopping.

The first signs of the destruction of this economy store took place when the good range of Euroshopper frozen vegetables was taken out of the freezers. They were replaced by the considerably more expensive PIRKKA branded frozen vegetables. PIRKKA ia a brand belonging to the Kesko Group.

This was followed by rise of prices, product after product - French Fries (€0.79 per kg was raised to €0.99 per kg), Rape Seed Cooking Oil (€0.89 per litre was raised to €1.09), Europshopper Instant Coffee (€2.39 for 200 gm was raised to € 2.99), Eggs (€ 0.79 for 10 was raised to €1.09), Fruit Juices (€0.33 per litre was raised to €0.69), Chicken Wings (€2.29 for 900 gm was raised to €2.99), till finally not only were the prices not on par with other similar K Shops but made even more expensive then them.

I did tell the shop assistants time and time again that they were driving regular customers, like me, away. They reassured me that they would tell the franchisee. Obviously they were too scared to broach the subject.

And now the process is complete and CASSA, Rajakylä, is no longer worth going anywhere near.

I would normally have assigned the blame to a franchisee who was in financial trouble.

But that it was the considered policy of the Kesko Group is obvious from the evidence I have unearthed. There is a similar CASSA shop in Haukipudas, the next county north of Oulu. It has been similarly destroyed by the Kesko takeover.

If you shop at either of these shops, take a few minutes to tell the franchisee that they have lost your custom. Move on to more reliable shops that will ensure that you get good buys across the board.

Do stay tuned to this page where we will identify best buys regularly so that you continue to beat inflation, year after year.

Shopping expedition....

Posted on my Jacob's Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.

Annikki rearranged the living room at Kampitie.

The sofa sets have gone to the far end of the room. The higher dining table has come between the sofas and the tv. (Not that we can watch tv these days as we have not invested in a DigiBox.)

The solution was to raise the tv to a level above the dining table.

We decided to search for a strong table (as we have an old and heavy tv set) and then work out how to place the satellite receiver and the video player (which has never been used by us!).

We went to the major Finnish furniture shops selling new design furniture and also to the antique furniture shop which has great furniture from different parts of Europe. The best priced ones were around € 250, more around € 300 for the ones we liked.

Annikki we suggested that we visit the Flea Markets.

Yesterday we started a round of the Flea Markets around 5 pm. By 6 pm we had visited 10 Flea Markets, found the table we liked and bought it, by 6 pm, for € 25!

I installed it and the tv. Annikki put up a shelf just above it for the satellite receiver and the video player, which I then connected to the tv with a minimum of loose wires showing. Under the tv table she put an old stool type table that we had for keeping newspapers and magazines. Quite modern looking!

We saved € 275 for this bit of creative thinking by Annikki and a bit driving around.

And both of us are happy with the new set up.

Now all we have to do is wait till the leaves fall off the birch trees. Then we can watch satellite tv (Sirus at 5 degrees E) till the new leaves are back on the tree next may! (I'm not joking!!!!) :-)

Oranges and Tomatoes

The Best Buy for those with the PLUSSA card this week from the Kesko Group are Oranges at € 1 per kg and tomatoes at € 0.99 per kg.

These two offers are available from the KKK Shop at Joutsensilta (Paljatie 4-8, 90150 Oulu) and possibly also other KKK Shops in Oulu.

The Lidl Group is offering watermelons at € 0.79 per kg at all its shops. Great buy even as summer is on its way out.

If you do not eat pork, then the Turkey Metrilenkki sausages available from PRISMA could be of special interest to you. There are also Turkey Frankfurters and Broiler Grilling Sausages available at PRISMA which may be of special interest to this crowd.

Ink cartridges for printers

Many years ago, when I was working at the University of Oulu, I had encouraged a young man to start a laser cartridge refilling service. It became quite successful. He secured a large share of the the Univerirty Business. When I left the University in 1992 I lost touch with him.

When I started my own company in Oulu, I had a Canon inkjet printer. I started filling the ink myself based on a refill kit that I obtained from England. It was quite efficient, although it was a bit messy. But the results were excellent.

About a year ago, a refilling service, Musteasema, opened in the centre of Oulu at Kansankatu 60, 90120 Oulu ((Tel: 044 4400164). I have been using it for the past year and saving a lot of money.

I got a real bargain Lexmark printer the other day (see previous blog post). As I had a lot of printing to complete I already finished my first cartridge in a day.

I rushed across to this refilling service with this new cartridge and it was refilled for me in 5 minutes flat.

I tested it immediately, and it functioned just fine.

Considering a new cartridge costs around € 23, the € 10 I paid was really a bargain.

The service refills cartridges from almost any major printer, both inkjet as well as laser.

Well worth your effort to use this service if you are cost conscious about your printing. The owner informed me that from 15th September the shop will also be open for half a day on Saturdays.

Printer for less than €15!

This week Markantalo in Oulu advertised a Lexmark printer for € 39.

I went to have a look.

The first thing I looked for was the cost of a cartridge which is used with the printer. This printer on offer uses a single four colour cartridge and that costs € 24.90.

As one cartridge is provided with the printer, the cost of the printer is just € 14.10.

I presently have 2 Lexmark printers, both of which use a 2 cartridge system. The lowest cost for 2 cartridges is €42. Even if I go for refilling these cartridges, it would cost me € 24.

Hence, this is my BEST BUY for this week. (But remember there are several hangups with single cartridge systems!)

The only problem is that the stocks of these printers have not been received as yet.

I went to the main outlet of Markantalo in Limingatuli. The had not received stocks as yet.

They checked whether their outlet in Euromarket had received supplies. Sadly, the answer was NO.

So check out if you are really interested in getting a cheap throwaway printer. It may serve its purposel for the maximum of a year.

Philosophy behind my multiple entry blogging

Posted on Jacob's Blog, the Oulu Best Buy Blog, the Oulu CHAFF Blog, the Cathedralite Seventh Heaven Blog, the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog, the Jacob's Politics Blog, the Move the UN Blog, and the Talk Show Ratings Blog.

Many diverse groups of people with multiple interests are reading my blogs.

Some of you are reading more than one of my blogs.

It is very annoying to see the same posting on more than one blog.

I apologise.

I have, therefore, to introduce a strategy till such time as I can get all or most of my 120 000+ readers to install a policy of being updated whenever there is a new blog entry on the blogs of their specific interest.

If they do this registration, then I need only post any entry to a single blog. The blog info service should inform you if that particular blog has been updated.

If you subscribe to getting this info for three blogs, then I need not post an entry to all three blogs!

Till the recording service is fully operational, at the top of each entry I will include a list of the other blogs that the entry will be found.

For instance, this entry will be found on ALL my blogs.

If any of you have a better solution, I am all ears.

Remember, I am a computer idiot and know nothing about the art of designing things for the computer. :-) That's because I use a Mac!