Burning wood

sonocativo

sonocativo

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A few days before surgery I got the wood stove hooked up, started with a small fire and gradually built it up til I was comfortable with it.
My furnace hasnt ran in over a week now, keeping the house at a comfortable 72 degree. The other night ( night of surgery) I stuffed the stove trying for an all night burn, well that got a little hairy! The house temp got up to 78 degrees, walls, floors were hot, a little too hot for my comfort so I shut the dampers and let it die down, Ill never do that again, just a few logs every 4 hours. Next year Im trying for the wood burning furnace, will be a safer alternative all the way around.

Cant forget my little helper , helping me move the wood into the shed the day before surgery to keep it dry.
 

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When I lived on the mountain and only had a wood stove I did all my cooking on and in it. I baked potatoes by wrapping them in tin foil and they came out good. I cooked my eyes on the top in a frying pan. I had not power so I could not buy and food that would spoil . I really liked having wood stove.
You did a good job hooking it up.
 
I have had my house at 83 degrees, boy! It was very hot, opened windows for a while... lol
not to worry about it. I usually maintain my house 74 to 78 degrees. You need to get your house at 180 degrees before they start to burn down. I have maintained my "stove room" in 90's drgrees, and I do close damper when that room gets too hot, that way I keep the heat going like energizer bunny. I also have set alarm to 125 degrees, that is when I will get concerned, I havent gone that far yet so its good. Record was 120.
It DOES help cut the heating bills.
 
Nice.. but unfortunately for some of the California counties banned burning woods on Spare the Air Days during freezing nights/mornings.

Recommended No Burn Days
 
Nice pictures and stove. Is that a hatch behind the stove in the first picture?
 
You could get one of the fire proof hearth pads to put the stove on. I want to get a stove installed for next year. All the scraps from work would keep me warm all winter!
 
very nice! I too heat with wood -- but my house is so big and has rooms so far off the side, I use stove as supplemental heat during the winter but heats house fine in fall and spring by itself. Your kind of stove is more like my folks and you cant exactly stuff it. But you can add only certain woods at night before going to bed and certain size. Larger pieces burns longer as there is less surface area to burn. I like burning walnut, hickory,elm, locust burns nice all night. If you burn ash at night, I would only burn it when its freshly cut like within a month or so. ash burns hot once its fully engulfed with fire. Save your maples, etc during the day as it burns cooler then the wood I mentioned earlier and last longer during the day but can bring up heat quick if needed by adding more. If someone offers me free softwoods like pine, cottonwood (aka poplar), willow, etc I only burn them in fall and spring so I can bring temps up in the house and let it die out as needed, otherwise its a waste of time to cut them up in terms of time and gas/diesel.
 
Reba said:
Nice pictures and stove. Is that a hatch behind the stove in the first picture?
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Reba, that is the access to my basement stairs. Really odd setup, I plan to change it around since there is no head room at the bottom landing, where going the opposite way would go all the way to the floor leaving plenty of headroom. I am also installing blck wroght iron railings around the opening since it wont burn and adds safety to people walking over that way.

Originlly I was going to add plywood and glue flooring to it and make it hidden, but its not really practical, potentals yes, practical no...lol
 
radioman said:
very nice! I too heat with wood -- but my house is so big and has rooms so far off the side, I use stove as supplemental heat during the winter but heats house fine in fall and spring by itself. Your kind of stove is more like my folks and you cant exactly stuff it. But you can add only certain woods at night before going to bed and certain size. Larger pieces burns longer as there is less surface area to burn. I like burning walnut, hickory,elm, locust burns nice all night. If you burn ash at night, I would only burn it when its freshly cut like within a month or so. ash burns hot once its fully engulfed with fire. Save your maples, etc during the day as it burns cooler then the wood I mentioned earlier and last longer during the day but can bring up heat quick if needed by adding more. If someone offers me free softwoods like pine, cottonwood (aka poplar), willow, etc I only burn them in fall and spring so I can bring temps up in the house and let it die out as needed, otherwise its a waste of time to cut them up in terms of time and gas/diesel.
Click to expand...
Im basically burning Walnut and Oak, there is a few soft wood trees in there ( steel magnolia, persimmins, and whatever else) At night I rake the embers down, throw on 2 or 4 small oak logs ( 3 to 4" diameter ) then i will throw a large split oak half or quarter on top, the fire and heat will usually last til 2am so maybe 4 hours of furnace running if I dont get up early???
I love the smell after opening the burner and stoking it, just that little bit of smoke that escapes....ahhhhhhh lol
 
sonocativo said:
Im basically burning Walnut and Oak, there is a few soft wood trees in there ( steel magnolia, persimmins, and whatever else) At night I rake the embers down, throw on 2 or 4 small oak logs ( 3 to 4" diameter ) then i will throw a large split oak half or quarter on top, the fire and heat will usually last til 2am so maybe 4 hours of furnace running if I dont get up early???
I love the smell after opening the burner and stoking it, just that little bit of smoke that escapes....ahhhhhhh lol
Click to expand...

LOL! You're getting high on the wood stove smoke. How often do you clean your stove out?

http://naturallybubbly.com/1050/how-to-clean-a-wood-burning-stove/
 
I clean the inside of the glass window using damp paper towels dipped into the white ashes. I repeat dipping into the ashes until the glass is clean. It requires some elbow grease. Last, I give the glass a final wipe down with a clean damp paper towel.
 
do you close down the air vents and damper on close at night? is the gasket on the door in good shape?
 
radioman said:
do you close down the air vents and damper on close at night? is the gasket on the door in good shape?
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I close the 2 front dampers down but not completely ( paper thin gap) and the damper in the stack at 1/4 open, it gives a long slow burn with a small fire, not roaring, and keeps the house at a constant 72 degrees. doors interlock, no gaskets but I can install a 1/4" rope gasket to make air tight if I want...
 
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