Wow Sept 2 and first fire for the coming season 2017/18

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alternativeheat

alternativeheat

Minister of Fire
Dec 19, 2013
3,803
Cape Cod, Ma.
Yeah this is early. Hopefully not to be repeated a lot throughout the month. Last year was around the 3rd week in Sept. But then sporadic burning in Oct . It was in the low 40's last night and it will warm right up today once the sun gets going.. So a cycle or two of the stove feels pretty good. I usually wait for the 30's to hit but I'm getting older. I always test fire the stove sometime in Sept but this was actually for some heat lol ! I'll have to pick up a few bags of pellets to have on hand, TSC has plenty I just have what I left in the hopper last spring...
 
I gave my stove some love this morning. I waited till now to give her the annual cleaning. Some suggested leaving the ash over the summer helps protect against rust. I put two buckets of damp rid in and still have a little surface rust under the burn pot. No biggie. But yes, the wife wanted to fire up the stove earlier this week and I said no, the pipes were still covered and it needed a cleaning. Ready to go now, two tons of Turman stacked with a ton or so oakie platinum leftover from last year. Let the burn begin!
 
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I'm cleaning my stove and flue on the 24th as planned. It sat all summer, ash on the pot, dirt on the glass and all. A few pellets left in the hopper and it fired right up like I just shut it down yesterday. Well, once I closed and latched the main door that is, I always leave that cracked open for the summer to evaporate any moisture that might try to collect inside. To me ventilating the stove in the off season is key, not sealing it all up. I got the worst rust ever by trying to seal it up.
 
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I do miss a fire, but will enjoy the fire pit and weather outside before I turn on the hair dyer again!

Cheers!
 
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alternativeheat said:
I'm cleaning my stove and flue on the 24th as planned. It sat all summer, ash on the pot, dirt on the glass and all. A few pellets left in the hopper and it fired right up like I just shut it down yesterday. Well, once I closed and latched the main door that is, I always leave that cracked open for the summer to evaporate any moisture that might try to collect inside. To me ventilating the stove in the off season is key, not sealing it all up. I got the worst rust ever by trying to seal it up.
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Same exact thing for me. Dirty glass, left both doors unlatched.
 
Ran the Harman with the crosslink with infloor system twice in August to get rid the basements moisture when the daytime highs were only in the low 60's.Last August has been the coolest I have had with no use of AC in over 12 years. One of the wettest thankfully with a minor draught here close to the Dakota's
 
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Bioburner said:
Ran the Harman with the crosslink with infloor system twice in August to get rid the basements moisture when the daytime highs were only in the low 60's.Last August has been the coolest I have had with no use of AC in over 12 years. One of the wettest thankfully with a minor draught here close to the Dakota's
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We had similar weather here. Last year I gave up on watering the lawn last august, this year we had plenty of rain. September is starting cool but this week it's supposed to warm up with rain. I ran my stove after cleaning it Saturday. Just enough to warm the place up.
 
You folks are making me feel not so guilty about not cleaning my stove this spring... when I normally do it. New Grandbaby's tend to create chaos all over the place!:) My stove cleaning happened to be one of the casualties...
 
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Went up and checked the pipes today. I always wait to brush the one for the pellet puppy and the wood stove until Sept. Gonna be the first time ever that I am blowing it off for this season. Must have been our warm winter last year.

But I had to fire the new portable heat pump/AC for a couple of nights to keep the chill off. Impressed. The electric usage was the same as when the pellet puppy is running with no pellets being fed. Not gonna be the same in real cold but for shoulder season this thing has possibilities, In the 80 degree days with 50 degree nights we have coming up.

Having a central unit that died in the 90s from lack of use.
 
Woke up to 43 outside this AM but was 72 yesterday and the house is 66 but with early AM sun should not have to fire anything BUT theres a frost alert flashing on the weather channel:( Will have to cover the tomatoes. Got a bucket of corn mixed and into the Harman and will screen some more corn for the Bixby. Should be back to normal temps the rest of the week.
 
Shoulder seasons. Woodburner's hell. At least with pellet stoves we have an "off" switch. Not so much with my cordwood stove. Fire it and the wind changes direction and I am in for a very hot night in the house.
 
First fire (main floor only) was 8/31/17 and ran much of the weekend. Earliest ever. However I shut down the basement stove in early May and the main floor stove hadn't run since late May - earliest ever.
 
I'll be cleaning the stove this weekend. Left it dirty again last spring, didn't even plug up the OAK or the vent pipe. Just unplugged it. As for the cool weather, it feels like summer ended 3 weeks ago. Had planned to go to fire island at the end of August but it wasn't hot enough. I do love this weather, though, cool and dry, I don't have to worry about the basement humidity either. Plus, this dip in the jet stream is keeping all the hurricanes away from the Northeast coasts. ;)
 
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Watching the Yankees play the Indians and it's 72 degrees at around 10pm on October 6. No pellets used so far this fall season.
 
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Hah ! Oct has been warm so far. I ended up burning about 4 bags through Sept though, mostly overnight burns here and there.

Still haven't cleaned the stove but will this week. I was all set when I saw a rat in the garden right outside the dining room window when we got back from our trip to Maine and a nice rat hole along the foundation there. I've been on rat patrol for two weeks, think I have them under control now ( perimeter scent, bait stations and electronic zapper), it had my mind on full alert.. I haven't seen any activity in about 3 days now. All I could think of is it's late Sept early Oct , those suckers are looking to move in !! I filled that hole in yesterday, will see if it returns in the next day or two.
 
I burned about 2 bags since the end of August. Thought that burning that early signaled an early start of winter this year - but summer fought hard to stay in the game and made a comeback.
 
alternativeheat said:
Hah ! Oct has been warm so far. I ended up burning about 4 bags through Sept though, mostly overnight burns here and there.

Still haven't cleaned the stove but will this week. I was all set when I saw a rat in the garden right outside the dining room window when we got back from our trip to Maine and a nice rat hole along the foundation there. I've been on rat patrol for two weeks, think I have them under control now ( perimeter scent, bait stations and electronic zapper), it had my mind on full alert.. I haven't seen any activity in about 3 days now. All I could think of is it's late Sept early Oct , those suckers are looking to move in !! I filled that hole in yesterday, will see if it returns in the next day or two.
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Rats, they want in on that sweet pellet stove heat in winter. ;)
 
bogieb said:
but summer fought hard to stay in the game and made a comeback.
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Did it ever, with plenty of humidity. It's like 90% humidity and 75 degrees indoors now. Very uncomfortable. Any mild, physical task I do, ends up with me covered in sweat. Yesterday I was getting the garden ready for winter and was sweating bullets, surrounded by mosquitoes, even with the repellent on.

But I refuse, on principle, to turn on the AC this late in the year.
 
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vinny11950 said:
Rats, they want in on that sweet pellet stove heat in winter. ;)
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Ya and I still got at least one , it dug that hole back out this morning while my wife and I were out. Nothing at night though.
 
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Just wanna say 76 degrees, 93% humidity at 11pm. Ugh.
 
This is my favorite time on the forum. "Are you burning yet?". Weird this year. Heating for two weeks and now the A/C is on.
 
Windows open here, the wife turned the fan on of the bedroom ac unit last night. I haven't run ac since July though, we had a fairly cool dry summer on the Cape, it's more humid right now.

Just want to warn ya, it seems like when ever we get these mild Oct days the winter that follows comes with a vengeance !
 
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alternativeheat said:
Ya and I still got at least one , it dug that hole back out this morning while my wife and I were out. Nothing at night though.
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I had to replace my whole central a/c system in and out this summer due to mice eating the wiring. I’m going to wrap the bottom of th unit with steel wool, in addition to the moth balls. No rats here though! Good luck with yours. You could always have a new pet?
 
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