What Is In Your Stove Right Now?

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From what I saw we had a low of -5 this morning, I loaded up the Liberty with some ash and maple.

I didn't burn either stove overnight, I set the furnace on 64 which means our bedroom will be 69.
 
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thewoodlands said:
From what I saw we had a low of -5 this morning, I loaded up the Liberty with some ash and maple.

I didn't burn either stove overnight, I set the furnace on 64 which means our bedroom will be 69.
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Nice. Sorry couldn't resist!

Lots of coals for me right now. 70 in here so letting it burn down for the overnight reload. Going with a combo of maple and red oak tonight through the blizzard. Not cold, 25 or so, but its very windy and snowing.
 
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Just checked our forecast for the next 7 days...the coldest air of the year is headed our way with a low of -8 Sunday night with many single digit nights to follow...the BK will fed a steady night of locust and oak...and I imagine the propane stove will ran a little if there is a lot of wind ith this arctic blast coming in.
 
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We are expecting a low of twenty five tonight with a load of black jack for the overnight going in before bed time. We are expecting some of the coldest air of the season come saturday and thereafter with a low of 7 saturday night and some days in the teens. That's pretty cool for SW Missouri standards.
 
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thewoodlands said:
If I think that we need the constant heat overnight to heat the upstairs (we heat from the basement) I'll run the pellet stove. We usually burn between 50 - 55 bags per year.

This year I've been burning wood during the day and the pellet stove at night more often. Before we were offered the property I do must of my cutting on we had the pellet stove so we continue to use it.
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So do you cold start your wood stove every day? That seems so inconvenient. But maybe that balances with the ease of burning pellets.
 
Caw said:
So do you cold start your wood stove every day? That seems so inconvenient. But maybe that balances with the ease of burning pellets.
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Not every day, I'm usually heating with the wood stove at night except for the last couple of weeks.

Since 2008 - 09 we've been burning mostly firewood so a bag of pellets at night and a cold start in the wood stove in the morning isn't a big deal.
 
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I have been burning some locust here and there, the long days the house is empty when we both work and the cold nights for a longer hotter burn. I think once this cold moves in this weekend everyone is going to be pulling out the good stuff to burn. I have a few stacks of 4+ year old locust rounds that have been waiting for this weather to show up.
 
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Lows in teens tonight; another load of pine. This may be my best game of Tetris yet.

What Is In Your Stove Right Now?
 
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I let the stove go out tonight; conserving dry wood:(. Only 29 or so tonight. Likely sassafras during the day tomorrow.
 
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I put a medium load of red oak and hickory in the 74 this morning with it 26 out now. We are gunna get to 55 today with full sun. Tomorrow will be in 40s and then the bottom falls out sometime saturday with what looks like a prolonged cold snap......for missouri....of highs in the 20s with teens and single digits for lows.
 
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20s? That's not even jacket weather! Hehe.

I threw a load of cherry and ash in the 1600 this morning at about 7:30. Its 31 out now and a high of 36 so normally I'd string the coals along in the afternoon and reload for overnight. However, I'm having the chimney cleaned tomorrow at noon so I'm just gonna let it go out and stay cold until tomorrow afternoon. I'll run the heat pump/resistance overnight thru the service.

It's gonna be chilly in the house. We usually keep it around 72 when burning but I won't turn the heater past 62. Electricity is $0.24/KwH here. Sweatshirts and blankets it is!
 
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Ash and beech again. Seasoned sugar maple is gone.

Be chewing through a lot of wood in the NC30 Friday to next Friday with highs in the single digits and lows down to negative double digits... My burns seem to do better with some ash mixed in rather than all sugar maple and beech. Doesn't get too scary hot and stays burning better on the overnight.

Re-thinking my burning strategy. This year, due to limited seasoned wood, I burned the sugar maple, ash and cherry as "standard" hardwood and the beech more as "premium" hardwood. I think next year when I have more of the ash seasoned the beech will be my "premium" and sugar maple css this fall will be saved for 2022/2023 and considered a "premium" hardwood. I worked very hard this fall getting ahead and am almost 3 years out (hopefully).
 
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NickW said:
My burns seem to do better with some ash mixed in rather than all sugar maple and beech. Doesn't get too scary hot and stays burning better on the overnight.
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I find that mixing woods always gives me a better burn. Maple is my workhorse wood that I always have the most of but when I burn 100% maple loads it tends to be a little hotter/faster than I'd like. It also doesn't produce the best coals.

So during the day when I'm home I like to use primarily maple with a little ash, cherry, or red oak mixed in to slow it down and produce a better/longer lasting coal bed.

For overnight fires I like to go the other way and use primarily ash and red oak as they give the best coals/longer fires and just a little maple or cherry on the coals to get the load going. I also save the big, knotty, and gnarly pieces for overnight.

I've also found that mixing woods is a good way to utilize any less than ideal wood you have or when you're running out of your good wood. For example I have some ash that I split too big around May/June thats like 22-24% that if I were to use alone it would be a poor burn. However if I toss in a few splits of that with my good maple/cherry the load will burn nicely and you can barely tell. I usually put it on top or in the middle of the better wood on a reload...the good stuff on the coals to aid ignition/prevent a smoke out.

Just some observations I've made this year!
 
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