Freaking COLD!!!!

[ikessky]

-21* this morning with no wind. My truck has been sitting outside all week without being driven. Any bets on if it will start?

 

[barnartist]

-21* this morning with no wind. My truck has been sitting outside all week without being driven. Any bets on if it will start?

My over/under on the strokes of the engine.... -8

 

[ikessky]

It's supposed to be mid-20's next week. I'll try it then!

 

[Fred61]

This weather has been great. Minus 15 this morning! This is my first season with the Eko and have inadequate storage. Finally put enough load on it so that it burned the way it should. Still had idle time but not as much as with warmer temps. Before retiring for the night, I filled the firebox about 2/3 full and had a nice bed of coals this AM. Normally I've been putting two or three small to medium splits on before bedtime and awoke the next morning with a small piece of smoldering wood in a corner and no bed of coals. Too much idle time.

Can't wait to get new storage so I can burn her hot! I know I'm wasting a lot of wood right now.

 

[SE Iowa]

It's been -24F the last two nights here with a high of -10 yesterday, not too windy here though, so not so bad. 50 miles north of us are having all time record lows near -30F. Crazy thing is we have 2 pullets from this last summer and they both layed their first egg yesterday when the high was -10F? Goes against everything I know but maybe the daylight thing had something to do with it. Glad to see the 7 day forcast! Everyone stay warm.

 

[AOTO]

Currently 0.9 F outside and 72.1 F inside. Just put the evening load into the monster outside and put another 3/4 trailer load in front of the door. That way tonight, I can throw a few extra on to get thru the night quite toasty.
Got the Jotul cranked up as well inside. I have yet to heat the barn so I know I'm wasting BTU's running the water out there and back...I should have waited for another week but, too late now. My wood supply looks like I actually put a dent in it..geepers two more months of cold, then two months of mud and then 2 months of bugs! (Sounds like time to get more wood!!)

 

[steam man]

Just sitting here, fire going, having a beer and wondering what someone from Florida would think if they were reading this thread.........................
Mike

 

[pybyr]

My Econoburn 150 has introduced me to a problem I have never before experienced in this house (a big old Vermont farmhouse which is a lot better insulated and less drafty than when I bought it, but still has a ways to go).

I am WAY warmer than I am used to. As in, sweat running down my brow (well, maybe that's partly because I'd gotten myself acclimated to comfort at high 50s low 60s and suddenly it is mid 70s before I know it

This (more heat than I know what to do with)is basically not the fault of the Econoburn, it's just that as I finished the install in the pre-dawn hours, and it was nearing -30F and I needed to get to bed, and did not have time to run new lines for a T-state, I set it to run full bore and have been trying to modulate the heat with the firings until I get back to the hookup (before I go to bed tonight).

I'd never have even hoped that with modest loads of logs this would add up to too much heat !

compared to past wood heat, I am AMAZED at how much heat I am getting per unit of wood

 

[2.beans]

Just sitting here, fire going, having a beer and wondering what someone from Florida would think if they were reading this thread.........................
Mike

same thing im thinking why do i live here?

 

[steam man]

Just sitting here, fire going, having a beer and wondering what someone from Florida would think if they were reading this thread.........................
Mike

same thing im thinking why do i live here?

Hey everyone from Florida reading this thread-don't be so smug. We all know you have your hurricanes. LOL

That makes me feel better.

Mike

 

[Tony H]

Last night -26 and the high today -6 but the house is 70-71 and the eko is kicking out the heat but using up alot of wood , at least it's not gas
gotta go feed the beast.

 

[NHFarmer]

I'm feeling like a wimp, it only got to -4 this morning,kinda disappointing.house at 70*,no frozen pipes,truck started,just like any other day.Life is good

 

[Tree farmer]

This weather has been great. Minus 15 this morning! This is my first season with the Eko and have inadequate storage. Finally put enough load on it so that it burned the way it should. Still had idle time but not as much as with warmer temps. Before retiring for the night, I filled the firebox about 2/3 full and had a nice bed of coals this AM. Normally I've been putting two or three small to medium splits on before bedtime and awoke the next morning with a small piece of smoldering wood in a corner and no bed of coals. Too much idle time.

Can't wait to get new storage so I can burn her hot! I know I'm wasting a lot of wood right now.

Been burning my 25 with no storage and she is outperforming my expectations. I may loose efficiency and holdover temps that storage offer but loading it up and not touching it for 10 plus hours is the cats ass. It was -21 here this am filled her at 9 checked her at 5:30 and she still had a large bed of coals that could have gone another hour or more. I have noticed that I can normally get instant gasification after loading because I keep a constant burn going on and load it with a solid bed of coals. The house was a balmy 70 down and 68 up, I have even heat throughout the house and I can go and take a hot shower. my wood consumption seems to be on par with those that have storage, I guess only time will tell. More of this cold weather will show me how well this unit can shine. Bring it on!

 

[henfruit]

tree farmer are you really a tree farmer?

 

[Tree farmer]

I'm in the woods 5 - 6 days out of 7, spray a lot of blue paint on trees that need to be cut ,look at a lot of trees, yup I'd say I farm trees.

 

[timberr]

I don't care how cold it gets now; it is a real thrill to be in bed and not hear the old oil furnace kick on! Been 72 hours since we burned any fossil fuel. Storage is finally up to temp so tonight I am going to let the fire die and see how things go; not expecting -24 like last night.

 

[pybyr]

My Econoburn is making more heat with less wood than anything else I've run in 20 years of heating with wood- and I've run a bunch of things.

my house is warmer than any time I've been here in the last almost 12 years, and that's with a quick and dirty early-AM- better finish this install before I freeze situation; it'll only get better as I refine it all

OK, I confess, I kissed my boiler tonight it rocks!

anywhere other than the boiler room y'all'd be ready to send for the folks to take me away in a straight jacket- but I think you know what I mean

 

[Nofossil]

This has been the coldest spell since I've put in the EKO. I've had to rekindle my fire in the morning once, and I've had to pay a little more attention to how much heat I have left in storage.

My fire from last night gave out around 5:00 this morning, and I went out to visit friends this evening. The house had to run off of storage for about 15 hours, and at the temps we're having I can't get enough heat out of my baseboards to keep up - the main floor temp had dropped to 66 degrees by the time I got home.

Here's a graph of main floor temperature for the last ten days. I have it set to cycle between 70 and 72 when the boiler is running, and between 69 and 70 when heating from storage. You can see where the storage pooped out this evening. Places where the temp goes above 72 were sunny days where the solar gain took over.

All in all, not a lot of hardship. When we heated with oil, we set the tstats at 68, and the temp would cycle between 66 and 68.

 

[rcollman]

not expecting -24 like last night.

Well it is warmer by 6 degrees up North of you. I did notice a difference in the house temp. My radiators could keep up with the cold last night because of the weather and I changed some variables. I cleanded the tubes last night, set the high limit boiler temp up from 175 to 185 and left a box fan in front of a big radiator on low. A mere -21 at 4 AM. and my living room was at 61, with almost nothing in the fire box. That would be a 6 hour burn of a full, I mean FULL load of wood.

My daily download of HHD info for Whitefield (KHIE) says 1/15/09 was about 79 HHD, 1/16 about 75 HHD. Next coldest day was 1/1/09 at 68 HHD. All things are relative.

 

[Kipstr]

I started a fire Tuesday PM, at the start of the cold snap. The storage temps were down to 115 deg. That's about as low as I can go without backup comings on. By 10 PM storage up to 175 deg. I loaded the fire box with about 40 Lbs of wood (3/4 full). By 6 AM there was an OK bed of coals and it was only -2 out side. The storage was still up to temp and the forecast was a high of 2 and sun/ wind, so we loaded the little EKO with 50 Lbs went to work 9 Hrs later at 3 PM still coals for the next load.

So I think 9 plus Hrs on a load is OK. And -2 Wed -16 Thur -30 Fri and -14 Sat and wood 150-180 Lbs. per day (that's 18-22 piece's of wood @ 8 Lbs. each. ( I'm heating just over 3000 square ft.)

And the only problems is the sticky bypass door.

 

[AOTO]

It was -16F this morning when my pager went off, had a structure fire in a neighboring town so they called out all the horses. It is amazing how fast water can freeze in these temps. Got back to the station and the wife called, saying the temp was 112 F at the E3400 with nothing but little coals and ashes. I filled it up last night at 10:00 PM right before my other fire call (CO Alarm) and it was about noon today when her call came in to give me the temp. I think that's pretty good, well, at least I was warm.

 

[pybyr]

but loading it up and not touching it for 10 plus hours is the cats ass.

CATS ASS + gassification? is that dangerous?

I am sure that someone, somewhere, will find it to be cruel and inhumane, even if it is not dangerous...