The "I Did The Week On Wood Club"

[Rory]

Probably nothing unusual for lots of folks here, but I just got my system up and running exactly a week ago. It's been an excellent week to see if I can actually leave the oil off completely, and I did. However, I think my wood isn't optimum, and I got up and stoked in the middle of the night most nights. I loaded at 11 last night and let it go out during the night. The house wasn't bad this morning, but it's been slow bringing the temperature up.

A little oil would undoubtedly make a difference in recovery time, but we're managing to avoid it so far.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Congratulations. What kind of boiler do you have?

You'll no doubt figure out how to get more out of your wood as you learn how to operate the boiler more efficiently.

 

[Rory]

A Tarm Solo 30, with a 4x4x8 home tank (670 gallons).

 

[NHFarmer]

Congratulations Rory, I have a Tarm Solo 40, I loaded at 9:30 and got up at midnight and added wood. Nice bed of coals to relight at 6:00. Eric is right, it takes a Little time but you will figure out what works best. When it is really cold out I usually get up and check the house anyway so no big deal to throw in a couple of sticks.My oil ran out back in Sept. Never did buy anymore, in fact I haven't tied the oil boiler into the system.Eventually I will but I ran out of money. Then again I may never even bother.

 

[WoodNotOil]

I would rather wear my jacket indoors than burn oil! ;-)

 

[timberr]

Rory,

It takes some time to get used to the system, I have been running mine for about 1 week, Thursday night -24, I got up at 2 AM and added wood, When I got up added more, my wife added wood once during the day and finally storage hit 170*. Last night I put 3 pieces of wood in at 9 PM, at 8 AM I loaded the boiler and haven't added any all day. I am thinking I will have to fire it up again around 9 PM tonight. My house isn't tight but is seems you need to get your storage temp to atleast 170 (lower portion of tank) before things get better.

Until this AM I was wondering what the advantage of storage was, as it looks right know, I will use less wood this week then I would have with my wood stove and oil furnace with 20* for a low temp.

Good luck