Shoulder season woes

[ChoppyChoppy]

Well mother nature is having a mood swing again. Freaking 44* this morning.. darn near 40* temp swing from a few days ago.

Snow is melting.

 

[Marshy]

Only issue I have is my new boiler isn't hooked up yet.

 

[unclemoustache]

Dictionary
shoul·der sea·son
noun
noun: shoulder season; plural noun: shoulder seasons; noun: shoulder period; plural noun: shoulder periods

1. a travel period between peak and off-peak seasons.

Yes, I certainly get that, but why 'shoulder?' Does it really have to do with 'Dutchman's graph, or is there some other specific reason for that particular word?

 

[Jutt]

What are the troubles you have with the start of a new burning season?

I'll list some I've had already:

1. Can't remember if I cleaned the chimney last Spring or not. Decided I'm not going to check on it now.

2. All summer we've been using the stove as a coffee table. I almost burned up a pile of bills and paperwork when I lit the stove and forgot to remove it all from the top.

3. Kids have always been good about knowing not to touch a hot stove. Never had an issue.
Until last week. One kid got some 2nd degree burns on his hand. The same one that broke his arm a couple years ago. If any of my kids would burn himself, it would be him!

4. Getting it nice and toasty in the morning, and then by noon we're opening windows and tempted to turn on the AC.

Man I love shoulder season! Quarter sized splits and cut up slash! It was 70 here today. 8,400 ft, end of October. Although tomorrow and friday with highs in the 30's and lows around 18... Have to start humidifying the guitars more.

 

[Jutt]

Lol, Google search "shoulder season origin" and the first hit is from another arboristsite post: www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/where-does-the-term-shoulder-season-come-from.255039/

 

[Del_]

Yes, I certainly get that, but why 'shoulder?' Does it really have to do with 'Dutchman's graph, or is there some other specific reason for that particular word?

When graphed with energy usage on the vertical and date on the horizontal fall through spring would take the shape of a bell curve.

The 'shoulder' is the shoulder of the bell shape curve.

 

[alleyyooper]

I can relate to # 4 but it took just one night I stuffed the furnace full and listened to the wife bitching all day I happened to for get and get a drink from the kitchen rather from the hydrant in the barn.

That night only one tiny chunk of wood went in the furnace so at 7:00 AM it was only 60F in the house.

Al

 

[avason]

I've been running my AC because it's been humid as hell. Maybe next week I'll fire up the owb.

 

[longbowch]

What are the troubles you have with the start of a new burning season?

I'll list some I've had already:

1. Can't remember if I cleaned the chimney last Spring or not. Decided I'm not going to check on it now.

2. All summer we've been using the stove as a coffee table. I almost burned up a pile of bills and paperwork when I lit the stove and forgot to remove it all from the top.

3. Kids have always been good about knowing not to touch a hot stove. Never had an issue.
Until last week. One kid got some 2nd degree burns on his hand. The same one that broke his arm a couple years ago. If any of my kids would burn himself, it would be him!

4. Getting it nice and toasty in the morning, and then by noon we're opening windows and tempted to turn on the AC.

Lol’d

 

[muddstopper]

The problem with living this far South ( North Alabama ) is that Shoulder season last all winter.
It can also be 15 or 20 degrees or 70 degrees any day of the winter.
We are always lighting new fires, debating it it would be just as well to turn on the Electric heat and opening windows in the afternoon.
We seldom burn more than one 128 cu ft cord of Oak and Hickory in a winter.

David

Same in WNC. I built my first fire of the season on Oct 24th. Since my stove is in the basement, I built it hot, but then let it burn completely out. Just enough coals in stove next morning to restart the fire and then left alone for rest of the day. Last night, built a fire and topped off before going to bed, threw on a few sticks of wood this morning and will let burn out during the day. It gets cold at night, but quickly warms up during the day. I suspect it will be Dec before I even try to keep a 24hr fire. I find that once I get all the concrete in the basement warm, I can run with a moderate fire until the temps outside start staying in the teens and below. Then the outside temps hit 60+ and I have to open the doors upstairs to cool everything down. At least I can now take advantage of the free hot water. I dont know what the difference is, but I like the feel of the wood heated water better than the electric water heater supply. It seems to really ease the pain in my titanium bones.

 

[OnTheRoad]

Last night was the first fire of the season and boy was that exciting! It was great watching the fire all night. It was in the upper 20s so I turned the digital controller down to 90* and woke up to a 71* house, a big bed of coals still running the blower almost continuously. Tossed in a few splits and that will keep us warm until afternoon when it gets into the upper 40s.

Building the controller system for my Tundra was by far the smartest thing I did last year.

 

[ETpilot]

I cleaned my chimney just a few days ago as a front was coming my way with close to freezing temperature. I loaded the stove last night. Fired it up in this morning. It sure feels good. I'll let the fire burn for the morning then let it die off. Do it again tomorrow. Keeping the fire going just gets too hot right now.

BTW, yesterday, I heard the term shoulder season on the TV for the first time.

 

[muddstopper]

Having my stove in the basement, it takes a little time before heat from the stove can be felt upstairs. building a rump roaster fire puts off a lot of heat in a short time in the basement. Even if I let the fire burn hot and burn out during the nite, I still get that radiant heat all nite long. Unless its bitterly cold one hot fire is usually good enough thru morning and the sun takes care of heating during the day. If its really cold, build the fire back in the morning and everything stays toasty. Once winter really hits, I keep a fire around the clock, but I'll will throw in just enough wood to keep things going during the day, load heavy at night and turn down the drafts.

 

[aokpops]

No troubles with the shoulder season .

 

[ETpilot]

Well, my season lasted 2 days. Going back to the 80's this week. Burning this morning just to get the chill out. Then wait for colder weather.