Whose wives/girl friends won't deal with the stove?

[stejus]

My wife helps stack wood and will start and keep stove going. The only stove related thing she will not do is load the weekly supply wood rack, clean the ash or clean the liner. She's into it for the heat, not the joy of owning a wood stove

 

[Flatbedford]

I told my wife about this thread. She told me to tell you all that she has no problem with working the stove. She doesn't like to bring the wood in from the porch and she doesn't like to shovel the ash out. She also likes to help me with the wood processing when she can. She's run the chainsaws, loaded the trucks, moved and stacked the wood. She doesn't think she can split the wood, but I think that with the Fiskars and the right wood she probably could. With the old stove, she would sometimes forget to keep up with it, because she was doing all the other stuff that has to be done in the house, but with the Fireview only having to be loaded three times a day, that shouldn't be a problem anymore.

 

[timfromohio]

My wife doesn't mind tending to the stoves during the day when I'm at work - I do make sure there is wood inside, as well as keep a big stack in the garage (about a week's worth). While she doesn't help me split, she LOVES to stack wood. She's incredibly detailed in the manner in which she stacks and you can tell areas of the wood pile that she has stacked vs. me. I've also got my mom to learn how to run the stove - parents live in Arizona now, which must have seriously thinned their blood, and my mom doesn't move much beyond a 10 foot radius of the stove when she comes to visit in the winter. I guess she figured it was in her best interest to learn how to run it since we consider the central heat backup. My mother-in-law also is capable of running the stove - wife grew up heating with wood in Western Mass.

 

[Flatbedford]

My mother in law is gonna be a tough one. She will be at the house while my wife and I are out of town next week. I don't know if we can get her to keep the stove going. I'd hate to run the furnace for her. I'' have to convince her that she will be more comfortable with the stove goin than with the heat on.

 

[timfromohio]

Hey Flatbedford - just put a lock box over the thermostat control and you're done! That's what I threatened ... The other joke around here is that the original owner of our home built an EXACT REPLICA replica of the our house for a dog house (it's a 1970 split level, so nothing to get excited about) complete with paneling, carpet, and electric heat. When we looked at this house (when it was up for sale) I took one look at the dog house and exclaimed, "honey, look ... a mother-in-law suite!". Be tough - make her use the stove ...

 

[molly1414]

My husband wont touch the stove or the wood. The stove is mine. He is never cold and if he had it his way the house would be 60 degrees. I on the other hand like the house very warm around 80 is just perfect. He does not like the mess from the wood or the ash. I love the stove and would never live in a house without one.
I love the heat, the flames, the wood all of it. Of course I grew up with a father who cut his own wood and always had a fire going and my husband grew up with parents who never touched a piece of wood in their lives.

 

[bagpiper]

My wife and I both love fireplaces and bought a home with 2 existing fireplaces.

The second winter in our home, we purchased the Jotul C350 insert after not being happy with the existing fireplace we had. It was the best decision we made, and we kept the Winterport burning 24/7.

The biggest problem (occasionally ) is just reminding my son or the wife to throw some splits into the firebox as they are running out the door. Other then that, my wife will happily bring the wood in, keep the insert loaded, and start the fire when needed.

Since we both a great experience with the Jotul C350, we bought a second one, this time the larger Rockland C550.

The best part about having the 2 inserts is that I can keep the home extremely warm, enjoy I rolling fire, and knowing my wife is there to lend hand without complaint !

 

[Ohiopyro]

"I love the stove and would never live in a house without one.
I love the heat, the flames, the wood all of it. "

+1!

 

[tiber]

I am lolling at some of these posts.

How all did you sell your wife on the woodstove idea?

The current impasse is I did the math on basement VS living room install and abandoned the basement idea. However my wife refuses to have "bugs, ash and soot" in the living room.

 

[cdodge04]

Lady of my house wouldn't touch the wood stove...she didn't feel comfortable with it and was worried about the house burning down. We ended up just getting a pellet stove...now she can fill it, start it and clean it out when it needs to be done without having to worry. I'm away from home with work quite often so we needed something that she could handle confidently.

 

[Flatbedford]

Tell her the bugs die in the winter, with a modern air-tight stove there won't be much ash or soot, and the living room will be warm and cozy.

 

[firefighterjake]

My husband wont touch the stove or the wood. The stove is mine. He is never cold and if he had it his way the house would be 60 degrees. I on the other hand like the house very warm around 80 is just perfect. He does not like the mess from the wood or the ash. I love the stove and would never live in a house without one.
I love the heat, the flames, the wood all of it. Of course I grew up with a father who cut his own wood and always had a fire going and my husband grew up with parents who never touched a piece of wood in their lives.

Hmmm . . . working with wood is one of my guilty "this is man's work" pleasures . . . I find splitting wood or stacking wood to be a wonderful stress reliever and way to unwind.

 

[firefighterjake]

I am lolling at some of these posts.

How all did you sell your wife on the woodstove idea?

The current impasse is I did the math on basement VS living room install and abandoned the basement idea. However my wife refuses to have "bugs, ash and soot" in the living room.

Bugs are a non-issue . . . they die in the cold. I have yet to see a bug inside the house.

Ash . . . ash pans are a wonderful thing . . . I bring the ash outside and dispose of it in a pail and then from there it is dumped in the woods, in the garden or on the ice covered driveway. Little to no mess . . . occasionally while cleaning the hearth with a brush I get a little too excited and some of the ash will go air-borne . . . and the Oslo is notorious for dumping ash out of the front door . . . I suppose I could get rid of this problem by using one of those fancy vacuums.

Soot . . . non-issue if you're using the stove correctly and burning well seasoned wood . . . you may smell some wood smoke outside, but often will not see it. There is some soot and creosote from cleaning . . . in my case it stays outside . . . or you could hire a sweep.

There is a mess with woodchips, sawdust, bits of bark, etc. which invariably find their way on to the hearth from reloading the firebox and woodbox . . . but if you're a good, well-trained husband who cleans up right away or daily there should be no issues.

As to how to sell the idea . . . easy . . . woodheat for me still costs a heckuva lot less than oil and since we spend most of our time in the living room this is where we wanted the stove . . . we always have heat regardless of how long we lose power in the winter and again we spend most of our time in the living room which is why we want the stove there . . . better performance with a stove not in the basement (more heat = happy people) . . . it's hard to fully appreciate the visual and auditory experiences of watching the fire when it's tucked into the basement and not in a living space (and again, you don't get the full heat value.)

 

[schwaggly]

The wife won't touch our insert or any wood at all. After years of lobbying she finally came around to an insert largely due to the hole in our masonary chimney and the need for a steel liner. The fact that weare still waiting on a boiler install helped as well. She is coming around to the scrounging concept but still takes jabs at me for it.

Luckily I have a 13yr old daughter who made me proud today by keeping the fire going from 11am til 11pm while I was at work. It snowed here in the Boston NS area and we don't have heat in the house but when I got home the house was 70ish degrees, so what if the glass was a little black. I'm buying that kid an ipod for christmas.