Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[woodchip rookie]

Tomorrow morning calling for -5, then RAIN ON THURSDAY!!! This sucks.

I am NOT mad. Rain means temps above freezing. They said "36 for tomorow" and I actually clapped and cheered.

 

[woodchip rookie]

@woodchip rookie , this is something that works really well for me, with our particular heater.

Morning coals...

View attachment 698375

then I scrape them into a N/S row, couple of good sized bits on either side and a lid on top and air intake fully open.

View attachment 698374

The air coming down the glass is forced to funnel through the middle over the coals and burns them down really well. May or may not work for you with your heater but works great in ours. Doesn't work so well from cold though. I tried lighting a similar row in this configuration a few times and found that it took a long time to get enough heat for the funnelling action to get going but you could still light it normally then once there was some heat there do a similar thing if you had coals to burn down.

If I could even pile the coals in the center enough to put 2 pieces on the outside the pile of coals in the middle would be up to the baffle. It was -1F here last night. When its this cold I cant let the stove ash down. I have to load as soon as fire is out. I dont have anybody to run the stove while im gone at work so I start with a 52F house and have to fight 0F temps to warm the house up. Its only 58F in the house when I go to bed. Reload somewhere between 12A-2A and then again at 5A before I go to work and its 54F when I get up

 

[Cowboy254]

If I could even pile the coals in the center enough to put 2 pieces on the outside the pile of coals in the middle would be up to the baffle. It was -1F here last night. When its this cold I cant let the stove ash down. I have to load as soon as fire is out. I dont have anybody to run the stove while im gone at work so I start with a 52F house and have to fight 0F temps to warm the house up. Its only 58F in the house when I go to bed. Reload somewhere between 12A-2A and then again at 5A before I go to work and its 54F when I get up

I assume the coals are still hot when you're reloading? Maybe give it a fraction more air overnight - might have to juggle it a bit to get them to burn down a bit more without burning out altogether?

 

[U&A]

1:50 in the am, dog would not stop barking. So I'm up to put some wood in the stove, -1 out now. Maybe she was trying to tell me something.

I woke up at my normal walkup time for work at 4:15 and the house was 61!! It was -15 and truck said -19 on the way to work.

Can I borrow your dog. Wish mine would do that. [emoji23][emoji23]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cantoo]

MustangMike, all ash. I also cut cedar and poplar back there but the ash is getting so bad I'm trying to get as much down and out as I can. The tops are breaking off at about 8" diameter when I cut them down, not many branches to trim off. The section I'm cutting in right now is all along the edge of the bush so the trees are more crooked than the interior of the bush. The poplars are also falling down but aren't near as good for firewood so they can rot for now. I use the poplar logs for bunks under the ash logs. I have a bunch of big poplar cut into logs and plan to mill some when I have time but it's rotting (spalting) on the pile.

 

[U&A]

If I could even pile the coals in the center enough to put 2 pieces on the outside the pile of coals in the middle would be up to the baffle. It was -1F here last night. When its this cold I cant let the stove ash down. I have to load as soon as fire is out. I dont have anybody to run the stove while im gone at work so I start with a 52F house and have to fight 0F temps to warm the house up. Its only 58F in the house when I go to bed. Reload somewhere between 12A-2A and then again at 5A before I go to work and its 54F when I get up

What stovetop and flue temps are you running? I agree. Maybe you could run it hotter. A few smaller splits to get the temp up and keep the big ones for the long burn.

For my stove 500 stove top is my friend for quite a while.

Iv got a 2000 sqft house that is shaped terribly for heat circulation and iv never once seen 54 degrees.

Can we try to help you solve you problem?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[woodchip rookie]

I assume the coals are still hot when you're reloading? Maybe give it a fraction more air overnight - might have to juggle it a bit to get them to burn down a bit more without burning out altogether?

If I open the air more the stove runs too hot. 20ft of strait up chimney pulls serious draft when its zero. I made some mods to the stove over the summer to make it more controllable and they must be working cuz I can damn near put the fire out now.

 

[U&A]

What temps?

500
600
700
More?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[woodchip rookie]

What stovetop and flue temps are you running?

STT=650F

 

[U&A]

STT=650F

Ok,

So do you have a blower? Dont judge me. The blower made a HUGE difference for me with heat circulation.


House insulation?

Is the room the stove in like 80 degrees and it wont move about the house well?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[woodchip rookie]

Come to think of it maybe I do need more air...I have plenty of coals at 5PM when I get home to relight. Thats 12hrs.

 

[woodchip rookie]

Ok,

So do you have a blower? Dont judge me. The blower made a HUGE difference for me with heat circulation.


House insulation?

Is the room the stove in like 80 degrees and it wont move about the house well?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Send me a PM and remind me to reply to this post. I gotta reload and go to bed.

 

[panolo]

MustangMike, all ash. I also cut cedar and poplar back there but the ash is getting so bad I'm trying to get as much down and out as I can. The tops are breaking off at about 8" diameter when I cut them down, not many branches to trim off.

Talked to one of the local arborists and the bug hit a decent sized woods about 15 miles north of me. Killed it all. We are probably not too far off at this point. Got to thin a woods for a buddy couple miles south of that woods and I think I'll leave all the maple and only take ash. Hate to see it.

 

[JustJeff]

Loaded for the night. -19°C/-2°F outside. Sat down for a minute and the fire warmed up to chimney cleaning temp faster than I thought!

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

 

[cantoo]

panolo, I would take it as soon as you can. I can't believe the number of falling trees of all sizes and branches every strong wind. Much safer to get them down now.

 

[Deleted member 149229]

We’ve had dead ash for 5+ years. Lots of blow downs but many of the bigger ones are getting dangerous to drop, snap off while you’re cutting or big limbs snap off when you drive a wedge. Yes I wear a helmet but some of those falling limbs come down like spears.

 

[MustangMike]

Down here, most of the Ash are dead, but up at my property the ones that have not blown over in storms are mostly alive, but I'm worried sick about them!

My 50 Acres in in the Catskills near Hancock, and it is currently about 40% Ash and 40% Black Cherry. I'm thinking of building a barn to store a bunch of it milled, but time, time, time!!!

 

[Deleted member 149229]

Hey @MustangMike, you gonna buy one of those 2020 Mustang GT? That is one bad azz looking machine.

 

[MustangMike]

They are nice, but I kinda like mine … I don't have to select a "mode", the lights go on when I turn them on, and I can switch wheels/tires w/o worrying about TPS crap.

Mine looks more retro, I've done about everything I want to it, and you have to know how to drive it (the computers don't take over), so it is more "me".

With 550 SC Hp and my Steeda Suspension, I'm good! (Also, no payments).

 

[James Miller]

Loaded for the night. -19°C/-2°F outside. Sat down for a minute and the fire warmed up to chimney cleaning temp faster than I thought!

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

Dont know how that compares to stove top temps but when I load for over night I try to keep the stove between 5-600 when it's full on nights like tonight. When it gets back into the 30s I'll shut it down at 450 or so.