First real fire in the wood stove

[Northwoods]

Finally under 50F.  Lit the wood stove tonight.  Might let it burn out later in the week when it gets back up above 50F, but otherwise won't let it die out until ash needs emptying.

Be nice to not run the heat pump again (much) until spring.

Remembered to clean the glass. Makes for such enjoyable viewing, at least until the catalyst is up to temp and I turn way down.

[K Frame]

I have got to get my ass around to getting my pellet stove fixed.

[Ben]

Nice! You must have a pretty good stockpile to pretty much just keep the fire going. I think in my climate that I would get too hot doing that all season.

There are certain times, like we can pretty consistently get a couple of weeks of ice fog, where I will start a fire in the morning and keep it going until bedtime. Otherwise, my normal days are filling the stove and starting a fire late afternoon/early evening, which I really like for reading time, and then at most throwing another log or two on it. That will keep the heater from turning on until the thermostat hits wakeup time at 0500. Then, depending on how cold it is in the morning, I might put another full load in the stove and get that going, which will keep the heater off, or only minimally kicking in, the rest of the day.

Otherwise we can get some "warm" Winter days, and on those days where the high temp hits the 50s, I might not have a fire at all.

[Bogie]

How did the pellet stove break? I was thinking of being able to install one in the Spring...

[Northwoods]

Nice! You must have a pretty good stockpile to pretty much just keep the fire going. I think in my climate that I would get too hot doing that all season.

There are certain times, like we can pretty consistently get a couple of weeks of ice fog, where I will start a fire in the morning and keep it going until bedtime. Otherwise, my normal days are filling the stove and starting a fire late afternoon/early evening, which I really like for reading time, and then at most throwing another log or two on it. That will keep the heater from turning on until the thermostat hits wakeup time at 0500. Then, depending on how cold it is in the morning, I might put another full load in the stove and get that going, which will keep the heater off, or only minimally kicking in, the rest of the day.

Otherwise we can get some "warm" Winter days, and on those days where the high temp hits the 50s, I might not have a fire at all.

About 3 cords ready to burn. 

With a catalytic stove i can turn it down enough to not burn everyone out of the room.

[Northwoods]

The load i put in last night I still going.  Probably on hour 15 or so.  Catalyst still in the active range.  Did have to bump it up for 20 minutes when I first got up to keep it in the active range, but given i have birch and alder in my stack, that's pretty good.  Kept the house at 67-68 all night.

[K Frame]

How did the pellet stove break? I was thinking of being able to install one in the Spring...

It would fire up and run fine for about 20 minutes, but then it would just slowly stop feeding pellets, even though I could hear the motor spinning.

Couple of possible options... I suspect that the reduction gears in the gear box attached to the motor stripped out, so that's going to be replaced. A replacement is $80.

But, it could also be a vacuum issue, so I'm going to replace the vacuum hose. I'm also going to replace the door seal because it was also getting worn.

I was going to do that a two years ago, but then my knee went out and I wasn't able to do much of anything.

[Northwoods]

Just now added a few really low quality sticks (a little punky, weird shape, etc to tide the fire over until the full reload tonight.  18ish hours on last night's load.

[K Frame]

And I just finished running the AC again for about 2 hours.

It was gorgeous out today, high in the low 60s, but it was hot and humid inside

[Bogie]

I'm considering putting a diesel cab heater in my garage. Hard part will be running it off of 12 volts, but I can rig solar and a battery.
 
I've thought of putting in a barrel stove (more involved for the chimney) and a waste oil burner inside it... I have access to PLENTY of waste oil.

[JTHunter]

The "insert" here has an open (chain mesh) front, not glass and I haven't needed it yet.  Between a couple of pillar candles and the gas furnace and overnight lows only down to the upper 30s (and back to the 60s & 70s in the day), it's been comfortable.
I do have the strip-cut paper and twigs ready but I have yet to bring any logs.  Hell, I'm still trying to get this ash tree that had to come down 6 months ago cut to the proper length.  And NONE of it has been split yet !

I'm getting too old for this much work !