BRING IT MOTHER NATURE!

Sconnie Burner said:

Forecast for the next week:
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Inside wood pile and stove ready for it:
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I will be at a cozy 70-76 degrees for the next week for sure! Each pile lasts about 8-9 days with day temps in the 20s and nights in the lower teens. Well see how they fair this week!

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Send some of that cold weather down south pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Woah momma! Looks like you're ready for this.

Looking good!! My great great grandfather lived in Wisconsin for 20 years, before he moved out west. I wish he had stayed, maybe I would live there today and could be fighting that cold Yankee weather with a wood stove, as you are doing.

Your setup looks awesome! nice work there.

I've been feeling the same way when looking at our forecast here in Norther Iowa. First year burning wood and need a good test. To bad I'll be at work wed and won't be able to keep things loaded and hot.

we can't get the freakin' snow to stick around here.....I need the O/T !!

dafattkidd said:

Woah momma! Looks like you're ready for this.

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He might get some extra wood burning outside the fire box, just to make sure. Last night was down to about 12 with a breeze. I'm now convinced that the Dutchwest will be able to hold its own with the new gaskets. I can fire the stove top up to 650, no problem. I've got a blower too, but I don't think I'll need to put it back on. One nice feature is that, burning down coals, I can pump the stove top back up to about 350 or so. Can't do that with the Keystone but overall it's got more arse than the Dw.

-8 this morning for me, woke up to 70 degrees in the house which is a tad cool for my liking. Gives me my first true test of my new wood stove so im interested to see how it goes over the next week. Just hope my damn truck starts in this weather.

Stayed at -2 to -3 most of the day yesterday and the stove kept the house at a nice 71 to 72 all day, except reloads when it would dip surprisingly fast. No propane used from 9 am till sometime overnight last night. Very happy especially since we have a drafty old house. No wonder it was heating us out when it was 35 degrees outside!

It's been a good winter for harvesting wood--mild temps and little snow cover. That's pretty much come to an end now. Time to run both stoves and sip bourbon by the fire. Serious cold here and staying for awhile. Kids are hoping for a "cold day" and no school on Wednesday, which occurs when we get extended periods of -35 wind chill.

Chilly, not awful though, can load the stove and let her run for a bit. This is why I got it.

First good cold snap up here, at least one with 10 to 20 mph winds. Just checked the weather station, 12mph with gusts up to 24mph. -12f at 330am. Supposed to go down as far as -16f by daybreak. Got the day off but when its this cold with wind I've got to get up a couple times a night and just check things out. House is 20 yrs old, good shape, etc.

But growing up in an old farm house that had pretty much no insulation, supported by 3 wood stoves, stuff would happen early on in the winter. Once you figured out that the banking of plastic and softwood bows(tree limbs) were doing the job. Usually the rest of winter was ok. The old rock foundations had all new cracks every year.

I've got plenty of wood under cover, storage is charged to 180. Night time temp in house in 67f, which is where I set it back to.

Water is still running. First couple of winters( close to 20 yrs ago) found out where the contractor decided not to cover my water line with 2 inches of foam. Rough couple of days finding and thawing the water line underground. Once I corrected the problem the next summer, waters been fine. But getting older and having to go to the bathroom at least once a night, keeps the water flowing. Once in a while I'll get up and run a sink until i hear the expansion tank click and call for well water. Old habits....but when its sub zero and you're thawing underground pipes, hard to forget.

-8 here this morning, calling for high today around 6 above ............... tired of it .................

Sconnie Burner said:

I'm not necessarily a fan of this cold just glad to be prepared. So far the furnace hasn't kicked on! I would rather be out on the ice catching fish than feeding the stove every 6 hours. Tonight and tomorrow will be the true test.

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My furnace hasn't kicked on because it's turned off. Tipping my hat to you if you are ice fishing with your butt planted on a cold plastic bucket in this weather.

northwinds said:

My furnace hasn't kicked on because it's turned off. Tipping my hat to you if you are ice fishing with your butt planted on a cold plastic bucket in this weather.

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Ha! My buddy's ice house is usually about 75 inside with something tasty going on the stove and a full supply of cold beer. Even before he drags it out onto the ice he sits in it in his yard and hangs out it's so nicely set up inside! When it's going to be particularly stormy or extreme weather, he stays out in it overnight just because he can.

Warm_in_NH said:

Ha! My buddy's ice house is usually about 75 inside with something tasty going on the stove and a full supply of cold beer. Even before he drags it out onto the ice he sits in it in his yard and hangs out it's so nicely set up inside! When it's going to be particularly stormy or extreme weather, he stays out in it overnight just because he can.

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Maybe they ice fish differently . . . what you've described is pretty much what I see up here in Maine as well. Nice and warm ice shacks, usually stocked with food and beer . . . some of them even have a TV, radio, etc.

We did the bucket seat, out in the cold, open fire on the ice, for years in Mass, wasn't crazy cold though and usually wasn't much ice either. Been winter "swimming" several times.

Not gonna try it again anytime soon.

The real cold is coming to NJ tonight-low of 3°F expected tonight. My Hurricane Irene harvested white oak is doing nicely.

firefighterjake said:

Maybe they ice fish differently . . . what you've described is pretty much what I see up here in Maine as well. Nice and warm ice shacks, usually stocked with food and beer . . . some of them even have a TV, radio, etc.

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We have those nice ice shacks too, but there are always some hardcore guys fishing on the white plastic buckets. Unfortunately, I did most of my ice fishing with my father-in-law who was one of those hardcore guys. Now he spends winters in AZ, and I reflect on those white buckets from the comfort of my rocking chair in front of the stove.

Schools are closed today throughout most of Wisconsin with wind chills at -35 and temps below zero as our high. Kids are sleeping in, and the house is quiet. Both wood burning appliances purring along and keeping the house at 73.

I'm engaged in an epic life-or-death struggle for heat. I let it slip to 66, now it's gonna be tough to gain room temp with an outside temp of 10, falling, and wind 20+, gusting to 30. On top of that, I just blew it on the re-load; Shoulda put several medium splits in for more gassing, instead of just a big Walnut and a big White Oak.

northwinds said:

Kids are sleeping in, and the house is quiet. Both wood burning appliances purring along and keeping the house at 73.

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Isn't that the greatest feeling in the world? To me, few things are more relaxing than sipping a cup of coffee at kitchen table on a cold winter morning with the stove cranking away and everyone else in the house snug and warm in bed.