So...summertime...

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
eclecticcottage

eclecticcottage

Minister of Fire
Dec 7, 2011
1,803
WNY
I know it's a ways off, but I'm wondering, cuz we've never had a woodstove before...what do you do during the summer?

I know the obvious. But after it's all cleaned and ready for fall, do you ever put candles in it or anything?? I keep thinking I'm going to have withdrawl. I was thinking of drilling out some splits and putting some votive holders in them...
 
You can still spend time in your woodpile.
 
I usually clean the stove out good and stack a couple pieces of wood in there so I don't have to look at an empty stove. Anyone who is a wood stove nut knows how hard it is to look at a stove with no fire in it for long period of time.
 
Summertime.... I like the idea of putting some candles in some splits, that will ease the pain of not having a fire going. Besides spending time at the wood pile on a cooler day, with minimal skeeters, I'll be out at the fire pit putting a couple high lifes back, after spending time on the water pulling up bass from behind the same log that I would contemplate adding to the stack. Will be spending plenty of time at a friends cabin doing much of the same.
 
Prepare for next winter! Pretend wood will go through the roof as far as price. Pretend if you lost your job. Pretend if you got hurt and couldn't work. Think of as many scenerios as you can that will force you to stock up on lots of wood. You'll thank yourself at the first freeze.
 
Busted a gut on the first and following posts! Wanted to post something clever & amusing, but I got nothing.
 
I always swear I am going to clean it out and sweep the chimney. Then I always do. The following September.
 
Why do I hear the Byrds singing, "To everything...turn, turn, turn...there is a season...turn, turn, turn..."?
 
DanCorcoran said:
Why do I hear the Byrds singing, "To everything...turn, turn, turn...there is a season...turn, turn, turn..."?
Click to expand...

A time to burn, a time to clean
A time for heat, a time for cool
A time to load, a time to split
A time to get ahead, I swear it's not too late
 
I still get to burn plenty of wood in my steam engine. It doesn't even need to be dry or split. I just take the end slabs from the sawmill and chuck them in the firebox. I can't watch the fire, but I sure produce plenty of smoke!
 
I've been fooled before. During a spring "heat wave" a couple three years back (think it was April) I pulled all the brick out of my shop stove to do some thorough cleaning and maintenance/repair. Wouldn't you know temps would then plummet back down from the 70° F's daytime to the 30° F's. Chilly couple of days waiting for my Ace Hardware to get the Rutland replacement bricks in...even chillier doing the necessary trimming using a miter saw with masonry blade on saw horses outside. Ended up burning (at least sometimes) into June that year. Since then, I've a new mantra as far as wondering whether spring/summer's really here or not...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q
 
Oh we plan on working on the wood stacks. We have several cord of rounds between the two houses that need to be split and stacked, and we still have to build a shed and storage areas. As well as several pending scrounges that will add to it (one and a half LARGE box elder, a small box elder, a cherry, some more maple, a yet to be identified downed tree, the rest of a LARGE willow)! And there's all the work on the Cottage to do, plus I plan on ordering about 100 new shrubs to plant around the place for cover for the birds and food, and I want to plant in some perennials and maybe a vegetable garden. Plus we do have the firepit and the lake, hopefully there will be a beach again by then!

But inside...the stove is front and center in the living room and when we let it go cold it's just to...dark and fireless, lol.
 
Burn baby burn! Burn baby burn! Burn baby burn! Burn baby burn!
Burnin'!

To mass fires, yes! One hundred stories high
People gettin' loose y’all gettin' down on the roof - Do you hear?
(the folks are flaming) Folks were screamin' - out of control
It was so entertainin' - when the boogie started to explode
I heard somebody say

Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burnin'!

Satisfaction (uhu hu hu) came in the chain reaction
(burnin') I couldn't get enough, (till I had to self-destroy) so I had to
self destruct, (uhu hu hu)
The heat was on (burnin’), rising to the top, huh!
Everybody's goin' strong (uhu hu hu)
And that is when my spark got hot
I heard somebody say

Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down, yoh!
Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burnin'!

Up above my head I hear music in the air - I hear music!
That makes me know there's (somebody) a party somewhere

Satisfaction came in a chain reaction - Do you hear?
I couldn't get enough, so I had to self destruct,
The heat was on, rising to the top
Everybody's goin' strong
That is when my spark got hot
I heard somebody say

Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno! (Aah yeah!)
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno, yeah!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno! (Aah yeah!)
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno, yeah!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burnin’!

I just can't stop
When(till) my spark gets hot
Just can't stop
When my spark gets hot

Burning, burning, burning, burning...
 
Not a thing for me, I always look forward to the day when I can hang up the gloves. I will start fiending early Sept to put a load in but I can usually fight the urge until I actually need the heat which is usually the end of Sept or early Oct.
 
rdust said:
Not a thing for me, I always look forward to the day when I can hang up the gloves...
Click to expand...

Ditto. Much as I love wood heat, the older I get the more all the work involved in providing that wonderful wood heat takes a real toll on me. I look forward to the end of burning season, and am quite content to just let the stoves sit empty, clean and ready (after I get them that way) until it all begins again. No wood in the stoves, no candles in the stoves, no nothing in the stoves. For at least a few months I can pretty much ignore the stoves, which is just fine with me. Rick
 
Llamaman said:
Burn baby burn! Burn baby burn! Burn baby burn! Burn baby burn!
Burnin'!

To mass fires, yes! One hundred stories high
People gettin' loose y’all gettin' down on the roof - Do you hear?
(the folks are flaming) Folks were screamin' - out of control
It was so entertainin' - when the boogie started to explode
I heard somebody say

Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burnin'!

Satisfaction (uhu hu hu) came in the chain reaction
(burnin') I couldn't get enough, (till I had to self-destroy) so I had to
self destruct, (uhu hu hu)
The heat was on (burnin’), rising to the top, huh!
Everybody's goin' strong (uhu hu hu)
And that is when my spark got hot
I heard somebody say

Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down, yoh!
Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burnin'!

Up above my head I hear music in the air - I hear music!
That makes me know there's (somebody) a party somewhere

Satisfaction came in a chain reaction - Do you hear?
I couldn't get enough, so I had to self destruct,
The heat was on, rising to the top
Everybody's goin' strong
That is when my spark got hot
I heard somebody say

Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno! (Aah yeah!)
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno, yeah!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno! (Aah yeah!)
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno, yeah!
Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down
Burnin’!

I just can't stop
When(till) my spark gets hot
Just can't stop
When my spark gets hot

Burning, burning, burning, burning...
Click to expand...

Where's the freaking classic forum when ya need it?
 
BrotherBart said:
I always swear I am going to clean it out and sweep the chimney. Then I always do. The following September.
Click to expand...

You cleaned it? Wow, I didn't.

Tapped the top, though.
 
fossil said:
rdust said:
Not a thing for me, I always look forward to the day when I can hang up the gloves...
Click to expand...

Ditto. Much as I love wood heat, the older I get the more all the work involved in providing that wonderful wood heat takes a real toll on me. I look forward to the end of burning season, and am quite content to just let the stoves sit empty, clean and ready (after I get them that way) until it all begins again. No wood in the stoves, no candles in the stoves, no nothing in the stoves. For at least a few months I can pretty much ignore the stoves, which is just fine with me. Rick
Click to expand...

I guess maybe it's just first-year-itis. I've spent years wanting this stove and sadly, I'm even enjoying cleaning the hearthpad, lol. I don't bother with the DV units aside from shutting off the pilot and cleaning up the glass (they get a little haze), but the "logs" are still there so they don't have that black hole effect like the fire-less wood stove.
 
When it is cold, snowy, and especially when it is nighttime I like burning wood, but on sunny days, especially warm sunny days, I don't really feel like burning wood. I still do burn on sunny, cold days (like I am right now) but with less enthusiasm that I would have if it were cloudy or snowing. By the time spring arrives and the days get warm I really won't feel much like using the stove, although I still enjoy the firewood processing part of the job. When fall comes around and we start to have some cool nights I will once again feel like firing up the wood stove. Maybe when spring arrives you'll feel ready to stop burning wood for a while.
 
Once the wood burning season is done I start working on the wood in earnest . . . moving the wood stacks into the woodshed and cutting, bucking, splitting and stacking wood for future years . . . I don't think two or three weeks doesn't go by when I'm not doing something involving firewood -- whether it be running the woodstove or working on the wood.

If its a fire you're jonesing for you can always go camping or build yourself a fire pit and use up any of the wood that is just too plain crappy for you to consider burning in your woodstove.

I actually do place a candle in my woodstove after cleaning it . . . but it's not for the ambiance and chance to see the itty bitty flame . . . it's for those rare moments when I get a reverse stack condition and I can smell creosote in the house. Lighting a candle (no scent needed) establishes a bit of a draft and makes the house not smell like the inside of a chimney.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

M
Anxious new homeowner
Replies
9
Views
776
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
Trevor Tahclep
Trevor Tahclep
Y
sifting out embers
Replies
12
Views
976
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
Dieselhead
Dieselhead
B
Yurt Stove Recommendations at 9200 ft
Replies
8
Views
332
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
begreen
begreen
N
Looking for any tips on optimizing woodstove + forced air working together
Replies
8
Views
827
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
RockyMtnGriz
R
T
I think it's time to start thinking about a new stove. But I'm not sure where to start.
Replies
14
Views
696
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
stovelark
stovelark
Top Bottom
Back