Houston, we have ignition

[begreen]

This morning it was 45ºF so I told the T6 it was time to wake up. Stoked her up with a few splits and little kindling in the Tunnel of Love® config. Fired right up and 20 minutes later the stove top was at 425º. Added a couple more large splits. Lowered the air to 50%, then 10 minutes later to 20%. House is warm and toasty, 74 in the living room and 70-72 in the rest of the house. I'll let the fire go out as the sun has now come up and soon will warm the house for the rest of the day

This was a test of new wood. It's doug fir and alder that was cut green and split in early April and put right into the shed. This was a hot and dry summer and I wanted to check how the new wood was doing. We have 2 and 1 yr. seasoned also, but I was curious to see where this wood was at. I resplit some large splits yesterday to check for moisture and found it was dry so I figured I'd give it a test. Burns ok so far, started up right away with no sizzling or bubbling on the ends, even on the large splits. That surprised me, but I'm pleased to know that we have good dry wood reserves to fall back on if it's a very cold winter.

 

[Xtrl9]

I'm looking forward to the day that I can start my day by starting a fire 62 degrees inside when I woke up for work today.

 

[begreen]

Won't be long now. Our house was at 65F but that is intentional for good sleeping. I woke up early before the thermostat told the heat pump to kick in and warm up the house. It hasn't come on and probably won't until evening unless we have a fire tonight also.

 

[Woody Stover]

Sure, it's 72 in here but I have on a thin t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. Being acclimated to summer, I need about 80* to feel warm if I'm just sitting around. But I'm hanging tough, not lighting up yet. I did brush our and my SILs' chimneys last weekend, just in case.

It's doug fir and alder that was cut green and split in early April and put right into the shed. This was a hot and dry summer and I wanted to check how the new wood was doing.....found it was dry. I'm pleased to know that we have good dry wood reserves to fall back on if it's a very cold winter.

That's a good drying summer for you then, no? I didn't do any testing but this had to be a bad drying summer for us. For months, it seemed like it rained every day, and the humidity wouldn't go below 60% a lot of days.

 

[begreen]

Yes it was. There have been summers when this would not have been possible.

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm pleased to know that we have good dry wood reserves to fall back on if it's a very cold winter.

Doesn't look bad for a while....for any of us.

 

[St. Coemgen]

Fired up the smaller of our two stoves over the weekend. The big stove is still cold.

Just a small bag of wood each day so far. It has been cool and raining since last week and the inside temps dropped just enough to get some internal heat going. But a rather lazy fall so far. If this temperature trend continues may not fire up the big stove till next month.

 

[begreen]

Predictions are for a serious $hitstorm to hit us on Saturday. It's the remnants of Typhoon Songda. This could mean an extended power outage. If so, we will be burning.

 

[Jags]

$hitstorm

- I can only imagine, but that has to be one of the worst kinds. I think I would even take hail over that.

 

[Woody Stover]

Predictions are for a serious $hitstorm to hit us on Saturday. It's the remnants of Typhoon Songda.

Typhoon?!! I thought you lived in the West, not the East. Yikes, time to break out the Mae West life jackets! Cool, clammy weather. I predict you'll be firing up, my friend.

 

[begreen]

Yes, they cross the Pacific sometimes, It's not common but it does happen. Usually it just means some heavy rain and blusteriness. This one however, does not look pretty. Trees still have foliage which makes them more vulnerable to high winds. I am fueling up the gennies and stocking up on batteries.
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/

 

[Woody Stover]

Are your wood covers on tight?!!

 

[begreen]

Yes, and those are the sustained winds. Depending on the course this thing takes it could get worse but right now it looks like the coast and upper Puget Sound will see the worst part. Hope that forecast sticks. We have a lot of tall old leaning alders in this area that don't look like it would take much to bring them down.

 

[Woody Stover]

Yes, and those are the sustained winds. Depending on the course this thing takes it could get worse but right now it looks like the coast and upper Puget Sound will see the worst part. Hope that forecast sticks.

You are lower Puget, right? My BIL is on southern Whidbey...are they gonna get hammered, then?

 

[begreen]

At this point it's hard to say. They are up in the convergence zone with less protection.

 

[begreen]

Are your wood covers on tight?!!
View attachment 185527

The wood is in the shed. Hopefully the roof is nice and secure.

That's a nice weather charting tool. What is the website?

 

[begreen]

You are lower Puget, right? My BIL is on southern Whidbey...are they gonna get hammered, then?

Ferry system is saying they may cancel the Pt. Townsend to Coupeville ferry run during this weather. That would be South Whidbey. They expect it to get rough.

 

[Woody Stover]

What is the website?

NWS. Here is the Seattle page, then scroll down to "hourly weather forecast." http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=47.6062&lon=-122.3321#.V_7-6CSpqUk

That would be South Whidbey. They expect it to get rough.

We talked to him this evening, and he said 30% chance of 70 mph winds....whatever that means. Bottom line I guess is YIKES!

 

[Woody Stover]

There were a bunch of Seattle options when I typed it into the search box at the top of the page.

 

[begreen]

NWS. Here is the Seattle page, then scroll down to "hourly weather forecast." http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=47.6062&lon=-122.3321#.V_7-6CSpqUk
We talked to him this evening, and he said 30% chance of 70 mph winds....whatever that means. Bottom line I guess is YIKES!

Very cool, thx. I have been to that site many times and never poked around with the options and tools there.

 

[Woody Stover]

Yeah, I like how you can just look across the weather graph and take it all in, as opposed to reading the little boxes. Intellicast has something similar, but not as handy. NWS radar is my go-to...short- or long-range 1-hr. loops, and nice color gradations of rain intensity. You can really read what's going to happen. Of course, the weather man misses once in a while.

 

[begreen]

Yes, NWS has some dated equipment. The European system often is more accurate. Cliff Mass has blogged about this and advocates modernizing, but is up against entrenched interests.
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2012/12/rebuilding-national-weather-service.html

 

[mellow]

Only thing I am burning in right now is my smoker/grill/fire pit Wife says I can't bring the fire indoors yet

 

[Jags]

For those that are interested in this stuff, don't gloss over the link that BG posted. A well written blog that is to the point and full of insight. I found it very interesting. Lengthy, but interesting.

Repost:

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2012/12/rebuilding-national-weather-service.html

 

[Woody Stover]

Looks like the fun has begun out there. Saturday night appears to be when it really gets interesting....duck and cover!