It's a done deal!

[pr0vidence]

Well we were just at the stove store and ordered our very first stove! The Avalon Rainier is going to find itself a home in ours and we are very excited. The people at the store were telling us that stoves have become very popular lately (no real surprise, I guess) and that the earliest they can come install it is SEPTEMBER! That makes me a bit nervous about the availability and cost of wood in the near future.....we'll see I guess.

Anyway, it's a done deal. I'm glad it'll take a bit to get installed, that gives me plenty of time to finish preparing the fireplace. I already have ~3 cords of wood stacked up outside and ready to go, this will make to be an interesting winter. I have a lot to learn.

 

[karl]

Congratulations. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

 

[N/A N/A]

Congrads and welcome to our silly, enjoyment filled, hard work, many hours of watching your fire wood season club! You will be warm this winter... ;-P

 

[stanleyjohn]

Hi Neighbor! Congrads on the new stove.Should give you many years of warm toasty winters.I have two cords here from my land and buying a few extra cords.Looking around the middle and eastern part of the state the Average price a cord of seasoned wood is around $200.I should be getting a call back from a guy who delivers seasoned oak for $195 a cord.Enjoy! Hope to see a few pics of the install.

 

[Catskill]

Welcome! Your life will never be the same again....

 

[pr0vidence]

thanks for the well wishes. One thing I've been thinking about is, what does everyone do about their furnace now? How often do people feel they still need to ave their furnaces cleaned and inspected? How often do you find yourself firing it just to make sure everything still works? I'm planning on firing the furnace maybe once a month to keep the juices flowing, but is that too often? Last thing I wanna do now is WASTE oil. We will probably have it serviced and cleaned this fall since we used it last year, but after that, if it's generally not being used, you probably don't need to service it every year, right?

Or maybe you do.....

what does everyone else do?

 

[begreen]

Congratulations, that is a really nice stove. Easy to use and a good heater.

You have the right idea about the furnace. Using it once a month is a good idea. Perhaps also use it on nights when it is exceptionally cold to keep the basement pipes warm. And yes you can skip the once a year service. Maybe even go as long as once every 3-4 years.

 

[pr0vidence]

Thanks for the advice, BeGreen, I think I'll follow that basic schedule. I have no basement, house sits on a concrete slab, so the only plumbing I have to worry about is behind one wall in the house that's about 10 feet away from the stove.

All in all, I think things will work out well with the stove.

 

[Jfk4th]

Congratulations, that is a really nice stove. Easy to use and a good heater.

You have the right idea about the furnace. Using it once a month is a good idea. Perhaps also use it on nights when it is exceptionally cold to keep the basement pipes warm. And yes you can skip the once a year service. Maybe even go as long as once every 3-4 years.

As usual BeGreen's advice is what I call "Bible". I have 2 big stoves but on really cold days and nights here near Buffalo, NY I make sure the furnace is on a little bit. If not no hot water, it seems the hot one always freezes so another project is to insulate and look for openings in my crawl space that wind/cold get through.


Again congrats on the Avalon Rainer. I am a big fan of Avalon. They are hot stoves, you won't have any problem with keeping the glass clean or heat as long as good seasoned wood is used. I had the Avalon Pendleton which would have been big enough, but the firebox was too small at 1.3. I looked at the Rainer but instead I went with the Olympic since I have been envious of my father in laws for years so I went big (probably too big :lol: ). I think the Rainer would have been perfect for me but I wanted the big firebox. So now when it is really cold I load her up and open some windows, still 80-85 in my Florida room...

I would say if you have the cash the blower makes a nice difference, if you don't many people use small fans just behind the stove. Plus I am going to install another ceiling fan (I hope) to circulate more heat to other rooms. You are going to have years of happiness with this stove, it is very well built, you get what you pay for in my book.....

Welcome to the Avalon club!

In Sept, post some pics, us Hearth junkies will still be around

Click on my signature link and see my beauty Avalon Olympic burn, cheesy music in the background but that was one of my first burns this year with that beast

 

[kd460]

Not trying to be a smart aleck or anything, but get the "installed in september" thing in writing! I have read many a posts on this forum over the years about so called "september" getting pushed to "october" to "november" etc. Many a frustrated poster in the past. I hope your dealer is really sincere, but you know...

On another note, gotta get crackin on the wood supply. Your already late if you don't have this winters supply. Get double the amount you think you will need. Good luck and happy burning. KD

 

[pr0vidence]

Hey there, Well, I have 3ish cords stacked dried and ready right now, 90% oak seasoned for 1.5 - 2 years. I am hoping that will get me through at least the better part of the season, I may try to get more, but I'm not yet sure I have a place to store it properly. I will probably work on a proper wood shed next year, but this year I just have a stack up against a fence along one side of the yard. It'll have to do for now.

 

[kd460]

Get the word out with freinds and relatives that you are looking for wood, start checking craigs list and freecycle. Look around for the road crews trimming trees, maybe call some of the tree removal companies, county compost sites, etc. Even companies that have pallets, they make great kindling.

The wood you have all ready sounds good, but your gonna find you will use more. It is always good to have "extra". Wood is like money in the bank! The more you have, the nicer the bank looks! Keep the chainsaw gassed up and chain sharp so you can go cut at a moments notice. This time of year is when "competition for wood" is starting to pick up so you gotta be johnny on the spot.

Spring time is the best time to collect wood, but I enjoy late winter the most. Gets me out of the house when "cabin fever" from a long winter is starting to set in. Splitting wood in march is alot easier to tolerate than in august. If your wood is cut and split by june, it has all summer to bask in the sun.

The avalon was on my list of inserts to buy, it is a good unit. I'm sure you will enjoy it. If it gets installed while it's still warm out, make sure you give it a couple of "burns" before the heating season to cure the paint and burn off the "new stove odors". A warm day outside allows you to keep the windows open to vent out the odors. Nothing worse than a house full of burnt paint odors. Good luck. KD

 

[Henz]

I ahd the Rainier installed two years ago, but replaced it with the Olympic! Loved the Rainier, was a perfect stove for my size house but just didnt have the burntime that I was looking for.

 

[pr0vidence]

yes, that is once concern that I've had on my mind, I really hope I won't be waking up at 3am for feedings with this stove, that would not be good. We considered bumping up a size to the Olympic, but, sadly the space we have to install the stove can't accommodate that beast. So, Rainier it is. Our next home will likely be a bit larger than this one and if the Rainier is good to us, we'll probably bump it up to the Olympic then. We shall see.

 

[Henz]

well, here was my situiation. My house (old) is open concept and was not very well insulated at all. Terriable as a matter of fact. The first year we put in the woodstove (Rainier) I was basically planning on using it for my primary heat source. My house is only 1350sqft. Unfortunatly, in my opinion, for my house, the rainier just didnt quite cut it for a primary heat source stove. If I were to load it and get it ripping and then shut it down for a long burn at 9pm, I would be up at 4am or so re-loading to keep the temps up to where I wanted them, which was around 66-68degrees downstairs. On really cold and windy days it would be earlier. I dont want to scare you at all, I loved the stove but its really dependant on how well insulated your house is. If my hosue were up to todays specs on insulation, the Rainier would have been perfect. I burned the Rainier for 2 months and called the dealer up, told them I wasent satisfied, they gave me 100% credit towards the purchase of the Olympic. I havent been happier! The Olympic will give me an all night burn and then some. But, I ahve been insulating my hosue too!

 

[begreen]

Good that you are working on the house. No point in heating outdoors. In addition to insulation, plan on a lot of caulking and weatherstripping. It's relatively inexpensive and pays back almost immediately.

 

[Henz]

you are totally right there. I have stock in 100% silicone caulk and caulked around my sill plate (from the inside) everyplace I felt a draft. I would say that helped more than adding more fiberglass insulation to tell you the truth. We also had our interior stone foundation insulated with sprayfoam insulation to stop the air infiltration (crawl space). that helped with the hardwood floors!

 

[pr0vidence]

Hmm, That makes me a little nervous, although I am typically up until 11 or 12 at night, my home is about 1350 sqft. and is not insulated as well as it should be. I have been slowly working on improving it, however. Well, I'm committed now and we'll just have to see what happens. My home is only one floor and is a very open floor plan, the living room and kitchen are the main living areas and are essentially one large room with the fireplace smack dab in the center. Hopefully, it'll work out.

 

[Henz]

huh, very interesting. My hosue is 2 stories. 1/2 of it is crawl space and the other is stone floor basement. I ahve no doubt that it will heat your house, especially if you are getting the blower, but I would guess that you will get a decent 6 hour burn out of it whereby you will still be comfortable etc.