Firing when the temperature is changing daily.......

[woodchip]

Well, we have certainly seen temperatures all over the place, with lower temps followed by unusually mild spells.

The problem is, how to burn when it's cold one day and mild the next.

I'm generally using short burn woods like birch and cherry at the moment, I'm never far from home, and don't need long burn times.

Yesterday we didn't light up until 3pm, today it was 8am as it was chilly thismorning, and got colder this evening, but now it getting mild by the morning with 52f forecast by 7am.

Just keeping warm with a thermostat control on a furnace seems simple compared to the calculations as to what heat is needed so I'm not wasting wood as it warms up......

I'm curious as to what anyone else does when the temperatures are down one day and up the next.

Over to you for ideas, suggestions etc......

 

[Hogwildz]

Unless it gets as warm as yesterday (50's), I just do the usual routine of on load at noon, and then again at midnight. Once it gets 20's or below, it will be 3x a day about every 8 hrs.
Over 50, and she takes a nap.

 

[jabush]

I just kind of "play it by ear" and try to keep an eye on the temp and forcast. If it's upper 40s to 50 or better outside in the am, I usually do not fill the stove before I go to work (around 6:00am). If my wife gets chilly mid morning, she knows what to do.
I'd rather refire when the place starts to cool off than try to keep a coal bed and have the house get too hot. What's helped me (and my wife) out this year controlling the heat is smaller splits. Also, my wife runs her small business from the house so she's here during the day to feed the stove (aka "ol painless").

 

[thewoodlands]

Well, we have certainly seen temperatures all over the place, with lower temps followed by unusually mild spells.

The problem is, how to burn when it's cold one day and mild the next.

I'm generally using short burn woods like birch and cherry at the moment, I'm never far from home, and don't need long burn times.

Yesterday we didn't light up until 3pm, today it was 8am as it was chilly thismorning, and got colder this evening, but now it getting mild by the morning with 52f forecast by 7am.

Just keeping warm with a thermostat control on a furnace seems simple compared to the calculations as to what heat is needed so I'm not wasting wood as it warms up......

I'm curious as to what anyone else does when the temperatures are down one day and up the next.

Over to you for ideas, suggestions etc......

We heat from the basement with the Lopi Liberty, with the temps in the high 30's we run two fires, nothing for a overnight fire, house is 70. With the temps dropping to single digits tomorrow we will have 3-4 fires, burning Cherry during the day then if it's colder we turn to Beech and Sugar Maple for our overnight burn.
zap

 

[woodmiser]

I just burn if it's cold and don't burn when it gets warm.

 

[NH_Wood]

I just burn if it's cold and don't burn when it gets warm.

For those burning 24/7 as their only source of heat, the situation is more complex than this, but still not a lot of work. With the milder temps lately, it's 3 loads per day and the house stays in the low 70's downstairs and low 60's in the upstairs bedrooms (a.k.a. perfect). Tomorrow's temps are supposed to be in the upper teens to a low of 0 F tomorrow night. I plan a day's burning on this info. I'll have a big fire tomorrow morning, and burn the coals early, a second fire at about 1pm (burning the coals early), third at about 6pm (ditto), and load the overnight at about 11pm. My goal is to shoot a lot of heat into the home during the day - heating all the structure, etc., and then let the last load and residual heat keep the house warm till I wake up the next morning. Each day, house, setup is different - you need to find what works for you. Cheers!

 

[Jasper 83]

The weather has definitely been a PITA this year around here too. I just bought this house in october and put a stove in it and cant hardly use the darn thing. The old insert i was burning last year in the leaky rental house was usable in 50 degree weather but this englander is not. On the plus side i havent used much of my wood supply this year. Ive been building small fires and letting it burn out once or twice a day and using the heat pump for the warmer days. Definitely used alot of kindling this year though.

 

[katwillny]

The temps have been all over the place here in lower NY. Its been very mild the past week or so, tonight its cold and windy and tomorrow the High is going to be 22 and the Low 9. I will surely be burning for the next few days nonstop.

 

[jeff_t]

I'm sure nobody wants to hear it, but I gotta say it. I just give the thermostat a twist ;-)

 

[begreen]

I'm with you jeff. We've been running on the heat pump for the past few days. Works fine and it's inexpensive heat.

 

[jeff_t]

I'm with you jeff. We've been running on the heat pump for the past few days. Works fine and it's inexpensive heat.

Too bad my furnace doesn't work ....

 

[theonlyzarathu]

I burn to keep the house in a certain temperature range from about 72-78. This entails less burns based on temperature, and entails turning the stove back once most coals have been reached. It only be a problem for a house with little insualtion. Insulation in the hose tends to keep the house from swinging to hot and cold. I will also put up insulating screens over the big windows and glass doors to keep the heat in when its very cold and to keep the house from swining in temperature.

 

[lopiliberty]

December temps here have been warmer than usual so I just build a fire in the liberty when the house cools to 70. Had a fire last night and it got up to 90 degrees in here so I let it go out. House was at 71 this morning so started another fire and I am going to keep it going 24/7 for the next few days. Calling for a high of 22 tomorrow and lows in the single digits tomorrow night. Filled up the liberty at 6 this evening with ash and locust because it was 27 outside and wind blowing 30 MPH to get me to the overnight load and the stove crused at 700 for 2 hours and got the house to a toasty 87 degrees which is the usual temp. for the living room but because it is cold and windy outside it doesn't feel like 87

 

[jharkin]

I'm with you jeff. We've been running on the heat pump for the past few days. Works fine and it's inexpensive heat.

+1 We are extremely spoiled to have natural gas. That plus a lot better insulation this year means I let the stove go out when it gets past the low 40s. It just becomes work trying not to overheat the place.

 

[Wood Duck]

I keep the stove burning at night and adjust my daytime burns to the weather, but I have a functioning electric heat system so the stove is only part of my heat and is never actually necessary.

Most of the time from November thru March I will have the stove burning in the evening and keep it more or less burning/hot all night. In the morning I burn a load first thing. The difference between cold weather and warmer weather comes during the day. If it is warmish outside the stove will be allowed to burn out in the morning and by afternoon it will be pretty cold. If it is cooler I will reload in the morning and let it burn out in the afternoon. Today is cold so the stove will be hot all day.

 

[LLigetfa]

I check to see what the weather prognosticators say and adjust my burning to suit. I let my fire go out accordingly and take the opportunity to clean out the ashes. If it's just mild for a short spell, I open a window and let the fire go to the brink and then ressurect the fire.

I adjust the amount of heat by the size and number of splits, the frequency of reload, and the speed of the blower. The goal for overnight fires is to still have coals in the morning. My stove is thermostatically controlled and the colder the air through the OAK the more wood it will burn. Last night it dipped to -22°C so I tossed in 3 splits instead of the usual 2. 8 hours later, I still had lots of coals. The weather guessers are calling for single digit freezing overnight lows for much of the week to come and some daytime thaws. Looks like the gas furnace might get more use and my wood stash will diminish less.

 

[firefighterjake]

Depending on the forecasted temps . . . I alter how soon I will reload . . . alter what I bring in to burn . . . alter how much I load up the firebox. For example, this past weekend was on the milder side so I tended to let the fire either go out or down to very small coals before reloading . . . and the loads were partial . . . and generally my less desirable wood (I used up some poplar and chunks and uglies). Now the weather is cooler . . . it's back to full loads, more frequent reloads and my good wood.

 

[woodchip]

Jake, that's probably about the closest to what I'm trying to do.

It went very mild yesterday evening and we let the fire go out by 9pm.

I did think we might have problems lighting it this morning with 70 - 80mph wind gusts, but it lit fine and with plenty of kindling we had a bright fire with a good draw quite quickly.

Back to cooler temps tomorrow as the passing low has drawn cooler air down from the Artic.

I suspect this will be the story of the winter, so perfecting the ability to vary the burns as needed is going to be as important as perfecting the long overnighters when it's cold.

It's nice be able to hold some oak back in reserve for a longer cold spell, but our forecast for the next 4 weeks is for a mixed bag.

Still plenty of time this Winter for that sting in the tail though...... ;-)

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Depending on the forecasted temps . . . I alter how soon I will reload . . . alter what I bring in to burn . . . alter how much I load up the firebox. For example, this past weekend was on the milder side so I tended to let the fire either go out or down to very small coals before reloading . . . and the loads were partial . . . and generally my less desirable wood (I used up some poplar and chunks and uglies). Now the weather is cooler . . . it's back to full loads, more frequent reloads and my good wood.

That pretty much sums it up. Never have I had a year when I started so many fires from scratch as this year but that is okay with me. Today it got into the teens for the high. When I got up I put in 3 splits and just added 3 more splits about 1/2 hour ago. That will hold fine until bedtime and then I'll load up for a nice overnight fire.

 

[firefighterjake]

Depending on the forecasted temps . . . I alter how soon I will reload . . . alter what I bring in to burn . . . alter how much I load up the firebox. For example, this past weekend was on the milder side so I tended to let the fire either go out or down to very small coals before reloading . . . and the loads were partial . . . and generally my less desirable wood (I used up some poplar and chunks and uglies). Now the weather is cooler . . . it's back to full loads, more frequent reloads and my good wood.

That pretty much sums it up. Never have I had a year when I started so many fires from scratch as this year but that is okay with me. Today it got into the teens for the high. When I got up I put in 3 splits and just added 3 more splits about 1/2 hour ago. That will hold fine until bedtime and then I'll load up for a nice overnight fire.

Same here . . . I've used a lot more kindling . . . but have saved on not using so much firewood.