Pegged the needle, now what do I do?

[btuser]

I filled the stove and went to take a shower.

"Watch the stove"

"OK".

I got a call while picking out my favorite feety pajamas. "THE STOVE IS TURNING RED" So I ran down to find my wife had pulled the air shut and opened the bypass (so she does know how to use it) there was some smoke and an unpleasant too-hot odor.

Not too bad, just a small red spot on the top. The stove cooled down quickly and is now behaving normally. Tubes and bricks are all where they should be. I plan on pulling off the shroud tomorrow and checking the connector + liner, maybe thowing down a brush to say I'm sorry.

Anything else?

 

[begreen]

Straighten out the needle?

feety pajamas???

 

[rdust]

I have banned my wife from running the stove this year. She gets distracted easy and has had a few close calls(750ish no red) so I told her she can only load small loads of no more than three sticks at a time. She worked from home last year, ran the stove everyday and never had issues. Now she works in an office again so when she's running the stove she's also chasing the 20 month old around and he tends to distract her. :lol:

 

[remkel]

I have banned my wife from running the stove this year. She gets distracted easy and has had a few close calls(750ish no red) so I told her she can only load small loads of no more than three sticks at a time. She worked from home last year, ran the stove everyday and never had issues. Now she works in an office again so when she's running the stove she's also chasing the 20 month old around and he tends to distract her. :lol:

All too often I come home from work and my wife has gotten here first and my first question, after gently kissing her on the cheek, is "Did you load the stove" to which the answer is "Oh yeah, you may want to go shut it down- I forgot". Couple of times I have gone down to see the thermometer pegged- no red, but still a cause for the heart to skip a beat or two. Now I make it a point to call her at work late in the afternoon and let her know that I will load the stove when I get home....

 

[Dix]

I wish I had this problem.

 

[Shmudda]

Why is it that MOST women and wood stoves do NOT mix? My wife is almost brain dead when it comes to running the stove, as I hear some of the same excuses here that she uses to me. The kicker is when she "trys" to get the stove going after coming home from work I see a good amount of newspaper in there. I have told her at LEAST 10 times this year so far, (each year it's the same problem), NO NEWSPAPER, you are going to burn our house down. She says okay, and then the same thing happens a day later.....I think it goes in one ear, spins around in the vacuum and out the other ear! We have had our stove since 1996, and I have told her this no newspaper rule every year! WHY can't they listen to good common sense???

Basically, I tell her to leave the stove for me until I get home. She can better spend her time burning the house down making supper!

Craig

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Craig, your wife has been doing this since 1996??!! And yet, you still have a roof over your head? --- OMG You are SO lucky!! ( And, you are so F#@k'd when the Ladies here read this.) Sounds like a classic case of "selective hearing", which even mine is prone to, BUT my girl burns better than I do. Show some caution, I've never blamed the student.

 

[begreen]

I've been using newspaper to start fires forever, so has my wife. And so has Vanessa with John Gulland's approval. Get some nice dry kindling so it's easier for her to get a fire going.

 

[btuser]

I can start a fire out of the same pile of wood when my wife can't. Its not because she doesn't know how to do it, but because I'll be home in an hour. Its my bill to pay for the heat, so the stove is mine. The pool is her's in the Summer, so other than the actual wood gathering we're about even.

This morning's fire wasn't any different (other than the inside of the stove was VERY clean) so hopefully there's no serious damage. I'm sure I stressed it out but if I don't make a habbit of it then I should last untill I'm ready for a pellet stove. Hopefully the smell was just dust burning where it usually doesn't get that hot. I'm a little nervous about the connector and the section of liner near the stove.

 

[Troutchaser]

I came home two days ago to find my wife had loaded 4 splits on top of maybe two tablespoons of coals. Of course, the smoke pouring from the flue caught my eye as I turned onto our road.
She was in the kitchen-within plain view of the firebox-and had no idea that things weren't right??????

I try to be nice.

 

[Heem]

MY wife isn't very good at starting the stove from cold, but she's the best at 'fixing it' - you know, when you put in a "poison log" that just turns black and refuses to burn.. she's great at moving the stuff around and getting it going again. If the fire goes out overnight, I start it up in the morning before leaving for work and handle the kindling stage and the "2nd stage" little splits. She then takes it from there as she's home all day with the kids. Some days I'll find she's burned through way too much wood, indicating she's not airing down and/or loading properly.. but it's warm in the house when I get home and all day for the kids, so I can't complain. Still haven't turned the oil on in 3 years.

 

[btuser]

I know its not the case in some houses, but in my house the heat is from the wood stove is treated as consumable like chips or hot dogs, rather than the end product of YEARS of work and forethought. The trees I'm buring now were dropped 3 years ago.

Women used to run ALL the fires, and then switched to coal. You stayed out a woman's kitchen because she didn't want the husband messing with anything. If you read turn of the century ads (when men started being at home for the weekend) for central heating you often come across the line "even HE can do it" and "so solid even HE can't break it". Oil/gas electric heating put an end to this, but I still try to get my girls back into the swing.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

I wish I had this problem.

True that!

WHY can't they listen to good common sense???

Craig

Well when I get around to importing a wife from some country where the women know how to listen and carry out instructions I will definitely teach her how to work the stove :lol: I don't need a husband around here. There isn't enough return on my energy investment, so it's a more sound practice to have a man over for short useful visits. But I sure could use a good wife!

<tongue planted firmly in cheek>

 

[BrotherBart]

The little brown haired girl heated this house for years with our wood stove while I was on business trips. The neighbor down the hill, she runs the stove around the clock. So does the lady three places down from them.

The only time this house almost burned down was when I forgot a pan of grease on the stove. Well, and when my neighbor almost set my garage on fire.

"Keeping the home fires burning." Wasn't referring to anybody named LeRoy.

 

[Kenster]

My Bride will not EVER start a fire. She doesn't want to deal with it. I travel a lot and she will just not have a fire while I'm gone. But I have taught her how to shut down both air inlets if the stove happens to get too hot in case I have a momentary lapse and was not watching the stove. If things were to be totally out of hand, she knows to put on the fire gloves, very slowly open the doors, and toss a bucket full of sand on the fire. We keep a container of sand next to the stove for just such an emergency.
I take full responsibility for the fires in our stove. But she has the knowledge to bail us out if I screw up. And I quiz her on it occasionally. Sort of like being a private pilot and having your non-pilot wife take a "pinch hitter" course to learn how to handle the radio and make a safe landing if you are incapacitated.

 

[jimbom]

BTUSER It seems to me you are better off. Now you know how far your stove will go without destroying your house. Sure a little inspection is necessary, but perhaps this will give you peace of mind.

I am a rookie at wood stove operation. So when I bought a cheap used stove in 2008, I went through a month of trying everything possible to screw up. After several super hot burns that I sat through measuring the temperatures of all surrounding surfaces and finding out all kinds of things about the stove, I feel confident this installation will not easily fail.

Now that I have been reading the helpful posts on this site, I am learning from people that are kind enough to share. I greatly appreciate the people that help me learn to safely process and burn wood.

 

[begreen]

My honey has been taking care of the fires when I am away at work for years. She burns smaller fires, but has done a great job. It's really nice on a crappy cold day to come home to a warm fire. I nicknamed her Hestia for her good deeds in hearth and home. She deserves an extra hug and kiss for that. I think I'll go and surprise her.

 

[Mike Wilson]

Well someone has no sense of humor...

-- MW

 

[jimbom]

My honey has been taking care of the fires when I am away at work for years. She burns smaller fires, but has done a great job. It's really nice on a crappy cold day to come home to a warm fire. I nicknamed her Hestia for her good deeds in hearth and home. She deserves an extra hug and kiss for that. I think I'll go and surprise her.

Mine is Lady Icarus. She gets closer and closer to the stove until something melts.

 

[SnapCracklePop]

"Sort of like being a private pilot and having your non-pilot wife take a “pinch hitter†course to learn how to handle the radio and make a safe landing if you are incapacitated."

Wow. Don't know where to begin with this thread, but I suspect you gentlemen are exaggerating just a bit... So, as to the fire-making prowess, I will just sit quietly and let you all shoot yourselves in the feet.

Now then: I was the private pilot in my household. I owned and flew a Cessna 150, which is kind of like the VW Bug of airplanes. Gave it up when the plane needed a top overhaul and I didn't have the money for it.

The other member of my household was Number One Son (actually, Only Son), who, to this day, doesn't have a lick of common sense. He was just home for the holidays and, while I appreciated his going out with a snow shovel and attacking the driveway, I had to explain to him THREE TIMES that you shovel all of it or none of it, but not just where his tires will go... Otherwise, come a typical January melt and freeze, I end up with humongous frozen ruts, and my snowblower isn't happy.

In case you're wondering, Number One Son declines suggestions to use the snowblower.

He's brilliant. He put himself through college and grad school (Harvard, no less). But he does the DUMBEST stuff sometimes. Being a man doesn't help him a whit.

I am woman. Hear me roar.

Fire Sisters? Have at it...

 

[SnapCracklePop]

Oops. And the part about the wife learning to handle the radio?

I'm also a ham radio operator, extra class (the top license level). It gets old to go to an electronics store and ask about a part, only to have the (male) clerk ask, "What's he want it for?"

 

[snowleopard]

Craig, your wife has been doing this since 1996??!! And yet, you still have a roof over your head? --- OMG You are SO lucky!! ( And, you are so F#@k'd when the Ladies here read this.)

Nah, he just makes us appreciate the rest of you all the more.

"What does your husband want it for?" ROFL! Been awhile since I heard that--takes me back!

Kathleen, when you send off for one of those wifey-people, would you pick out one for me, too? Make sure she's a little on the tech-y side so she can finish up these projects I'm working on . . . someone who's handy with the plumbing, wiring, could knock out a couple of bookcases for me, paints, cooks, cleans . . . needs to be agile so she can get up on the roof and clean the gutters, stovepipe, etc. . . . maybe could get a job and pay the mortgage, pick up the kid after school, help w/homework, pay the bills, shovel the driveway, chop wood, fix cars, feed the dog . . . and oh, yeah, operate the woodstove. Wait! never mind, that would be me, and I don't think I could take another one of me around here. Unless she like sto sharpen chainsaws . . .

Was teaching my daughter to run a splitting maul the other day--off to college on a full-ride scholarship, but can't swing an axe. She wasn't being very patient with herself, and I asked her if she knew the best way to learn to split wood. She said she didn't, and I told her, "Necessity."

Craig, I'm going to assume the fact that she bought your line is not a reflection on her intelligence, so it may be that you're just such a good provider that she has never had to exert herself on her own behalf. WTG! Or, she's really, really messing with your head. I'd plant a camera, and if she's giggling madly while she singes the paper and arranges it in the stove, then she is BUSTED!


ETA: . . . and likes to fish, hunt, fill the freezer, do yardwork, garden, tends the flower beds and baskets, washes windows, does taxes, cleans the garage . . . gee, I can't wait . . .

ETAM: . . . and knit, sew, mend, fix windows, shop frugally, be esp. good at looking for bargains on CL and eB . . . an artistic streak would be nice, get a few more paintings on the walls . . .

 

[pen]

I know its not the case in some houses, but in my house the heat is from the wood stove is treated as consumable like chips or hot dogs, rather than the end product of YEARS of work and forethought. The trees I'm buring now were dropped 3 years ago.

Women used to run ALL the fires, and then switched to coal. You stayed out a woman's kitchen because she didn't want the husband messing with anything. If you read turn of the century ads (when men started being at home for the weekend) for central heating you often come across the line "even HE can do it" and "so solid even HE can't break it". Oil/gas electric heating put an end to this, but I still try to get my girls back into the swing.

Well said. I'd like to see you tell my grandmother that women can't tend fires. Even at her very advanced age now she still burns about a face and a 1/2 of wood a winter. She will light the old fisher stove up for a few days to a week here and there when she's bored or sees the temp drop to our lowest winter temps. 2 years ago she burnt it for 3 weeks straight not telling anyone of us that her furnace had broken and because of the Christmas shipping rush the repair man couldn't get the part. She didn't want to worry us so she just took care of business. (this meant she had no hot water either! She just didn't want us to think we had to move us into one of our places and cause an inconvenience.)

The point is there are some people who can and there are those who can't. Sometimes the reason for finding those who can't is truly the fault of the student, sometimes it is the failure of the educator.

pen

 

[firefighterjake]

And here we go again . . . the perpetual "I don't trust my wife -- she knows nothing" comments vs. the "My wife is incredible and better at burning than me" comments.

I'm always amazed at

a) how some folks -- male or female -- never seem to take the time or care enough or have the mental capacity to run a woodstove -- I mean if I can run a woodstove safely anyone can,

b) how some folks seem almost amazed that women are capable of running a stove . . . I mean c'mon . . . women (and men) have been making fires and tending fires for eons . . . it's just a learned skill like anything else . . . last time I knew you didn't need to have an extra appendage as a pre-requisite to make a fire and,

c) how stuck some folks seem to get on what the male and female "roles" and "job duties" are in a relationship . . . I mean don't get me wrong, there are some things that my wife does better or prefers doing (i.e. she says I do not fold the laundry the right way . . . most likely since I have never really truly taken the time to learn how to do it her way) and there are some things that men can do better than women (i.e. hold a conversation with their wife while the football game is on and still follow the action . . . of course we may have no idea of what we were talking about) and there are some things that women do better than men (i.e. pretty sure I can't carry a baby for 9 months) . . . but in general my wife is more than capable of doing most everything I do and vice versa . . .

 

[firefighterjake]

For the record . . . the three times when my flue temp was very close to being in the "danger zone" was due to me . . . twice taking a shower with the air control open all the way and once when I reloaded the stove mid-cycle. To my knowledge my wife has always run the stove in the zone . . .