New Guy; forced into burning for primary heat.

[Chettt]

The mistake I and every first year burner made is to forget that the real winter weather begins in January. Don't burn any of your good cord wood until then no matter how bad you want to. Scrap lumber and or eco bricks or electric heaters can get you by through the fall.

Also, never listen to an optimistic wife about how much wood is needed. I would freeze to death every year if I listened to mine.

Good luck.

 

[ddahlgren]

You always need a cord more than you have. Cut up pallets are usually free. This year going to the 'dark side' as I swapped the Avalon out and have a Crane 404 that will burn wood and coal though a good deal better with coal. Coal is more money but don't have to season and takes up much less no bugs either. So this a cord of wood that is well seasoned and 2 1/2 tons of coal. 12 hours between loading and empty the ash pan once a day. The same people that say it is dusty would make a similar mess with wood as well. For those that say it smokes it does not if anthracite and for those that talk about all the toxic minerals it is suitable for land fill in most places.

 

[prezes13]

Sounds like you could mow through a ton at that rate.

I got ton of those bricks by the end of February. I was burning them on week nights and weekends. I still have few bundles left. So not as bad as I was thinking but still not free.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

I did the math ct pellet has Envi Blocks for $295 a ton + $50 delivery 1st ton and $10 for each ton after.. That's almost $1200 for 3 tons!! Whoa.. Some times learning hurts

$955 if my fuzzy math is correct.

 

[JTRock]

$955 if my fuzzy math is correct.

I was close

 

[firefighterjake]

I was close

You were just rounding up, right?

 

[JTRock]

You were just rounding up, right?

Haha precisely

 

[newburner]

Here's a question for you guys...

During my test burns, I'm finding that I'm unable to close the damper more than about half way. If I do, the fire eventually dies out.

Is my fire not hot enough? I get it rip-roaring and the secondaries are firing like blowtorches.

 

[prezes13]

I assume that is just as hot in MA as it is in CT. Because of the minimal temp differences between outside and inside I will say the problem is lack of draft. When it's going to get cold or really cold you should have no problems.

 

[blacktail]

Warmer outside temps cause weak draft.

 

[newburner]

Awesome! That makes perfect sense. Thanks guys.

 

[hoverwheel]

I was close

Common Core Math?

 

[JTRock]

True that. Ran into same thing when I did a burn off last Sunday. I figured the heat and humidity was impeding

 

[JTRock]

Common Core Math?

Wow! Out of all the things talked about in this thread glad you made a helpful contribution by honing in on that

 

[hoverwheel]

Wow! Out of all the things talked about in this thread glad you made a helpful contribution by honing in on that

Yup. Without a sense of humor, life is pretty dull.

 

[JTRock]

Yup. Without a sense of humor, life is pretty dull.

Agreed

 

[newburner]

Just a quick update...

I'm currently waiting for my 3rd cord to be delivered this week and hope to be in a position to get the 4th in a couple of weeks.

My supplier says he delivers year round so my plan is to continue to have 1 cord delivered each month until I'm 3 years ahead.

Elsewhere on the wood front, I've been actively collecting pallets whenever I see them. I drive a truck for a living so I have access to as many as I need. I've also done some calling around to tree companies in the area to ask if they wanted someplace to dump. Unfortunately, all the tree companies around here also sell firewood on the side so no luck.

I really want to get into scrounging but I haven't a clue how to get started. I see so many trees down on various roads but I don't know how to approach the situation. I don't want to trespass or otherwise do anything illegal.

On the stove front, I have finally finished my series cure burns and am ready to go full time!

Also, I picked up this Rutland thermo. Does anyone have any experience with this model? I really wanted a Condar (based on the reviews here) but the Rutland was the only thing available locally and I just wanted instant gratification.

 

[Cynnergy]

That thermometer seems to read a bit low - that being said you don't want to go over 800F anyway! Don't believe the overfire zone marking - I think that's a marking for when you use it on single wall pipe. Not sure about your stove (being an insert) but I'm happy as long as my stove is below 700F and it only goes above that very rarely.

 

[Cynnergy]

Oh and I use a Rutland too - it was what was available locally. Mine has a sticky spot at about 325F so watch out for that. I guess I should get a condar but just haven't got to it yet...

 

[newburner]

Thanks for the heads up Cynnergy. Yes, I noticed the sticky spot right about the same spot too. Appears to stop increasing in temperature then all of a sudden it pops up about 100°. I'll in all likelihood get a Condar eventually, but I really wanted something now for the cure burns.

 

[newburner]

So, in an effort to lessen the learning curve, we lit the insert last night. Unlike previous burns, the results were less than satisfactory.

Outdoor temps were in the lower 40's. All the windows were firmly closed. Something that we had not done previously. I had a very difficult time keeping the fire lit while the door was closed. If I cracked it, the fire raged, but the stove temperature did not increase. When I closed the door, the fire would slowly die out, but the stove temps would rise. However, I was never able to get the temps above 400°. After several hours, I eventually gave up and went to bed. This morning, there was still one charred but smoldering log left.

I figured id try again this morning. Lower 50's outside. I loaded the box and was having the same results. Raging fire with the door cracked, smolder with the door closed. It seems like there just wasn't enough air? Then I remembered a post I read around here that said something about cracking the window closest to the stove to improve draft?

I tried that and the improvement was immediate. For stays lit with the door closed now, but.. I'm still finding it difficult to get the stove over 400°.

I didn't have any of these issues in my previous burns with warmer outside temps. I thought it would be easier to maintain a hot fire as the outside temps dropped.

 

[Grisu]

Is your house pretty airtight? Usually an outside air kit (OAK) would be the way to go then but that will be hard with an insert in a masonry fireplace. Since wet wood does not seem to be the issue here, you will need to improve draft. How tall is the chimney? Adding some pipe may help. Has the liner been insulated?

 

[clr8ter]

OP, if I was you, I'd be real nervous. I live in S NH, and around here, $175 is an extremely good price for GREEN wood, delivered. I'd say at a MINIMUM, 4 cord. And be real careful with pallets. Some are green as hell. If they don't look weathered, they're probably sopping wet. If they are dry, they will take your stove to The Gates Of Hell real fast. And, that insert is going to have to be loaded several times a day. When I was home last winter, I could load out Oslo often enough so it wasn't a problem. We don't have an idea setup, as the stove is at one end of the house, in another room. We have a fan/s to blow the heat out of there. And, lastly, don't foget the learning curve. We're still learning after 3 seasons. Good luck.

 

[clr8ter]

BTW, our stove behaves the same way when it's above freezing. I think it just needs lower temps to draft well.

 

[newburner]

Grisu,

I never thought it to be airtight. We have some pretty drafty windows. However, when all the windows are closed, it becomes difficult to close interior doors. It feels as if there's too much air pressure in the rooms to allow the door to close without us pushing hard on it.

I'm not sure if the liner is insulated. I didn't see the installers put the liner in. I am thinking that it probably isn't because when they were here, I noticed the liner they took from their truck was nothing more than a coiled up SS tube. It did not appear to be insulated. Unless that is separate?

clr8ter,

Yea, we are anticipating having to load several times. We are getting about 4 hours of usable heat out of a load. (3 hours of flame) Although, I lit it this morning at 8:30 and didn't turn the fan off until 2:00pm because it was still throwing heat. Even now at 3:45pm, with no fire left, the room is still warmer than it usually is.

I usually get up for work about 3-4 hours after the wife comes to bed so staying warm overnight shouldn't be an issue if she loads before bed and I reload when I get up. I'm hoping to extend burn times by mixing in some bio blocks. I bought a few 20 packs today and will test burn some tonight. I'm just not sure if I should test with a full load of bio bricks or just 2-3 mixed with cord wood. Any thoughts?