Owee. First burn of the season

[begreen]

I've been priding myself on staying burn free so far the season. That is until this morning. I was cleaning out the stove ash before coffee (mistake number 1). We've been burning steadily for the past week and the clinker build up was substantial. So I waited until this morning to do the clean out. There were still a lot of hot coals in the stove so I moved them off to one side, then shoveled down to the bricks and dumped in my metal small garbage can. Move the coals to the other side and repeat.

Then I put the lid on the can and with my ungloved left hand went to lift up the heavy wire handle that was at the side of the can. Yoweee, the can sides were very hot and gave my finger tips a nice singe. Lesson learned, gloves on both hands for this operation. The garbage can is safely outside now on the gravel walkway. And my apoplogies today ifmytypinis lik pookz.

 

[savageactor7]

So it's been warm enough there that your fossil backup hasn't turned on either? You're lucky BG, except for a few days we've been burning for a month...the longest shoulder season ever. The worm has turned for us since I put in an inline pipe damper in....woooo hoooo!

 

[begreen]

It's been in the low 20's here. 22 right now. Amazingly, the heat pump has valiantly tried to keep up with it, but our primary heat is the wood stove. Going through a lot of chow right now.

 

[karri0n]

So it's been warm enough there that your fossil backup hasn't turned on either? You're lucky BG, except for a few days we've been burning for a month...the longest shoulder season ever. The worm has turned for us since I put in an inline pipe damper in....woooo hoooo!

[yoda]Seen the light you have.[/yoda]

Pipe dampers are a gift from the fire gods. I used to get a very maximum burn of 5 hours before all was completely turned to dust, with the air all the way down. My standing record now is 13 hours with still enough coals for successful light-off with less than optimal wood. No smoldering.

 

[Hurricane]

I got my arm two nights ago while trying to level out the coals and let them burn down before reloading. It is 54 degrees here right now so I let the stove go out overnight, and will be lighting it again tonight because they are talking lows in the low 20's tomorrow. This is a tough shoulder season for sure, my fossil burner has been working because I have not had fires for the shorter cold spells.

 

[Highbeam]

I live across the pond from BG and we had 7 degrees this morning. Stoves been able to keep up though and I bet BG's has too. We've been doing night loadings though to keep the stove ripping hot.

It's supposed to start warming up a little.

 

[begreen]

Stove has done pretty well, though the heat pump does occasionally cycle on for a few minutes, probably because of where the thermostat is. Seems to help keep the house temps pretty even. The only time it comes on steady is 6 am in the morning which is when it goes from nightime setback to daytime. At that hour, the fire has died down and the stove, though full of hot coals, is only about 200. I get up a short while later and stoke the stove. By about 7:30 all is toasty again.

I've ordered a blower for the stove from Tom. We'll see if that makes a difference. Other than that, the main issue is keeping the hummingbird feeder thawed out.

 

[savageactor7]

Pipe dampers are a gift from the fire gods... ...

That $10 appliance alone may have added another 2 years to our over all wood total...besides throwing out a ton of extra heat.

 

[Highbeam]

Stove has done pretty well, though the heat pump does occasionally cycle on for a few minutes, probably because of where the thermostat is. Seems to help keep the house temps pretty even. The only time it comes on steady is 6 am in the morning which is when it goes from nightime setback to daytime. At that hour, the fire has died down and the stove, though full of hot coals, is only about 200. I get up a short while later and stoke the stove. By about 7:30 all is toasty again.

I've ordered a blower for the stove from Tom. We'll see if that makes a difference. Other than that, the main issue is keeping the hummingbird feeder thawed out.

I made another thread, but you can't use the stove anymore. I hope that the heat pump can do the job.

I'm interested to hear how you like the blower. We've had a bit of a challenge keeping the chickens watered too. Thirsty hens make no eggs.