My wife does the stove as much or more than I do. I CSS the wood, bring it inside. We both learned on a non cat, Now we have a catalytic so we both followed the book pretty much. Developed ways that works for us. Smoke the house up a few times, pull the smoke/CO detectors, part of learning LOL
Our first stove was a non cat, my wife ran it fine most the time. Better than me as long as she wasn't distracted. She didn't run the stove by herself until we went over it together and I wrote up directions. Our current stove is a cat stove but way easier to run and keep under control than the non cat. She runs it fine most the time even if it's not exactly the way I would do it. 7 years of heating full time with wood she has plenty of opportunity to run the stove. If I'm around she rarely messes with it, she understands I enjoy it much more than her.
winters of 79-80 and 80-81 my honey did 90% of the woodstove duty. I was gone from Tues-Sun every week. I can show ya exactly what kind of response I'd get if I ever told her how to light/maintain a fire... ............
Like others said give him time to get over the "NEW", it ain't rocket science. You will do fine with it, and welcome to our wood burning family. The 74 is a nice stove.
My wife is in the process of learning how to run our stove but then again so am I. She does a fairly good job has a few issues sometimes. She will ask me questions and have me watch so I can help her improve but I love all the help. The view from the couch is just fine for me!!
Thanks everyone for the encouragement! I understand there is a learning curve...I'm a hands on learner and was trying to figure it out on my own ..haha. He is a good teacher though, very thorough and I guess I should just sit still and listen...which can be a challenge for me sometimes..lol. But I can figure this out. I have built a fire in it once but was graded...probably got a D.. Oh well I'm determined and will get it.
Yeah you will get it Hotmama. Trust me Im sitting in my deer stand now and hoping that my wife has a fire going for when I get home, my toes are cold lol.
My wife can build a fire probably better than I can. Or at least as good. I had to give her a little lesson on keeping the stove in the right temp range but other than that she's good. And like others have said, it's nice if I have to be out of the house, or want to sleep in, that the fires going already. She gets up much earlier than I do on weekdays and I have really come to appreciate the fire already going on cold mornings.
(I am not getting in the middle of this) That said, my wife lights the fire sometimes and I've never noticed an issue. Is your husband one of those types who believes that there are two ways to do things: his way and the wrong ways?
My wife, affectionately referred to as "the Norwegian", is apprehensive about starting a fire. She will add wood to an existing fire but starting one is not her thing. She loves the fire but won't start one. That fire starting gene in her heritage must have missed her??? Once I get it going she is one it and the girl scout in her takes over. So, I asked her one time, "didn't you start a fire when you were in girl scouts?" She said no that the leaders always started the fire. so, I guess we need to teach our daughters how to start fires. Me included. Come to think of it, I doubt my daughter has ever started a fire. That will change with tonight's fire.
In this household (and at the cottage) I, myself, do almost all of the building/tending. Not out of necessity, that's for sure. When I met 99, she was a burner, and so was I. One of her favorite lines is "I've been making fires before you were born"! Impossible of course. Her results of building a fire in the old add-on stove we used to have were the same as mine....little if any smoke inside. Now her results of building a fire in the new free standing epa stove at the cottage were also the same as mine. (as opposed to building a fire in the former non-epa stove-that thing was great) We both went through a learning curve. Now when it comes down to outside fire pit fires at the cottage, she will not give up control of that "fire poker" what-so-ever! She would probably be better on this forum than me, come to think of it.......
