Obsessed With Fire

[jadm]

Hey - does that thing work to take kids temps. when they are sick??? Mine are recovering from the latest flu bug in our state and it sure would have been nice if I could have taken their temps. while I was in the kitchen washing dishes rather than having to run up and down the stairs to check on them....

In all honesty when my kids are sick I don't take temps. which really irks them and now it irks them even more because I am paying so much attention to the temp. on this new insert Sibling rivalry taken to a new level!

To take your obsessiveness to another level, get an infrared thermometer. I find myself taking temps of different walls in the house, the stove, the stovepipe, the stove glass, the cat sleeping in front of the stove, the wood pile in the garage, the woodpile by the stove, the curtains, the floor, my beer, etc.

 

[firegal]

Yes, I agree that it's a 'lifestyle'.

When I first got my Hearthstone Homestead, the first week I got nothing done, all I did was sit in the living room gazing into the flames. When a friend came over & asked me how I was doing with it, I said 'great, all I want to do is sit here staring at it and feeding it wood', and he said 'OMG, you sound like a new mother!' He was right, it's my baby

Even now, almost 2 months later, I have moved all my activities into the living room, where before everything took place in the kitchen. I now eat in the living room, I pay bills, I read, I'm on the internet ... everything.

It's kind of like television used to be for me (I have no TV), it's completely mesmerizing. And keeping the fire going, bringing in wood, splitting, etc .... sometimes that's all I manage to get done in a day! Guess I'm just a wood stove junkie :wow:

firegal

 

[Redox]

Yes, I agree that it's a 'lifestyle'.

.... sometimes that's all I manage to get done in a day! Guess I'm just a wood stove junkie :wow:

firegal

That, and you felt like it was a very satisfying day!

I can see it now, "Hi, my name is Chris, and I am Quadoholic." Are the Catalytics as much fun to watch? The inverted gas jet effect when it injects the air reminds me of a Floyd concert.

You can use an IR thermometer on kids, but I know doctors that like it the old fasioned way. Those thermometers you stick in their ears are measuring the temperature of the eardrum with IR

 

[sixminus1]

Hey - does that thing work to take kids temps. when they are sick??? Mine are recovering from the latest flu bug in our state and it sure would have been nice if I could have taken their temps. while I was in the kitchen washing dishes rather than having to run up and down the stairs to check on them....

In all honesty when my kids are sick I don't take temps. which really irks them and now it irks them even more because I am paying so much attention to the temp. on this new insert Sibling rivalry taken to a new level!

To take your obsessiveness to another level, get an infrared thermometer. I find myself taking temps of different walls in the house, the stove, the stovepipe, the stove glass, the cat sleeping in front of the stove, the wood pile in the garage, the woodpile by the stove, the curtains, the floor, my beer, etc.

I have to laugh because I'm doing the same thing. Just got the ~$35 IR thermo from Harbor Freight. I wore out the first set of batteries taking the temperature of everything. Also, the cats just love the laser beam.

As far as taking the kids' temps when they're sick... that sounds like a great idea! "Close your eyes" [beam thermo on forehead]. Sounds reasonable to get a baseline temp when they're well, then measure again if they feel sick.

 

[begreen]

If measuring human temps, remember that you are reading the skin temp, not body temp. While they're healthy, take several readings from the same spot and write it down as their normal temp. I get from 93.2 on my wrist to 94.1 on my neck. Just for fun I tried it in my throat and got 100.6! Yikes! Then I remembered I'm still drinking my coffee. ;-)

 

[Redox]

Good point; just remember that you are taking the surface temperature of whatever you point it at. I have used it to check the water in my aquariom and hot tub and found that it is only measuring the surface. Mirrored surfaces are funky, too Also, watch where you point that laser, it can damage eyesight. I think the laser is deceptive, because it leads you to believe you are testing that one little spot, when you are actually reading an average of a much larger area. The "distance to spot" ratio will vary, but most are a circle of about a foot at 5-10 feet distance. Still, the laser is cool for messing with the cat...

 

[WoodMann]

Yeah- it is a lifestyle alright; not just feeding the stove, but cleaning and maintaining it as well as gethering the wood and aging/ storing it. I think it's great and a wonderful thing to teach kids and keep'em outa trouble..........

 

[crazy_dan]

I thought everybody sat around watching the fire with a nice cold beverage in the evening. If not why did they name it a viewing window??? I for one am the kind of person that likes to watch the memorizing dancing of the flames . For the wood cutting and hauling and splitting and stacking I could give that up, but I am too cheap to buy wood. Still waiting for Corie and Mike to make a self loading wood stove, and if possible make it able to cut and split and stack it's own wood.

 

[Molson]

My fiancee calls it my girlfriend. She thinks I'm having an affair with the stove, she never sees me anymore. I just tell her the new girl is really hot, and she'll just have to get used to it.

 

[ControlFreak]

I've heard people refer to those who heat with wood stoves as a sort of borg. Yes, you too will be assimilated.

Strangely, I fear summer because my stove will go into hibernation.

Dan

 

[Lasher]

My family owns a vacation cottage on a lake which always had a wood stove. During the colder times, we would use it to heat the house. Loved it as a kid and even now when we head up there.

Then 2 years ago, my wife and I were looking for a house and found one with a real fireplace. Having a fire place (not some fake gas thing) was a big selling point for me. That first year I would have a fire in there almost every night, but I hated the fact that I was watching my heat go up the chimney. My wife and I started looking at wood stove inserts to get some heat out of the fire we loved, but the cost of an insert and chimney liner was too much. So we had fires once in a while to just look at it.

Then this past summer at a party, a neighbor down the street who has a outside wood burner mentioned he had a wood stove insert sitting in his garage I could have. I walked (stumbled more like it since it was a beer and chili party) over to his place and looked at it. Needed to be sanded, painted and new glass on the door, but was in goot shape. So I told him to drop it off when he had the chance. A week later a Avalon Olympic insert was sitting in my yard.

I spent the entire fall researching liners and getting the stove ready, finally after X-mas bonus time, I got the liner and put the stove in place. At first my wife looked at the stove (in the yard) and could not believe that I was going to put that thing in the house. But when I got done with it, she thought it looked like a new stove and loved the look of it. I have only been burning standing dead trees that I have cut and split, but burning as much as I can. Love the fact that I can have a fire and actually heat my house.

My father was over the other day dropping off some oak pallets he found and cut up, and made the remark, "I love a fire!" as he just sat there looking at it. Made me smile. And to answer the question, do I stare at the fire? Yep. The other day my TV bulp (RPTV) went out and while I am waiting for a replacement, I have no TV in the living room. So that night I just layed on the couch and stared at the fire for an hour or so and did not really miss the TV.

At this point I just waiting for the spring to come so I can get started on next years wood. I am sick of burning the crap wood I have now and want some good stuff. Obsessed...yep and loving every minute of it.

PS...I have to work second shift tonight and this my wife's first test of keeping the fire going. I am going to call her right now and see if it is still cooking...

Update...I called and asked how the stove was...she replied that she caught the shovel on fire (metal) pulling the coals forward. The fire is still going she says and I have no clue on how she caught a metal shovel on fire.

 

[firegal]

Update...I called and asked how the stove was...she replied that she caught the shovel on fire (metal) pulling the coals forward. The fire is still going she says and I have no clue on how she caught a metal shovel on fire.

Was it coated in paper or something? ;-P

Must be one hot fire you're burning over there ....

 

[Lasher]

Update...I called and asked how the stove was...she replied that she caught the shovel on fire (metal) pulling the coals forward. The fire is still going she says and I have no clue on how she caught a metal shovel on fire.

Was it coated in paper or something? ;-P

Must be one hot fire you're burning over there ....

I think some coals got stuck on the shovel. Fire could not have been hot, only about 400 degrees she said on the top temp reading.