Butcher I hear ya. I like the house to be right around 70, not much higher than that. Bedroom I like cooler and basement I like cooler. When in-laws come they are pretty cold so I crank it up to about 76 and then I want to go run around in the yard.
Put a decent size load in the PH two nights ago about 8 PM. Got distracted Sunday morning (phone calls re a local brick farmhouse that burned Saturday, total loss), got busy, worked outside, did wash, cared for my handicapped brother, cooked lunch, the house was warm, took the dog out for a walk, came back and realized I had no fire in the stove. Completely forgot about it because it was 22 out and the house was warm. The stove was completely burned down to about an ounce or two of tiny coals. Used a quarter of a supercedar. Certainly the first one since December, maybe earlier than that, I don't remember. Looks like my supercedars are going to last a lifetime....
I have to relight my fireplace nearly every day. Only on weekends do I get to relight from coals, sometimes. That will change next year.
I'm off to Florida on a road trip, on Sunday. Savannah and Keywest, then Fort Meyers to watch the Red Sox for a couple games. My wife loves the Red Sox and it's in my family because my Dad actually played for them in '44. Anyway we're stopping in Nashville to do a Honky Tonk pub crawl on the way home and then over to Montecello to see Thomas Jefferson's place.. then home. By then I expect you guys to have all this damm snow melted around here, so I can go play outside and ride my scooters!
It was nice only lighting the boiler once yesterday instead of twice. Hopefully their will be more of that for a while.
Another guy with a boiler here, so I light up twice a day when it’s in the 20’s, and can normally get away with once a day when it’s in the 30’s. If I keep a fire going around the clock my water starts to boil! Needless to say, I’ve used a LOT of Rutland firestarters, and bought a large pack of Super Cedars last week to try them out. They’re pretty impressive and light a lot easier than the Ruts’. The only bad thing (besides being a little messy) is that one of my dog’s likes them. She tore into the box that the UPS man left on the porch and ate a couple, and has gotten into the stove room in the basement once and ate a couple more.
Dennis, I also was surprised when I saw the extended forecast-fri sat sun and mon-each day above freezing with only one day in the high 20's! Today is snow, wind, falling temps. Tonight/tomorrow- below zero and single digits. Been around too long to believe that this is the beginning of the end of winter, though. We've had some real big storms in March in the past 15 years....
Haven't used a firestarter (or match) since just before New Years Day. The upstairs stove is going strong. Since it is hovering around the freezing mark during the day I let the downstairs burn out yesterday. This morning my wife had to get something from down there and boy did she complain about how cold it was. She got used to 75°F and I guess 65°F is just a little too cold for her. Over the next 24 hours we are expecting a couple of inches of snow, then a half inch of rain, and finally another couple of inches of snow. There is about a foot of snow on the frozen ground now. The rain & melt water runoff should be interesting. Will only light the downstairs stove if the lights go out... KaptJaq
Understanding that you have a problem and willing to confess it to your brothers in the Fire Hoarders Club Anonymous is your first step towards healing. If you feel the need to let your fire go out again, reach out to one of us before it happens. That's what we are here for. Don't go it alone my friend. We will help you get through it.
I use the brick things. I just break them into a out 4 pieces. If the wood is dry enough it only takes a small piece to get it going. Leaves less ash and I don't have cardboard and paper stashed everywhere.
That is amazing that the dog eats them. Doesn't sound too good to me so I won't put any on my plate tonight. Not sure what you find messy about the super cedars. We get just a very few crumbs but that's all. If they are wrapped, I quarter them before unwrapping. On the ones that are not wrapped, I simply break into quarters. After they are broke and unwrapped, they go into a zip lock bag so no mess.
That would be a nice thought about winter ending now but it won't happen just yet. March can be a long month sometimes and so can April.
Compared to the Rutland fire squares they're a little messy. When I'd break the Rutland squares, there was no mess. But the Super Cedars crumble just a little. It's not a big deal, I just break them over the box they come in and the little flakes fall down in the box.
Not taking the bike this time, just a road trip in the Impala. Take out time going down, do some sight seeing in Savannah, Key West and Fort Meyers and on the way home. The wife loves the Sox, and she retired this year, so this is for her.
I thought I was going to use a super cedar tonight. Came home a lot later than expected after leaving earlier than normal. Not much for red coals so raked them around a bit, threw a few splits in and went to the garage to grab a hunk of SC and a couple sticks of kindling. Came back to a nice fire so I took it all back to the garage.
I wonder if you are just breaking them quickly rather than being a bit careful. We simply don't get much for little flakes at all. But I take time while breaking them and I use only my hands. I know some folks use different tools but that will definitely do some crushing and they can fall apart more.
Yeah, I just pull a puck out in the morning and quickly break it before tossing 1/4 of it in the stove. Really the flakes aren't a big deal. They light faster than the other one's I'm using, so I"ll take a little mess for that benefit.
