Did you ever cheat on your wo.........

[soupy1957]

Did you ever cheat on your wood stove, (what did you THINK this was about, eh?! lol), and let the furnace do all the work?

This morning I have too much on my plate, and needed some unbroken time in front of my computer, so........I decided to let the furnace keep us warm.

Sacrilege?

-Soupy1957

 

[Pagey]

Nah, not sacrilege. But, if you are like me, your a$$ cinches up a bit every time you hear the thing kick on.

 

[Shari]

Heh, heh - have to do that for the next couple of days - we are having a new roof put on the house and out of courtesy to the roofers I just thought it best to run the furnace instead of the woodstove. I will be sitting here thinking "$$$$ blowing away in the wind".

Shari

 

[northwinds]

Tell 'em to hurry on that roof. Looks like it's going to get wet for the next few days in WI.

The only time I cheat is when we're away from the house overnight. Then it's nice to have
a second option.

 

[firefighterjake]

Whether I get warm with wood or oil doesn't matter to me . . . well maybe it does . . . I hate spending money on oil and prefer wood for the entire experience . . . but I do use oil for back up on those wicked cold nights and when I'm away . . . towards the end of the burning season my wife tends to use the oil boiler more often during the spring shoulder season as well . . . but we still use so little oil that I don't mind helping some poor shiek make a little bit of money by that point.

 

[btuser]

I've got two girlfirends. Right about this time of year Im fed up with the gold-digger, sick of listening to her whine and will do whatever I can to shut her up. That's when I call on my new flame. All Summer long I've been thinking about her, and when we meet for the first time in October you can see the sparks start flying. However, by the time April comes around the she has just about wore me out and I can honestly say I'm sick of the smell of her and the mess she can leave behind.

Its nice to have a little somethin'-somethin', but I hope they don't meet each other!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

No cheating here. The Fireview has to keep us warm as that is our entire heating plant.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Can't cheat here either. Feed the beast or it starts to get cold.

 

[Gator eye]

Once the work is done, how much work is there to keeping a wood stove running untended?


Just remember...



K.I.S.S.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

we leave the heat pump on, set at 60 °F all winter, if we need to stay in town or something past feeding time, no big deal, not cheating at all. But our stove doesn't seem to be a harsh mistress, we can load it up, wait a few, air it down, do whatever for many hours. Turns out I don't have to fiddle with it, or watch it or anything.. (not that I don't if I am there..lol)

 

[Chargerman]

This year I have let the natural gas furnace run on the few 50-60 degree days we have had. It seems more than usual that the temps have been bouncing from cool to warm every other day and I am a little hesitant to fire up the BBF. The house is staying in the mid 60's or better anyway so not much furnace is needed. As soon as it get in the 40's for highs it will be an all wood show.

 

[polaris]

No cheating here. The Fireview has to keep us warm as that is our entire heating plant.

Savage do you have a back up source available? I don't really use propane much for heating but I do use it when out of town to make sure the pipes don't do anything I don't want em to. How do you handle extended periods away? Just curious.
Thanks
Joe

 

[firelady]

I admit I cheat on the wood stove with the pellet stove. But always come back to wood. Oil only for long trips away from home.

 

[op_man1]

My system is both wood and gas - gas is to supplement the wood heat, you could say. My first year I almost felt guilty if I used my gas furnace but now I don't at all (even though I haven't used it yet). They both have their uses. My perspective might be different if I had to pay sky high prices for gas.

 

[jharkin]

I cheat on the stove all the time. We use it part time - typically 24/7 on weekends but the gas boiler does the work during the week.

In the shoulder season we only use the gas. Up till Nov. 1 we pay summer gas rates which right now are 22 cents a therm. Its very hard to get wood around here cheap enough to beat that unless you are buying grapple loads.

 

[begreen]

Likewise. Or viewed the other way around. During winter, I cheat on the heat pump a lot with the wood stove, even though she is faithfully standing by and happily warms up the house in case the wood stove got greedy and ate all its fuel for a midnight snack. So my autumn and spring love still is the heatpump. She is so easy to get along with.

 

[vvvv]

la estufa in Spanish is female by gender! why is this so?

 

[OhioBurner©]

Our problem is we are gone from home too much. We could easily heat entirely from wood, and with the large house and multiple stoves we could probably manage the shoulder season well with wood only too. But most weekends we both have off we will be out of town... weekends that I work and she is off she goes out of town, and my work day is too long for a stove (door to door about 14 hrs).

So for most of the time we are 100% wood (with maybe a space heater in the far room)

...but unfortunatly we have to burn that C3H8 far more than I'd like

 

[begreen]

Hestia = goddess of the Hearth and Home

 

[certified106]

We have a three way going on at our house. Heat Pump to take off the chill in the early fall and late spring when you don't want it super hot during the day, Vermont Castings Dutchwest XL for the winter, and a propane furnace for middle of the winter backup when we are out of town. Honestly though there is nothing better than a 80° living room on a 10° day it makes me smile just thinking about it.

 

[billb3]

Every year I try to make it on heat gain alone until Halloween.
Didn't make it this year, either.
A couple days of no sun and it can get a tad too cold here.
I had to turn the thermostat up the other morning.

House is too small and efficient to start a fire this time of year .
I can run the furnace a few minutes at 6AM and 6PM and it will only fall back down to about 64 or so in between. During the day we're gone and at night we're sleeping.
Even a little bit of oven cooking will bring the temp up 2 degrees.


After Halloween all bets are off.

Although even then I'm tending to keep the stove burning just on the weekend and at night during the week.

 

[fire_man]

No cheating here. The Fireview has to keep us warm as that is our entire heating plant.

Savage do you have a back up source available? I don't really use propane much for heating but I do use it when out of town to make sure the pipes don't do anything I don't want em to. How do you handle extended periods away? Just curious.
Thanks
Joe

I'm sure Dennis will chime in, but I asked him the same question. He's got no backup heat source and relies completely on the Fireview. His backup plan when he is not home is the friendly neighborhood kid. Am I right, Dennis??

With oil averaging $2.80 in the North Boston area, it will be a cold day in Hell before I use the Furnace!

 

[RoseRedHoofbeats]

If you're going to be out of town, turn your water off at the outside source, then turn all your faucets on to let the water that was in the pipes drain out. The end!

~Rose

 

[n3pro]

we leave the heat pump on, set at 60 °F all winter,

For the most part I do to but unfortunately with my schedule and the few time I catch something that just kicks my butt I to cheat more then I want. With a small wood stove my burn times are just not always long enough.

 

[BrotherBart]

If you're going to be out of town, turn your water off at the outside source, then turn all your faucets on to let the water that was in the pipes drain out. The end!

~Rose

The way I have done it in this barn for twenty five years my friend. I drain the place just like a trailer. Including the electric water heater. Just have to remember to turn the well pump on long before popping the breaker for the water heater.

For the last two years we now have backup. Oil filled radiators with external thermostats on'em in every room. This time of year I am letting two of them do a little work during the day. Until the leaves fall solar gain is just two words in the dictionary when your house is in the middle of 90 foot trees.

Tonight since we have our first frost warning the 30-NC is starting up as I type. Of course then we go into the mid seventies tomorrow. Wood burner's hell is upon us once again like it is every fall. Da little heaters are making it easier this year.