Bit of Chill ...

[jebatty]

January cold got shifted to February. -28F last night, high today of -5F. Looks like the cold will be hanging on for about another 10 days or more. Lows in the -20'sF, highs in the 0-10F range.

The new QuadraFire Expedition II is getting a 24-7 workout, just a little breather late night when the wood load burns out and a new fire-up in the early morning.

 

[thunderhead]

Ya, its going to be downright arctic for a lot of people(ya, "arctic" here in Seattle is all of 25F, so I can't complain though). Lots of wood going to get burned in the next week+

 

[KindredSpiritzz]

I had to run my wood furnace in the basement this weekend to get the chill out of the house. Once it gets down around zero my Austral struggles to keep the farther reaches of the house warm. Saw on the news some place in MN had -50 degrees this past weekend, i forget if that was with wind chill, guessing probably was but still nothing i want to experience

 

[jebatty]

The polar gods were not satisfied with a -28F. So, -33F this morning, main living space temperature was 69F, making 102F degrees of separation.

There are at least two plus sides to these low temps: 1) Emerald Ash Borer and some other invasive insects suffer high mortality. and 2) skies are clear and solar PV production is very high, which also is aided by snow bounce reflectivity to the panels. We are getting daily producdtion in the mid-60kW range vs average for February of 43 kW/day.

 

[wagdog]

Well ya got me, I had -24.6 at 0630 this morning.

 

[begreen]

We switched to hardwood at the start of the week for the additional btus. But with that also came the coals. Loads of them and a lot more ash afterward. I've been burning doug fir for so long that it has me spoiled.
I also fired up the little Jotul in the greenhouse. Hopefully all the snow on the roof will shlump off. It's up to 50 in there now and 29 outside.

 

[Caw]

But with that also came the coals. Loads of them and a lot more ash afterward. I've been burning doug fir for so long that it has me spoiled.

Coal mountain! I burn 100% hardwood and it's definitely something you have to manage. It's really frustrating when you let it get away from you. I've actually never burned softwood...I'd love to give it a whirl for fun. It'll be so different to see it basically turn to nothing. The only "softwood" I ever have around is poplar and butternut. Doesn't coal like oak but still coals.

Trade you a face cord of maple for fir?

 

[Highbeam]

You can still choke your stove with coals from softwood. It’s not that much different than maple except less ash.

 

[Caw]

You can still choke your stove with coals from softwood. It’s not that much different than maple except less ash.

Ok fair enough. Maple is my primary wood and it's not a huge coaler. It still coals just not crazily like oak and ash. I actually mix maple/cherry into my oak/ash loads for that very reason. I very rarely burn pure oak/ash unless I'm going to be gone all day.

 

[begreen]

You can still choke your stove with coals from softwood. It’s not that much different than maple except less ash.

We're burning madrona which is harder than our big leaf maple. Coals have blue flames dancing off of them. It's nice and hot but it coals a lot.

 

[WoodBurnerInWI]

Next week we may finally break into the 30's again for the first time in over 2 weeks! It's been downright brutal and tonight and tomorrow are the worst of it in regards to temps. Running 3 loads a day in the stove to keep up in this weather and the furnace is running a bit every morning to help the house get up to temp and to warm the basement.

Ok fair enough. Maple is my primary wood and it's not a huge coaler. It still coals just not crazily like oak and ash. I actually mix maple/cherry into my oak/ash loads for that very reason. I very rarely burn pure oak/ash unless I'm going to be gone all day.

For next year I'll have a cord or so of silver maple courtesy of the monster tree in my backyard getting a limb removed last year. That one limb was basically the size a tree in itself. 26" around at it's largest point and the tree guys said that if stood on end would have been 70' tall. All the oak that's dry will be gone by March, I'll be back to ash the rest of the year till stove shutdown. Nearly 5 cords of burr oak are drying in my wood shed ready for a winter 2 years from now! Ash is my go to wood, along with any birch and cherry the tree guys can find for me. I also try and cut a cord or two of pine every year for shoulder seasons. I used all my dry pine in the fall and the stuff I have now I'll burn this fall.

 

[Caw]

For next year I'll have a cord or so of silver maple courtesy of the monster tree in my backyard

I primarily burn red maple. It's the dominant tree in my area along with red oak and the trees formerly known as ash. It's a nice medium hardwood I can use for the usual 20-30 degree temps we see here. I bust out the ash and red oak overnight and during cold snaps.

I'm not super sold on silver. It's fine but I think it's kind of on par with box elder, staying in the maple family. I tend to burn both of them as good shoulder season woods...a step up from poplar and butternut... when its more like 30-40 out.

45+ and I turn in the heat pump!

 

[thunderhead]

Its not cold here(32) but outside is a snowy icy waterlogged mess and the power is out.

Inside its nice and toasty with firebox full of gentle coals. Ahhhhhhhh its nice to be warm and dry.

Unfortunately my main stash is under a massive old doug fir whose mighty branches are creaking and cracking under the strain and my wife isn't allowing me to go near it. The tree seems to be holding up fairly well in my opinion given the mess out there but ill have to remember that for next time... keep a ready stash away from that monster.

 

[Highbeam]

Its not cold here(32) but outside is a snowy icy waterlogged mess and the power is out.

Inside its nice and toasty with firebox full of gentle coals. Ahhhhhhhh its nice to be warm and dry.

Unfortunately my main stash is under a massive old doug fir whose mighty branches are creaking and cracking under the strain and my wife isn't allowing me to go near it. The tree seems to be holding up fairly well in my opinion given the mess out there but ill have to remember that for next time... keep a ready stash away from that monster.

It’s melting fast!

 

[Osage]

Here is where we are at this morning. Cold is hanging on,think I'll drill some holes in the ice later this week.