What Is In Your Stove Right Now?

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Had the first fire of the season yesterday, couple piles of kindling over the course of two hours then a slow climb into cat operating territory. Wanted to give the chimney plenty of time to dry out from any summer time moisture it may have soaked up. Stove ran perfectly...which is good considering the heat pump puked a few weeks ago.
We're 200 miles to the north of you and have been burning for 2 months! We also abondoned the heat pump after a $400 electric bill in September.
 
It's 25.8 out tonight, the basement temp is 75 getting warmer, the sleeper is 68 and the rooms up here are 70 to 71.

The overnight load is all ash, usually with these temps I would go with half a load of pine with the ash but the wife likes burning pine when I'm outside and the pine rack inside is getting low.

We'll start getting more hardwood in tomorrow and maybe pine the next day since we could get some good rain and wind (maybe heavy snow) from this next storm.
 
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Firebox filled with beech. Air control all the way closed. "Real feel" 2 degrees tonight, 76 inside very comfy

What Is In Your Stove Right Now?
 
Cold dead ash ahead of combustion afterburner, it’s probably still got some heat to it.
Sweeping the system tomorrow ahead of forecast low of-28 with a high of -12 on Thursday. Few days of extreme cold but limited wind so far in the forecast. Will reload with Pine.
Low of -28 high of -12..._g
Two of the guys at work start with long Johns at 50F or lower. It’s 20F here this morning and I’ve got half of mine on. We’ve got a bunch of construction going on at work with most of the guys being from south Texas, Georgia, or Florida. They’ve been wearing long Johns, insulated carharts, and full head gear since it dropped below 60...supposed to be 9F later this week.
 
Low of -28 high of -12..._g
Two of the guys at work start with long Johns at 50F or lower. It’s 20F here this morning and I’ve got half of mine on. We’ve got a bunch of construction going on at work with most of the guys being from south Texas, Georgia, or Florida. They’ve been wearing long Johns, insulated carharts, and full head gear since it dropped below 60...supposed to be 9F later this week.
It’s about time for a vacation day for the crew then haha. Our schools remain open so do our business people. When it warms up to 0 degrees after it’s been that cold it feels like spring!
 
Two large pieces of pine atop a decent coal bed and two bums mooching off my hard work.
What Is In Your Stove Right Now?
 
We had 19.5 this morning with the basement temp at 73 and up here between 68-69 before our morning fire.

I loaded up with ash this morning and did some cooking so up here is between 71 and 73 with the sleeper at 69.

We're cooking a few meals before this next storm moves in, sausage with peppers and some stuffed shells with some sauce, if the power goes out all we'll need to do is warm things up.
 
Heading down to 24 tonight filled it up for the overnight burn with load of ash. Cat temp sitting at 965.
Tomorrow night is when the cold is expected to start moving in.
Buckle up the Arctic blast is coming.
 
Burning some hickory that was CSS April 2021, two summers and 18 months in the wood shed. The April cut attracted more hickory beetles than I have ever seen. Made a lot of very fine saw dust, some tunnels and beetle larvae shells embedded in the wood - but this stuff is an excellent burn.

View attachment 305604
A week ago I realized we have a pilliated woodpecker wintering in our woodlot. This would be the first time. Now I know more of what they are after. I know where they've been by the giant wood scraps thrown on the ground, going after those grubs.
 
A week ago I realized we have a pilliated woodpecker wintering in our woodlot. This would be the first time. Now I know more of what they are after. I know where they've been by the giant wood scraps thrown on the ground, going after those grubs.
They're around year round here in WI and seem to be becoming more common. Awesome birds, love to watch one have at a tree. They will come in to suet if there is enough cover around. They don't leave wood chips, they leave wood chunks!
 
It's 25 out tonight with five splits of ash going in the wood stove. The basement is 77 getting warmer and the temps up here are between 70 and 72.
 
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31F now, getting down to 26F overnight. Living room nice and cozy 66-67F whole day. Reloaded with oak, locust, and bio bricks.

Firebox is getting thick with ash again, I can barely get 4-6 splits in whereas I can get 8-9 splits in normally. I will have a brief window of ~60F outside temp on Fri, hope I can last till then….
 
I'm going through cord wood too fast, and biobricks not fast enough. Since start of season, I've gone through about 1/3 of locust and another 1/3 cord of oak.

I started the winter with a full pallet of biobricks (50ct) and I'm barely 1/4 way through. Assuming end of burn season is early May... I need to average out ~2 packages per week.
 
We had 19.5 this morning with the basement temp at 73 and up here between 68-69 before our morning fire.

I loaded up with ash this morning and did some cooking so up here is between 71 and 73 with the sleeper at 69.

We're cooking a few meals before this next storm moves in, sausage with peppers and some stuffed shells with some sauce, if the power goes out all we'll need to do is warm things up.
Yummm!
 
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20F this morning, loaded oak slabwood followed by walnut blocking. Filling up the wood rack and buckets tonight, gonna be quite the cold snap coming to NWPA over Christmas!
 
What Is In Your Stove Right Now?

87 pounds (I weigh every load) of hedge wood in the Switzer. This will be a 2.5 hour automated burn, heating my water storage to 200-210 degrees. Boiler will then kick off, and the heat in the water should last until tomorrow morning, heating 3,900 sq ft house (including garage) and also domestic hot water. 16 degrees outside now, 73 in house, 65 in garage.
 
I'll start cooking tomorrow afternoon, the wife has been baking and tomorrow she'll make some chocolate chip cookies.

We had planned on a different menu for Christmas and the week before but we're thinking with these high winds coming in, my time might be spent clearing downed trees....hope not.
 
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