We did this our first year with the stove ... Didn't have much wood. Thankfully the stove was so efficient we made it through to February on what we had. I want to say it was less than two face cords. My wife even gave some to her brother ... I wasn't happy about that
Last winter had burned through most of my ash around march and winter just wouldn't quit, scrounging any remaining poplar and Manitoba maple to toss in the boiler Imagine digging through the snow and grabbing about 20 small pieces of wood twice a day! Told myself not again! Way better shape this year.......i hope!
100% spot on. I did that a few years ago and the difference in actual hear the wood makes, and the amount of wood used is night and day. Best decision ever was to buy this quadrafire insert. I use less wood, my energy bills are lower, and the house is much warmer.
Same here. From a dollars perspective - best thing we ever did.... And we done a huge amount of stuff to this house.
This is the real answer to any cold house. Seal up and properly insulate the attic and rim joists and most homes will cut their energy needs for heating and cooling in half. Biggest and fastest payback you can hope to achieve. Great post jrcurto!
Im a FIRM believer.....that 70* in a well insulated home will feel better than 75* or so in a not so well insulated drafty home. We rented a small cottage before we bought our home....electric heat...we kept the thermostat at 75* when real cold. We still sat around with sweatshirt n pants...we were still chilly. Now...70*...im in my shorts n tshirt...
Better look a personal preference and depends on what type of door you purchased!! Sliders have some amazing fancy bells and whistles. French doors are a PITA IMO but nice, but eat up space swinging inward! This is a beautiful slider, looks great, and we love the screen to get some nice air flow, not sure french doors offer that !! As for being lifted out I think that info is outdated, most modern sliders don't work like that, much better security. From what I see and experienced installing it myself it can only be lifted up and out from the inside and access to the screws are only inside. But even so it's alarmed not that will stop anyone who really wants to get into a house.
ReelFaster.. something to remember about sliders, they have a drain in the lower corner that lets the water out of the track. That drain If it freezes will crack and that water will go inside your home! 2 years ago I did all the research and there is not a single sliding door company, that warranties their door, if there is less than a five foot overhang above it to keep water out. This may be less of an issue at your heating zones than mine. Just wanted to let you know.
Thanks Canadian border VT and I know exactly what your talking about, mine has two in each corner, small little weep holes! From memory mine are inch or two from the bottom and a couple inches in from each side. Luckily mine sits on a concrete slab or I would have put a sil pan down!
Yup mine same holes, except on top floor of post and beam house.. Winter project, fixed but not trimmed out yet.
I never had to ration, and I will be way ahead on my processed wood by the end of January. I burn anytime it is under 50 degrees, anything over that and I have to open my bedroom window for a bit before bed. My home was built in 1859, only rooms that are drafty is the slab addition where my bed and woodburner are. Without it, that part of the house would be un-useable in the winter. My 3 year plan involves a proper addition in place of the existing, and a soapstone wood burner.
Good to know that they corrected some of the flaws. My experience with them has not been the best, and we currently have a set up at the beach house that needs replacing. You can have a screen on French doors. In fact it's the same one that you put in the tracks on a sliding patio door. I have replaced ours a few times. Thanks to it being the same I can usually find a dirt cheap replacement at menards easily. I personally think that Frenchies look better, and you don't have that track to keep Clean either. But I will say that the sliders have a space advantage.
There's a lot to reply to here but I'll try and get to a couple things. I have a Vermont Castings insert in my fireplace as is pictured in my avatar. I have a small place that doesn't lose a lot of heat. As it's been, when I get it going, even with the damper shut all the way, it can be 80 in here, easily. I simply don't need that and I feel like a way to help get on the 3 year plan is to not blow through wood unnecessarily. That said, someone else's earlier comment was interesting as I had been keeping the fire hot in the evening and then putting an all nighter on and closing the damper. It's great but now I'm trying to sleep in an 80 degree house. Maybe throwing the all nighter on much earlier could save me some wood while still heating with it.
The only thing I ration is propane. On the 3 year plan and no worry's on having enough wood on hand. Any time the house feels cool I start a fire.
During the season, I have been keeping a record for the past 10 years of how much wood I have burnt. Usually starting Thanksgiving then monthly to season end, adding notes of unusually warm of cold during that period. Over time, you will have a pretty good idea of how much you need for a year, and you can make adjustments in your burning habits to make whatever wood you have last the year. Of course, best to have more than you need....can always use it next year.
Haven’t really been rationing. I’m on the Five year plan right now! I do use the different woods for different heats/longer burns though. Right now still burning uglies and shoulder wood so haven’t got into the good stuff yet. I do keep track of year end amounts which has been 8-10 FACE cord aaaand no propane!
Been thinking about the word 'rationing' here, to me I just don't 'need' to keep a fire 24/7 unless it gets down into the teens or lower for a day or more. I had a fire last night, and when I got home from work today it was 69f, didn't fire it back up this morning before I left...it was 35f outside today, and as some of you know my place is new/well insulated/ and not real big...to me it's why over heat the place and 'waste' wood...as long as I am comfortable I am good and if I can burn less wood and still be comfortable it just puts me that much further ahead with my stash. ...
I spent one March digging throughsnow covered brush piles looking for anything worthy of burning in the house. I hope to never do that again.
As long as you are comfortable, burn as needed! Your house is smaller and well insulated, with any luck you might be able to get away with low slow single load days most of the winter.
40 F or below is the magic number, and until this last week I didn't burn more than a day or two. Of course I'm sitting on 12 cords split and about 9 stacked, plus a huge pile of rounds waiting to be split.
