'Bout to get reeeaaaaal cold, who's ready?

[AnalogKid]

Snow, high winds and negative temps enroute to the Northeast. Local CT news is calling for record setting temp lows for Friday/Friday night.

Only my 2nd year with my insert. Plenty of good dry, seasoned wood just outside the door and about a day-and-a-half worth inside at all times. Curious to see if my stove can keep up. Haven't had to turn the heat on at all this year, we'll see if we can continue that trend.

 

[Todd]

Kind a getting use to it in this area. Monday looks to be the coldest day I've seen in some time with a high of -13 and low of -25!

 

[lopiliberty]

I'm all ready. Supposed to get down to 0 here tomorrow night. I've had tomorrow wood stacked to the side for three days about 7 large pieces of locust. Next Monday calling for a high of 13 and a low of -5 so I have a feeling I will be running the blower on my stove around the clock for the first time ever

 

[Kevin Dolan]

I'm all ready. Supposed to get down to 0 here tomorrow night. I've had tomorrow wood stacked to the side for three days about 7 large pieces of locust. Next Monday calling for a high of 13 and a low of -5 so I have a feeling I will be running the blower on my stove around the clock for the first time ever

We are ready , it is around -25 c and we have lots of seasoned wood on hand. I am finding that bringing a load in to sit by the stove a few hours before loading really helps it to get going especially when it is this cold.
Stay warm .

 

[begreen]

Gentlemen, start your engines. Winter has arrived.

Out here it is still odd weather. Our cold snap has passed but still moisture levels are low and the ski resorts are hurting. There's no snow at the lower elevations still.

 

[firebroad]

I have bronchitis, but I'm ready. Bring it on!!

 

[Swedishchef]

-44 C this morning with the wind.
I am ready. The stove is firing, 4 days worth of wood in the basement. I plugged in my vehicle, I have lots of food and the fridge is full of beer. What else can I do?!?

Andrew

 

[northwinds]

Crazy cold coming up. Hats off to the folks in Alaska used to this, but negative 19 F tonight just sucks. It's going to be a two stove night.

 

[lopiliberty]

I am finding that bringing a load in to sit by the stove a few hours before loading really helps it to get going especially when it is this cold.

I do too. I tell everyone that warm wood seems to get going faster and you should see the look they give me

 

[firebroad]

I do too. I tell everyone that warm wood seems to get going faster and you should see the look they give me

+1.
I always thought it was because the condensation dried out faster inside.

 

[lopiliberty]

+1.
I always thought it was because the condensation dried out faster inside.

That is exactly right. As the my wood warms up and dries out beside the stove it cracks and pops

 

[Ashful]

I'm real interested to see how the exposed piping and water heater in our unfinished (and unheated) 3rd floor attic hold up, as well as the plumbing and sink in our attached garage. Previous owner claims he never had trouble with either, but I don't know exactly when either item was added. This will be the first time we've seen temps below 10F in my two years in the house.

Still have two cords of wood left for this year, so we'll be warm this weekend, but I've burned thru 3.5 cords already. We'll be switching back to 100% oil heat before February is done, at this rate.

 

[rideau]

Even my dog has more sense than to be out in this.

Wind off the lake, bitterly cold. -26 C and winds about 25 kph off the lake. I just went out, well bundled, to get firewood. Only brought in enough for one more fire...it's COLD. Not supposed to get ANY warmer until sometime Saturday. I THINK I have enough firewood inside to last until then at this point. Not too sure. The stove is eating wood with this combination of cold weather/high wind. My draft is outrageous to start with.

 

[dafattkidd]

I'm ready. We have plenty of wood in the garage. I'm curious to see how my house feels in the terrible cold. We made some significant improvements in the house this year.

We're supposed to be in the teens with 30 mph gusts tonight and tomorrow. Friday night is a low of close to zero with wind chills below zero. I can't imagine how we would have made it n this house without the insert and all the improvements I've made I've the years.

Joful, you're almost out of wood? That's too bad. I wish I were closer I'd set you up with another cord.

 

[jharkin]

Im all set, started digging into the Hurricane Irene Black Locust stash for the occasion... though I found I have to be careful with that stuff, its like loading the stove with dynamite!

 

[Coach B]

Somebody up there must be sending the cold down this way. Supposed to be close to 0 Mon and Tuesday night in Nashville. Hopefully we get a little snow to go with the cold. I probably have three weeks worth of wood on the covered back porch. I don't remember snow laying on the ground for more than a couple of weeks at a time so three weeks worth ought to be plenty for now.

 

[Ashful]

Joful, you're almost out of wood? That's too bad. I wish I were closer I'd set you up with another cord.

Two cords left, but I can go thru that pretty quick with two stoves burning 24/7 in a very lossy house. I might actually try to find some eco bricks or similar, to augment the wood I have left. The wood I'm burning this year is only 14 months CSS'd, so that might work out well with eco bricks... if I can figure out where to find them this time of year.

 

[dafattkidd]

Im all set, started digging into the Hurricane Irene Black Locust stash for the occasion... though I found I have to be careful with that stuff, its like loading the stove with dynamite!

I wish I pulled out my black locust last night. I have a 1\4 cord stacked and covered. If it's not ridiculously snowy and blizzardy when I get home I might dig out a couple tubs worth and keep them inside for the next two overnights.

Days like this I love having the oversized firebox capacity. I'll be packing it to the gills tonight.

I will also be running my boiler for short bursts just to keep the pipes from freezing.

Just to clarify: the only pipes that would freeze are the heating pipes that run in the crawl space and are rarely used. The Oz has had no problem keeping our house warm at any temps we've seen thus far. My concern is not using the boiler makes those pipes far more vulnerable.

 

[jharkin]

Yeah I cheat and let the boiler kick in overnight to help.

Joful, at this rate I'll also be out of dry wood by the Superbowl if that's any consolation..

 

[Badfish740]

This is my favorite time of the heating season. The Englander is really oversized for my house, which is barely 1000 SF, but you can't go much smaller as far as add-on furnaces go. It really shines when we have single digit nights, plus I have some 3 year seasoned pin oak just for the occasion We have a 1960s-era house but no pipes in exterior walls, so we've never had that problem thank goodness. The furnace throws off a ton of radiant heat in addition to what it puts into the ductwork so the basement stays just as toasty as the upstairs.

 

[PapaDave]

-44 C this morning with the wind.
I am ready. The stove is firing, 4 days worth of wood in the basement. I plugged in my vehicle, I have lots of food and the fridge is full of beer. What else can I do?!?

Andrew

Make some nachos or something.
They'll go well with the beer, and may help keep you warm too.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

I was second guessing the size of my stove (first year with Hearthstone Shelburne) as I'm usually trying to keep a small clean fire going instead of a larger hotter fire to keep from cooking myself out of my living room. With a high of 7 today, no sun, snow, getting breezy, I'm finally getting a good chance to really let her get up and running. Any smaller I think I would be kicking the propane back on to keep it in the mid 70's. One of the few times I appreciate being a carpenter with next to nothing to do in the winter but tax paperwork, now I get to feed the stove which breaks up the monotony of Excel, and I can rest easy knowing I have plenty of wood and have used so little propane that there won't be another heating bill for me this year.

Sub zero nights, 18" of snow stacked up in the yard, all essential point of interest in the yard have 30" snow blower paths to get there, yep, winter is here.

 

[laynes69]

Our home is getting much tighter, but being a 160+ years old it has it's limitations. It's currently 17*F, but getting hit with 30 mph winds, it goes thru the house. The future forecast is calling for lows at -15* with windchills of -40*f. I don't know what we are going to do. Hasn't been that low since 94'. Hopefully I can keep the propane furnace off, but only so much I can do with this 3.5 cu ft firebox. This weather is where the old smoke dragon furnace would eat and smile.

 

[dafattkidd]

Our home is getting much tighter, but being a 160+ years old it has it's limitations. It's currently 17*F, but getting hit with 30 mph winds, it goes thru the house. The future forecast is calling for lows at -15* with windchills of -40*f. I don't know what we are going to do. Hasn't been that low since 94'. Hopefully I can keep the propane furnace off, but only so much I can do with this 3.5 cu ft firebox. This weather is where the old smoke dragon furnace would eat and smile.

Maybe just run the propane for 20 minutes every few hours. It will help even out the heat in the house and keep you from over coaling.

 

[laynes69]

Maybe just run the propane for 20 minutes every few hours. It will help even out the heat in the house and keep you from over coaling.

Unfortunately, I'm waiting on a 20.00 part for the furnace. Haven't needed the furnace yet, but that may change when it's -15 with a heavy wind. I just brought in some hickory, and the next stuff in the pile is mostly locust, so hopefully I'm good.