Mild weather wood

[Nealm66]

Looking for suggestions for the milder weather. I’m about to get a Lopi cape cod and there’s a good chance it might make the house too hot when it’s not that cold out, just wet and raining. I used to mix some wet wood at my old house with the old style stove but this one is a no no.

 

[kborndale]

It was a no no with your old stove too. For the shoulder season burn pine.

 

[kennyp2339]

The cape cod is a great looking stove, as with anything else, when building a fire in a cold stove it takes time for it to heat up, just use less pieces of wood and you should be good to go, btw your right about only using dry wood, you dont want to mess with the hybrid design or function.

 

[brenndatomu]

Pine, poplar, box elder, silver maple, basswood, etc
Edit, oops, just seen your location...not sure if you have any of these available?

 

[gggvan]

spruce! we have tons here, love love love it!

 

[Nealm66]

I wouldn’t have thought of spruce! I have burned popular, it’s a bit stinky when it’s green but never noticed when it was dry. Thank you

 

[begreen]

Poplar & hemlock are fine, but even if burning maple and alder, just burn partial loads for less heat.

 

[Highbeam]

Yep, partial loads of smaller wood stacked tall and loose. You’re going for a pulse of heat that comes from a clean burning short duration fire to warm up the house. Then let the house cool. As it gets cooler outside, 56 out right now, your pulses get longer until you can burn a full load.

We don’t have a wide variety of commonly available fuel wood in the pnw. It’s all about the same except for cottonwood/poplar/aspen.

Normally at this time of the year we are much colder in the pnw. It’s coming!

 

[Nealm66]

Interesting, so basically build a good small fire, maybe throw a small piece on when it’s burned down to keep itlow but still hot enough to make the catalytic happy?

 

[Highbeam]

Interesting, so basically build a good small fire, maybe throw a small piece on when it’s burned down to keep itlow but still hot enough to make the catalytic happy?

No, you don’t keep feeding it. If you do this right you will heat your house from 65 to 75 with one short fire and then it takes a day or three to cool back down to 65. Trying to hold 70 is much easier in the colder part of the winter.

Our temperatures in western Washington are pretty moderate so we burn a little differently than they do back east.

 

[Nealm66]

Wow, that’s definitely different than I would have thought. I will give that a try , thank you

 

[begreen]

It depends on how well the house holds the heat. Our old house is not too great in this regard. But it does warm up nicely when there is a lot of sun streaming through the windows which can keep the house warm after the fire has died out.

 

[vwmike]

It depends on how well the house holds the heat. Our old house is not too great in this regard. But it does warm up nicely when there is a lot of sun streaming through the windows which can keep the house warm after the fire has died out.

My house works very similarly. This time of year I watch the forecast for sun the next day vs temperature. If it’s going to be sunny the house warms up plenty, but if there’s no sun and the temp outside is only 60, it’s fire time!

 

[begreen]

My house works very similarly. This time of year I watch the forecast for sun the next day vs temperature. If it’s going to be sunny the house warms up plenty, but if there’s no sun and the temp outside is only 60, it’s fire time!

49ª this morning and only 53º now with rain coming.. It's heatpump time here. House is a cozy 72º.

 

[Poindexter]

As above, I too will light off 1/3 to 1/2 of a firebox full of wood in the evening, burn it on high and let it burn out. If that is too much heat (My house, my weather) I don't light the stove at all. Just use whatever wood you have, less than a full load.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I do small loads with a less dense wood like popular and don't run the cat if the house is just cool.. If its a little cold and its nigh time ill do the same load and get the cat to temp and add a little wood for a little extra heat at night time..

 

[Nealm66]

So , it’s possible to have a fire without engaging the cat and just control somewhat with the damper? Is this ok with a hybrid?

 

[Highbeam]

So , it’s possible to have a fire without engaging the cat and just control somewhat with the damper? Is this ok with a hybrid?

Follow your owners manual. It is not okay on a BK and can cause very expensive damage.

The cat is an emissions device as well as a heat production device so I am fairly certain that all non VC stoves must be run with the cat engaged. If you insist on wasting the heat then a better approach would be to open a window.

VC had some odd either/or cat designs for awhile.

 

[Nealm66]

Ok, stoves going to be installed on the 3rd. Plan on reading the manual. Just trying to learn as much as possible so I don’t screw it up

 

[begreen]

With the bypass open, the stove runs like a dirty old smoke dragon. The smoke goes right up the flue, with no secondary combustion. It's there to make starting easier.

 

[gggvan]

I wouldn’t have thought of spruce! I have burned popular, it’s a bit stinky when it’s green but never noticed when it was dry. Thank you

I hear some folks say "Norway Spruce? Seems you can put "Norway" in front of any species.

 

[firefighterjake]

Around this time of year I a) use more softwoods like pine, cedar, fir, spruce and soft hardwoods like poplar or basswood, b) use the chunks, punks and uglies (short ends, any dry, punky wood and wood which may be twisted, branched, etc. and c) if the temps are forecast to rise I resist the urge to reload the stove.

 

[Dabster13]

For shoulder season i burn all the fallen limbs and branches. Able to keep a fire going for like 6 hours with a 20 gallon bucket filled with branches. Great way to clean the yard and keep all the actual logs for winter