Disappointed!

Ziprich said:

Thank you very much! As usual you guys make me feel a lot better. I already have wood split and stacked for next year, not much i can do about this year(i tried), but next year should be better. Just like i read on here many times i thought that when fall comes its time to get wood for the winter. Wrong! never again, I plan to get years ahead on wood. also i planned on finishing my basement at some point. Now i might start that one much sooner. I do have ducts running throughout the house so getting that cold air to the basement should be possible. I thought about getting an OAK system, but they said on-line that if i have good draft then i shouldn't get one. I'm going to run the stove a little hotter now, we will see how much that helps. one last question, how long of a burn time can i expect to get with this stove? I haven't been able to go to work or bed without the stove pretty much going out.

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always try to get your wood in the late winter/early spring.....and if you can, split it as soon as you cut it.....I find that helps dry it out faster, maybe because the cells in the tree are still 'alive' after it is fresh cut and they help evacuate some of the water in the tree...sort of " starve theirselves" if you will....lol....

Ziprich said:

Thank you very much! As usual you guys make me feel a lot better. I already have wood split and stacked for next year, not much i can do about this year(i tried), but next year should be better. Just like i read on here many times i thought that when fall comes its time to get wood for the winter. Wrong! never again, I plan to get years ahead on wood. also i planned on finishing my basement at some point. Now i might start that one much sooner. I do have ducts running throughout the house so getting that cold air to the basement should be possible. I thought about getting an OAK system, but they said on-line that if i have good draft then i shouldn't get one. I'm going to run the stove a little hotter now, we will see how much that helps. one last question, how long of a burn time can i expect to get with this stove? I haven't been able to go to work or bed without the stove pretty much going out.

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I was talking about using the OAK as a means of creating air cirulation in your house, not for any other reason.

I just insulated my crawl space basement area with spray in foam. Made sure they went up the sill to the floors. The entire perimeter spray job cost my $1400. Best $1400 bucks I ever spent. If you have an unfinishd basement and don't care about having ununiform foam on your walls that's what I'd do.

It looks like a lot of the great points from the previous posters but I have a couple I want to make:

One poster pointed out you can bring more wood in and this is a good thing. If you put semi seasoned wood in the proximity (not an unsafe distance) of a hot burning stove, I have noted it to check in just a couple of days (last year was year one for me). So bring in a fair amount of wood if you can and let your stove season it for you somewhat as it will definately help.

As also pointed out, the stove thermometers should be used for a thermometer to tell the temp. 800 degrees is considered overfiring for my stove and let me tell you there is a very intense difference between 550 and 750 degrees. I always run my stove up to 650 or so before cutting back on the primary air.

I was cautious with my stove last year as well but you will establish a comfort level with it. Let's talk about worst case scenarios for a minute. Lets say you have a stove installed in your living area like I do and you overfire the **** out of it. It is in proximity to combustible material and worse case scenario, could start something on fire. I don't know about your system but it sounds like it is not so near combustible surfaces. I think your primary concern is your stove pipe/chimney getting too hot. I am not sure if this makes you more comfortable or not.

Lastly, my children were 3 and 4 when I got my stove. They love it especially in the morning or after a shower) and respect it properly. I was worried about that.

MarkinNC said:

Lastly, my children were 3 and 4 when I got my stove. They love it especially in the morning or after a shower) and respect it properly. I was worried about that.

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MarkinNC, we have three kiddos, ages 6, 10, and 13....when we installed our current kitchen woodstove three years ago we had the same fears about them around it..and I am happy to say that the only ones ever burned by that stove were me and my wife....lol...loading wood without the welding gloves on....it is amazing how easily you can teach your kids to not disrespect something like that if you just take the time to do it right.....they love the stove, esp. on those cold frosty mornings, the all end up putting the TV trays around it and eating their breakfast watching the secondaries swirl the flames around....