Is this the mid-winter shoulder season?

[Hurricane]

I would like to keep my stove going but it gets too hot here during the day and we need the stove at night. So I need to start fires every day and that PITA. Mid to high 40's during the day and mid 20's in the evening.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I would like to keep my stove going but it gets too hot here during the day and we need the stove at night. So I need to start fires every day and that PITA. Mid to high 40's during the day and mid 20's in the evening.

Oddly enough the average temps for our area isn't far off from what we are experiencing. Our average high should be about 40 and low should be in the low 20s. I think it just feels a lot difference because we had a 3-5 week period where highs were in the upper 20s and lows were in the teens.

Restarting a fire with SuperCedars is really easy, so I can't complain.

 

[caber]

It is a pain to have to restart a mostly cold stove everytime versus just tossing fresh splits on to red coals. But I'm enjoying it more now after that 2 week cold snap of freezing temps where we were burnign 24/7. Even with no central heat, I'm down to 2 fires a day - 1 in the 5am and one around 9pm. As long as the sun shines and the temps are in the upper 30's, we are good all day. I may have to have a look at those SuperCedars. I usually throw a couple small splits of poplar in with the hardwoods to get the fire going quicker.

 

[Pagey]

It can be frustrating, but it's hella easier on my wood pile, I can say that! :lol: I spent a few minutes the last couple of days making some smaller 2-3" splits that are good for quick fires in the AM and PM. I criss-cross them N/S E/W to give plenty of air so they burn quick and hot.

 

[Flatbedford]

We just set the air way low and let the cat do it's thing. We can do two loads a day. We could go down to one load at night if it gets warmer. There are always enough coals to get the fire restarted even 20 hours later. It's nice to get a little break after 4 or more loads/day a couple weeks ago. Also good for the woodpile (and propane tanks) too.

 

[quads]

Sometimes I open a window. The fresh air in midwinter is great!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We do the same quads. It does seem good to let some fresh air in once in a while.

We also keep our stove going (but we haven't seen that 40 degree mark for a long while now) but usually only put in a very small amount of wood. A stove top temperature of 300 or 350 does not give a whole lot of heat and does not cost much in fuel so that is what we do.

Fortunately we have gone through that period of cloudy days and occasionally see sunshine again. That definitely helps during the daytime. It seems at least around here that November and December the sun must go on vacation as we rarely see it then.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

According to weather records, this week we are in now is on average the coldest week of the year. Next week we start going up, albeit very slowly. I have noticed that the days are getting longer once again. That for sure seems good.

Knowing this is on average the coldest part of winter, everyone should be able to judge a little better on how much more wood they will burn this year. However, do realize that you will burn more wood in March than you will in October; lots more.

So get out there an measure your wood piles! Or order more wood to be delivered.

 

[RAY_PA]

same thing here, just toss a couple of splits on in the morning to have enough coals in the box to get her going again for the evening.

 

[Wet1]

I've been able to dial the BK down low enough to just cruise 24/7, one load per day. God I love this stove! :cheese:

 

['bert]

Yup, days starting to get a bit longer here too, but we don't usually notice the change until mid Feb. Feb is usually our coldest month as far as I am concerned. Not sure sure if that is true statistically (too lazy to check), or if I am just tired of winter by then.

We have been enjoying a bit of a warm spell here of late with temps just around (and even over) 0 °C. Even had one day of +8C. Felt like summer.

Wood piles are doing fine, I think unless I really get my burn on I should have about 2 cords left over to start with next year. First time ever!

 

[BrowningBAR]

I've been rotating stoves. The last three days I was only using the intrepid but this morning seemed a little colder so I got the Vigilant going instead. Cant wait for the Fireview next year. In this weather, I would guess, this is when the 12 hour burns are more easily attainable.

 

[Troutchaser]

Newbie's curiosity here. . . And pardon my ignorance. . .

We're well into the 40's through the day now and not below freezing some nights. Getting this downdraft to combust requires a big bed of coals and lots of heat. That would simply run us out of the house right now.

Am I better to crack a window and let her rip (using lots more wood this way), or just char the wood and burn with the bypass cracked and the air backed down?

 

[BucksCoBernie]

Im worried about my pile.....not looking good. I do believe I have some cherry hiding in the back for of a large stack that wont be ready till next season...getting to it is going to suck. The cherry's been split for about 7-8 months.

 

[hareball]

I started keeping a fire going on one side of the stove. I load 3 splits in the morning then add one or 2 every few hours. The right side of the stove is shut down (damper closed). Working pretty good!

 

[BrowningBAR]

According to weather records, this week we are in now is on average the coldest week of the year. Next week we start going up, albeit very slowly. I have noticed that the days are getting longer once again. That for sure seems good.

Knowing this is on average the coldest part of winter, everyone should be able to judge a little better on how much more wood they will burn this year. However, do realize that you will burn more wood in March than you will in October; lots more.

So get out there an measure your wood piles! Or order more wood to be delivered.

Our coldest average temps was a week ago. We bottom out at an average high of 38. Starting next Monday our average high is 40. But, that is only an average. We are due for at least one more cold spell. It will probably be mid February when it hits. I need to go out and re-stack some wood and reorganize a few things. During cold spells I kind of just grab and go without being very neat about it. My wood stacks looks like a messy kids room about now.

I had an oil delivery Dec. 7th for 54 gallons. The delivery on Friday will probably be about 120-160 gallons. So I have used about 200 gallons so far this season. A far cry from the 1400-ish we used to go through for a winter.

 

[Corey]

Ya, this year is really goofin' with me. I had a bunch of scrap wood and sticks of elm up at the back door rack - for 'shoulder season' ... next thing I know we've got 16" of snow on the ground, below zero temps and more snow on the way. About froze, so I trudged out to the wood pile and brought up the huge slabs of my prized hedge. No sooner than I get the rack full of the good stuff and we get 40º temps. I burned up all my small sticks of hedge keeping the house at a moderate temp, so I had to throw in a big slab for the overnight burn. Woke up this morning and it's 44º outside, 78º in the house and the stove is still 450º 9 hours after I last stoked it. Open the windows and turn on the AC!

 

[leftyscott]

Last night, was the first night in a couple months that I did not need a fire. (low temp 55 deg.) Night before it was mild also but I still loaded the Quad. It was like 89 deg. when I went to bed and 81 when I got up on the morning. I've been burming lots of 2" rounds, saving my good splits for the next cold spell.

 

[Flatbedford]

Cant wait for the Fireview next year. In this weather, I would guess, this is when the 12 hour burns are more easily attainable.

In my opinion this is where the Fireview really shines.

 

[weatherguy]

I’ve been able to dial the BK down low enough to just cruise 24/7, one load per day. God I love this stove!

I was gonna post the same thing, actually I usually do two loads because Im bored, but this stove is great, maybe we should open a BK dealership in the NE.

 

[Slow1]

It sure feels like a return to shoulder season but I'm sure it is an illusion from the contrast of the really cold period we just went through. I'm going for two loads today - was doing three more out of habit than anything I realized as the house was simply getting warmer than we really like it. Even let the stove burn out and cleaned it up (cat, glass, removed ashes etc) then didn't bother lighting up til next morning one night last week since we had warmed the house up so much.

I agree with FlatbedFord - this is certainly where a cat stove (especially the Fireview of course) really shines. Being able to dial it down and burn all day then have coals enough to relight many hours later in a hot firebox is a very nice thing.

Getting close to Jan 22nd which seems to statistically be the average halfway point of the heating season so I'm sure there are still plenty of cold days left to go. I need to go out and measure my woodpile but I'm pretty sure I've used less than 1/2 of it so I'm feeling pretty good about that side of things at least. Sure is better than last year when I was feeling like I was about to run out at the end of Jan.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah today was a pain in the butt. Took too long to get the chill off because it was cloudy all day and keeping it barely going now has the place to warm but don't want to let it go completely and have to restart in three hours.

 

[Hurricane]

I have a decent burn going now, and have decided to keep it going on low for a few days and open a window if necessary.
Burning on low for long times seems to blacken things up, then requires a good hot burn to clean things up.
The oil burner was running too much for me in the last few days, and my wood supply is doing fine, so I am going 7/24 again.

 

[Hiram Maxim]

After the last 2 Winters that we had here in Michigan, everyday seems like shoulder season this Winter. ;-P

The one problem I'm having is that it stays so warm in the house I sometimes forget to feed the beast....