Still using the stove

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Snowy Rivers

Minister of Fire
Feb 7, 2010
1,810
NW Oregon
Well last week was hit and miss with fires in the early morning and a couple days at night.

Sunday was georgous with temps near 70F
No fire Sunday or Sunday eavening right on through until this morning.

The rain is back as of last night and I built a fire this morning at 6am to take the chill off.

The next few days are forcast to be unsettled. Will likely need the fire off and on through the week.

Spring is gonna be an on again off again thing me thinks.

The crap from the volcano could have an effect maybe, dont know for sure.

Definately not going to fly overseas any time soon.

Just sitting by the fire watching the rain come down.

Snowy
 
Was only in the 30's for a high with rain/snow here in NH Saturday so yes, my stove is still working on the graveyard shift at least.
 
I still have a full unwrapped ton and about another 15 bags on my previous ton (I'm used a ton less this year). Since the nights are still cold (frosts), and there are day in the 40's with clouds and rain, I'm still running my stove at night, at a minimum.

I won't break open the wrapped ton, but I might as well used the rest of the open ton. Maybe I'll shut it down this weekend or sometime next week. It helps to have a half day avail. to do the full spring cleaning.
 
Still burning here in the mornings. I did drop my stat to 70 as it isn't really all that cold out. Just getting off the chill!

Dipping into next years stash wasn't quit in the plan, But I can always buy some more!

Snowy, It must be a hassle to have to light the stove? I am really spoiled with my auto start stove. Nothing better this time of year! I really like the High/Low feature it has in the cold too. I know you like to keep the stove simple, But some of these here modern features are hard to beat. Really worth the hassle of keeping a spare control panel just in case there is and issue.

How's that new control panel you were designing coming along?
 
Still burning in the evening here also. Stove kicks in late in the evening around 11 PM and warms things up.
 
No autolight here, REAL MEN LIGHT THERE STOVES!!!
 
Pellet-King said:
No autolight here, REAL MEN LIGHT THERE STOVES!!!

You mean CAVE MAN! Real men can afford a stove with auto light. So he can go make more money for other neat toys! Ye who has the most toys wins! Nothin says I can't light my stove when the igniter dies. By the way lite my stove all winter with a broken igniter. So I can do both! But you can't! hehe ;-P Geeze even my 1994 Quad had auto lite even!
 
Snowy Rivers said:
The crap from the volcano could have an effect maybe, dont know for sure.

Snowy

Snowy,

Well, here in Northern Europe the cold weather definitely has returned with freezing temperatures at night. The volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland might have something to do with it.

But so far the cloud has only reached New Foundland and Quebec on the American continent, mainly due to the wind direction which has been predominantly south-easternly. (Northern Europe has received most of the crap)
I've found a link to a website with an animation showing the flow of the ash cloud from the start of the eruption (15. april)until yesterday (19. april). It's in danish, but the animation doesn't need words.

http://www.dmi.dk/dmi/europa_under_askeskyen

My car was covered with a thick layer of ash the other day, so one can easily imagine what damage this could do to a jet-engine.

One positive effect, however, is that the global warming is postponed for a while.

Bo
 
Yea,
Still burning mornings and evenings when the "chill" needs to be chased away.
Was 65 in the kitchen this morning and 35 outside. Stove did not run all night.
Just had to burn a little.
Have about 10 bags out of 3.5 tons left.
 
Sorry to hear about all the crap from the volcano falling on you folks.

I am about 5 miles south of the Mt StHelens volcano and we had ash fallout here a few times back in the 80's

Definately a mess for sure.

Started the stove last night at about 7 after we got home and ran it on Low all night.

Still running this morning and will run it til we leave for work.

I have plowed through a fair amount of the last 2500 pounds of shells that I bought back in Late Feb/early March ??

Will have to refill these drums come fall when the nut plant starts back up again.

I really figured we would be done with fires, at least to the extent that we have been having them by now.


Really would like to find a storage container that I could store 10 tons of shells in and free up space in the basement.

I have looked at small farm type hoppers but the $$$$$$ is out of the question.

Oh well such is life.

Snowy
 
Snowy Rivers said:
Sorry to hear about all the crap from the volcano falling on you folks.

I am about 5 miles south of the Mt StHelens volcano and we had ash fallout here a few times back in the 80's

Definately a mess for sure.

Started the stove last night at about 7 after we got home and ran it on Low all night.

Still running this morning and will run it til we leave for work.

I have plowed through a fair amount of the last 2500 pounds of shells that I bought back in Late Feb/early March ??

Will have to refill these drums come fall when the nut plant starts back up again.

I really figured we would be done with fires, at least to the extent that we have been having them by now.


Really would like to find a storage container that I could store 10 tons of shells in and free up space in the basement.

I have looked at small farm type hoppers but the $$$$$$ is out of the question.

Oh well such is life.

Snowy

Snowy,
Check this link out for a 3 ton storage container.
Last I knew they were in the $300-$400 range but don't quote me on that.
Also, not sure if they would sell to non customers of their pellets.
Doesn't hurt to ask!

http://maineenergysystems.com/Pellestore_3TX.htm
 
Cold today two storms next couple of days stove on today temps back in low 30's morning and 48 day. We had a week of 70's temps last week. Down to five bags.
 
lessoil said:
Snowy Rivers said:
Sorry to hear about all the crap from the volcano falling on you folks.

I am about 5 miles south of the Mt StHelens volcano and we had ash fallout here a few times back in the 80's

Definately a mess for sure.

Started the stove last night at about 7 after we got home and ran it on Low all night.

Still running this morning and will run it til we leave for work.

I have plowed through a fair amount of the last 2500 pounds of shells that I bought back in Late Feb/early March ??

Will have to refill these drums come fall when the nut plant starts back up again.

I really figured we would be done with fires, at least to the extent that we have been having them by now.


Really would like to find a storage container that I could store 10 tons of shells in and free up space in the basement.

I have looked at small farm type hoppers but the $$$$$$ is out of the question.

Oh well such is life.

Snowy

Snowy,
Check this link out for a 3 ton storage container.
Last I knew they were in the $300-$400 range but don't quote me on that.
Also, not sure if they would sell to non customers of their pellets.
Doesn't hurt to ask!

http://maineenergysystems.com/Pellestore_3TX.htm

Call up and ask for Dutch, awesome guy. They will sell to anyone. They have some new products too that haven't hit the website and may have discontinued the 3TX.
 
A half foot of new snow on the ground this morning. :eek:hh: Currently 2 bag a day weather. I only have about 6 bags left. Hoping to score tons in August.

J :coolsmile:
 
On and off here. The weather can't make up its mind.

Ran the stove on its lowest setting for a few hours last night after having it off for over 36 hours.

Right now it is thundering out.
 
Got home from the shop about 45 minutes ago.
Took a peek at the Thermometer and it was 65 in the house. I DONT THINK SO.

Grabbed my starter can full of pellets and dumped a little pile in the Advantage and stuffed the torch in the pile.

Couple moments later the firs is burning happily and I switched on the nut shell feed.

Hooper is pretty full and I have a pail full of shells in the corner.

Raining out now and just not real pleasant.

No wind and its not real cold, just not going to be comfy without a fire is all.

By Sunday they say 70 again. Tired of guessing.

Stick my head outside, if my ears are cold when I come back in, I build a fire.

Must be that Volcano stuff causing all this global cooling ?????///

Snowy
 
"Must be that Volcano stuff causing all this global cooling ?????///"

Nope more than likely it is all those missing M for minus in a number of large area influencing meteorological sites METAR reports that make the folks at GISS and places think there is "Gorbal" (all your money to me does belong) Warming.
 
Sounds good to me.

At present, I dont think the Icelandic Volcano has had any influence other than screw up air travel some.

If the companion volcano blows as it has in the past and really coughs out some crap, then all bets are off.

I for one would like to see the thing Belch up a really nasty cloud and cause a cold cold time for a while.

I am so sick and tired of the media pundits spewing forth all this Global warming diatribe.

In my mind, all this stuff does is translate to more government control and more $$$$$ from our pockets.


Not that I am all for huge increases in Polution, just tired of the sky is falling rhetoric that comes from all angles.


Fact
The government has not a clue if the SUN even rises in the morning. Their heads are so deeply stuffed into a real DARK Place that they will never see tha light of day again.

Give the Bought and paid for scientists a few new electronic toys and they think that they understand everything to the fullest.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO not even close.



Its all about power and control.

Brain wash the children into believing all this garbage and then it is real easy to propagate a lie.

Not that long ago folks really thought the Earth was flat. Hmmmmm

Did we really go to the moon back in 1969 ???


Why is the government so eager to kill the space program and every other major industry in this country.

Wont be long and there will be stove cops that can come into your house and inspect your Pellet stove to make sure your burning only government appoved Pellets made by "Government Pellet company"

Now lets talk about the "HARP"

How much influence on the weather has this little toy made? Have these experiments gone out of control and caused irrepairable damage to the upper atmosphere, to the point that the government now needs to blame things on something they can cover their Butts with.


OH MY!!!!! , its SUV exhaust, Pellet stove and wood stove emissions. Ohhhhh all is lost if we dont stop cattle flatulence and that nasty refrigerant stuff thats killing the OZONE layer.



I dont trust anyone who has any theories that the government has supported.


First off the span of time required to evaluate any data is a long term run.


Man has only been on this lump of rock for a Blink of the eye in geologic time.
Man has only had sofisticated electronic tools for a very few years.

Basically we have only been in the computer age for 30 years.

Oh yeah we had some huge computers back in the 50's 60's but these things could barely add 1+1 and get 2

My kids grew up seeing the advent of the computer as we know it.

Any data that has been collected on Global anything is of little value at this point in time.

Compare todays data with the same measurements in 500 years and you "might" have something.

The only real fact that we do have is that there is "Global Politics" and it is driven by the lust for money and power. Insatiable Greed is what it is.



This all said, there is no good reason not to keep our air,water and other natural resources clean and usuable.


Old practices of dumping everything that was unwanted into the river or up the smoke stack was all part of Global Greed.

Make money and screw everything else.

China is right at that point now.

They are in their industrial revolution where we were back in the 40's 50's and the West has handed them computer technology and all the tools to run wild.

Do they care about global anything, probably not.

Just $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$4 is all.


Does any of this have anything to do with the weather, probably not much.

In 100 years nobody is gonna care one little bit. The history books will probably record these years as a footnote.


Give it 25 years and there will be some other damned fool crusade in vogue.



Snowy
 
We have been getting into the high 60's and low 70's during the day. But with the nights still dipping into the low to mid 30's. It just doesn't seem like I will be able to kill the stove for a bit. Not really cold enough to do any hard pellet testing per say. But I did sample burn my 2 newest additions to the pellet stash. Real happy with both the Cubex and hamers. Both are Nice, Hot, and clean burning pellets. Should keep us warm come next winter. Still keeping an eye out for pellet deals(drives the wife crazy!). Hey you never know whats out there. With a good basement cleaning maybe I can find room for another ton or so? I will save that for the rainy days!

Have a good spring!
 
You folks on the east coast seem to have a lot more to choose from in the way of Pellet fuel brands.

Out here in the Northwest, we have only a few brands. Mostly Douglas fir pellets with a little Pine here and there.

Golden fire, Lignetics, Bear Mountain and maybe a couple others.

The big issue is the freight cost to bring in anything from any distance away.

Truck freight is soooooo spendy.

A few years ago we had some pellets here sold under the brand name "HeartLand"

They were Pine. Burned good, clean and hot.

Saw them only part of one season.

Locally we have several pellet plants that are within 50 miles so these are the ones that we see mostly.

The big box stores will every so often get in a couple semi loads of eastern brands, but its usually only a one time thing.


For us, the brand makes little difference.

We burn only a ton or less as we use the nut shells most of the time.

The Quad came on the other morning as I was too lazy to build a fire in the eavening and by 6 am the house was COLD 60F

The downstairs is so well insulated that the Quad thats down there only runs once every day or so and then it is a short burn.



Are most of the pellets you folks have PINE?? or do you get hardwood pellets too.

The only hardwood stuff we see are for the Smoker Barbeque units and are spendy$$$$$$$$$$$$$


Snowy
 
Snowy Rivers said:
You folks on the east coast seem to have a lot more to choose from in the way of Pellet fuel brands.

Out here in the Northwest, we have only a few brands. Mostly Douglas fir pellets with a little Pine here and there.


Are most of the pellets you folks have PINE?? or do you get hardwood pellets too.

The only hardwood stuff we see are for the Smoker Barbeque units and are spendy$$$$$$$$$$$$$


Snowy

Snowy,

We have a good mix of both hard and softwoods. We also get a few blends thrown in. I don't get to see Douglas fir all that often, But I have burned some from your neck of the woods. Nice pellets! We get them from time to time. Nothing solid though! Our spring prices this year are in the hardwoods favor. They seem to be more reasonable. The majority of the pine pellets we get are from BC Canada. So they are a bit higher with the freight added to them. I can easily say I have over 40 different brands I can choose from. SO I test what I can and choose from my testing. Just making sure I don't buy a lemon or a dog.

My Multifueler will burn "any" pellet. It just doesn't seem to care. But I like the best heat I can afford. So I am the picky one.

We don't have any nut plants here or I would try burning them. Seeing what you are getting them for, Looks awful nice! But there is a local fellow making grass pellets and I also have a local corn farmer. I love having fuel options.
 
We get a mixed bag of pellets up the coast aways from jtakeman. At the big boxes you never really know whats going to show up.

I prefer the softwoods, my stove doesn't really care as long as the ash isn't so dense it can't blow the ash out of the burn pot, and there isn't a pile of dirt in the pellets.

I'm currently trying to refrain from pulling the trigger on next years (2011 - 2012) stash. Would really like to put several ton into the garage, but need the room at least through through the month of May.

I just topped off the oil tank yesterday. The price was $2.49 / gallon. That keeps up and more people will be changing what they use to heat with.
 
For sure on that Oil Price.

Had a fire yesterday morning until about 11am then turned the beast off.

Was 75 in here last night but cooled off to around 68 this morning.

Yet another pacific storm is blowing in off the ocean today with rain and or cold showers most of the week being forcast..

Looks like by tonight I will need to screen a couple buckets of shells and build a fire again.

Was out yesterday and got busy with the tractor/mower and got a leg up on the grass around the area of the house.

Been so wet that doing this earlier was not going to happen.

Got a little work done on My Chevy Blazer (Older K5) too.

These one day dry spells are driving me nuts.

Oh well, such is life.

Sure glad I got my Hearth and stove project all done when I did. We have really enjoyed the new (to us) stove a lot.

To date I have plowed through better than half of the last 2500 Pounds of shells I bought late in the season.

Looks like I will be heading over to the nut plant come fall when they start up and get another ton or so.

Sure hope the nice weather gets here soon. Just not quite as hot as last summer will be fine though. Had some 110F days and that is just waaaaaaaaaaaay too hot for around here.

I like 75F max but we see anywhere from 80 to 90 in the summer.

Sure wish I could run the AC on nut shells. :)

Snowy
 
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