Funny how it's so different for everybody depending on location, installation and personal preferences.
All winter long my basement is too hot to work in comfortably, too dry for the musical instruments I work on, and too crowded because of the space I need for stove clearance and wood storage. Then along comes spring and, first chance I get, I stop burning. I remove the remaining wood, and power tools and such get rolled back into positions nearer to the stove. Humidity levels rise to normal and the workshop cools off. Then about now it starts to get cold down there and humidity levels rise too high, and the dehumidifier comes out. This starts to warm the basement again. Then it gets too warm and I am using the AC down there. July and August bring the highest electric bills of the year, in a house whose only other heat source is the electric basebords... which I only use during shoulder season.
Next year I'm seriously considering getting a small EPA stove like the Jotul F100 or maybe the F3 for the upstairs fireplace. Burning down in the basement is out of the question for me right now, but it'd be real nice to take the chill off the air without smelling the dust and pet hair burning off the baseboard heaters and thinking about a spinning electric meter putting me in the poor house.
If I owned the place, it'd be a no-brainer, but we've been living here without a raise in rent for almost 20 years. We never intended to stay here very long, just until we both finished school, but the years kept adding up. Now that the kids are gone, we love the little place. With the current astronomical housing prices, we can't afford to own at this point in time. Mortgage and property taxes would be twice what we pay in rent, and we'd never live long enough to get it paid off.
The landlord isn't on board with me pulling the damper out of the fireplace and installing a liner without assuring him that the stove stays if I leave. Still, with the great price reductions at the end of the season, plus the 30% tax credit, it just might be worth it. The landlord is very old-fashioned and doesn't believe in maximizing his profit on the place. He's been very good to us over the years, so I may consider just giving him the stove and installation. Who knows, we may live here until we die anyway.
heh... anyway, so another half dozen splits turned to dust and the house was quite toasty this morning. Next couple days are going to be great days - sunny and in just about 70 for the highs, then we're back to low 60's for highs and lows in the upper 30's so I won't be doing any final cleaning job on the stove quite yet.
