How many have had their first fires of the season?

Finally gave in and set the first fire last night. Felt good and will probably set a small one tonight.

 

Same here, supposed to blow hard tonight. Looks like indoor will be balmy with chances of breezes.

 

I just started another one for overnight too. It's only going down to 40° but it only went up to 60° today so there wasn't a lot of warming on the brick. When it's sunny and in the 70's, those bricks (on the house) soak up a lot of heat during the day. Then they release it at night. A high of 60° isn't quite warm enough to keep the house warm all night.

 

Built my first last night too-low was 35 last night,37 tonight-used my new rod and ball with highly serated string trimmer line, did great w the DeWalt spinning from top down, just black soot, no gummy creosote-prob let go out after tonight and clean again but the Fireview is rocking in WV...3 yo oak last night, 2yo ash tonight...Hope this finds all well and warm

 

Its hanging just above freezing here tonight with 100km/hr (60mph) gusts and off and on rain. Its supposed to be nicer on the weekend, so we're heading out to grab more sticks for the wood stash. For now, Im just staying nice and toasty in the basement.

 

Looking toasty. What's in the .50cal can? Starters?

 

Not yet. Probably could have a few times but my gas stove in the basement can keep the chill out of the house for now. I'm hoping to wait til Nov to start my burning season.

 

That's my ash can. It just fits under the lip of the stove....metal....air tight.....locking lid that you can drop off a truck and it won't pop open. They pretty much make the perfect ash can.

 

Well Dennis, we finally lit up this evening. Wife and I were out for our anniversary diner and my son txt'd asking if he could start a fire. He woke up cold this morning and wanted to take the "edge" off! Wait... isn't this the job of our significant others?!?!

 

As long as the days are 55+ and sunny I'll stay on 'pane .
Looks like end of next week that will change !
I'll prep the great room where my shoulder stove is this weekend .
Looking forward to some bone warming heat.This has to be the latest I've had the first fire. Ever!

 

Just installed my stove last Saturday, and could not wait to light it!!!

 

Do you think you will have to open the door and blow in outside air again?

 

Windows still open here

 

Nah but I opened some doors that were for cold rooms. Its just cozy tonight.

 

I have been burning a little.

My home is odd, I guess because of all the wood, but it takes a few days to warm up. Oh sure the stove will heat the room, but as soon as the fire dies out, cold settles in, or a least for the first few days. I have lit enough fires now so that the house is kind of warm, at least warm enough so that it is not super chilly if the fire goes out. As soon as a fire is kindled, the room temperature goes right up.

I am not sure if this is how it works, but I think after a few days that wood stops absorbing that heat and starts to radiate back out. In other words it is warmed up so the stove is not working to heat both the air in the room, and the wood itself.

The weather forecasters said yesterday was going to be really warm, and it was, but they forgot to mention that the wind was going to blow us right off this hill. It was nice having a fire going.

 

The wall of a log home will radiate cold into the room until the thermal mass of the logs equalize the difference between air and wall temperature. Same holds true when the fire goes out, the wall will radiate heat into the interior until the air temp and log temp equalize. My home has 10 inch logs, and it take 48-72 hours for that process, depending on temp of those logs.

 

Mine is a timber frame, but has plenty of wood in it. I am not implying it has as much as a log home, but it has a little more mass then what I suspect a normal home would have. (Wood ceiling and Floors and is super insulated).

One thing I heard was that log homes get nasty reputations for being "cold" due to their low R-factor which is something like 1.7 R per inch of log thickness, but that thermal mass is not really factored in.

This is kind of opposite with underground homes. They too have thermal mass, but the constant temperature (in Maine anyway) is 57 degrees. While it is warmer than -20 outside on a February day here, it is still cooler than what the human body considers "warm". I do plan on building an underground home at some point though for the wife and I. More of a retirement home once the kids are older and let one of them have this behemoth.

It is interesting to note that I have never seen my home ever go below 57 degrees. It might be because of its slab-on-grade and super insulation. With some passive solar gain, all things combined it does not get that cold considering. I also noted when I was running just my propane, 100% radiant heating system; during power outages my home lost 1 degree per day. At that rate it would take 38 days to reach pipe freezing temperatures (roughly), and that is assuming it would drop below 57 degrees. However, in fall, my propane boiler runs steady for 3 days to heat the slab from 57 degrees to 70 degrees. There is no such thing as a free ride. A btu is a btu is a btu.