Really low temps coming up!

[VCBurner]

So. I'm wondering how the stove will do with the -10 low temp we're supposed to have on Sunday. Saturday's low of 0 has been here before this season, but -10! I guess I'll have to load up with a firebox full of oak and see what happens. I'm sure It'll be nice and toasty in here. It's 77 in here tonight and 18 outside and I'm burning a high pine mix that I got from my wife's grandfather's yard clean up. Another winter storm warning on for this morning. That makes it the fourth in the past 30 days! Funny, some people go out and buy bread and water we bring more wood in the house and the choicest splits for cold nights. I don't care if the power goes out either. We'll just watch the fire!

 

[gibson]

Evening lows in Lincoln RI starting with Friday night. 8*, 3*, -3*, 4, on Tuesday we warm up to 16*. I find my stove burns awesome in this weather and keeps us at about 75. It likes to eat a lot of splits though, but thats ok.

 

[BrowningBAR]

So. I'm wondering how the stove will do with the -10 low temp we're supposed to have on Sunday. Saturday's low of 0 has been here before this season, but -10! I guess I'll have to load up with a firebox full of oak and see what happens. I'm sure It'll be nice and toasty in here. It's 77 in here tonight and 18 outside and I'm burning a high pine mix that I got from my wife's grandfather's yard clean up. Another winter storm warning on for this morning. That makes it the fourth in the past 30 days! Funny, some people go out and buy bread and water we bring more wood in the house and the choicest splits for cold nights. I don't care if the power goes out either. We'll just watch the fire!

With windchill Sunday is suppose to be in the negative range for low temps. We had that about a week an a half ago. Had to run the stoves a little harder, but not a big deal. Didn't even have to have the Vigilant run above 550.

 

[gyrfalcon]

20 to 30 below predicted for nighttime over the weekend here, Saturday's daytime high is supposed to be Zero.

With a tiny stove, I know when I'm beaten. I capitulated and bought 100 gallons of heating oil for the money-burning boiler in the basement.

 

[bogydave]

Sounds like the temperatures that just left here & headed East thru Canada.
We warmed up into the 20s°f today. Happened pretty fast, (was -6°f) house got to 75.
Now I'm burning a smaller fire. Supposed to last at least a week for us.
Must have been a "jet stream" change.
Finally getting some snow with the weather change. A good thing here.
Central & Northern Alaska still in the -30 to -40 range.

 

[snowleopard]

Another winter storm warning on for this morning. That makes it the fourth in the past 30 days!

Some days the weather just makes staying home and watching the fire and snuggling w/wife and newbie seems like a really good idea, yes?

If your stove does well at zero, I think it's going to take -10 in stride--and you'll have bragging rights now, too.

Enjoy!

 

[cmonSTART]

The BK is going to get a workout this weekend. I really need some more insulation in this place!

 

[3fordasho]

-20F here this morning. Both stoves are loaded with my best hardwoods, red and white oak, hard maple and some black walnut filler. 70F in the house when I got up at 5am. Frigid drive to work... but its fun seeing virtually every natural gas furnace in the city running full tilt... except mine.

 

[CTYank]

20 to 30 below predicted for nighttime over the weekend here, Saturday's daytime high is supposed to be Zero.

With a tiny stove, I know when I'm beaten. I capitulated and bought 100 gallons of heating oil for the money-burning boiler in the basement.

Over the years, I've found "Aladdin" mantle lamps to be very useful spot-heaters, besides emergency lighting. ~3500 BTU/h using max .5 gal/day of kerosene. Never need to run one close to max.

Helps to avoid firing up gas-disposal-unit in basement here.

 

[cmonSTART]

I should actually get our Kerosene R2D2 heater going. That would be helpful.

 

[John_M]

Will probably burn about four or five more splits each day during these sub-zero temps. The scenery certainly is fairy tale gorgeous!

 

[remkel]

Definitely going to put a stress on the old Vigilant this weekend. I am certain the "oil dragon" will have to kick on a little over the weekend.

More of a concern is I am in the middle of my cutting season- going to have to bundle up and hope for the best.

 

[RedGuy]

It was 6 here this morning and my furnace is running, though nowhere near full tilt. But I expected this as I had no expectation of my stove rated to heat "up to" 1,800 sqft to be able to completely heat my 1,800sqft home, esspecially set back in the fireplace as I have it. I have actually been overly suprised with how well it does do though. I expected that it would only provide me with 1/2 my heating needs and it has far surpased that as it can keep the house at about 70 deg by it self down to about the low teens depending on how windy it is. Maybe this sumer I'll build an outdoor boiler to supliment heat to the house and provide heat for my barns.

 

[CJW88]

-16 here this morning.

 

[firefighterjake]

I pretty much do the same thing as I normally do . . . just load up the stove a little earlier than normal and I tend to use some of my better BTU wood.

 

[firefighterjake]

Oh yeah . . . suppose I should stock up on the beer, bread, bleach and batteries . . . even though I don't drink beer . . . seems like these are the things everyone stocks up on when a storm comes or the temps drop below the donut.

 

[Battenkiller]

Yikes! I just looked at the weather. 15-20 below forecast here. It's just for a couple days, so we'll be fine here. Certainly a cheerier scenario than the December that never seemed to end.

I know folks around my area will start saying, "Yup... global warming my ass." Which is the best proof I have that it is happening. When I was a kid, it seemed we always had extended cold snaps in late January, first two weeks of February. 20 below was not an unusual occurrence. I remember hitting 28 below, and 20 minutes north of me, Glens Falls had 35 below that same night.

Old Forge in the southern Adirondacks hit -52ºF in 1979, with lots of other local areas getting down close to -50º over the years. But all it takes is one night below zero and the GW skeptics come scurrying out of the woodwork like cockroaches. I wish I could give them all a good stove and a couple cord of dry hardwood, just to get them to stop their bellyaching.

 

[begreen]

Good to see you all are getting prepared. These temps are not to be taken lightly.

1) Be sure you have a more than adequate wood supply easily accessible.
2) Be sure you have an adequate back up (or main) fuel supply.
3) Insulate all exposed piping, block off crawlspace vents
4) Identify potential troublespots in the basement where water pipes are close to an outside wall and insulate them, even it temporarily with a batt of fiberglass
5) Seal up gaps in the foundation sill. Use caulk, foam strips or even newspaper, but get down there and seal up those leaks well. Put plastic over basement windows.
6) Consider tacking up temporary, inner storm windows using plastic sheeting.

And don't forget about the basement if you are heating solely with wood. Run the furnace or boiler at least once or more per day. Keep the basement above freezing temps at all times.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Oh yeah . . . suppose I should stock up on the beer, bread, bleach and batteries . . . even though I don't drink beer . . . seems like these are the things everyone stocks up on when a storm comes or the temps drop below the donut.

Bleach??

 

[gyrfalcon]

Yikes! I just looked at the weather. 15-20 below forecast here. It's just for a couple days, so we'll be fine here. Certainly a cheerier scenario than the December that never seemed to end.

I know folks around my area will start saying, "Yup... global warming my ass." Which is the best proof I have that it is happening. When I was a kid, it seemed we always had extended cold snaps in late January, first two weeks of February. 20 below was not an unusual occurrence. I remember hitting 28 below, and 20 minutes north of me, Glens Falls had 35 below that same night.

Old Forge in the southern Adirondacks hit -52ºF in 1979, with lots of other local areas getting down close to -50º over the years. But all it takes is one night below zero and the GW skeptics come scurrying out of the woodwork like cockroaches. I wish I could give them all a good stove and a couple cord of dry hardwood, just to get them to stop their bellyaching.

Folks around here still reminisce with horror about a winter I think back in the late '70s or so where it was -35 for a solid week. I was surprised to find out how long ago it was because they talk about it as vividly as if it had been just a couple years ago.

There was a fascinating map on the Weather Underground site somewhere last year that showed areas of lower than "normal" winter temperature for the 2009-10 winter in one color and where it had been higher than normal in another color. And guess what? The southern half of the country had lower than normal temps, the northern half and much of Canada had warmer than normal.

The predictions for global warming/climate change have always been not that everybody will gradually get warmer but that weather patterns will gradually shift from what we've known since they've been keeping records, and in ways that aren't (yet) predictable for any particular location. How much of that we'll live long enough to experience I don't know, but they do say that it appears to be happening faster than they had thought it would.

 

[firefighterjake]

Oh yeah . . . suppose I should stock up on the beer, bread, bleach and batteries . . . even though I don't drink beer . . . seems like these are the things everyone stocks up on when a storm comes or the temps drop below the donut.

Bleach??

Yeah, they always seem to stock up on bleach . . . beats me why . . . it's not like they're going to do a whole bunch of laundry . . . best I can figure is in case they need to decontaminate water in the tub or toilet for drinking . . . although for me . . . I would simply melt some snow if I needed drinking water that badly.

 

[BrotherBart]

On this date in 1985 I had been here about a week after being transferred from Texas. Reagan was being inaugurated down the road in D.C. and it was seven degrees outside in the middle of the day. When we got the new house finished in April I was already wood stove shopping. Three days after we moved in my chainsaw was running.

 

[Lynch]

going to be -20 below for a few days up here.
day time temps of 2 to 0

 

[Battenkiller]

Bleach??

He doesn't drink beer.

 

[Battenkiller]

Reagan was being inaugurated down the road in D.C. Three days after... my chainsaw was running.

Three days too late IMHO.