How low is outside temp before you start burning?

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jscs.moore

Feeling the Heat
Sep 9, 2015
291
Eastern PA
So I'm sitting here in northeastern PA and the outside temp is only about 52 and rainy. Given it's Christmas weekend I would like to have a fire, but with outside temps still high we can easily get cooked out of the family room. How low do your outside temps need to be in order to start burning?
 
When we are cold, we light a fire. If we get to hot we open a door or window. We don't like a cold damp house .
 
Yup. If it's rainy and chilly it's fire time. If it gets to warm let the fire go out.
 
If I am cold, I light a fire.

I may pay attention to whether or not the temps are forecast to rise . . . especially in the early Fall and late Spring . . . and burn accordingly (i.e. run a small load, use my "junk" wood (punks, chunks and uglies), etc.)
 
So I'm sitting here in northeastern PA and the outside temp is only about 52 and rainy. Given it's Christmas weekend I would like to have a fire, but with outside temps still high we can easily get cooked out of the family room. How low do your outside temps need to be in order to start burning?

I'm south of you in Virginia but same weather little warmer. My wife is sitting on the couch with the blanket up to her chin at 72 inside. I reckon somewhere around 50 if the temp is falling from a warmer day is where I like to start. That said day after day of 50 degrees the fire keeps rolling.
 
I'm south of you in Virginia but same weather little warmer. My wife is sitting on the couch with the blanket up to her chin at 72 inside. I reckon somewhere around 50 if the temp is falling from a warmer day is where I like to start. That said day after day of 50 degrees the fire keeps rolling.
Thanks for the replies everyone...I guess I'll light a fire:)
 
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I agree with the folks above. If we feel cold, we make a fire in the stove. Today it was 62 and rainy and my wife had the stove going and it was 80 degrees in the house when I got home. I'm in shorts and she's warm and happy so all is well.
 
Outside temperatures are Irrelevant. We live inside. When inside temps fall into the 60s it’s a problem. Yes, that means starting a fire when outside temps are also in the 60s.

^^This^^
We'll start a quick hot fire even on cold summer mornings -- just let it go out.
 
If it goes upper 60s/upper 40s for a couple days, it's starting to drop into the 60s in the house and it's about time to fire up. I might hold out until mid 60s room temp at the start of the season, trying to delay the inevitable, but once regular burning sets in I don't generally let it get below 68 unless I get lazy and don't reload in time.
 
When the outside temps fall into super-cold Siberian freezing-to-death temperatures. In other words, anything around 50 degrees or lower.
 
50s here in South Jersey today and the wife is cold so naturally I fired up the stove. Lol


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I feel for you guys.:confused: With such warm temperatures!

It'll be somewhere between 0 to -5f here tonight. Chilly out. Both stoves are earning their keep!
 
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I light up the Ashford when the electric secondaries on my heat pump turn on, but I am also a little short on seasoned wood this year.:p
When it gets about 20F outside, the Alderlea joins the party. Heating about 3000 sq ft.
 
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I feel for you guys.:confused: With such warm temperatures!

It'll be somewhere between 0 to -5f here tonight. Chilly out. Both stoves are earning their keep!

Seems you always talk about the same weather we are having...finally looked to see where you are at. Your my neighbor just slightly north! I'm just south of the border in Idaho.

I start burning when the living room hits 68!! Or my wife tells me to whatever comes first
 
I'm loving this weather for the holidays. I like it a little chilly out. Espescially for Christmas.
 
Much like everyone else, if it's a bit chilly and damp indoors, we fire that puppy up.....outside makes no difference. We have family staying over the holiday, so we are mostly burning fuel oil with the thermostats at 68*F, otherwise we'd be burning wood and 80+ in the house.
 
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I don’t need a t-stat... I do have a wife!
 
Correlating to outside temps results in a pretty wide swing based on homes insulation, solar gain, etc. I am usually hold off to much cooler inside temps before I fire up a stove, letting the house get down to about 60º. But my house cools down pretty quick with the outside temp (poor insulation/leaky). The fellow sitting next to me at work went like a whole month later until he turned on his thermostat in his top floor apartment - he said his walls shared with the other neighbors were still pretty warm!
 
If my house ever got down to anywhere near 60f it'd magically transform into a bachelor pad.

My house dropped from 80 to 70 on the thermostat on the wall near the bedrooms. And the moaning and groaning is very real this morning. Up and at em and both fires stoked up toot de suite!

We hit the -5 overnight. It's crisp this morning!
 
How low do your outside temps need to be in order to start burning?

Insulation and available thermal mass make a lot of difference, so what works for one house will not for another even in the same climate.

In our case, highs for the day must be no more than upper 40's to light even a single fire a day. I can't burn 24/7 unless lows drop into the 30's, and even then it might be just two loads a day. Right now it is 25 deg. outside and windy, but it is noon and I will not start a second load for at least another hour.