So frustrated I could scream

Reloaded my stove last night at 8:30 and all was good came down at 3:30 to let the dog out the back of the house and everything was still good stove room was 76 degrees and the rest of the house was toasty warm.

Got up at 5:30 and immediately thought to myself how did the house get cold so quick. Came downstairs and our front door was standing wide open the house temp was 38 degrees downstairs and everything is ice cold in the house. I don't know if I will be able to get this place warm again..... Talk about an epic failure!

I have no idea how the door came open as its still locked and we never I mean never use that door. Dang it I am frustrated

 

I watch those supernatural type shows on tv, maybe you are not alone there? How is your Karma these days?

 

Bummer. Some things just cant be explained.

 

Apparently horrible, never had trouble withe the door staying closed before either. Watched my wife check all the doors to make sure they were locked before going to bed and they were still all locked this morning. I shut it and pulled as hard as I could and couldn't get it to pop open so I have no idea how it happened....... What were the chances it would happen on a night where it's -6 outside? Maybe I should go play the lottery

 

Yeah the floors are so cold you can't stand to walk on them without shoes. This is the first time ever that I wished I had some form of backup heat to turn on and get the temps back up.

 

One word; deadbolt. This happens often. Winds and temperature changes exploit poor door hardware. Shrinking, heaving etc. Deadbolts don't let go, ever. I trade locksmith services for deer hunting access!

 

Small splits and run it hard. Maybe start the oven too. You probably are already doing that. BURR

 

My nephew watched the house/dogs for us @ Christmas, and I came home about 6 p.m. that day to find the back door wide open.
Good thing it was locked.
Last he had been here was about noon, so 6-ish hours of nice cold air sneaking in. I made a storm door a couple years ago that was mostly closed, so that helped, but man was I ticked.
I had to remind myself that I've also done some a lot of goofy things, and he doesn't know all the quirks around this place.
Life goes on certified. Let it go and focus on what you can do about it, if anything.
Here's something to ponder:
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Oh, and put some socks on.

 

3am when you let the dog out. Maybe some visual reminder will help that from happening again. Like having something like a weighted item that you slide in front of the door every night, or something like a door chain.
Hope you are getting your temps back up.

 

You could always plug in a heat alarm on the same floor, something simple just in case

 

Yeah I am over it at this point...... I had the stove setup so perfectly last night though that it wasn't funny. On a positive note had the door not been open the temps would most likely have held a nice 76 degrees in the house and my time between reloads would have been about 10 hours and the coal bed was perfect this monring! Also I have started to figure out how to set this thing up to not coal so much and it seems to be working so far. Probably going to be hard to do it now though since I am running her as hard as I can.

Yeah I am making plans to install a dead bolt on that door as soon as it warms back up....... I am not going to repeat that situation again if I can help it.! Like I said though the weird thing is I watched my wife check the door like she does every night and it was locked. I am wondering if one of my daughters opened it for some reason and we didn't' know about it. I never said a word to them though it's all water under the bridge at this point

 

Well I have been running the stove hard since 5:30 and have the ambient back up to 71 in the stove room and 61 in other portions of the house. Apparently this stove is much more of a beast than I was giving it credit for. I am running it harder than I probably ever have though and have been sustaining flue temps on the probe of 650-750, the floors are still freezing though.

Thank goodness it has warmed up to -5 with a -28 windchill outside so I am sure that is helping

 

Heatwaves like that make all the difference.

 

Two words: slip pers.

 

My shop door popped open the other night, but the sidewalk heaved and now I can't shut it. Had to screw it shut from the inside and use the overhead door.

 

About a week ago we came home from being away for three days and there was a strong kerosene/diesel/heating oil smell right by my front door. I went through the entire house trying to find out where it was coming from. We don't keep anything like that in our house. I never did track down the source of it. It was gone the next morning and never smelled it again, but talk about making you paranoid! It smelled like someone who heats with a bad kerosene heater had been standing there right before we walked in. And I'm still not convinced that wasn't the case, but I found no signs of entry and nothing missing.

 

Sorry for the rant this morning but you guys are way cheaper than a psychiatrist
My wife says the living room is now up to 71 with an outside air temp of -2 degrees. I was afraid I didn't have enough horsepower in the stove to overcome the heat loss and get the house temp back up but apparently I did.

 

That was a rant?
Hmm. Seems to me you were merely venting a bit.
Just glad no one froze and no pipes burst.

 

Here is what it looked like after burning a load of hickory in 51/2 hours. This is with the coals pulled forward and it took about an hour to burn them down and reload.