Newbie from a warm country, just saying hi

[ZookZA]

Hi all,

We don't have a bad winter here - maybe two months of possibly near-zero-degree-Centigrade temperatures, usually only at night-time. However our houses are leaky and our clothes are thin. I have an open-plan dining room/kitchen with a high ceiling and my gas+electric heater doesn't cut it, thus:

May 2014 I put in a Bosca 10kw Firepoint 400 and found some wood that was in a grass fire. Temperature is now sorted.

Things I've managed to do in the first week of owning my stove:

• Bought some expensive, rubbish wood.
• Spent over an hour to get the fire going!
• Thrown a couple logs in the next day to get it going again, only to find I'd smoked up my window.
• Googled how to clean a smoky window.
• Bought a truck's worth of wood, cheaper and supposedly better. Separated the good stuff from the bad, palleted the latter for future winter.
  
• After two days of visually impressive but thermally so-so results, day three had the SO say "it's too hot" - VICTORY. Bring on the low temperatures.

I've been reading lots on here and while I'm unlikely to be a huge participator I thought I'd register anyway. You people have Real Winter and it's great to read about your experiences.

Edit: wood I have is currently 20% bluegum (for starting) and 80% "Sekelbos" - in its natural habitat it grows very slowly and is supposedly exceptional for fires. We'll see. For some of the wetter wood, I'm testing out drying it in a solar cooker - might give it a few days at about 170f just to amuse myself. Our Winter is very dry (Summer rainfall, no snow) and I'm at altitude (around 1680m above sea level) so I'm keen to experiment.

 

[velvetfoot]

Hi! We're just getting into summer and you're just getting into winter-wild. 5000' elevation and no snow-again, wild. Dry wood is key. You've heard of moisture meters? Also mostly for amusement, in my opinion.

 

[ZookZA]

Thanks velvetfoot!

Yup, have heard of them but I think nobody around here has. It's a non-product here, so I could try Amazon or something. But I've read lots about using the driest wood possible so I'll definitely keep anything I'm suspicious of for a year at least.

 

[begreen]

If you have an axe or a splitting maul, re-split some of the wood splits. Then take the freshly exposed wood face and place it against your cheek. If it feels cool and damp it probably still needs seasoning. Also, if you take two dry splits and rap them against each other you should hear a tone similar to musical claves. If the wood just goes thunk then it could still be damp inside.

 

[ZookZA]

Great advice, thanks begreen.

 

[Jags]

Yes - it does sound like your difficulties could be attributed to less than stellar wood. Do yourself a favor and always have next years fuel on hand.

 

[ZookZA]

No worries, seems the rest of the stuff is perfect. We have a long summer so I'll just make sure I have enough for next year!