Thanks for the post Camber. Lorin is one of the most knowledgeable folks there and I hope she helped some. Realize too that when I purchased my stove I had questions even though I had burned wood longer that the folks at the factory. I did find there was a learning curve with the Fireview but to be honest, I had to do some self learning. Probably the biggest problem I had at first was the coaling problem. I talked with 4 or 5 folks there but none gave me what I considered good answers. So, I just tackled the problem myself and stumbled upon the right answer, or at least one that works and is quick and easy to do. On the cat, naturally the manual says let the stove get cold before removing the cat. Well now, one problem I have is that I depend solely on the stove to heat my home and I detest a cold house! Therefore, I do burn the coals done quite a bit then put on the heavy gloves, open the lid and lift out the cat. 3 or 4 steps and I am on the porch where I brush said cat. I also very lighly (extremely lightly) tap the cat on the porch railing then brush again. Replace the cat and it is done. I have done that exactly one time so far tis season and will probably do it again around groundhog day. In summer I usually give the cat a bath, or actually a shower as I use a spray bottle; 1 part white vinegar and one part distilled water. Then rinse with distilled water. I hope this helps. Good luck.
Backwoods Savage It would also be helpful to know just what size house you are heating, no? Basement or no basement? What ceiling size? Like Camber stated, there is a couple near him that is totally satisfied with their stove, but they live in a trailer....equaling smaller volume to heat.
I had 21/71 this morning. Added 2 splits of shagbark hickory to the coal bed and opened the top and bottom drafts to full throttle. Got them pumping out their full potential for about 1/2 hour then loaded the box with red oak and closed bottom and about 1/4 way on top before leaving for "work". Should be nice and toasty there for wife and daughter today.
17*F this morning. We dropped from 55 to 25 on Friday night. Back to winter and hopefully some snow this week. Mix of white ash and red oak on the hearth today.
-7(-15 wind chill) 70 inside. Put a couple pieces of honey locust on the bed of hedge coals from the overnight burn.
Good morning! -36c/-32f with a reload of doug fir this morning. Looks like we will start warming up to nicer temperatures soon.
-1 now after hitting -7 overnight. Might get above 0 today...I don't think we did yesterday. Buring more oak and hickory.
Going out to chores this morning, 04:30, 17 / 69. Reloaded with fir. More ice and temp drops tomorrow evening forecasted. Owl
yooperdave, Really good point on house size. I always wonder that when reading what all my wood burning friends are dealing with. So when we positioned our indoor wood burning Clayton furnace it is tapped into the main duct to one side of our ground source back up (hate that ground source for heat, but it is one great summertime air conditioner though). Luckily and accidentally when we built in 2000 I set the WBF as mentioned above because it was directly in line with an overhead door. Sure lucked out setting it where we did. So, the blower on the WBF keeps all the rooms that I want as warm as I want, but when the hot air from WBF has to pass through the duct work of the ground source main furnace it slows down a little therefore causing a little less air to only bedrooms which ultimately is perfect as we all like cool sleeping in my house. Combined with closing a bedroom door to keep it even cooler I have a toasty great room, kitchen laundry room and two bathrooms. Rest is sleeping area and can be warm but is kept cool on purpose. I have a 3113 square foot home excluding unfinished toasty basement. Temps here are STILL below zero and house is 74 degrees. I’m using white oak and chinquapin oak. I love that chinquapin oak. Stumbled across a patch of that in my timber and did not know what it was. Did a lot of research of the still living and standing trees around it while I harvested the downfall. When it dies and falls over even laying on the ground it almost never a rots and it is solid and dense from edge to edge. I discovered it by trying to push a path with my 4WD 33 HP tractor and almost all other logs of various types snapped easy and clear out well. When I ran across the first chinquapin log it flexed due to no rot and instead of breaking pushed my tractor backwards. I thought this was very odd for what looked like it should be a spongy no good log. Did it again and same results. Took chainsaw and cut into it and I swear my face had to look like an old panhandling prospector that had just found a vein of gold. It is my most reliable source and anyone I show it to is simply amazed at that wood. Good thing is it is barkless. Little to no bugs. Thanks for listening. Stay warm.
It was a balmy -20/21 here this morning at about 8:00am. House was 76* with osage & oak coals from the overnight.
Sounds like full on wood burning season for most of North America. I’m putting a ding in my front door racks and starting to suspect they may get emptied this winter. White Oak and Hickory keeping the cool end of the house at 68. Stove room is borderline unbearable so I might have to open a door. You subzero and single digit folks ooph da
-10 here at the moment with a -40 wind chill. Took care of the pigs, chickens, and rabbits. One rabbit is going into labor and I hope the babies stay warm enough.