sounds like ash and mulberry in your stove under your conditions might be shoulder season wood. Kind of the opposite of what most folks do, but the goal isn't to follow the majority, the goal is to keep comfortable. That low slow will work well for you at some time of year. Horses for courses.
That is why I burn a little bit of lodge pole pine with everything else I throw in the stove. I burn a lot of cottonwood also and it coals up a lot and I just mix in the lodge pole with it and no problems. I also have some ash here that I have seasoned for about 3 years and it burns real good too.
I think it is kind of cool; would love to read about someone's experiences using it. However, I prefer the elegance of simplicity; for me, that means no computers, motors, fans, electricity on my wood stove. Marry the audible clicks of the new Franklin air control with the BK style auto-damper functionality and install it on my Fireview; now that would be a nice tiny fancy little stove!
I read all the marketing scare tactics and thought the same. Maybe if we order now they will give us the second one free...just add separate shipping and handling... The only thing I'd like is the ability to give it more air toward the end of the burn cycle to keep the SST up, say 4-5 hours in. And like bobdog says, to burn some coals down.
I agree, Harvest. The reason I put my stove in was for alternative heat source when the power goes out, or when TEOTWAWKI comes. But then oil doubled in price and I found an add on craigs for 7 CSS cords of wood at a very reasonable price. Then I found this site and wood burning just became a hobby/obsession.
We stoved up in our first year at our first house, Halloween 2011. No power for 5 days an daytime highs in the low 30s. The generator game got old fast (it was borrowed from someone who still had power). I got the stove for heat in emergencies, then oil spiked..... same story as TD....
My own stove is going into my new home before I move in and so far I think it is just for ambiance and power loss emergencies. I have a full cord of wood ready to burn and another cord that will be ready for next year so I should be set for emergencies only. The OAK is installed and so is the chimney and the hearth. The stove itself is out of the way until I am done painting and such. Who needs a stove in the way when you are doing that? I am gaining a desire to do more than just emergency burns so I want to really get ahead on wood but I am not even close to where I want to be yet on cordwood. My new home is very well insulated and uses a geothermal heat pump so heating bills have been fairly low during construction. During last year's extreme winter the bill stayed at around $100 so wood won't ever save me much money but I have really liked wood heat whenever I have experienced it. Living without power would be a real challenge since the well pump would not work but we would stay warm long enough to work out what to do there. Eventually I will have a generator big enough to run that pump and a few other essentials with a changeover switch.
My brother actually found it. Guy switched from wood to coal and this was his own stash. Came with pressure treated stacks and roofing rubber. Lasted me two years and so far this year. I put the whole system in (stove , flue and wood) and heated the house for 2+ years for what it would have cost me to heat with oil in 2013. I got lucky for sure!!!
