Shoulder Season Burning... Who's burning already?

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I just went 24/7 a few days ago.
Small loads so far. 20s at night, mid 30s daytime.
Although it was 44 today but windy & still is (25- 30 mph with 40 mph gust)
Burning all the "misfits" up.
About normal for this time of year.
 
It's also valuable to note what region of the world each poster is, relative to when they start burning. I'm burning mostly every day, in the morning 4 A.M.. When I leave for work, the wife takes over, and loads as desired. Doesn't take much to keep things comfortable this time of year, and many days we let the fire go out by mid-day.

-Soupy1957
 
I like it cool at night so have had only two evening fires so far, but have been burning every morning for maybe three weeks. I've been waking to outdoor temperatures around 29 (today is 35) and house temperatures between 60-65, then get a good fire going around 5:30 or so when I get up. By the time I leave for work at 7:00, the chill is gone and I throttle it back when I leave. This keeps the house a little over 70 all day long and comfortable for my wife and two-month-old baby girl. By the time we are ready to go to bed, the temperature is in the upper 60's and falling, perfect for sleeping.

Saturday was windy and cold so I actually re-kindled the morning fire twice during the day. The wind makes a big difference in how long the heat from the morning fire lasts throughout the house.

This will be our first full winter in this house and I am using the Jotul Firelight 600 that we got back in March. All that cast iron evens out the heat nicely!
 
Burn every night. We usually fire up the stove around 7 p.m. and stop putting wood on after 11. This gets the bulk of the house up to about 70 and it'll still be at 65 in the morning. We just go easy with the splits so as not to over-cook the place.

The furnace will get turned on only when there is a danger of freezing pipes.
 
I'm new to this and just got the stove up and running for the first time in over 2 years (bought my house in April, and it was empty for over a year before that). I'm still getting used to learning when to add logs and such, but I've been doing a decent job of keeping the house at between 67 and 71. Hopefully when the temperatures drop down to the 30's and 40's soon I'll still be able to do that. I usually don't start burning until around Noon, and then only refill again around 4:30 and then at around 7:30...and then just before I go to bed I put some splits in to keep the house warm over night since it drops to about 38 lately up here at night.
 
I'm burning 2 fires per day at this point. I have a lot of wood and I also have a lot of uglies (at least enough to get me into early November) that I can burn. So....I agree with the post above - if you have a lot of wood, why be chilly? I'm keeping my house in the low 70's with the 2 fires (one medium size at night and one small in the morning). First time in my life (except when a kid) that I'm toasty in my house and not concerned about the $ being spent. All of my 20 cord on hand were free (except labor!). Also, since I have a bed of coals in the morning, I like have a small fire since the stove is still warm, draft is still good, and getting the fire going is a breeze. NH is getting chilly - later this week, highs in the 40's and lows in the low 30's. Happy burning! Cheers!
 
ive had 3 fires so far i try to hold out till nov 1st but i always get ancy once i see 30s its time to burn.
 
Last year we had been burning regularly for 2 or 3 weeks already. This year, we've had such a mild fall that it hasn't been necessary. My kids miss standing by the stove after they wake up, but w/ nights in the low 30's and days back in the 70's it's not really needed. Cold in the a.m., but we're all leaving for the day anyway. Kind of anxious to get burning though--based on last year's long, cold winter, I've probably got way more than enough wood for this year...
 
its been tough as others have said. My house stays pretty damp so when the temp drops to 62F in the house at 60% humidity it feels raw. I've have evening fires almost every night the last 2 weeks. This weekend was my first overnight fire. Most of the wood has been short chunks and real knarly wood that I put on the tops of the piles that can't be stacked otherwise. Looking at my stacks I still cannot even tell I have removed wood.

I will enjoy the stove in a few more weeks when I really need the heat when I come home from work.
 
I think it is safe to say we're burning pretty regular now. A fire most mornings now - 4-6 small splits each day of really dry pine. Basically takes the house temp up from low 60's to low 70's by the afternoon and then we're back down again by next morning. Outside temps are lows upper 30's to low 40's and highs right around 60.

Pine has been very nice burning - this is eastern pine so very low density and likes to get roaring really quickly if I let it. When lighting up it doesn't take long for the view to look like the "gates of hell" - I imagine that the whole load could be gone in a matter of an hour or less if allowed to do so and I can't imagine the heat it would be throwing if it were not in the middle of the stone box. As it is once the cat is engaged we get it tempered down and let it burn slower over time. Keeping a nice steady 400* stove top temp with lazy flames in the box for about 2-3 hours then coals for a while longer.

Nice to get practice starting fires again, heh. Training my 8yo to start the stove so this is a good time to do it. Of course she wants to re-load the stove but that is just going to have to wait until we need the heat. Last year I was doing that already at this time of year - I was already going for the 24/7 burn for no really good reason. I'm burning about 30% less wood so far this year (pine to boot) so there is that "second year" effect (or was that the first year with a stove penalty last year?). Then again it could just be a milder fall too.

As to oil vs wood - My goal is to avoid burning oil for heat. Will do it if we have to - defined for me as when we are out of town etc. Environmental benefits and wood is less expensive for me - whatever time of year I burn it. Plus I just like it better.
 
I fire her up after dinner and let her go out in the late morning, with mt BK car stove it will last 14-16 hours, Ive skipped some nights when it only gets down to 45 or so but if its going below 40 I make sure to light up.
 
We're relatively new at heating our house with wood. :cheese: The only thermometer we have inside the house is the one on the stove top and one on the flue so we really don't know what the inside temperature is. However, I can pretty much guarantee we keep it up around 80 during the winter months. We started having fires quite regular in September and we have them daily for the most part now and will continue. We're probably close to the 24/7.

Last night, as most nights, I put 3 small splits in the stove around 8:00. At 9:00 this morning I raked the coals forward plus about 1/2 of one of the splits that was still burning, then added two more splits.


Personally, I can not see any sense in being cold in my own house. I also can't see running a furnace when one has enough wood on hand. We put the wood stove in to keep us warm and that is exactly how we use it.
 
We've had a beautiful fall, but temps are starting to drop. High's in the 50's/60's, lows in the 30's/40's.
Two shortish fires per day keeps the house toasty.
 
SE PA here - Stove is getting installed this Friday and I can't wait.

That being said, i definitely would've done a once-a-day nighttime fire several times already, as it's getting down to 40 at night and the house is around 63 degrees. I refuse to turn on the oil heat though, as we've got blankets and flannel sheets and can get by.

However, this is really where I see us getting alot of monetary benefit:

- We heat the house to 70 degrees to be comfortable.
- The furnace probably wouldn't be running that efficiently if I used it right now
- Short bursts of furnace activity would probably wind up sucking up alot of oil if I let it...

I may not be able to heat my 2200 square foot 2-story colonial with a Lopi Republic 1750 insert (2.2 CF firebox, very efficient) since it's placed on an outside wall, at least on the super cold days, but I've always viewed this as a "drastially reduce oil consumption" move and that's what I intend it to be.

I will definitely be burning when it hits 40 degrees in the evening next year. My house gets crap solar gain.
 
cycloxer said:
Burn every night. We usually fire up the stove around 7 p.m. and stop putting wood on after 11. This gets the bulk of the house up to about 70 and it'll still be at 65 in the morning. We just go easy with the splits so as not to over-cook the place.

The furnace will get turned on only when there is a danger of freezing pipes.


We usually try to not use the oil heat at all these days, except for maybe in our "sitting" room. So, we just keep the rest of the house cool. If we frequented the rest of the house on a regular basis, we'd probably get a fire going. But, it's not cool enough in there yet to seem to validate using wood, 'cause - wood = money!

Thanks for the idea of burning scrap wood. Maybe I'll look around!! Have no vehicle to transport it, though.



Cycloxer: Where in Worcester County, MA are you??
 
We've been burnng since last week, having a small fire in the AM to take the chill off and then another regular fire most evenings. It's cold up here in the mountains :roll: and I don't like being chilled.
 
Beautiful sunny fall here as well. Hit 71°F on Satuday. Solar gain has been keeping the place just warm enough. We benefit this time of year from being close to a still-warm L.Michigan which keeps the nights mild (still no frost), but doesn't cool the days off much. I've had just 5 evening fires so far & the gas furnace has habeen clicked on 3 times to take the damp out. House is cool in the mornings, but little point starting a fire as we're both leaving for work. Based on the forecast we'll only be lighting-up here & there for at least another week. I know I'll be tired of feeding the insert come March, so I'm in no hurry to get burning.
 
if it dips into the low 40's or 30's at night only I've been having a fire (which has been almost every night the past couple of weeks) I'm new to burning so I'm having a tough time keeping a reasonable temp. I have a large Cat Fireview. I start burning around 7-8PM... If I burn without the CAT I can keep it nice and comfy.. but the thought enters my mind "the heat is going up the chimney..... "

Before bed I try to get the CAT engaged so I can have a nice safe extended burn. Problem is, to get the stove hot enough for the CAT, I need to load it up (or use the good stuff) and I end up with the temps downstairs in the mid 80's and mid 70's upstairs. Works out OK because it leaves in in the lower 70's by morning and the house stays that way after the sun comes up.
The only problem is when my wife comes home from work and she complains its hot... Although I didn't have a fire one night and she started asking "how come you didn't have a fire?" since that night, she hasn't complained about the heat.. :)
 
Three fires in the house and several out in the barn. Nice to walk in to the workshop with chilly rain and 40's outside and 70 - 75 and dry inside. As folks have said, it'll be 24/7 in the house before long. I have about 11-12 face cords stacked and ready for this year - and another 3 or 4 cords of ash that I split and stacked in May just in case. That ought to do it unless we have a freakishly cold winter.
 
[Cycloxer: Where in Worcester County, MA are you??

/quote]

Worcester County seems to be well represented on this board, Im in southern WC.
 
I performed a Sunday morning system test, but I won't get serious about it until the daytime temp is 50ish or lower.
 
Serious question: does anyone feel there are any benefits to flooding the house with nice, dry heat?

My wife is considering adding a lopi-top humidifier of some sort to add moisture back into the air, but I'm thinking that aside from dry skin and some thirst, it might be better for the house to "dry out" in terms of any moisture that's floating around.
 
joefrompa said:
Serious question: does anyone feel there are any benefits to flooding the house with nice, dry heat?

My wife is considering adding a lopi-top humidifier of some sort to add moisture back into the air, but I'm thinking that aside from dry skin and some thirst, it might be better for the house to "dry out" in terms of any moisture that's floating around.

Interesting question... I think there are benefits and detriments to having dry heat/air. My main concern is regarding having old structural wood drying out. Might it become brittle or weakened? I wonder.

I know that moist air is better for bronchial conditions, but worse for spreading germs and illness.

Dryer air seems to be more comfortable in either hot or cold climates.

So, not sure which would be better.
 
This is a good test time for the stove: when it gets in the 40's at night, a fire sure is nice.
Our house only has electric baseboards ($$), so every Kw saved is of equal value. I've had 4-5 fires now and am burning through the bark scrap and sawdust from a weekend-long log splitting session with a mix of old, rotten wood that dried out over summer -- mainly the stuff that would be most difficult to store and most susceptible to getting permanently wet. Sawdust in a paper bag burns like solid wood.

I'm finding that semi-dry oak bark shingles burn slowly enough to last 2+ hrs per load in cat mode and leave a thick coal bed. If the stove has air leaks, they show up as visible hot spots in coals.
 
I have done about 10 evening fires, a few just to test my new stove and the rest to take the chill out of the house. My wife wants a fire every night but it really hasn't been cold enough here to justify a fire every day.
 
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