We Have a New Wood Burning Stove

[MossRoad]

But hey! I saved a buck on gas heat that night!!!

 

[escavader]

But hey! I saved a buck on gas heat that night!!!

YEah ,but I bet your wife chewed you a new butt[if shes anything like mine anyhow]

 

[MossRoad]

Nope. My woman loves me, even with my faults.

 

[3RRL]

Hi Moss,
We've been using our new stove too since temps dipped back into the high 30's/low 40's this week. It's kept the home between 65 to 69F which is pretty comfortable for us. I'm still learning, but I got the stove to run all night where it's just ready for a couple more logs in the early morning.
I'm now working on a firewood bin to keep on the deck outside. After that, I'll be starting to build a firewood shed for stacking a couple cords. Winter has not hit us yet, so I have a little while to get it done.
We are really enjoying our wood burning stove as you must be.

 

[GeneD14]

We heated solely with wood last winter and for the first time ever our heat bill was zero!! We have a propane furnace but it never had to run. Luckily we have enough fire wood on our property to easily feed our fire place. It's a Quadra Fire fireplace but with air tight doors, using outside air for combustion, etc... it acts more like a wood stove. We have it on the first floor and it has an air duct that pulls cool air off the basement floor, heats it up, and then gentily blows it out in to the main living area. It's become kind of a fun challenge now to keep it running continuously through cold weather.

 

[MossRoad]

Hi Moss,
We've been using our new stove too since temps dipped back into the high 30's/low 40's this week. It's kept the home between 65 to 69F which is pretty comfortable for us. I'm still learning, but I got the stove to run all night where it's just ready for a couple more logs in the early morning.
I'm now working on a firewood bin to keep on the deck outside. After that, I'll be starting to build a firewood shed for stacking a couple cords. Winter has not hit us yet, so I have a little while to get it done.
We are really enjoying our wood burning stove as you must be.

We did not run it most of last week as it got into the mid 70s all week. Got to fire it up last night. Took the chill off the house nicely. Starting it has become easier. They said it would take a few weeks for it to start well as there is moisture in the firebricks. I line up two logs parallel about 2-3 inches apart, crumble up one piece of newspaper loosely and stick it between those logs. Then I put some very small scraps of broken up skid wood for kindling criss cross on top of that followed by a third log. Set the draft control to high, light it up, close the door and go back in a half hour and I have a nice blaze going.

It has a 1-5 scale on the draft control. Plus a bit of travel after 5 to high. I found that on 4 the thing burns on the hot side, 3 seems about right. 2.5 and the thing burns all night long if I load it full at 10:00. Still red hot coal bed about 2" deep in the morning. I just put three more logs in there and they light right up while I eat my breakfast. Then I toss in a few more, set it back to 1 or 1.5 and it will burn all day while I am gone. Very nice stove.

Now I am working on venting some of the heat from the basement room to the upstairs. Looks to be pretty easy. I temped in some duct work and a computer rack fan. It worked O.K. so I am looking for a 6" in-line duct booster fan. I found a few on line. Should get that done in the next few weeks.

I have about three weeks of wood in my stairwell and probably two months worth outside. So, that only takes me to middle of January, when I will need it most. I need about three more cords to be comfortable.

 

[MossRoad]

We heated solely with wood last winter and for the first time ever our heat bill was zero!! We have a propane furnace but it never had to run. Luckily we have enough fire wood on our property to easily feed our fire place. It's a Quadra Fire fireplace but with air tight doors, using outside air for combustion, etc... it acts more like a wood stove. We have it on the first floor and it has an air duct that pulls cool air off the basement floor, heats it up, and then gentily blows it out in to the main living area. It's become kind of a fun challenge now to keep it running continuously through cold weather.

I do not think I will get to the ZERO point. My goal was to cut my usage in half and the thing will pay for itself in 5 years at current gas prices. If I achieve that, I will be more than happy.

 

[MossRoad]

I think I like the locust a lot better than the oak. The oak tends to not burn up completely and leaves lots of charcoal chunks. I will have to let the fire go out at some point and clean those things out. The locust burned up into ash leaving virtually no charcoal chunks at all. It also seems to give off more heat than the oak. You can feel the density of the wood when you pick it up, too. The locust is much heavier. Must be a lot of air in the oak.

 

[MossRoad]

Well, four weeks of burning and I had to finally empty the ash pan. I did not burn about 4 days in there and burned continuous for over two weeks. That seems pretty efficient to me. The ash pan is probably 4H x 12w x 12w. I left about an inch of coals and dust in the stove for a bed for the next fire. I had to use a match to light it last night. First one in two weeks, but I let it go out on purpose to clean the thing.

As far as the dimensions of the log, I re-read the literature and it says 18" not 22", so I was mistaken there. I need to cut down a lot of the wood that we got. It has rained for over a week and rain and snow predicted for a few more days. I was able to keep 2.5 weeks of continuous burn wood supply in my stairwell/woodbin. I reloaded that last night during a lull in the rain.

However, by looking at my supply, I am woefully short and look to only have enough wood to last about 7-8 weeks of continuous burn. That means I run out January 1st. so, off to the woods I go this weekend to look for downed locust trees to haul out and cut up.

 

[coachgrd]

Well, four weeks of burning and I had to finally empty the ash pan. I did not burn about 4 days in there and burned continuous for over two weeks. That seems pretty efficient to me. The ash pan is probably 4H x 12w x 12w. I left about an inch of coals and dust in the stove for a bed for the next fire. I had to use a match to light it last night. First one in two weeks, but I let it go out on purpose to clean the thing.

As far as the dimensions of the log, I re-read the literature and it says 18" not 22", so I was mistaken there. I need to cut down a lot of the wood that we got. It has rained for over a week and rain and snow predicted for a few more days. I was able to keep 2.5 weeks of continuous burn wood supply in my stairwell/woodbin. I reloaded that last night during a lull in the rain.

However, by looking at my supply, I am woefully short and look to only have enough wood to last about 7-8 weeks of continuous burn. That means I run out January 1st. so, off to the woods I go this weekend to look for downed locust trees to haul out and cut up.

Hey Moss...I too am forever worried about having enough wood to last the season. I know a bunch of guys around here that hold off on burning until after Thanksgiving. I know you have a new stove and probably wanted to fire it up ASAP but just wanted to suggest that maybe next year hold off on that first fire.

Then again, if you have an unending supply, burn away!