Shoulder season blues

[Trktrd]

Well, the "weather guessers" missed the mark again. Was supposed to be in the 30's last night so I threw in a couple of large splits to make it through the night. Woke up at 3 AM ROASTING !! It was 55 outside and 89 in the house. Can't wait for more consistant temps. I hate having to light up, let it die, light up again 2 days later, etc. Almost tempted to use the dreaded electric heat, leave the wood stove alone, and give the chimney a good cleaning til it's time for full time wood.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It won't be long now before the air turns cold and you can heat a bit better. We did some remodeling this year with an addition plus new doors, new windows and lots of insulation. Last evening when I came in from hunting I was cold. It was nice and warm in the house.....but not from the wood stove. Wife was canning meat and just the heat from the cooking stove warmed it up nicely. Still warm when we went to bed and although I feared it would get chilly in here overnight, that was not so. Still no fire in the stove. Nice!

 

[Gark]

The mistake I made of installing a stove not quite big enough works in our favor during shoulder season. The downside is that it doesn't keep the house toasty enough Dec. through Feb. Next stove will be bigger because it seems the propane bill would be reduced more with bigger stove BTU's in the coldest months. It won't be long 'til your heater really shines.

 

[oldspark]

The new hit "Shoulder Season Blues" sung by the Wood Brothers hits the top ten list.

 

[Trktrd]

My stove is a bit big for my house. At least 2 windows open at all times when she's running. This time of year with cold nights and decent days I sometimes even turn on a window fan to cool the house down.

 

[oldspark]

My stove is a bit big for my house. At least 2 windows open at all times when she's running. This time of year with cold nights and decent days I sometimes even turn on a window fan to cool the house down.

Stove aint too big you have to move north. :cheese:

 

[Gark]

With a stove called THE REACTOR, I gotta wonder what you do with the spent nuclear fuel rods..?? (Just kiddin')

 

[Trktrd]

It is aptly named. But like I always say "Better lookin' at it than lookin' for it".

 

[begreen]

If your weather is 80% shoulder season burning my preference is to have a correctly sized stove for the majority of your weather conditions instead of one that will be idling for most of the time and only fully employed for a week or two out of the year. I know that runs contrary to the bigger is better philosophy, but it's a lot more practical.

For example, our next door neighbor has a 1300 sq ft, old, leaky house. The normal prescription here by the northeast contingency would be for a 3 cu ft stove and they would probably be right if this was New England. Our neighbor put in a 2 cu ft PE and they're very glad it's no bigger. They run partial loads of wood except when it gets below 30F which very often is only for about a month or less of the year.

PS: love the R&S avatar. I had forgotten all about Logs!

 

[jonwright]

Yeah, I hear ya. When the heater runs in the morning and the AC in the afternoon you are in spring/fall in Arkansas.

I have a smaller stove for the kitchen area and is in fact a little small for the space. Right about now it's good because I can build a nice fire on 40 degree mornings and it's about right.

If it was my only stove still - I'd want a bigger box since the Tribute can't really burn overnight.

I fired up my FPX the other day and wound up opening door and windows in the afternoon as the temp in the house was almost 80.

I've decided that I'm not going to fire until the day temps are much lower. I'll just have to keep giving First Electric my $$. But realistically with the mild temps the heat pump works OK and as well insulated my house is it is taking surprisingly less amounts of energy to heat and cool it as I thought it would after our remodel. Which is a good thing.

Previously when the temps dropped that afternoon like 20 degrees I could build a fire that night as the house would be cold. After the remodel I need to wait until the morning before I do that as the house holds in the heat so much better - but then by the afternoon it's in the 60s or so and fire isn't needed! Now the HP only runs for a bit in the morning.

I've really been conscientious about insulating and sealing the house along with OAK for the Tribute - I think it's really paying off now.

Still not sure I'm REALLY saving money since I spent a lot on efficient materials, foam, and a sh!t load for my FPX install.... but I don't care. When I'm in my 70's on fixed income it'll be worth it. :D

 

[thewoodlands]

Well, the "weather guessers" missed the mark again. Was supposed to be in the 30's last night so I threw in a couple of large splits to make it through the night. Woke up at 3 AM ROASTING !! It was 55 outside and 89 in the house. Can't wait for more consistant temps. I hate having to light up, let it die, light up again 2 days later, etc. Almost tempted to use the dreaded electric heat, leave the wood stove alone, and give the chimney a good cleaning til it's time for full time wood.

26 degrees up in northern ny, three splits of cherry on the bottom last night with two splits of sugar maple on top, woke up with the basement (location of our wood stove) at 74 and the upstairs at 70. :zip:

Send more of the warm weather up here, we don't mind.


zap

 

[fire_man]

If your weather is 80% shoulder season burning my preference is to have a correctly sized stove for the majority of your weather conditions instead of one that will be idling for most of the time and only fully employed for a week or two out of the year. I know that runs contrary to the bigger is better philosophy, but it's a lot more practical.

For example, our next door neighbor has a 1300 sq ft, old, leaky house. The normal prescription here by the northeast contingency would be for a 3 cu ft stove and they would probably be right if this was New England. Our neighbor put in a 2 cu ft PE and they're very glad it's no bigger. They run partial loads of wood except when it gets below 30F which very often is only for about a month or less of the year.

PS: love the R&S avatar. I had forgotten all about Logs!

So far this year in the Merrimac Valley its been 100% shoulder season burning. We have been able to regulate the FV pretty well, sometimes we just build a small fire and let it go out without even engaging the cat. It continues to throw heat long enough to keep the dreaded furnace off. It will be interesting to see how the Progress handles the shoulder season fires.

 

[woodchip]

So far this season, it's been a lot milder than previously forecast.

We have only lit up in the afternoons, and just burned punky stuff, some old dry roots, and a few bits of birch and some pallets so far.

I have started to wonder when we will get stuck into the better wood, as we have mild weather forecast up to Christmas.....

Still, what doesn't get burned this Winter can always improve with age like a fine wine....... ;-)

 

[Chargerman]

Supposed to be 60 degrees and sunny here for Thanksgiving, so much for a nice dinner near a cozy fire.

 

[firefighterjake]

It's not feeling much like the shoulder season up here any more . . . 14 degrees this morning . . . unless there is a significant warm up we may be going 24/7 . . . or pretty close to it from here on in . . . I can't complain though . . . very mild fall so far.

 

[Trktrd]

It's going to be a warm wet Thanksgiving here so the reactor will be shut down for a while. But I expect it won't be long before she's running 24/7 again. Been some goofy weather here. More rain in the past couple days than we had all summer. Ponds and riverbeds that were dry 3 days ago are now overflowing.