Colder here. What's your temp? What ya burnin?

Weather here is all over the board. Was 30 yesterday morning....low tomorrow night is 50. High of 62 today and high of 49 Thursday. I can't get into any kind of burning routine.

50's/30's is where I really struggle heating with wood...either too hot or too cold in the house depending on whether or not a fire is lit. Right now it is too warm to have a fire and too cold not to have a fire.

 

Forgot to mention it was 30 this a.m., and plenty of Maple coals left to reastart. 67 in the house too.
However, I had 8-9 splits in the stove last night @ 11-ish.

 

35 this morning. 2 medium-large splits of lodgepole in the stove last night, intake closed, woke up too warm at 2:00. Plenty of coals this morning for the restart. Snow forecast for next week.

 

Oh I know, things are better this year than last because I've got a supply of decently dry wood and am using a fan to help with circulation. It's great to be able to build (or build up) a fire quickly and predictably because the fuel is so much better. Even so, most of the house is a little cool for my taste, even though I like it cool.

I have no problem keeping the stove temps up, but less of that heat than I'd hope seems to get kicked out into the room. I still need to improve the insulation around the insert behind the surround because the old firebox around the insert is steel and vented through the chimney to the sky, so it's unusually capable of soaking up heat that escapes the air jacket. I suspect my arrangement's currently-disappointing performance can mostly be chalked up to that, along with the lackluster attic insulation. The windows in my house are already pretty decent. I suspect the thing to do is make some changes and see what happens.

 

26 last night 3/4 load of sass at 2230, house at 74 f and stove at 380 f at 0630

 

Wow, 380F after 8 hours is pretty good, especially on sassafras. I take it this is a cat stove?

 

Negative. Hampton HI300. With temps in the 30s I easily get 10 hours of useable heat. Gotten up to 14 hours with the fan still blowing and easy relight. Heating about 1200 sq ft, 15ft chimney. Haven't burned a load of oak yet as thats stacked for next winter

 

Impressive.

 

We've had a few frosty mornings w/highs in the low to mid 50s. Been burning shoulder season stuff along w/a few oak uglies in the evenings and overnight to keep it nice and toasty in the house at 75-77deg. My modus operandi during the winter is to be in shorts/t-shirt when I'm inside.

 

30° last night, 36° now (burning birch)
To be in the 20s starting Tuesday night. (will burn birch)

Was burning birch last month
Was burning birch last week
Am burning birch this week
Am burning birch today
Will be burning birch next week
Will be burning birch next Month

 

Sounds like "life's a birch" Dave...

 

I have a birch'n woodshed & stack

 

I'm curious where stove temps peak for you guys.
I can get a decent 8hr. burn (at least), but after an hour or so into the burn, it can get too warm because the stove runs too hot. Not overfire too hot, just too hot for needs.

 

I see what you guys did there.

 

20's @ night 30's daytime. Soft maple and some blow down pine branches from last winters ice capades. I'm like Blue2econdaries re temp. So far so good

 

I have the same problem, by the time I get the secondaries to fire, it's time to knock down a wall. And, of course, once it gets to that point you can't just turn it off. I've given up, I've got an EPA smoke dragon.

 

36 overnight and I think it hit 62 today - burning a bag of sweetgum then a few splits of red oak before bed - 74 in here this morning and a small reload to keep the house warm until the sun came over the mountain. Getting ready to light off again soon love running around in my skivies

 

Wouldn't it be nice if someone came up with a big firebox stove that you could load full every time and forget about it whether it was October or January? Maybe one that you didn't even bother keeping a thermometer on?