Thought it might be fun to do this. Nothing for me yet, but thought I ought to kick it off now for the guys north of here in the upper midwest, New England and Canada.
I typically don't start burning until early October, so I'm a couple weeks out yet. Is supposed to dip into the mid 40's the next 2 nights, but nice sunny days will keep the house from getting cool enough to light up.
And a side topic could be, who's ready and who's NOT ready. :)
Tossed a few blocks in da outdoor boiler about an hour ago. I keep her going 365. :)
I am celebrating the fact it didn't hit 90F the past couple of days.
I don't burn much here until October and then just a quick morning smudge for the first month or so. Not cold in the house yet, stays in the 70's with the sun warming it up enough to go all night. Always warmer upstairs and I keep a bedroom window up all the time until we get hard frosts. That can all change year by year, I've seen winter cold set in here mid October, and the last time was 2007.
As chet, I keep my OWB going 365 too. I just go down in the basement and turn a couple valves to get heat.
Forgot to do it last night.
Not even supposed to get up to 65 today. Was 80 just the other day.
Woke up to a pretty cool cabin this morning. Ma just walked in and said "might need a fire tonight" just burn the parlor stove in the fall. Fire up the boiler first of November, give or take. Got about 6 cord in the sheds. Been clearing paths up in the woods so Ma can get around with her 4 wheeler. Turning that into firewood too. We don't walk very far anymore but she does enjoy a joint in the woods.
First time poster here, have been learning from you guys for a while. Beginning of the second season on a HeatMaster G4000. Long time woodstove burner before that. My first fire is usually mid-November. Have `7 cords split ready to go.
fire_smiley First Fire ??
I will be tied for last place. :D
I heat my domestic water with my Garn so I burn year around. It was 90 degrees here yesterday 68 today and grain harvest is just getting started. We will have a fair amount of AC days here yet. Very dry summer here crops aren't good.
Where are you located?
Night before last was close for me; down to 43° by morning. But sandwiched between 2 nice sunny days in the 70's so the house didn't chill down enough to lite up. Wasn't far off though. :)
Spike60, does cleaning cardboard and paper out of the basement via the woodstove count ;D If so last week! We've had a few chilly nights but no wood burning yet. I got 3 window ac units to pull tomm...after we make 3 more cord of customer wood
Our first fire is usually around the first week in Oct. And yes I'm ready, stove's and pipes are cleaned and in good shape and Ive enough wood that Ill still be selling dry wood in Feb.
Quote from: hedgerow on September 17, 2022, 04:21:27 PM
I heat my domestic water with my Garn so I burn year around. It was 90 degrees here yesterday 68 today and grain harvest is just getting started. We will have a fair amount of AC days here yet. Very dry summer here crops aren't good.
Fill out your profile, and then we might know where "here" (mentioned 3 times) is located. Would make your post more friendly to us readers. tks
Looks like we are gonna have a fire here Wednesday. The heat/misery index is predicted to be 100°.
I don't like to start a fire so I usually wait until I think it's going to stay fairly cold.I try not to let my fire go completely out.Last year started it the first of November and quit mid April.This year who knows.I have been burning up all summer.I'm ready :laugh:
It's not looking all that warm this coming week. Near frost for Monday morning, then cold rain in the 50's the next day. 40F now and rain, almost wet snow weather. :D :D
I have honeybees in the big maple, last time they tried wintering there they didn't make it through the winter, but they landed there too late (September). I think they have been there since July this time.
I caved and built a small smudge this morning with popple and that threw heat for 6 hours. Felt nice to take out the dampness. ;D
gonna be rainy and cool the next couple days. Not cool enough for a fire, but I plan on getting the crockpot going all day tomorrow, that's a sure sign of fall...right?
Burned year round when I had the mill, using Hemlock slabs.
Now shut down in the spring and try to make it to November using either my oil boiler or mini split heat pump when wife gets cold, usually when inside temp reaches 70 degrees
Quote from: beenthere on September 17, 2022, 09:08:57 PM
Fill out your profile, and then we might know where "here" (mentioned 3 times) is located. Would make your post more friendly to us readers. tks
Here is eastern Nebraska. Its 90 plus in eastern Nebraska today.
What kind of crops are you harvesting out your way?
Back to 90+ here again, 100 at the Kansas farm, the heat feels more intense than in the past, this got old a long time ago.
We've had a little break from the heat lately which has been a treat. Can't remember it being so hot and so humid for so long without rain as this year.
As far lighting the stove haven't even thought about it. Put new pipe on it last year so a quick once over and it should be good.
Quote from: newoodguy78 on September 19, 2022, 08:12:09 PM
What kind of crops are you harvesting out your way?
Corn and soybeans. There talking we will probably break a temp record today of 100 for this date. Ran a little corn yesterday still to wet. Yield for corn and beans will be way off. We have had very little rain in the last two months. Its drier this year than 2012 was for us.
I put a smudge on here today, raining and 48F. That was a numbing cold rain on the hands out there bush whack'n. ;D
I have had two so far, when I went to the cabin to load some equipment last weekend 9/10/2022.
It got down to 25 and 30 both nights.
I kept it going hot, my blood has not thickened up yet...
I'm a little jealous and a little not. I don't have any wood heating implement, other than a fireplace that isn't really built for heating things more than the romance level of the house. If I get real cold I'll throw some logs on and sit close as it heats nearby better than LP, but I'd love to have a real woodburning stove, that is, until it's time to prep 5 cords of wood for it. I've got to imagine wood would be significantly less expensive than the LP though.
Dayton is also very dry. I've got a creek that I was mowing next to Sunday and realized it's the driest I've ever seen it. Usually there are a few deep spots with water but it was cracked ground dry.
Quote from: hedgerow on September 20, 2022, 12:13:14 PM
Quote from: newoodguy78 on September 19, 2022, 08:12:09 PM
What kind of crops are you harvesting out your way?
Corn and soybeans. There talking we will probably break a temp record today of 100 for this date. Ran a little corn yesterday still to wet. Yield for corn and beans will be way off. We have had very little rain in the last two months. Its drier this year than 2012 was for us.
Hope it yields better than you think, prices are higher than anticipated,breakdowns are few and the late night meals are delicious.
Been a sucker of a year here glad it's towards the end. Have a safe harvest
Put a match to her tonight. 45° now and supposed to dip down into the 30's tonight. The NWS has issued a frost advisory for my area. Maybe a bit of a stretch for that, but still plenty cold enough for a fire. Don't often have many Sept. fires, but chilly as it is tonight, off she goes. :)
Windy today with a high of 59°. Didn't notice it until I came upstairs but the power was out about 2 1/2 hours sometime during the day. Small branches all over the roads on the way home. Gonna be a good weekend.
Today for me as well, put a fire in the boiler to warm up the floor a bit, 8°c for tonight and tomorrow night and no sun until Sunday due to hurricane Fiona.
Today might be the first day for me. Been avoiding the first fire and cleaning the chimney from last year. But the forecast looks cold and the house is only 62* today. Today might be the day. And unfortunately I only have 2 face cord of wood moved/stacked so far. I've been slacking.
We had power outage for 6 hrs, but no high winds, I doubt even 10 mpg off Fiona out this way. So anyway, I just put on a fire an hour ago, had lunch, time for afternoon nap. Was up at 3:30 am. ;D In the 40's here, might get to 55F. No sun though, but breaking away to the west, can see Mnt Katahdin. The line of clearing is along the Masardis hills in Maine.
I never lost power but there are some outages in my area however there are over 400,000 customers with out power in Nova Scotia and most of PEI from what I read. I will probably be good for a while without a fire if the sun comes out today.
Don't think it broke 50F here yesterday, 30s the past two nights. Should have had a fire but couldn't remember if I cleaned the chimney this spring ??? So we baked cookies instead
Was down to 62 in the house yesterday morning. Turned on the electric heater to warm up things. Headed out now to get a few fire bricks to replace some broken ones in the furnace. Weather guesser says low 30's tonight. I'll light one off tonight .
My first fire yesterday in the kitchen cook stove. I would have had a couple of fires before that but I was waiting for new stove pipe that was being custom made.
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The kitchen and the rest of the house has warmed up nicely.
Keep those fires burning.....Cutter
I have a cook stove too.
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We had 2 fires in it this year.
I use the OWB for hot water, so very easy to turn 2 valves for heat.
My Grandmother had one just like this one.
I love the romance of those stoves!
We turned on the heat (propane) a few days ago. Boo.
Looks very nice 👍
I love those stoves!!! thumbs-up
Built a smudge today, was the coldest day so far. 32F in the morning and 48F this afternoon. Cool wind. ;D It's been a colder stretch than last year this time. Last year never got frost until the end of October. 50 years ago, everyone had an Enterprise wood cook stove in these parts. When they went out of the house, replaced by electric ranges, they moved right into the camps. :D Most of them had warming closets over head, heat the mince meat pie or keep supper warm for the late comers.
We had a enterprise at the camp that was extra wide, it had the copper water tank on the right side. Unfortunately the SS chimney it was hooked up to leaked enough while the camp was not being used for 5 years and rusted out the back pretty bad so we took it out. It took up a lot of real estate and you still needed another wood stove at night or put wood in it every ½ hour in the winter.
We had our first frost last night but haven't needed a fire yet. Started moving the wood up to the house today. 4 loads down, 16 to go for starters.
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That load of wood looks like a good warm one (or several warm ones), no matter how you look at it. 8)
Well we are still a ways out from a fire in the house, but it hit 45 last night and the shop was down to about 50 today. So just to keep the building warmish and not let everything get to cold, I started a one shot fire in the shop, It too a while to get going properly, probably needed to get that chimney pretty warm. Anyway, she took off and now I can see from my desk in the house that it's just over 63° and it's 50° outside. The weather should warm a little in the next few day, but today I wore a jacket and a hoodie at the mill and never thought about taking either off.
Broke down and lit our first fire of the year on Sunday. It was cool and misty in the 50's. We live in the old homeplace with high ceilings etc. The house was chilly and the warmth felt good. We have enjoyed the hot water as well. Will keep it going this week until it warms back up.
Usually my first fire is mid-November. About six weeks early. After installing the G4000 last year it was a pleasure to just go out and build the fire.
33° and frost on the roof this morning. 1st dip into the 30's in fact, and it got there 8:30 last night.
Burning some not-that-good maple I wanted to get through early in the year. Kind of happens every year, doesn't it? There's always some sub-prime wood and/or chunks and odd shapes to use up the first few weeks of the season. Not going to waste it. :)
32° at dawn this morning in Whitingham,VT, but it's gonna be a pretty day. It will be cool, but it appears a imay get some saw time in that I had not planned on. Guess it s a good thing I forgot to take me saws and stuff out of the truck before the trip. :D
No fire yet but made a pile of nice dry kindling to get started with 8).
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Heading to the woods this morning to make more for next year. ;D
31F this morning, got a fire on to. 78F feels nicer than 65F. :)
I fired up the Kerosene heater on Saturday and Sunday. It got chilly out there when I was sitting looking at nature and enjoying some beverages, so I dragged that thing in and fired it up. Also flipped the switch to turn the ceiling fan backwards.
The shop is half insulated in the open cathedral ceiling. The weather is about agreeable for me to climb up there and finish it off, which I'm dreading.
Still no fire here, Im using my mini split heat pump to heat the main floor and the oil boiler for the basement as Linda spends a lot of time there.
Grandson got the last of my years firewood stacked both by the furnace (4 std cords) and an additional 6 in the woodshed in the rear of my shop.
I've actually had a couple of small fires in the stove this past week in the evenings, more for the ambience than actually needing the heat. It's been an amazingly warm and dry and sunny October for us in the PNW this year. The dog is VERY into me firing up the Jotul, though... lol...
And yes, totally ready for this winter's heating season. Three cords dry and in the shed, plus another couple of face cords in the pasture while I get the last dry windy weather on it.
Plus a pretty decent pile of "too long" pieces that I can use in a fire ring outside.
Next year's wood is all lined up with a massive maple that some tweaker cut down at the rental next door and then abandoned, and the owner said I could have it.
Plus, I just bought the local firewood business, too, so... lots of firewood in my life now... lol
Quote from: Spike60 on October 09, 2022, 06:45:04 AM
Burning some not-that-good maple I wanted to get through early in the year. Kind of happens every year, doesn't it? There's always some sub-prime wood and/or chunks and odd shapes to use up the first few weeks of the season. Not going to waste it. :)
I'm also starting my season with all the "too short to sell or stack neatly" chunks, too... I tried to position most of my nice dry wild cherry in the "december-February" part of the stack... lol... Hopefully I got it right.
I threw a small load of wood in the basement and lit a fire for the first time on Sunday. Also burning some soft maple that I didn't get stacked yet.
High 20s in the morning.First fire today.
We broke an all time low for Oct. 19th with 30° this morning but it warmed up to 60° this afternoon, so no flicker here yet. It's forecast to get into the low 80°s next week.
I am seeing some low 20°s for next week in Colorado when we get there. :snowball:
MM, what elevations will you be hunting at out there?
Forecast tonight is for the mid 30's as a low, nothing really worth worrying about yet and my wood supply is low. I only have about 5 of the 8 cards I need for the season put up. But I just bit the bullet and put a brand new stove in the shop and am anxious to learn the control system. I am burning it to see how it performs and I can watch the shop temp from in the house now. Trying to find that sweet spot for the damper control. So far I have learned it is very sensitive and takes a lot of time to settle in, seems like an hour or so. I have to build some trust with this thing before I can set it and leave it for a while, or sleep through the night. So these are just test burns. Not using much wood at all and it's hard to figure in these mild temps. 41° outside and 64 in the shop right now. The humidity is 80% outside and 53% in the shop (46% in the house for reference), so I'm happy with that. But with the mild temps I have yet to really fill this stove. That would be overkill and I would have to choke the air intake way down and burn a messy fire. Got to wait until it gets colder for that. Mostly just burning castoff chunks and junk from the splitter.
My shop is a funny thing. If I just keep some fires going to keep the thermal mass temp reasonable and the humidity at bay (mid to low 50's), it's pretty easy to bring it up for working temps and lower moisture. If I don't heat for several days or longer, it can take many days, even a week, to get things stable. So I have to keep at it, might as well start early.
Us retired guys, (I'm almost there), should have all our wood done by now, shouldn't we?
That's quite a long time to stabilze the workshop. And I'm guessing the humidity is the bigger villain than the temp. I've always found that my stove does fine maintaining the whole house, but bringing it back up to temp takes a long time if I've let the stove go out. When that happens, I "turn the knob" and let the oil burner speed things up. It's the thermal mass deal just like you said, as everything in the house has to be warmed up. Walls, furniture, all of it.
Your learning curve with the new stove may take half the season, as the parameters will no doubt change when we get into the real cold weather.
I just light'r up and let'r rip. The thermometer controls the damper, I just feed the stove. ;D Got ten cords dry and stored, working on the next ten for 2023.
Keep warm. :)
I broke down and had my first fire last night. We dropped to 30* last couple of nights so the upstairs was a bit chilly. Just a small fire as it should warm back up to the mid 60s during the day. It was a real treat and we even ate dinner in the basement to enjoy it!! Hope all are warm, Brian
Quote from: Old Greenhorn on October 19, 2022, 10:25:06 PMMM, what elevations will you be hunting at out there?
"South Park" where we will camp is 9,953'. The forecast for our first morning is 17°. The coldest that we have ever had was 8°.
That's an area I have not yet been to. Isn't that near Fairplay? Working from memory, both are SW of Denver? Pretty country with very changeable weather through a single day cycle. Could be 17 at night and 55 or more during the day.
Pretty country. I miss it, but have not been back since my Brother passed. He lived a little north of Denver and worked all over the state since the 60's.
Have a great trip!
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Fireplace looks good.
We will be using ours this winter.
Someone in my 'hood is heating with wood and man do I love the smell!
Early October I started firing up the Timber Ridge/ Englander inside stove on cold mornings here and there and have kept a few overnight fires going the last couple weeks as well.
Besides a pre-season test fire, I still have not used the outdoor forced air unit yet this fall.
I lit a flicker in the fireplace insert yesterday that looks like will be sorta continuous for at least the next week.
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Near or slightly below freezing at night and only the 40's & 50's daytime. Burrrrrr !!
We have had the insert burning since Sunday. Lows have been upper 20's and lower 30's. Last night the basement was 86* and the upstairs held 68* all night! 8) We have not turned the "real" heat on yet but I expect that to change tomorrow as a cold front come through.
Good looking stove ya got there MM! Stay warm, Brian
I haven't had any fires over night here either. You couldn't stand it 85 or 90 degrees. :D I mostly have fires in the morning and maybe a nudge mid afternoon if it's overcast. If the sun is out just a morning fire or it would be 85F in here.
I meant to put an entry in here for posterity but forgot. I cleaned and fired up[ the house woodstove on Saturday 11/19 this year. Some days regular burn, other days either a small maintaining fire or let it die with the temps up and down.
The shop stove I began burning about a month earlier because it's brand new and the shop is damp and cooler. That stove is doing great so far and usually when I get up in the morning it is between 52 and 62 degrees out there, making it quick work to get it up around 60. Some afternoons I have had it up to 70+ when I wasn't looking. ;D