No power = glad I have a wood stove

[no stove yet]

We lost power for a few days in southern CT,not a big deal really this time of year,but we did chill down to upper 20's at night.
No well,no furnace,no hot water,but did get the fireview up and running for some 24/7 burning and kept the house nice and toasty,made me feel good about my
Woodstock purchase.

It was a good test to see how much of my house the fireview would heat,realizing this is not the dead of winter,but am pleased with the heat distribution,and how comfy we were.Neighbors with fireplaces were complaining how cold they were.

Overall very happy with my stove and tons of thanks to all of you out there posting away the info is invaluable for a newb just learning how to run a stove.I think now
that I have burned a little and find my wood less than primo,the most important lesson is get ahead on the wood,rest assured am busy doing that.

Thanks again to all for all your help and info,and for those in CT still without power hope it is soon for you to get back on line, happy and safe burning to all.

Scott

 

[stejus]

I lucked out with keeping power this time around. A while back when TS Irean came through, it was 4 days without power around here. My mom is staying with us because her town is out. She really enjoys the warmth of the stove. Can't beat the warmth of a stove and the dependancy of having heat (as long as you plan ahead).

 

[dafattkidd]

Scott, that's great. Sorry to hear you're out of power but its great that you're toasty while this could be a nightmare. Sounds like you've made a good decision with the Woodstock and just in time.

 

[tsquini]

I've been out of power since Saturday Night. The only thing keeping me connected is my cell phone. I have been cooking and keeping the house heated with the wood stove. I have never gone through this much wood so early in the season.

 

[jtb51b]

I lucked out with keeping power this time around. A while back when TS Irean came through, it was 4 days without power around here. My mom is staying with us because her town is out. She really enjoys the warmth of the stove. Can't beat the warmth of a stove and the dependancy of having heat (as long as you plan ahead).

I dont think it could have been said better. Most people these days cannot do that for themselves, they must rely on others.

Jason

 

[jimbom]

Long winter power outage is what got me back into wood stoves. Glad it did. These new stoves are fantastic.

Now with a generator, two stoves, and plenty of cord wood, I am almost like bring it on. However, I never wish for that. Most are not ready.

 

[ecocavalier02]

Long winter power outage is what got me back into wood stoves. Glad it did. These new stoves are fantastic.

Now with a generator, two stoves, and plenty of cord wood, I am almost like bring it on. However, I never wish for that. Most are not ready.

I agree it's. Its nice being prepared. Generator, woodstove make a world of difference. To many people blaming the state and governor for there lack of u preparedness. Lack of cable good for the mind.

 

[bogydave]

Being prepared feels good, eh?
Seems like power failures are getting more common.
Having the stove is nice now & will be "more nice" when it happens in the middle of winter.
We all went thru the "learning curve" with fire wood. Sounds like we don't even have to yell at you, to have you get busy LOL
When I was light on wood, I always saved some for the "what if power goes out" & ran the furnace to save a bit of wood. Paid off a few times.
Good to hear all the wood stove success stories.

 

[begreen]

seems like a name change is in order here.

 

[bogydave]

seems like a name change is in order here.

More gooder!

 

[Beer Belly]

I'm down here in the SouthWest corner of Ct.....still alot of people without power, we never lost power.....our friends did, and are using thier stove for heating food and such....but come here for showers, and water...which is fine by us. I couldn't imagine being stck without power....might have to talk to the Wife instead of watching TV :roll:

 

[jimbom]

I'm down here in the SouthWest corner of Ct.....still alot of people without power, we never lost power.....our friends did, and are using thier stove for heating food and such....but come here for showers, and water...which is fine by us. I couldn't imagine being stck without power....might have to talk to the Wife instead of watching TV :roll:

Thirty plus years and I still haven't been promoted to talking. All I get to do is listen to the wife. But that is fine with me. She gives me latitude to fool with my hair brained projects.

 

[IA Burner]

A power outage years ago prompted me to get a wood burner as well. We had a bad ice storm, thousands without power for as long as 10 days. Thankfully, we weren't one of those, but it made me want to be better prepared.

Do you have an estimate of when they think the power will come back on?

 

[fprintf]

We lost power until yesterday morning and it was coooold in the house. I think on my next house I am going to get a proper wood stove. The fireplace inserts are nice to look at, match the lovely decor of the family room, and with a fan going they really crank out the BTUs. But without power to operate the fan all you get is radiant heat from the front of the unit and that isn't enough. My family room was 59 degrees yesterday morning. I wasted a boatload of wood the past few days and I think all I got out of it was a few degrees and a measure of warmth if we sat right in front of the unit.

So the lesson for me here is that I need a small generator or battery backup to ensure I have at least enough power to run my wood fireplace insert. Essentially I have a pellet stove - it needs electricity to run.

My next house I am going to insist we have at least one room that the decor will accomodate a proper wood stove. A nice pot-metal black one that looks ugly but puts the heat into the air rather than into the masonry and up the chimney when the power goes out.

 

[Beer Belly]

My nieghbor, who has no power said it will be at least one week......

 

[ValentineHill]

That storm was a great test of a lot of people's stoves at the beginning of the season. Too bad I've been working with a mason to get my thimble moved, and it was the one weekend my stove WASN'T working...

 

[Coach B]

The fireplace inserts are nice to look at, match the lovely decor of the family room, and with a fan going they really crank out the BTUs. But without power to operate the fan all you get is radiant heat from the front of the unit and that isn't enough. My family room was 59 degrees yesterday morning. I wasted a boatload of wood the past few days and I think all I got out of it was a few degrees and a measure of warmth if we sat right in front of the unit.

So the lesson for me here is that I need a small generator or battery backup to ensure I have at least enough power to run my wood fireplace insert. Essentially I have a pellet stove - it needs electricity to run.

My next house I am going to insist we have at least one room that the decor will accomodate a proper wood stove. A nice pot-metal black one that looks ugly but puts the heat into the air rather than into the masonry and up the chimney when the power goes out.

That's exactly the reason I opted for a hearth mount regular stove over a insert. Insert would have looked better and probably made more sense most of the time. However, something in the back of my mind kept telling me we would be better prepared with the hearth mount. We are way overdue an ice storm here in the mid-south.

 

[woodchip]

Power outages are usually the moment you start working out how to cook bread and pizzas inside the stove, and use the flat top for heating water and cooking meals ;-)

 

[ValentineHill]

That's exactly the reason I opted for a hearth mount regular stove over a insert. Insert would have looked better and probably made more sense most of the time. However, something in the back of my mind kept telling me we would be better prepared with the hearth mount. We are way overdue an ice storm here in the mid-south.

Coach B, what are you worried about? I've got family just outside of Nashville, and they're always saying that school snow days in Tennessee are usually "threat-of-snow" days. He tells a great story about a canceled school day last year that ended up being a heat wave instead of a snow day, and he looked out to see his kids in t-shirts and shorts buying ice cream from the van on the "snow day". Isn't that the one of the joys of being in the South?

 

[Beer Belly]

We lost power until yesterday morning and it was coooold in the house. I think on my next house I am going to get a proper wood stove. The fireplace inserts are nice to look at, match the lovely decor of the family room, and with a fan going they really crank out the BTUs. But without power to operate the fan all you get is radiant heat from the front of the unit and that isn't enough. My family room was 59 degrees yesterday morning. I wasted a boatload of wood the past few days and I think all I got out of it was a few degrees and a measure of warmth if we sat right in front of the unit.

So the lesson for me here is that I need a small generator or battery backup to ensure I have at least enough power to run my wood fireplace insert. Essentially I have a pellet stove - it needs electricity to run.

My next house I am going to insist we have at least one room that the decor will accomodate a proper wood stove. A nice pot-metal black one that looks ugly but puts the heat into the air rather than into the masonry and up the chimney when the power goes out.

This is our 2nd season with the Blower on our Insert.....it wasn't all that bad without the Blower....but it much, much better with it.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

That's exactly the reason I opted for a hearth mount regular stove over a insert. Insert would have looked better and probably made more sense most of the time. However, something in the back of my mind kept telling me we would be better prepared with the hearth mount. We are way overdue an ice storm here in the mid-south.

I don't know what mid-south is exactly, but I know for darn sure Kentucky is NOT overdue (we may be mid-mid, I guess...lol).

If I never see an ice storm like '09 again in my life time I will be more than happy. We did fine, as we were preppared, but as said.. most aren't. We did choose our instal based on what we saw and learned that 10 days.

 

[Got Wood]

We lost power until yesterday morning and it was coooold in the house. I think on my next house I am going to get a proper wood stove. The fireplace inserts are nice to look at, match the lovely decor of the family room, and with a fan going they really crank out the BTUs. But without power to operate the fan all you get is radiant heat from the front of the unit and that isn't enough. My family room was 59 degrees yesterday morning. I wasted a boatload of wood the past few days and I think all I got out of it was a few degrees and a measure of warmth if we sat right in front of the unit.

So the lesson for me here is that I need a small generator or battery backup to ensure I have at least enough power to run my wood fireplace insert.

I also burned a lot of wood, the radiant heat was able to keep the house at a much warmer temp than my neighbors. Sure would have been good to have a power back up for the fan. I gotta look into that.

 

[dpgoalie]

I lost power for 4 1/2 days and I don't have a wood stove, furnace or generator. The family was very cold. I had planned to be heating with my new Progress Hybrid by now. The delivery delay of the stove has left us out in the cold. Yet, I have confidence in Woodstock, and I suspect a month of shivering will be worth the wait.

 

[agartner]

We were out 66 hours with this little october surprise. We really took things in stride. Between the gen set, the cook range being on propane, and my venerable sherwood stove, we can get through these outages rather comfortably. The best part is the tv is strictly verboten during outages. Techically, its on a powered circuit but i intentionally disconnect the tv stuff. Its good to go without that stuff every so often.

Dp, once that woodstock is in place, you wont be left out in the cold again.

 

[Coach B]

Coach B, what are you worried about? I've got family just outside of Nashville, and they're always saying that school snow days in Tennessee are usually "threat-of-snow" days. He tells a great story about a canceled school day last year that ended up being a heat wave instead of a snow day, and he looked out to see his kids in t-shirts and shorts buying ice cream from the van on the "snow day". Isn't that the one of the joys of being in the South?

Admittedly, we generally close school around here if there is any amount of snow at all sticking to the roads. And yes, that's the fun part of snow in the South! Don't remember closing on a day where we ended up in T-shirts. Methinks, your family is playing up our general overreaction to winter weather. In addition, there is a HUGE difference at times in both weather and road conditions once you leave the Nashville metro area. Lots of ridges, hills, hollers, and backroads in the rural areas make for much trickier driving than in the Nashville Basin.

I don’t know what mid-south is exactly, but I know for darn sure Kentucky is NOT overdue (we may be mid-mid, I guess…lol).
If I never see an ice storm like ‘09 again in my life time I will be more than happy. We did fine, as we were preppared, but as said.. most aren’t. We did choose our instal based on what we saw and learned that 10 days.

We missed that one down here. Its been since 94 that my area had a crippling ice storm. Family was without power for nearly two weeks during that one. Took them a couple of days to cut their way out the half mile long gravel drive. That combined with the wife wanting to cook on the stove was why I went with a hearth mount.