Struggling to keep up...

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brooktrout

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Dec 23, 2007
376
Hamden, NY
Well, right now we have 3 degrees with wind gusts to 40mph. Forcast says windchill advisory 'till tomorrow: -20. Here's a less than desirable scenario- remodeling in house leaves stairs and hall exposed to the basement (unheated), firewood delivered last week wet, classic insert not a happy camper! Broke down and sipped on a little fuel oil for an hour or so :shut: Won't be going through this again next year for sure- I WILL BE PREPARED!
 
I flipped the on button for the furnace at 10pm last night. I don't see any shame in it. The wife would be cranky if she got up cold.


Matt
 
Same conditions here too brooktrout, and I bumped up the thermostat on the furnace to help the fire keep up. I like free heat, but I like being warm more... I'm also struggling with wet/frozen wood. Been thawing wood in the garage for the last week or so, and splitting it into smaller pieces to burn better. Good luck, and stay warm.
 
You have today what we had yesterday. Today is cold but not much wind and sunny. Much better even if still single digit temps. Our Fireview kept up nicely through the worst of it.
 
We went to bed at 12PM with the bedrooms at 72. Overnight it was ZERO (YUK), when we got up the upstairs was 63 and the downstairs 59. I had a bunch of coals and got the stove up at 6AM, but the furnace did run for about 15 minutes before the heat from the stove took over.
It definately was worth not getting up at 4 to keep the heat up from the stove....
 
Wicked cold here last night and today. Even thought the propane furnace kicks on occasionally I'm still saving coin cause with wood I can heat up to 67 when it this cold.
 
you got that right,Tradergordo. Last week stove was finicky. This week it'll eat as fast as you can stoke it. Able to get temps as high as needed.
 
We hit 7 yesterday for a low with 34mph top wind speed, with wind chill -12 (NOT ALL IN SAME ORDER)
Loaded the stove up at about 10:30/11:00pm , was about 76 inside here, woke up about 8:45 was 68 and a crap load of coals left and 400.
stirred em up, filled her up, went on road at 10:30 AM. Returned home just after 4, glowing splits still intact, 70 degrees.
Right now, 3 large splits in the Summit, 72 and idling along at 750. Old man winter can KMA. UGGA BUGGA!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Yup, windchills to -25 at sunrise, colder than I expected! :bug: A touch of the furnace here or there in the harshest weather just takes the edge off. Stove still does 95% of the work or better even when this cold, and it does all the work at least 95% of the time. Some people use wood for back up heat. We use oil as an occasional back up. If it was just me I'd probably do the stove almost exclusively. My wife just isn't quite as into running the stove as me. So the furnace makes it all good. I've accepted that's just fine long as we're all warm and happy.
 
No furnace, no inside chill.
Downeast temps ( NOT "wind chill" hysteria) now up to 8 F. Just right for doing next winter's firewood out in the woodlot. Fell, buck, hump into the trailer, hump out of the trailer. Temps just right for some 02 aerobics and +98.6 F warmth.
Routine for us: 0530 empty the ashes WITH the wind, fill both stoves for the early morning, cart and arm-loads for the two wood racks. Both stoves get the open ash pan roar treatment until the stove top temps are up to pyrolysis time-- ~ 600 F.
Early morn below zero, with Force 6-7 gusts.
Just lovely. Hey it's winter in the northern hemisphere---whazzup with all the whine ?
 
You know why we all are whining?? Cause actually we all love it. Its us, the stove and the wood against the elements. Primal, but real. PS,, the wind chill hysteria is real too. 10F with 20 mph wind takes as much heat to keep warm as no wind and -25 from my experience. Nice to take our stove set ups and pit them against some of the tougher stuff nature throws our way.
 
Was 1 when I went to bed last nite at 930, woke up at 5 am to -13. The house was 66* and stovetop was 450*. I cant complain about that too much! Back rooms were low 60's. Certainly do-able!
 
Saturday was the bummer for me. I can't do much with a 40mph west wind and low single digits. I didn't lose a degree all day....but could only muster 69. But, to think about how much $$$ in propane it would take under those circumstances...nawe, don't want to think about it. With the wind gone, heatin' is a piece o' cake....and it sounds like it's supposed to warm up this week.
 
jpl1nh said:
You know why we all are whining?? Cause actually we all love it. Its us, the stove and the wood against the elements. Primal, but real. PS,, the wind chill hysteria is real too. 10F with 20 mph wind takes as much heat to keep warm as no wind and -25 from my experience. Nice to take our stove set ups and pit them against some of the tougher stuff nature throws our way.
Click to expand...

Yes, wind chill is real-----out of doors. It's real on ice climbs on Frankenstein, The Gunks, N. Conway, or winter walks on Mt Washington. It's real while wooding yesterday in Force 6-7 and air @ +8 F. That's real time Wind Chill; not the Storm Center hysteria for most here in this wide wide ether world on internet, who sit indoors or amble from car to Wally's world. "WARNING!!!! WIND CHILL WILL KILL !!!!"
Hey, it's a part of our relatively mild northern hemisphere stuff; not Amundsen sledding to the South Pole, or the Arctic.
"Against the elements" %-P , give us a break here. You want "elements", try doing ice, or do a winter hike, race XC, or get out to harvest next winter's firewood, or come work with northern loggers who ONLY cut in winter.
You gonna "pit" a stove at nature ? :P Too heavy for my kind. Since when is heatingwithwood macho ?
Got long underwear ?
JMNSHO
 
I think we have been spoiled over the last 5 winters. This one is how I remember winter as a kid growing up. I did have to start up a fire in the woodstove yesterday for the first time this year. I am running out of "big" wood for the outside boiler, Im down to old barn boards and rotten hemlock, not how I envisioned this winter. I do have 2.5 cords of nice split firewood, but I dont want to burn that in the boiler. About 1.5 months left in the heating season and we are expecting another snowstorm tommorrow 8-12" is the forcast, oh well. This WILL NOT happen again with the firewood, we all have been spoiled like I said.
 
downeast said:
Since when is heatingwithwood macho ?
Click to expand...

Three words for you: Chainsaw, Axe, Fire

Hahah, you guys in Maine crack me up. I guess we're all "winter wimps" compared to you. I assume you live there because you love it. I have relatives in Maine, love to visit, not sure I'd want to live there though. There was a great story on the radio this morning about landlords in Maine going bankrupt over this winter's heating bills. It was a pretty funny story - talk about bad planning - kind of have to make your tenants pay for their own heat in Maine. The one guy had a multi-unit building, oil heat, he had to sell his personal house to pay the expenses, moved into the basement of the building, then told his renters he had to raise the rent to pay for the oil, the renters didn't like this and just moved out. Then the pipes froze and burst, and somehow destroyed the building's electric in the process. Did too many people get caught up in the global warming hype? Just expecting we'd never get another cold winter? Eh, probably just a lot of knuckleheads out there that got caught up in the housing investment boom, not really knowing what they are doing...
 
I heard that story myself and the first thing that occurred to me was, why would anyone in the northern areas provide heat with a unit when the cost is so uncontrollable? But, everyone in the northern country is talking about or struggling with fossil fuel cost. I use oil for hot water and it p's me off to have to pay just for that.
Imagine if we didn't have wood, what the heck! It is only going to get worse too...did you also hear that one about Chavez cutting the US off from Oil if Exxon continues it's suit against Venezuala? The middlemen were all over it as an excuse to drive up the price on the market; any little excuse to charge more for fuel.
Well, looking at 2 years worth of wood stacked and ready feels pretty good. Its already there and drying so its cost isn't going up.
I'm working at keeping the house up to temp at zero to 10 degrees; imagine those far north folks fighting the sub zero ranges!
Luck and happiness to all....
 
1 degree in Western MA at dawn yesterday and today, windchill factor is unknown, but its probably typicla wiht what the rest of you have been getting...-20 or so.. Stove was running full tilt and it was still cool enough in the house for the bedroom zones to kick on. My goal for the season is to not run the front room zone at all since its fully half the internal volume of the house (not counting the basement). I've managed to get through the last 2 nights without using the front room heat so I'm delighted. Still using oil every day, but compared to a typical winter I'm well under half my consumption. I've gotten two fillups since July...last year at this time I was at 4-5 fillups. This is my first year burnign at the new house so I'm actually quite happy with the results and at these prices, the stove plus install will be half paid for in oil savings by the end of the season.

Next year I'll use even less.
 
I struggle to keep up too when the weather is this cold. I have not remodeled the family room yet, carpet on slab and the walls need some redoing.
 
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