Gonna be a cold one tonight!

Well hopefully you will not burn it all tonight.
I was very happy to find a cache of juniper in my stack of mostly wet oak.

Yup, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood !

It's a cold one in these parts, -28c (-18f for my American friends to the south.) with a wind chill hitting -40! (for those that don't know -40 is the same in c or f) Apparently I came back from a little vacation in Arizona a little too soon! Lol! Oh Well. At least I got my wood stove to keep me warm.

Anyone experiencing colder weather out there?
stay warm,
E.

It was a two stove night. Temps down to -11 F and Wind chill to -35 F. Still plenty of wood in the pole shed. Spring is far away here.

No problems, it's just a little cool weather. No biggie.

I've got 2 year c/s/s Osage Orange I've been burning only on the coldest nights and days like this one. I've been running full loads when I do burn it and man it puts off some heat! If I had a freestanding stove and not an insert with a fan I'd be afraid to fully load my stove with the stuff. Stay warm everyone. Spring will be here soon.

It is cold. I am loading my stove 5-6 times a day not full maybe 65-70% capacity but I am able to keep the house 72-75df. Not much wood left maybe a 1/2 of a cord.

I feel for the folks who rely on wood heat 100%.
In this weather wood stoves are simply just space heaters.

Lots of stove tending on a day like today. I'm just thankful it's on a day off work and I can hang out inside & not have much to worry about except keeping the place warm.

I'm down to about my last cord-and-a-half of dry stuff myself. I've been supplementing with
bio-bricks. If this infernal cold breaks in a week or two, I should be all right this season.

I have a reserve pile of about 2 cords, but it's not all that dry, and it's buried under almost
5 feet of snow. Let's hope this winter doesn't last into June!

-Stretch

Yep -10f with windchill -30f loading this stove like a runaway freight train. Fighting mounds of coals but don't have time to burn them down to far, just far enough to fit 4-5 splits in there. Well pipe froze where it comes through basement wall trying to thaw that right now. I think tonight is supposed to be colder just not as much wind. Hanging in there at about 62-63 inside

Clyde S. Dale said:

I've got 2 year c/s/s Osage Orange I've been burning only on the coldest nights and days like this one. I've been running full loads when I do burn it and man it puts off some heat! If I had a freestanding stove and not an insert with a fan I'd be afraid to fully load my stove with the stuff. Stay warm everyone. Spring will be here soon.

Click to expand...

True. I burn my Black Locust on these deep cold days and I would not attempt to pack the stove full of solely BL though. I mix it with other species to get a nice "balance".

I like to stay warm, but I still prefer my stove to remain BLACK, not Orange. LOL.

We've been near zero every night for awhile here in central Maine. Sometimes a little bit
below, sometimes a little bit above. About 1.5 cords of dry wood left for the season. I've
burnt 3 to 3.5 cords since Ocotober, so I think I'll make it with a few biobricks thrown in.

This sub-zero nonsense can stop anytime!

-Stretch

ailanthus said:

Lots of stove tending on a day like today. I'm just thankful it's on a day off work and I can hang out inside & not have much to worry about except keeping the place warm.

Click to expand...

Very true.

I woke up, made coffee, put my slippers on to go down and make a new fire.

On the way down stairs I handed my wife the snow shovel and said "I gotta tend to the fire".

It's 10 out and my family room is 71. Not worried about it.

22* and very windy on my Tenn mountain, but nice and toasty warm (76*) inside.

Loading 3+ year old oak & hickory twice a day and the dogs just love the heat.

begreen said:

Folks, there are increasing reports of carbon monoxide poisoning in heavy snow areas. Remember to clear out any low level gas vents for the furnace, boiler or HW heater. Make sure they don't get plugged up with snow. If you have an elderly or disabled neighbor help them clear away their vent.

Click to expand...

Excellent advice. Thanks

CenterTree said:

Very true.

I woke up, made coffee, put my slipper on to go down and make a new fire.

On the way down stairs I handed my wife the snow shovel and said "I gotta tend to the fire".

Click to expand...

Howd that work for you lol

bob

CenterTree said:

Very true.

I woke up, made coffee, put my slipper on to go down and make a new fire.

On the way down stairs I handed my wife the snow shovel and said "I gotta tend to the fire".

Click to expand...

I had a similar experience. I reloaded at 0100, woke up at 630 and heard the furnace running. It was -9f last night here with strong winds, so the stove couldn't make it that long even on a full load. I rolled back over and slept until 830.

Planned on building a new fire, but the wife told me i had to clear the drifts from the driveway so she could go to the market. She didn't think it was funny when I told her that she knows how the snowblower works.

By the time I finished with that and breaking up a hockey worthy melee between the kids, I didn't get to the stove until about 10:00. I was amazed to find usable coals in it yet and was able to get it fired back up within a few minutes.

House definitely got cold, because after the stove was running for about an hour I went upstairs for something and could feel the cold air being pushed down the stairs like a tidal wave.

ckitch said:

Yep -10f with windchill -30f loading this stove like a runaway freight train. Fighting mounds of coals but don't have time to burn them down to far, just far enough to fit 4-5 splits in there. Well pipe froze where it comes through basement wall trying to thaw that right now. I think tonight is supposed to be colder just not as much wind. Hanging in there at about 62-63 inside

Click to expand...

This sounds exactly like what I went through last winter. The stove I had was large enough to heat my home under normal conditions but much of Jan. and Feb. was well below normal temps. Many days went by that if my house lost a degree the stove was not capable of getting it back, power was out and small propane tank (valve likely)froze much of the time. Nothing left I could do but lose sleep babysitting the stove.

This was the biggest reason I got the BK and man I'm glad I did on cold days like this.

begreen said:

Folks in eastern Mass are not singing that same tune.

Click to expand...

It's so bad here it is snowing inside the house. Relishing some nice dry pitch pine at
The moment. Burns like gasoline.

tarzan said:

This sounds exactly like what I went through last winter. The stove I had was large enough to heat my home under normal conditions but much of Jan. and Feb. was well below normal temps. Many days went by that if my house lost a degree the stove was not capable of getting it back, power was out and small propane tank (valve likely)froze much of the time. Nothing left I could do but lose sleep babysitting the stove.

This was the biggest reason I got the BK and man I'm glad I did on cold days like this.

Click to expand...

If this was the normal I would quit burning wood, to much hassle but all winter has been pretty easy going 3 loads a day one full in the evening one full in the morning and my wife puts in a half load about 3. Typically about 70 inside. These temps just stink.