Warmest you burn?

I live in a more moderate/humid climate (Ozarks) and it has been in the mid to upper 60’s here with high humidity. I found my stove does not like to start and run if it is above 50 outside. Once going I need to keep it fully open for a long time. Once got it does ok. Granted my wood supply isn’t as dry as I would have hoped but I noticed a huge change with same wood from the 30’s we had the other week.

With that I have been relying more on the LP furnace the last few days. Do you have a temp cutoff or just burn regardless and deal with the less than ideal burn?

 

If I feel cold, I light a fire.

 

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We like it to be 70 inside. If it gets much higher than that, on a day in the 40's, then we're bringing in fresh air with ano open window or two.

If it's cool enough to want the furnace to come on, then it's cold enough for a fire.

 

It’s 50 here this morning and rain. I just started a small fire. I was sure I was going to have a little trouble getting the chimney to draft but I didn’t. I’m not sure what kind of set up you have but my basement stove drafts different when it’s above 35 or so. That may be what your dealing with. As far as a temp to stop burning, we don’t have one. When it becomes a hassle I stop burning.

 

I’m with everyone else.... if it’s cool in the house, I start a fire... what I do different than some is that I’ll light a paper shopping bag full of bone dry sticks that I collected from around the yard... it lights quickly, burns hot and is down to coals in 15-20 minutes.. then the stove just radiates that heat for an hour or so... if the temp doesn’t stay up, I’ll repeat the process or consider adding some shoulder season wood...

 

mine seams to be that way to when it goes out and we restart on warmer days. I can tell you I never really have a problem when we get a nice bed of wood coals in the back of stove . But it also could be your not getting a good draft maybe on a high pressure day. You ever try cracking a window or door nearby till it gets going or just for a few moments to create a draft.

 

I had a downdraft one day last week when it was in the 40's and cloudy. We were away and fire was out for two days.
I lit the fire then quickly pulled the cap off the cleanout and put the torch in to keep the room from getting smoke filled.

 

Yes, the weather makes a huge difference.
When it's 40-50's there's not much draft and the fire will just lug along slowly. When it's 20-30's we get a nice quick fire going no problem. In single digits-teens we get a rip roaring blaze that seems like it's almost too hot (sometimes an extra 100° STT), but the house needs the extra BTU's to replace what the cold and wind is pulling out of the house.
The draft is always set at the same mark and the stove and varying draft seem to just do their thing .

As far as your wood not being dry enough...that just compounds all the other problems.
The Three Year Plan will cure that.

50 degrees is about my cut off point for a fire, but, like others have mentioned, if i feel chilly or damp, it's fire time.

 

Sometimes a little bit taller chimney helps with slow draft in warm weather.

No specific temp as solar gain, humidity and wind also play roles in the 'feels like' temp inside and out.
But 50ºF outside is aroundabout where judgement calls start being made on whether to throw another load of pine / go with red maple / just let the fire go out in the morning. Sometimes late in the afternoon again.

We'll sip a little fuel oil on warmer days and not bother with the fire. It doesn't take much fuel when it is warm out.


If you don't have a good wood supply then use the LP when it makes sense to and ease of use comes into play.
and plug away on getting a healthy wood supply.

 

It's 48° outside now.

I'm reloading the stove shortly... T stat at 67 furnace just clicked on.. that tells me enough.

I'll use a home made firestarter if there's not much coals. Otherwise I'll throw in some newspaper to get a good draft.

 

Don’t have much of a negative pressure issue right now. I do have a window cracked in the living room. Don’t have any exhaust (other than dryer) hooked up right now either. Also have a small pipe in the return cabinet open to the outside. Once I finish HVAC and exhausts I will hook stove up to an outside air pipe just to make sure.

I use a torch to get draft started. Usually don’t have any problem with draft anyways because of how my house is designed. I just don’t have a strong draft on these warm humid days unless I have the fire hot. Then I go through the wood very quickly.

I am working on the 3-5 year plan with wood but going much slower than planned on stacking. Burned more than I was expecting last season and at the beginning of this season. I love burning just not the stacking. Wish I could just pay a couple of kids to come and help me catch up but it doesn’t seem anyone around want to process firewood.

 

If it is cold inside, I burn.

But lighting a fire in the 50s (temperature, not age!) can be a challenge, and I usually get some smoke in the house, no matter what I do.

 

snaple4 talk to some of the local boy and girl scout leaders. When I went on o2 Chaz talked to a coworker who was a scout leader. Turns out we hired his 13 yr old daughter who is great. But they know which are workers and give you contact info.

 

I burn until the weather dictates I stop. If I feel cold, I'll light the stove. I've had fires in the first week of June before.

 

I'm in the Ozarks also, and I burn whenever I want the house warmer. Luckily I have plenty of wood and I like seeing the fire.
It has been unseasonably warm here, but that's a good thing. I'd rather have unseasonably warm than freezing rain, snow and sleet.

 

Same on preference of weather. It was upper 60’s with light rain and a family member was complaining about the dreary weather. I pointed out the fact that we are at the end of December and this is amazing weather. They thought for a second then realized we could be in the single digits and sleet this time of year.

As far as being cold, my house is solid concrete so it takes time for the temp to change. I can keep the house in the mid to upper 60’s no problem but we like low 70’s. Because of all the mass it can be a challenge maintaining a certain range with a wood stove. I will have the Living room up to 80 but the rest of the house takes forever to see the warmth. There has been several 60’ days that I wanted a fire but didn’t feel it was worth the trouble unless it was dropping the next day.

 

I can say that I liked stacking a lot less before than I do now... I had to learn how to do it in a way that worked well for me... haven’t had a stack fall down in 3 years and I think knowing that my stacks are level, plumb and reinforced reduces the anxiety that a stack will fall over and I’ll be out in the weather restacking and trying to keep the wood dry. I think that I would enjoy stacking even more if I had a wood shed like bogydave or Dstrick because I wouldn’t have to set aside the right pieces to crib the ends of the stacks... it would be certainly easier to just grab whichever piece was next off the splitter and throw it in the woodshed... unlike Backwoods Savage , right now I don’t mind bending over for some wood, but I’m sure as I age, I will be adding a pair of those log tongs to my arsenal.