Hasn't happened yet. I am itching to do so, but the chimney needs to be cleaned first. That and I'm holding off as long as I can so I can stretch out the wood longer. I'm not as far ahead as some of you guys to be burning willy nilly!
Uhh.. end of July I think. Not been a pleasant "summer" around here. Had snow on the cars last morning, what's that tell you? mutters under his breath, wants to scream at times.....
I that's crossed my mind to light the stove but even though our high was 64 yesterday and it dropped down to 40 last night the house still feels comfortable and only cooled off to about 70 last night. If this cold snap keeps going it will be sooner rather than later though lol
Waking this morning to find the house at 62F, in the low 40's outside, pushed me over the edge. A few splits of cherry, a couple handfuls of noodles...
I posted about mine in another thread somewhere, but I don't remember exactly. I'd say about a week ago. Didn't really "need" it, just felt like it and it was cool enough. Put some small pieces of Maple kindling and a couple medium gnarly pine in last night about 11, and went to bed. Just added 4 small pieces of Maple (14" long x about 2" dia.) onto the few coals that remained and it took right off. Our "normal" start time is the last week of Sept., with a few small "take the chill out" fires.
I wasn't sure how the cherry would do at this point. I only CSS it in the spring, though the tree it came from fell over a year ago. It did sizzle just a bit for the first few minutes, but there's nothing visible coming out of the chimney so I'm okay with it. I have drier wood, but it's further from the door...
Usually my first fire is somewhere between October 1 and 10. Closer to the 10th. BUT today I woke up to a house right around 60 and outside temp right at 40. Thought briefly about lighting up but by the time we get back from church the temps should be in the 70s so I think I'll hold off. My son asked me to light a fire because he was cold. I reminded him he was running around in his boxers!
Mine was the 11th. I may have "accidentally" left a few windows open when I popped in for a minute after work so the house was cool when I got home around 7pm. It was a small one, but it was nice to remember how cozy the warm fire is. Plus, there's always a little pyro in me...
I bit the bullet today as well. It was chilly in the house this morning. I didn't use wood.... Well, kinda.. Wood pellets Pressed one button and she was off! About 35 minutes later we shut it down. Went from below 60° to about 70° in that time Happy Wife = Happy Life.
Great thread and poll! This would be nice to keep track of in future years to see the average,especially for new burners. This morning was our first of many more to come.
Been burning a smidgen o' wood every evening since last wednesday. Been getting into the mid 20s at night since labor day. I could wait a lot longer but the spousal until has Reynaulds and we gotta keep things sensable.
Had one fire only. Thought about placing the wood rack on the porch again and filling it but not yet. Will probably get it done sometime this week though.
