There are times when I had outside work in that cold, I usually hate temps of 80 degrees from the wood stove but after cold temps like those, I can stand it for about an hour. For an inside temp in the winter I like 68 or 70 tops but the wife likes it warmer, usually the stove room is hers in the winter, mine in the summer. We have added higher btu wood over the past four years so things should be warmer when we're burning beech and some ironwood when the coldest weather hits. Speaking of having long winters, your area last year seemed to have a long winter, it might be normal but you had that wet heavy snow for what seemed like late spring.
Not ready, Not ready, Not ready! Cooler nights sooner than I expected, wet summer so spiders are crazy this year, Arachnaphobia!
Hey we did the same thing! Ash score starting in the next week or two, netting 4+cord. We pulled 5 cord up to the house....which is early for us too....maybe the diatomaceous earth will keep buggies at bey.... But now my easiest street access stacks are wide open. And, we have most of our wood up here now.
Cash, good conversation topic.. Here I cleaned the chimney in June. I hate the idea of finding necessary repairs too close to heating season. We made a couple hundred fire starters....enough for this Fall and Spring. There is Kindling on hand from last year if needed. I might cement a few cracked fire-bricks, and should take the top of the stove off to look everything over (baffle, ceramic insulation) and to give the afterburners a quick brush down. No worries if those don't happen though. We have a litle more stocking of wood up at the house to do, id like to find a space for a cord and change, we have 5 up here, we need 6, maybe closer to 7 if I can find room to stack it up here. I'd imagine we'll have morning and evening fires as soon as the days are too cool to be comfortable without a fire.....with the nights being cooler than the days. I don't have a date not to have a fire until. As long as the furnace doesn't run, we'll be happy. And, we like the heat and comfort of the fire. Other than that, yeah, we're ready. If things get cold and snowy fast, Ill bring an extra cord or so up, and cover it with a tarp if needed. Weve had a blessedly dry and sunny summer...everything from the last few years hoarding is finally drying out. I have a good tree job coming, if it stays warm and dry for a couple months, that ash will be seasoned quick too.
First fire usually about Oct 15-25, by Halloween it's game on. Got lots of wood, some still needs split. Any fall cutting will be for my best friends elderly parents. It's been 90-100F here almost everyday for the last month, so burning the woodstove is not on my mind.
Weekend fire pits in VT lately. Looks like New England is in for some above average temps from now to Labor Day. So it’s probably AC for the foreseeable future!
How much wood and pellets you go through a winter? Wife told me we had our first fire last year on Sept. 18th. Funny she knows that considering she wasn't thrilled with getting a woodstove when I said about it. My, my how things change.
Ha ha. So true. We went through 240 bags during burn season last winter. I’d say 200-250 is our average, depending on how hard the winter is. Roughly a bag a day. This will be the first full winter with our new Harman P43. It’s definitely more efficient than our last one. Hopefully our count will be down a bit this winter.
I'm ready, but I'm always ready. The weather on the other hand........it has a way tk go before it's ready for me to start a fire. I'm still running the AC and our overnights are just now dipping into the 50s.
Did do a little getting ready I guess that I never mentioned. Worked on Black Betty (89 F150) for those not familiar with the old girl. Trans pan was leaking so changed the filter and fluid, has a slight old leak but ain't getting that deep into the old girl so changed the oil and put some Lucas in with it. Gave her a tune up and hope she's ready for hauling.
I'm not even close to ready, braking my wrist 3 months ago put me so far behind it looks like I'm ahead But I won't fire up the OWB tell mid October hopefully.
I broke my wrist 3/3/22. I also missed the spring wooding season. But, being on the 3(4)yr plan, I worried not about having wood to burn 22-23. I'm back to working in the woodyard, and it feels good to do so.
I have been without my wrist brace now for about a week and a half... It is so nice to have nothing casted or strapped on to my wrist
I did not need surgery, fortunately. Work that wrist. Go to physical therapy and perform the exercises at home. I'd say my wrist is 95% of what it was. I'm grateful for that.
Redneckchevy MikeInMa Glad you guys are healing up! I broke my arm a few years ago, longboarding. I was in a cast for 8 weeks. It suuuuuuucked. I’m not the type that likes to slow down. I have to be on the move. It’s just how I’m wired. I feel your pain, fellas. But I’ve been 100% for a long time since. It’s amazing how the body heals.
That’s a LOTTT of pellets my dude! What pellets are you running? I picked up a pallet of Westerns from Big R but either my pellet stove sucks or the fuels sucks or both.
It is a lot. But up until February of last year, I was heating a large area with a Quadra Fire pellet stove that was undersized. I had to leave the burn rate on high all the time to even halfway maintain a decent temp downstairs. Sometimes that meant 2 bags of pellets a day. The new Harmon is much more efficient. I leave it on the lowest burn setting and I’ve noticed that there are days where I don’t even burn a half a bag of pellets. The lowest burn setting will keep the whole downstairs at about 73 degrees on the coldest of days. It will be interesting to see how many bags I burn this year with the Harman. I’m going to bet that it will be around half of what I burned last year. I burn Heartland pellets. I buy them by the long ton at Moore Lumber. They burn hot af. I’ve burned the westerns in the past. They suck. Rocky Mountain pellets also suck. The Heartlands are a bit more pricey, but you get way more bang for your buck. They are a really nice blonde pellet. They don’t have a bunch of bark and God knows what in them like other cheaper pellets. You will notice a difference immediately upon opening the bag. Let alone burning them.
