That's a Wrap!

[Caw]

Looking at the forecast I think we had our last fire of the season last night. We're going up to the 70/80s here in the next few days...Gordon isn't happy but the kids are ready for shorts. I have the sweep coming out next week for the end of season cleaning. It was a weird winter. Overall we used about 3 cords of hardwood which is very light...we're usually around 4 cords a season. Didn't even get to ice skate on the pond this year.

Anyone else wrapping it up?

 

[Stinkpickle]

It’s 73 in the house tonight with nothing running. I think it’s over unless a weird spring blizzard hits before June...which could happen.

 

[Wildflush]

Yup I’m done. Sweep coming early May. Used just over a cord.

 

[whatyousmokin]

Our 10 day forecast has one day next week that is supposed to be cloudy, damp, low in the 30s high in lower 40s. That will probably be the last burn for us. Already have the sweep scheduled for first of May. Went through 1 and a half cords; we are in our second year of burning (first year was 2 cords). Not sure what will be typical; there has been nothing "normal" about the weather here. We were pretty mild overall.

 

[peakbagger]

I wil second your report if a weird winter. It really didnt start snowing until late February but March made up for it. Temps this week are in the high 20s at night and 70 during the day. My solar is banging out the KW but burning some extra KW running the minisplit.

 

[EbS-P]

We could light a fire this morning it’s 42 out and tomorrow morning down to 39. But it will get to almost 65 today and 70 tomorrow. So I think we are finished last fire was about 3 weeks ago. I was pulling off 3 different stacks and sorting out the wet wood so I’m just going to say I burned a little short of 1 cord. But one stack was mostly 12” long so it’s just a guess.

Our winter didn’t seem too unusual. The cooler spells were shorter than I remember followed by warmups. I feel like I did more cold starts this year.

 

[Caw]

I wil second your report if a weird winter. It really didnt start snowing until late February but March made up for it. Temps this week are in the high 20s at night and 70 during the day. My solar is banging out the KW but burning some extra KW running the minisplit.

Yeah the bright sunny days this time of year are $$$. I'm getting around 60 kWh a day in full sun days this time of year. I love checking the solar app. I don't feel too badly running the heat pump when it's solar season.

 

[Ashful]

31F here this morning, just north of Philly. Surprised you're throwing in the towel so early, way up in MA, but I guess solar makes it a free exchange. Do you get a kickback if your generation exceeds usage?

If overnight low drops into the 40's, I'm lighting up before bed. That usually means shutting down in the 2nd or 3rd week of May, but occasionally as late as 1st week of June. You must be a good bit colder than us up there, unless you're right on the water.

 

[EbS-P]

31F here this morning, just north of Philly. Surprised you're throwing in the towel so early, way up in MA! If overnight low drops into the 40's, I'm lighting up before bed. That usually means shutting down in the 2nd or 3rd week of May, but occasionally as late as 1st week of June.

Solar for win!!

 

[NickW]

Looks like a week or so off of burning here, then overnight fire's again for awhile with lows in the 30's overnight. Heading back to the Northwoods tomorrow and looks like it might be the same story there.

 

[Woody Stover]

We're going up to the 70/80s here in the next few days....the kids are ready for shorts.

we used about 3 cords of hardwood which is very light...we're usually around 4 cords a season.

Our 10 day forecast has one day next week that is supposed to be cloudy, damp, low in the 30s high in lower 40s.

Went through 1 and a half cords; we are in our second year of burning (first year was 2 cords).

I already had to break out the shorts but it was because I put in too big a load on a chill-buster fire. 😆
70/50 weather, I don't need a fire--60/40, I do, and there are a couple of those in the 10-day forecast for early next week.
I don't really know how much wood I used, since I pull from a few different stacks, but your "I burned 3/4 as much this year" also happened at SIL1's, where all the wood comes from the shed...she had one row left out of four, where she normally burns the entire shed contents in a normal winter.

 

[Garbanzo62]

Wrapped up a few weeks ago because I ran out of Burnable wood. Have to check with the Dealer on if they just service the unit or service and sweep. Those activities will be on the docket soon.

 

[Ashful]

Solar for win!!

Yeah, but don't you get credit back on your bill (net metering) if you heat with wood, rather than directing all those electrons toward your heat pump? A dollar saved is a dollar earned, so how is the addition of solar somehow seen as a good reason to shut down a stove in cold weather?

By that logic, your tax refund is an extra paycheck, rather than the government sitting on your money over the prior 12 months.

 

[johneh]

Just wishful thinking here. Yes, this week will be warm but the long-range
says back to low 30es and below next week. Still, 3 to 4 weeks of intermittent fires
but overall used a cord less than normal year. Looks like a long hot summer

 

[brenndatomu]

I'm not putting anything away yet....I'll be completely shocked if there isn't some cool, maybe even cold, weather coming still....I recall an early spring in 2012, everyone was mowing by the end of March....farmers were planting crops....then it got cold n rainy for a few weeks...many farmers had to replant that year....IIRC, it was June until they were able to get back into the fields that year

 

[BigJ273]

I think last night was probably our last fire. It was 29 when we woke up. Forecasted to warm up after tonight

 

[ericm979]

It's really nice today but the short term forecast has some cold mornings that might need a fire. We're at 2.3 cords for the winter which is about typical.

 

[peakbagger]

totl Yeah the bright sunny days this time of year are $$$. I'm getting around 60 kWh a day in full sun days this time of year. I love checking the solar app. I don't feel too badly running the heat pump when it's solar season.

I dont have a way of reading my total output. I am seeing 25KW total from two 2KW arrays, my guess is another 4 KW from my original array and another 13 KW from another source so around 40 KWhrs. I should definitely be building up my surplus for next winter this month and was carrying around 1100KW at the end of the last billing cycle. Charging my plug in Rav 4 is about 16KWhr if I run the battery down (about 40 to 45 miles). Pretty good for a system built with mostly close out panels from companies that got out of the business and all of them were installed by me solo. I bought one of my sets of panels from a Hearth.com member who seems to be able to sniff out the deals several years ago.

As the temps rise, I will lose a bit of output but gain some from higher sun angles but with the sun rising north of east and setting north of west, the longer days really dont add anything as my arrays face south.

 

[Caw]

31F here this morning, just north of Philly. Surprised you're throwing in the towel so early, way up in MA, but I guess solar makes it a free exchange. Do you get a kickback if your generation exceeds usage?

If overnight low drops into the 40's, I'm lighting up before bed. That usually means shutting down in the 2nd or 3rd week of May, but occasionally as late as 1st week of June. You must be a good bit colder than us up there, unless you're right on the water.

Yes I get net meter-ing at the market rate minus fees. Right now power is about $0.28/kWh and I'm getting $0.24/kWh for my excess production so it makes the cost of using the head pump negligible.

I could definitely burn a bit longer just at night but usually by this time of year I've had enough of it and just want to go to bed. It's going to be 80 here in a few days so I'm good. I also guestimated just the right amount of wood to bring in I think I only have about a dozen splits left inside so it's an easy end of year clean up. Now I just need to rebuild a couple racks that settled weird and I'm done with wood until October.

 

[Caw]

I dont have a way of reading my total output. I am seeing 25KW total from two 2KW arrays, my guess is another 4 KW from my original array and another 13 KW from another source so around 40 KWhrs. I should definitely be building up my surplus for next winter this month and was carrying around 1100KW at the end of the last billing cycle. Charging my plug in Rav 4 is about 16KWhr if I run the battery down (about 40 to 45 miles). Pretty good for a system built with mostly close out panels from companies that got out of the business and all of them were installed by me solo. I bought one of my sets of panels from a Hearth.com member who seems to be able to sniff out the deals several years ago.

As the temps rise, I will lose a bit of output but gain some from higher sun angles but with the sun rising north of east and setting north of west, the longer days really dont add anything as my arrays face south.

The app I have is pretty nifty. Lots of information and it updates every 15 minutes:

 

[Caw]

Yeah, but don't you get credit back on your bill (net metering) if you heat with wood, rather than directing all those electrons toward your heat pump? A dollar saved is a dollar earned, so how is the addition of solar somehow seen as a good reason to shut down a stove in cold weather?

By that logic, your tax refund is an extra paycheck, rather than the government sitting on your money over the prior 12 months.

Honestly I'm just tired by this time of year and my time is worth the few extra bucks to run the heat pump. I'm technically saving all the fees associated per kWh which is like $0.04/kWh as they don't reimburse for that. Sure thats peanuts but it's a a coffee or two.

Solar as justification to use the heat pump isn't really a $ thing it's just a not buying electricity produced by fossil fuels thing. I'm using my own.

 

[peakbagger]

I work on the KISS principle for solar. I have one production meter that I have to jot down and report every month to my SREC broker but it does not cover one of the arrays due to legalities. That and walking by the inverters and seeing if the right color LEDs are on the inverters.

SRECs are bit of joke in NH, if I do not sell them, the utility takes credit for them anyhow but it covers my monthly connection fee.

 

[stoveliker]

My last fire was April 2, that was the crisping fire to brush the creosote out of the firebox.

I'm using the mini split too for an hour or so early morning. The sun is doing the rest thru the windows. I have a 7.2 kWh system on the roof and my max ever was 37 kWh per day (two halves, ridge running N/S, and in a valley with ridges running E and W from me).

I made 100 kWh last week more than I used, including mini split usage.

My net metering banks the kWhs for 15 or 18 years. I am quite ahead there. It's waiting for my future EV...

 

[Caw]

My last fire was April 2, that was the crisping fire to brush the creosote out of the firebox.

I'm using the mini split too for an hour or so early morning. The sun is doing the rest thru the windows. I have a 7.2 kWh system on the roof and my max ever was 37 kWh per day (two halves, ridge running N/S, and in a valley with ridges running E and W from me).

I made 100 kWh last week more than I used, including mini split usage.

My net metering banks the kWhs for 15 or 18 years. I am quite ahead there. It's waiting for my future EV...

With my house being 100% electric and 4 people taking hot showers/laundry etc I still use more than I produce even with the 11.8 kw system but it covers the majority. So while I'm not saving for future EV usage I only have a bill a few months of the year. My current car is a 2017 little Subaru with 85k miles on it that I intend to drive into the ground then go EV. I drive 90 miles round trip to work now so the miles will rack up fast.

 

[stoveliker]

Yeah, my hot water is oil based, but everything else is electric.

My car is, smaller (as in having 40 mpg...), 2012 with 87k miles. My commute is walking 6 ft from my bedroom. And I miss seeing people other than my family in person rather than on screen .