Everybody ready for the cold snap?

[DrewBoogie]

I started using a small fan on the floor blowing towards my stove from the TV into the kitchen. I have two corner fans in the double opening there that push air into the TV room from the kitchen. Worked like a gem last night, kept both room 73 throughout the night, which is warmer than i was expecting. I guess plugging those holes under the burnpot was a good thing, seems to be keeping the house warming than ever on a lower heat setting.

Only issue i anticipate is the line into the house from my outdoor oil tank will probably congeal Saturday night. Still have to enclose the tank and insulate the enclosure. The tank is too close to the house to reach the line to insulate. Thought I'd get away with out it this winter since it was so mild. Guess I won't now. Stove should heat the house just fine, we'll just have no hot water.

 

[bags]

It has been a mild winter overall but cold here lately and getting colder. I hate it! It is that time over the year again that I am done with the cold stuff. Getting burned out on it now and have been working out in it freezing. Sucks! It'll be spring soon but not soon enough for me. I am seriously contemplating moving somewhere warm. Wife is all about that too and has 7 years til her retirement then it will be game on for the winter months. Seems every winter is dreaded more than the last.

Still have 4 tons left and the house is warm. I'm just not in the house much recently to enjoy the heat. The Sets are keeping the crib toasty though.

 

[Chrisnow86]

I told my wife were cooking a turkey dinner this weekend... That's a lot of extra heat for the house haha

 

[Husky]

Been running the heat pump and furnace mostly this winter, but wife wants the 'fire' going for the 'cold snap' and I have my mom coming over for the day Sunday and she hates the cold and just LOVES sitting in my recliner that the Harman blows the heat directly at. Big pot of chili with jalepeno cornbread for Saturday and a big pot of seafood chowder for Sunday and some Long Trail Double Bagger in the cellar. Life is Good.

Sounds good. I was just thinking of making some chili tomorrow but now that you mentioned cornbread with jalapenos I'm definitely cooking tomorrow. My beer of choice is Bell's Kalamazoo Stout, which I'm having a few tonight. House has been pretty warm this year due to the mother-in-law living with us this winter. I thought I would go through half the pellets I did last year but I' burned almost 3 ton since Oct. Oh well as they say happy wife, happy life. Well when your wife's mother is living with you that saying is times two.

 

[TimfromMA]

5 tons of DF pellets stacked up downstairs. If that's not enough, I need either a new house or a new southern zip code.

 

[karen_in_nh_2014]

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised at some of the responses ... my Harman 52i fireplace insert doesn't do well when the temps get into the low single digits or negative numbers (which is pretty rare, but will happen this weekend). I assumed it really wasn't made for such temps.

Alas, I'll be using oil. (At $1.50/gallon, though, it won't hurt TOO much!)

 

[TimfromMA]

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised at some of the responses ... my Harman 52i fireplace insert doesn't do well when the temps get into the low single digits or negative numbers (which is pretty rare, but will happen this weekend). I assumed it really wasn't made for such temps.

Alas, I'll be using oil. (At $1.50/gallon, though, it won't hurt TOO much!)

Then either your house is poorly insulated or your stove is too small. My stove will be running a bit harder that usual but will keep us plenty warm.

 

[karen_in_nh_2014]

Then either your house is poorly insulated or your stove is too small. My stove will be running a bit harder that usual but will keep us plenty warm.

Alas, it's likely both (house was built in 1960). The insert isn't really made to be my whole-house heater, even though usually it is (and normally it is very comfortable in most rooms I use -- just not when temps go as low as they are expected to this weekend!).

My previous house was a basic rectangle -- if I had had a stove placed in the middle of the living/dining room wall (facing the hall to the bedrooms), it would have worked great to heat the whole house (if I left the bedroom doors open -- which I actually hate to do), but I went with a pellet furnace instead (Harman 101 or whatever it was called). At my current house, I just wanted to be comfortable and save on oil, which the insert did for the first couple of years. (Of course, now oil is dirt-cheap compared to what it was back then, so no savings, but still LOTS of comfort when the temps are cold but not insane, as they will be this weekend!)

 

[Tonyray]

5 tons of DF pellets stacked up downstairs. If that's not enough, I need either a new house or a new southern zip code.

burned a few bags of Okie firs past couple days/nites..
Fantastic pellet for low to zilch ash.. Best ones I have ever burned so far..
Lacretes are exstremly hot also but ashy....
actually turned my feed rate down a bit and downstairs was still around 74-75..
Thems is HOT!

 

[TimfromMA]

burned a few bags of Okie firs past couple days/nites..
Fantastic pellet for low to zilch ash.. Best ones I have ever burned so far..
Lacretes are exstremly hot also but ashy....
actually turned my feed rate down a bit and downstairs was still around 74-75..
Thems is HOT!

I've been REALY lazy with my regular stove cleanings. I think my last full cleaning was more than a month ago. I have emptied the ash pan a couple of times but that's about it. A thorough stove cleaning is on my to do list for tomorrow.

 

[Chrisnow86]

I've been good on my stove cleanings.. Because ocd is a pain in the ass... But I still plan on a good cleaning in the am as well

 

[DAKSY]

No OCD here. Scrape the burn opt every coupla bags, & brush the heat exchanger once a week. She's been runnin stove temp 4.5 since I got here at noon, so for 9 hours. I just went to room temp 68 for the night, I'm 30 feet & two walls away, & I'm at about 72 degrees. Outside it's 19 & we're on the south side of a 73 acre ice cube, with a constant north wind. It's winter.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

HD is dropping off 10 tons tomorrow morning. I already have 5 tons. I think i'm set! except for the fact that i'll be hauling them in the garage.

 

[Tonyray]

HD is dropping off 10 tons tomorrow morning. I already have 5 tons. I think i'm set! except for the fact that i'll be hauling them in the garage.

those stove chows are selling now at HD for 199.00 past couple weeks here along with Nation's choice..[Ole Roys].

 

[Dr.Faustus]

I jumped on the 199 deal. ordered 10 tons. I think i'm good for about 3 years now on pellets. they will probably deliver nations choice. I like the chows. I bought 2 bags of nations choice to test them in my pdvc before i bought so many. I did not notice any difference between the chows and nations. I know some people hate the nations but for my stove it doesnt care. output temps were the same.

If next winter i see prices consistant with 199 i will keep the stash topped off, otherwise wait out the 3 years for the next good deal and jump on that too.

 

[bogieb]

Changed the P61a to Stove temp / Auto last night with the temp set at ~70 and feed rate set as low as it will go. It is staying in the 70's down there using the DF's. Added bonus is the floor to the bathroom is warmer than normal; part of that floor is over garage - and it is at the furthest corner from the stove, so on room temp the floor doesn't really benefit from the heat down there.

Main floor stove is still on Room temp and weirdly, it just chowed thru the Vermont's (plus 1/2 bag of Presto's that were already in there). But, it was windy yesterday, so thermal loss on that floor is more than usual - but no wind last night. Put in a bag of LaCretes and will see how fast that goes as the wind is supposed to whip up again today. There just haven't been many cold and windy days, so hard to judge against the Presto's.

 

[Old puffer]

Well, screw you guys! I'm burnin an oldie! But, I love every minuet of it. VC Intrepid I Model 1302.

Temps just dipped below zero, expected to get to -10 by dark Saturday. They should have named this stove the Vigalent because you have to reload every 4-5 hours.

She's burning at 680 on a full load, wind and all. House heater only kicked in 2 or 3 times.

 

[jzm2cc]

-5F this morning so running P61 (choked down feedrate) in the basement to keep pipes from freezing and Prescott up stairs. Usually don't need basement stove running too, but have had pipe issues years ago before Harman was installed.

Still loving the MWP's from Grayling. Good hot burn, minimal residue left behind, but snowy ash I'll admit which means weekly ash pan dumps on Prescott.

 

[TimfromMA]

Just finished cleaning the stove. Considering the fact that I haven't cleaned it in over a month, it really wasn't that bad. I give alot of credit to those DF pellets I've been burning,

 

[Eng5ive]

I'm looking at picking up one more ton before the end of the season, probably this afternoon or tomorrow. We have Blazers, Hamers, Energex and Stove Chow available. SC is considerably cheaper and readily available at HD. Any thoughts?

 

[Chrisnow86]

Stove chow is a good pellet.. Little ashy but good heat defently worth the money at 199

 

[Chrisnow86]

All clean and fired back up

 

[Chrisnow86]

My son enjoying the clean stove watching Elmo haha

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Ripping thru the Blazers tonight. So far so good. Got easy blaze and hamers ready to go if this lasts a while.

 

[Tonyray]

Stove chow is a good pellet.. Little ashy but good heat defently worth the money at 199

yes..at 199.00.
HD started this season selling at 269.00 and at that price they Are Not...