I put a partial load - maybe half the firebox - in the new Princess last night around 7:30. Let it run on '1' for a couple minutes, then turned it back to where '0' would be (I use the 'W' of the word 'Warmer' as my marker for zero), were the T-stat marked thus. After an hour I moved it back further still, to the imaginary -1.
If you peered carefully through the (somewhat dirty) glass, you'd spy a few flecks of orange down in the bottom, but otherwise the stove gave no indication that it was running. The several splits of wood sat there, slightly charred, looking pretty dead. The only clue that anything was afoot was the gentle, even heat that emanated from the corner of the living room. I kept waiting for the stove, throttled back as much as it was, to extinguish itself. But when I went to bed at midnight it was still doing its thing, three quarters up in the Active zone.
When I awaken this morning the whole house is... pleasant. Like it was late spring or something. I walk downstairs and into the living room and can't help but smile. It's 31 degrees outside. 73 degrees inside.
My old stove would have required you to first run a good hot burn, enough to lay down a solid bed of hot coals. Then you'd have to stuff its enormous firebox with a bunch of wood, twice or more what I put in the Princess, let it catch well - but not too well - and then shut up the stove. If you did that no earlier than 9pm or so, if you got up no later than six the next morning, if you did everything just right, you MIGHT have enough embers left in the otherwise not-very-warm stove to get a fresh fire going in the morning without futzing with newspapers and such.
Standing in a cold room in my skivvies trying to coax a fire back to life ain't my preferred way to start the day.
I can't describe how nice it is to put on the coffee, grab a shower, and sit down with a hot cup, having yet to do a single thing with the stove. It might need loading in a couple hours. I just keep shaking my head. It's a miracle how much quality heat it makes, for such an incredibly long time, out of so little wood.
I'm off today to look at a splitter. A stove this good deserves that I step up my game.
I hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving...
If you peered carefully through the (somewhat dirty) glass, you'd spy a few flecks of orange down in the bottom, but otherwise the stove gave no indication that it was running. The several splits of wood sat there, slightly charred, looking pretty dead. The only clue that anything was afoot was the gentle, even heat that emanated from the corner of the living room. I kept waiting for the stove, throttled back as much as it was, to extinguish itself. But when I went to bed at midnight it was still doing its thing, three quarters up in the Active zone.
When I awaken this morning the whole house is... pleasant. Like it was late spring or something. I walk downstairs and into the living room and can't help but smile. It's 31 degrees outside. 73 degrees inside.
My old stove would have required you to first run a good hot burn, enough to lay down a solid bed of hot coals. Then you'd have to stuff its enormous firebox with a bunch of wood, twice or more what I put in the Princess, let it catch well - but not too well - and then shut up the stove. If you did that no earlier than 9pm or so, if you got up no later than six the next morning, if you did everything just right, you MIGHT have enough embers left in the otherwise not-very-warm stove to get a fresh fire going in the morning without futzing with newspapers and such.
Standing in a cold room in my skivvies trying to coax a fire back to life ain't my preferred way to start the day.
I can't describe how nice it is to put on the coffee, grab a shower, and sit down with a hot cup, having yet to do a single thing with the stove. It might need loading in a couple hours. I just keep shaking my head. It's a miracle how much quality heat it makes, for such an incredibly long time, out of so little wood.
I'm off today to look at a splitter. A stove this good deserves that I step up my game.
I hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving...
!
