When are you going to light your first fire for the season?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
I would be burning today if I could, supposed to be 9F tonight. But I'm still running on propane until my chimney liner shows up. :mad:
 
had up couple fires to chase chill and damp out, was 41 this morning outside , got up to apx 65+ today but It is likely less than that inside at home as it was about 62F inside when I left this morning. Biggest problem is more rain (a lot) none of my fuel is covered . too much wind just rips anything off .
 
I lit a small fire in the wood stove last friday. Plan to light up the outdoor furnace this Friday as it is supposed to be in the 30's for lows all next week.

about 10 cords of wood stacked and ready to go in the shed and by the furnace. After the early fall last year I have been ready for almost a month now to start burning.
 
Hopefully not until December. Going to see how well these minisplits perform. Haven't been able t find any real world data, going to collect my own.
 
had up couple fires to chase chill and damp out, was 41 this morning outside , got up to apx 65+ today but It is likely less than that inside at home as it was about 62F inside when I left this morning. Biggest problem is more rain (a lot) none of my fuel is covered . too much wind just rips anything off .
I use Menards canvas tarps on my racked wood then I make cement filled cans with a hook in them to weigh down the tarps. It works pretty good. Yes we’ve gotten a lot of rain here, we set the annual precipitation record on the 1st. It broke 2016’s record and the runner up year last year. It stinks....:(
 
had up couple fires to chase chill and damp out, was 41 this morning outside , got up to apx 65+ today but It is likely less than that inside at home as it was about 62F inside when I left this morning. Biggest problem is more rain (a lot) none of my fuel is covered . too much wind just rips anything off .

Another option including above post would be using old hay bailer or combine belts. I too live in a windy area....tin just doesnt work here without stacking a ton of wood on top of them....which defeats purpose of convenience for me. The belts are thick and heavy enough I dont have to weigh them down with wood. If you have a farm repair shop in local town ask if they have any. You may need two belt widths per stack depending on wood size....just overlap for water runoff. You can usually get them cheap if not free.
 
Been burning half loads every night. Two or three big splits in the morning. For about two weeks now.
 
I haven't yet but I'm hoping to make it a few more weeks but this weekend is calling for cooler temps with rain. So I would not be surprised if I lit the basement stove.
 
The last few years Winter and burning season has come later and stayed later for me here in PA., I used to start burning in October and usually ended mid March but now it stays warmer so it isn't until early November that I start and go into April now!
 
  • Like
Reactions: heavy hammer
As soon as I need heat, I start one and keep the boiler running for the entire season. This year it was last week, when the night temperatures dropped below 40F.

It's a little earlier than I was planning this year, but it also about halves my electrical bill not running the water heaters, so I'm ok with starting a bit early.
 
I haven't yet, but I am hoping not until November this year. Much of it will depend on the daytime temps & the nighttime lows. Currently, daytime is 70's and nighttime is 50's. No need yet. But more importantly the determination will be made by our CHO (Chief Heating Officer), and when the wifey starts to feel cold, we will start burning...
[emoji6][emoji3][emoji3][emoji6]

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk
 
Soon. Supposed to be some 30's at night this week and the basement is getting dank...
 
Still pretty warm here in Northern Virginia so I've not even thought about firing the pellet stove yet.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
I lit mine today at around 5 pm to test my blower and ducting installation. As of yet it hasn't reached the target temperature to shut off the blower (71 degF) but i have only loaded two small loads of softwoods having had one too many 2 am awakenings with sweat pouring and it being 98 degrees in the house from overdoing it on a not so chilly night. I think we are going to take out the window air conditioners tomorrow.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
 
I burn when I am cold or my wife is cold.

We've been cold for awhile now . . . but usually a fire in the morning or evening will suffice.
 
Last Sunday I cleaned my chimney and stove. On Monday a sheet of ceramic fiberboard arrived. On Wednesday I cut the fiberboard to size and replaced the broken ones in the stove. As soon as I had it put together my wonderful wife asked if we could have a fire. I lit a fire Wednesday afternoon and it snowed (ever so little bit) Wednesday night. We kept the fire going till Saturday morning.
 
  • Like
Reactions: heavy hammer
I just got one installed on Friday and wanted to have a fire but wife wouldn't let me until all the stone is done. It's our Thanksgiving here in Canada so with all the Turkey dinners this weekend this is where I'm at
 

Attachments

  • 20191011_135648.jpg
    20191011_135648.jpg
    115.4 KB · Views: 212
  • 20191012_123913.jpg
    20191012_123913.jpg
    130.3 KB · Views: 203
  • 15710933711904084001819194418881.jpg
    15710933711904084001819194418881.jpg
    105.5 KB · Views: 200
Normally I hold off as long as possible, but this year I had several mature trees taken down and have now exceeded the cosmetically acceptable wood storage capacity of my property. My goal this season is to burn all the wood that I had on hand, making space for the 5+ cords of mostly oak. I'm hoping for a cold winter, and high propane prices, but either way I need to get rid of lots of wood this season before my wife's patience runs out... Unfortunately due to Lanternfly quarantine, I can't give any of it away.

I'm going to light that insert any morning I wake up to a house below 65F. That's been three days so far, and still haven't run my furnace.

TE
 
[B]Molsonc1[/B] nice stone work. We have just been running the furnace here and there still a little to warm yet I think. Tomorrow high is supposed to be about 70, but Wednesday is calling for 50 and rain so I might be firing it up soon.