Too warm to burn!!

This is the first morning that I haven't started a fire in months. Now I'll get a chance to clean out the chimney with the new brush.

Yeah, I screwed up big time. I spend the last two days running the heck out of my stove, trying to pump some heat into the basement and chimney. Got up today and built a big fire as usual. Then the sun came out. Then it started to get warm outside. Then it started to get very warm inside. Like 78º... and there's no way to turn it off now, even if I don't refill the stove again today (which I won't). Anybody that's drooling over masonry heaters should know about this downside. Once you put a ton of heat into thermal storage, it continues to release it at the rate that it wants to. Not the worst situation you could have, but one you should be aware of, especially during shoulder season.

I refuse to open the windows and let out heat I paid for, so I'm going out to do a few errands and hope it gets down a bit in here by the time I get back.

I for one am loving the warmer weather.... getting do do some cutting of some standing dead. Oh and Soupy.... you can never be to far ahead. I won't be surprised to see the price of wood to increase as the price of other fuels increase.

We are in the high 40's right now, and the fire is still going but I am not feeding it much or restricting the air supply. Two hot fires per day is heating the thermal mass enough to keep the whole house warm all day and all night. Wood consumption is down a lot this week, and the drifts are melting away as well. Too good to last is what I am thinking. We are in for more winter yet.

Soupy, this is our January thaw, just a little late this season. Friday evening the gates are open again and we're expecting 40-50 mph winds from the Northwest. Things will return to winter by Sat AM. I am enjoying it while it lasts! We from New England know all too well that spring weather comes only after winter has departed. Could be March or April before all the snow melts this year.

Yep, same thing here, except no sun. Got into the upper 40's. Had a fire last night, and when I got up this am, it was about 65 in the house.
I put a robe on, got my coffee, and took the dogs out. Sat down and forgot about a fire.
When the wife woke up, she mentioned it was a little chilly (it had gone down to 64), but she was due to leave about noon, so I ignored her comment. :cheese:
She said it again a few minutes before she left. I planned to be outside for a few hours, so I didn't bother with a fire 'til I came back in the house.
It's still 68 in here, so no fire until later. Tomorrow may be similar.
Kind of makes up for all the below zero days we've had.
If your wood use stays the same, you're good to go. However, if you have room and resources, get more, since it's only going to get more expensive.
Just think, if you got 2 more cord, you'll be 4 years in the black. That's a good feeling, and money in the bank to boot.
I'm getting to the point where I can see myself getting mine c/s/d in a few years. I'll stack it and keep a few years in reserve, like now, but not do all the work.
This little warm up won't last.

Battenkiller said:

Y Anybody that's drooling over masonry heaters should know about this downside. Once you put a ton of heat into thermal storage, it continues to release it at the rate that it wants to. Not the worst situation you could have, but one you should be aware of, especially during shoulder season.

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Good point. I like masonry heaters, and that is indeed a factor to consider.

Got up to 74 today and will be 80 tomorrow

But going back down to highs in 50s in 2 days with a promise of colder at the biginning of march

Only got to 45 here.

Just tossing in a couple small chunks of oddball sized sassafrass now and then to keep the coals going.

Made the mistake of throwing in some 3" dia stuff without looking real well this afternoon, and jacked the house up to 74.
Hornbeam is just HOT burning LOL!!

Felt nice today with 40F. I will probably be burning up to April as always.

(Curious) George said:

I like masonry heaters, and that is indeed a factor to consider.

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George, here is what my favorite wood burning author, Dr. Jay Shelton, says about them in his book, "Solid Fuels":

Heat-storing masonry stoves are not appropriate in all cases despite their potential for high energy efficiency, steadiness of heat output, and relative freedom from heavy creosote and air polluting smoke. The 2 major problems are that when you want heat in a hurry, you cannot get it, and when you want to stop the heat output, you cannot.

I have spent 2 winters living in a house with a steel stove built into massive masonry (adobe) surroundings. Each morning I make a guess about the weather. If I think it will get warm and sunny, I don't light a big fire. Sometimes I guess wrong, and have to start a fire by mid-morning. But the house does not warm up until mid-afternoon. On the other hand, if I incorrectly anticipate that heat will be needed, the house overheats because there is no provision for stopping the heat from coming out of the masonry once it is charged up. A man in New England who built his own 45-ton Russian fireplace stopped using it after 1 season because of this problem. He claims he had to anticipate the weather by 3 days.

The lesson in these experiences is that large, passive-storage wood heating systems are most appropriate where the need for heat is steady. When the temperatures remain at a fairly constant cold temperature for days at a time, a masonry heat-storage stove is ideal. Where the need for heat can change quickly, such stoves are awkward. If you want a responsive wood heating system--one that can produce heat quickly when you want it--don't use a masonry heater.

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I have a friend in Massachusetts who built a Russian fireplace and he loves it. I've only visited a few times in winter, but it was enough to make a quick judgement. The warmth is very soft and is just everywhere, but after making the trek back to his house from a jaunt in the woods, there is no place to go to warm up your hands and your backside. On a bitter cold day, you end up feeling cheated somehow.

My setup is like the one Shelton describes with his own heater. I still try to get as much heat out of the stove itself rather than by deliberately "charging" my masonry, but the effect is quite pronounced regardless. As I write this, it is still 72ºF in every room in my house, even though I only had one jolly good fire in the AM. I was going to start one up again this evening, but the good Lady BK just gave me permission to blow it off... in the interest of curiosity. I would not be surprised at all if it's still in the mid-60s when I wake up tomorrow. Such is the beautiful nature of thermal mass heat storage. But every day in shoulder season is a decision making process, and a brief but careful analysis of the day's weather. Such is the PITA of thermal mass heat storage. It's a very odd feeling to not be able to escape the heat stored in your own home.

The graph below (from the same book) represents a hypothetical comparison of heat outputs form identical loads but burned in different heaters. The area under each curve is the total heat output of each heater integrated over time. As you can see, a thin-walled stove (like a sheet metal or barrel stove) gives up it's heat just about as fast as it is produced. A heavy-walled stove burning at the same rate stores a lot of heat in it's mass, and a masonry heater stores most of the heat and radiates it for a long time period. A lot of folks would prefer the powerful feel of strong radiant heat to the diffuse heat of a true masonry heater. It's a big part of the appeal of heating with wood for me, but I have to stay in the basement to enjoy any of it anyway, so I guess I'll just have to continue to live with the steadier heat it provides to the actual living space.

soupy1957 said:

Can you believe it?! Based on this years consumption, I'm thinkin I won't need to order more wood, but wonder if I should order another cord anyway, just on "principle?" Not sure just how "far ahead" is really necessary.

-Soupy1957

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It must have slipped your mind as to what forum you are presently on....There is NO such thing as too 'far ahead' around here. :lol:

Order the wood! One never knows when a neighbor might be in need or you might be in need due to unexpected turns in your circumstances...

perplexed said:

There is NO such thing as too 'far ahead' around here. :lol:

Order the wood! One never knows when a neighbor might be in need or you might be in need due to unexpected turns in your circumstances...

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Very true. I'm gonna be well ahead of where I usually am. Not only has my wood guy promised to keep delivering full cords of black birch, he promised to hold the price for at least the next couple years for me. I've got three on the ground right now, with three more coming soon. $140 for a nice fat cord of what is arguably the best firewood in the world? I feel my chainsaws will be mostly silent, except for turning some big ass pine logs into bears over the summer. At $100+/cord for mixed hardwood logs, it just ain't worth the effort.

pen said:

perplexed said:

It must have slipped your mind as to what forum you are presently on....There is NO such thing as too 'far ahead' around here. :lol:

Order the wood! One never knows when a neighbor might be in need or you might be in need due to unexpected turns in your circumstances...

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my brother from another mother.

word

pen

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I be of the female persuasion - therefore your long lost sister from another mother. ;-)

Got up to 60 degrees yesterday so I had to let the stove go cold. This morning it was 70 in the house. When I got home from work it was 67. That's to cold for me and my wife, so we started a small hot fire and it is 74 now. I will probably not put any wood on at bed time.
By the way, in 35 years of burning wood, my smoke detector has only gone off couple of times because of the wood stove (opened the doors to fast when the fire wasn't going good). That ended this morning when both detectors started going off. Apparently the cold flue became just another hole in the house when both bathroom exhaust fans got turned on at the same time and pulled air down the flue and into the house. I couldn't smell anything but that is the only explanation I could come up with. We shut them off and cleared the detectors and they have not gone off since.