Burn days are numbered

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3650

Minister of Fire
May 8, 2011
924
midwest
Its going to be 68* today. My house is a 112 yo uninsulated split faced block so, yes, I am leaving the pellet stove on. Ive got it on the lowest corn flame setting which, when burning pellets, is the tiniest of flames. The house was 75* when I left so it will be interesting to see what I walk into when I get home tonight.

I definitely over bought pellets this season. I have 1 and 3/4 tons left over. I started with 7 tons. Last year I burned 8 tons. We definitely had a warmer winter here according to my pellet gauge. I'll probably have enough for all winter next year as Im moving to wood and propane.
 
Feel free to send your excess up here to New England. The colder than normal pattern is expected to last until mid April.....we broke the all time record for snow here in Boston yesterday....a record that most of us really didn't hope we would see.
 
Better get the coat back out. Temps here were 71 yesterday. This morning still a nice 54 but the winds cranking up and some rain and now down to 44 a 2 o clock. Firing the stove up after no use in two days. Below normal forecast for another week at least.
 
33 on Cape Cod this morning, 23 yesterday morning. Yesterdays high was around 40, today they say rain and 47 but 47 comes in around 4 PM.. The high tomorrow is supposed to be 31. We still have a foot of snow sitting under a layer of 3" of ice. that ice formed back after an early snow storm that turned to rain. Severely inhibiting melting. We got rid of the 3-4' that was sitting on top of it and melted down to that ice Sunday. It's all about Ugliness when you look out the window right now.. The ponds are still frozen over. We will see what happens in April but I suspect we will be burning into May. And I hope I am wrong but. It is very typical here on Cape Cod to go from heat to AC around Memorial Day. The cold Atlantic just keeps us cold in the spring. But our falls make up for it !
 
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My son was ice fishing in the local area and found one pond had 15 1/2 inches of ice and the other had 24 inches of ice. Ice-out will be late this year.
 
My son was ice fishing in the local area and found one pond had 15 1/2 inches of ice and the other had 24 inches of ice. Ice-out will be late this year.
For Cape Cod it's already late this year. I've seen it before in April but other years I've gone fly fishing in late Feb. It's New England after all ! I remember many years out fishing in the boat by now. I'll just keep on tying my flies, shouldn't run out any time soon !
 
I just brought in my last 2 weeks of wood into the garage, hopefully anyway lol, I still have enough to go to May but I really don't want to burn into May, I'm ready for fishing, yard work, warm days and cold beers on the deck while smoking my catch.
 
Just remember last year when some people in early April cleaned, unplugged and capped there stove for the season and two weeks later they were burning hard again
 
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Its going to be 68* today. My house is a 112 yo uninsulated split faced block so, yes, I am leaving the pellet stove on. Ive got it on the lowest corn flame setting which, when burning pellets, is the tiniest of flames. The house was 75* when I left so it will be interesting to see what I walk into when I get home tonight.

I definitely over bought pellets this season. I have 1 and 3/4 tons left over. I started with 7 tons. Last year I burned 8 tons. We definitely had a warmer winter here according to my pellet gauge. I'll probably have enough for all winter next year as Im moving to wood and propane.

Its going to be 68* today. My house is a 112 yo uninsulated split faced block so, yes, I am leaving the pellet stove on. Ive got it on the lowest corn flame setting which, when burning pellets, is the tiniest of flames. The house was 75* when I left so it will be interesting to see what I walk into when I get home tonight.

I definitely over bought pellets this season. I have 1 and 3/4 tons left over. I started with 7 tons. Last year I burned 8 tons. We definitely had a warmer winter here according to my pellet gauge. I'll probably have enough for all winter next year as Im moving to wood and propane.

I'm done burning this year.. I have well over one ton left. I've already summerized my Accentra insert and will do the P-43 shortly.
 
I don't own a Pellet stove, but it seems to me an advantage for Pellet stoves is that shoulder season should be no big deal to properly heat the house.
This time of year, my woodstove requires constant inefficient relights, varrying loading sizes to fit the weather,and the need to "time" the stove's cool down curve.
Pellet stoves just don't have to deal with this stuff - is that right?
 
I don't own a Pellet stove, but it seems to me an advantage for Pellet stoves is that shoulder season should be no big deal to properly heat the house.
This time of year, my woodstove requires constant inefficient relights, varrying loading sizes to fit the weather,and the need to "time" the stove's cool down curve.
Pellet stoves just don't have to deal with this stuff - is that right?
Yes
 
Must be nice. It seems like mid winter here. Wind chill is 2 and the wind is gusting to 40. The stove is blasting. There are thousands with out power.

We have low temps of 10 F with 35 mph wind gusts and double digit below 0 wind chills this morning here in central ME. Predictions for highs only in the 20's and lows in the single digits with biting winds through the end of the week. The only saving grace in central ME has been dodging the snow storms of recent that have continued to hammer Down east Maine.

Long range forecast is calling for this similar weather pattern continuing in the NE until mid April. Ugh.

I've been mowing the yard in the recent years by early April. With the amount of deep snow pack promising a prolonged mud season when it finally does warm up, mowing in April likely won't be happening this year !
 
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I don't own a Pellet stove, but it seems to me an advantage for Pellet stoves is that shoulder season should be no big deal to properly heat the house.
This time of year, my woodstove requires constant inefficient relights, varrying loading sizes to fit the weather,and the need to "time" the stove's cool down curve.
Pellet stoves just don't have to deal with this stuff - is that right?
Go look on Craigslist and find your self a pellet stove my friend, I burned wood for years till I bought one 18 yr's ago
 
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fire_man, my stove keeps it with in a degree or two of the temp that I set. I shuts off and restarts as needed. The trade off is that for trouble free operation you must clean the stove regularly and keep the burn pot clear of build up. Having burned wood for decades, its a fair trade. It does a very nice job of heating the house in the spring and fall. If you miss that wood stove over heat the room deal, you can go to stove temp mode and blast it to whatever you can stand.
 
After burning with wood then going to pellets I would not want to go back. The wood stove like to heat and heat and heat - but the pellet stoves just keep it a constant temp. I did however just put in a new wood furnace though just to have more options and I have quite a few dying trees that I would be going to waste otherwise.... but it will be supplemental for the house and allow me to heat shop for little money... I would not want to go back to wood for constant use.
 
The problem is we loose power so often and sometimes for days in the middle of the winter. One time we lost heat for a week in 20F weather, no problem with the wood stove. I actually enjoy all the hard labor of wood processing - especially when the rest of my day is inside at a desk.

I guess for now since my wood is free and the work is fun - the woodstove will stick around.My wife actually enjoys scoping out my free scounges - makes her feel good to know our heat came from one of her fallen tree sightings.

But I can see why some folks like their pellet stoves.
 
The problem is we loose power so often and sometimes for days in the middle of the winter. One time we lost heat for a week in 20F weather, no problem with the wood stove. I actually enjoy all the hard labor of wood processing - especially when the rest of my day is inside at a desk.

I guess for now since my wood is free and the work is fun - the woodstove will stick around.My wife actually enjoys scoping out my free scounges - makes her feel good to know our heat came from one of her fallen tree sightings.

But I can see why some folks like their pellet stoves.
I remember the work being fun too. Or interesting, then became more challenging to fit it all in. Then the chimney fire. I said screw this and burned coal for 35 or more years. Had the coal delivered and dumped in the old coal room in the basement. Coal deliveries became a problem here, so I had to pick it up. Now it's pellets. Some days and some things about the coal I miss. Some things about the pellets I like better but I am seriously glad that wood burning is out of the picture even though I have a free supply in my yard too.. not endless supply but big trees, huge trees actually. No, not for me.
 
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