What is 'cold' weather for you?

[goanin]

A little survay:

What is the highest outside temperture at which you start a fire?
What is 'mild' weather for you?
What is 'cold' weather for you?

Everyone probably has their own definitions of what 'mild', 'cool' and 'cold' are, based on where thay live, how their house is insulated, and even their metabolic rate.

 

[thombat4]

A little survay:

What is the highest outside temperture at which you start a fire? Around 50 - 52
What is 'mild' weather for you? Anything above 55
What is 'cold' weather for you? Anything below 40

Everyone probably has their own definitions of what 'mild', 'cool' and 'cold' are, based on where thay live, how their house is insulated, and even their metabolic rate.

What about you...?

 

[Alan Smith]

cold

What is the highest outside temperture at which you start a fire? Around 50 - 52
What is 'mild' weather for you? Anything above 55
What is 'cold' weather for you? Anything below 40 what is cold over there.

 

[Streblerm]

I'll bite. I don't start a fire until we reach sustained temperatures below freezing. I have a geothermal heat pump that works very efficiently down to about 20 degrees F. Around that temperature the "emergency" resistance heat kicks in, which is the reason I burn wood. Gotta keep the big toaster off

If I start a fire above freezing it tends to overheat my house. Of course I could probably just build a smaller fire...but it never seems to happen.

As far as what temps are "cold" (F)

30-40 is brisk, time to break out a jacket.
20-30 is cool, time for a small fire
10-20 is cold, 24/7 burning
<10 is frigid, break out the hardwood

 

[gwiley]

A little survay:

What is the highest outside temperture at which you start a fire?
What is 'mild' weather for you?
What is 'cold' weather for you?

Everyone probably has their own definitions of what 'mild', 'cool' and 'cold' are, based on where thay live, how their house is insulated, and even their metabolic rate.

I live in central Virginia but spent a lot of time in Wisconsin and Illinois.

I start the OWB when I think the "trend" is in the 40's at night. This usually translates to mid October.

mild weather is anything over 40 degF

cold is anything under about 25 degF

 

[Strattz]

Wisconsin....-35 without the wind

-35F is cold to me....
Mild temps for winter is anything above 0....

We have had ice on the stock tank already this year. It was 21 degrees the other morning. I burn outside and the wood fired stove has been in service since September 14th and will stay lit until early May...

 

[gpsman007]

when we are cold we light fire
when we are hot we open window
when really hot turn on air cond.

try not to light fire and then turn on air

 

[Somesawguy]

A little survay:

What is the highest outside temperture at which you start a fire?
What is 'mild' weather for you?
What is 'cold' weather for you?

Everyone probably has their own definitions of what 'mild', 'cool' and 'cold' are, based on where thay live, how their house is insulated, and even their metabolic rate.

I'll start a fire if it's in the 50's for a long time, and it's damp and windy.
Mild is anything from 40's on up.
Cold would be anything below freezing.
Really cold is windy and 20 below.

 

[sloth9669]

anything under 40* iam pissed....i hate being cold....thus the reason i burn wood...a lot of wood

 

[Iska3]

I start my OWB when the wife tells me to. We have a good supply of soft wood so I start burning once we keep the windows closed. I do this out of respect for the people down the road from me.

I work outside all winter so I can take the cold but not the summer heat.

Mild weather is Mid 40's

Brisk is anything around the 30's or when I can see my breath.

Cold is below 30's to -5

Nasty is like -18 below with high winds.

 

[4seasons]

Well I guess since I work in t-shirt and shorts outside till the temp is below 55 and in jeans and a t-shirt till it stays below 30 that would be my mild temp range. I wont start a fire until the overnight low is around freezing and I will let it go out in the morning unless the daytime high is only going to around 45. I have had a fire fell to go out in the morning (overfilled the stove the night before) and have it 85 in the house with all the windows open and fans going while it was 55 outside. I don't call it cold till the high temps don't reach freezing for a week or so. We really don't get much cold weather around here.

 

[4seasons]

Nasty is like -18 below with high winds.

I was in Minnesota last January when the temp dropped below -40. Heater in the truck could only get the inside of the truck to 50. Nice thing was the wind was howling at a good clip while I fought my frozen shut fuel caps for 30 minutes trying to fuel up. I was wondering what that kind of weather was defined as.

 

[goanin]

Wow you guys!!
compared to you I must be living on venus!

In the winter, 60F is considered mild, 54F and below is quite cool, and 44F is COLD!! We have ACs, but nothing's like starting a fire.. So if you have a wood stove you start a fire when the room temps get close to 50F.
But Israel's realy wet and windy in the winters. Maybe this is why it feels very cold..

 

[slofr8]

40F

20F

When warm water does this.

Dan.

 

[Ambull]

I'll bite. I don't start a fire until we reach sustained temperatures below freezing. I have a geothermal heat pump that works very efficiently down to about 20 degrees F. Around that temperature the "emergency" resistance heat kicks in, which is the reason I burn wood. Gotta keep the big toaster off

If I start a fire above freezing it tends to overheat my house. Of course I could probably just build a smaller fire...but it never seems to happen.

As far as what temps are "cold" (F)

30-40 is brisk, time to break out a jacket.
20-30 is cool, time for a small fire
10-20 is cold, 24/7 burning
<10 is frigid, break out the hardwood

I have a geothermal heat pump as well, but mine is more than capable of heating the house even on the coldest day. However, heating with the geothermal is still more expensive than wood heat, even if I was buying all my wood, which I am am not. I cut my own wood, and use my heating budget to buy chainsaws, a wood splitter, and to build a wood storage shed. Plus, I need the exercise.

So anyways, I start a fire when the house temp gets into the 60's. I have about 4000 square feet to heat, and I use two wood stoves. With one stove running on low, it works fairly well when outside temps are in the 50's. I can't run the second stove until temps get below freezing. On the coldest day of the year, temps will stay around zero all day, and even then the two stoves will keep the house warm. The geothermal is only used to supplement the heat when the stoves cannot be tended to.

 

[CWME]

If the house dips below 70 the wife is cold and gets a blanket.
If the house dips below 60 the wife gets another blanket and sits and shivers.

She takes good care of me so if I see one blanket I make sure to fire up the stove so she isn't cold.

We have had the windows and doors open more than a few times this fall due to this new house being so well insulated.

To me cold is below zero. When the boogers in your nose freeze you know it is cold out

 

[MNfarmer]

The outside temp doesn't really affect whether or not I build a fire. If the house is cool I'll take the chill off. Mild temps would be in the mid to high 60's and the coldest I've seen here is -50. What slofr8 showed in that picture is what we did at -50 with a garden hose spraying 180 deg. water from our milkhouse door. Nothing ever hit the ground. Now that was cold, esp hauling out the manure load with a tractor without a cab!!!!

 

[MofoG23]

What is the highest outside temperture at which you start a fire? ~45
What is 'mild' weather for you? 35-45
What is 'cold' weather for you? 0 - 25
What is 'crappy' weather: below zero

 

[Steve NW WI]

It's all relative for me. I'll sit on a bucket on a frozen lake at 0°F or below all day if the sun's shining, as long as the fish are biting. Ya do have to trade in the beer for something with a bit more anitfreeze in it then, though.

But make it wet and 50°F, and I'm cold. I was helping a friend roof last weekend, about 50°F, drizzling from time to time, and windy. By the time we got done, the stove got a workout!

For a general rule of thumb, I'll start the stove if the overnight lows are below freezing, just a small fire when I get home from work at night to take the chill off. When the highs start staying below freezing, the stove will be on 24-7 duty cycle, usually from about Dec 1 to mid March, with a last fire sometime in May.

Comfortable weather is anywhere 50°F or above, no need for a jacket then (unless raining, see above).

Cold is below 0°F, nothing works as well as it should below zero. Machinery doesn't want to start, people and critters suffer if not prepared, and fixing the stuff that's gonna break due to being cold and brittle is harder with 5 layers of clothes and big mittens on.

Ya didn't ask, but I'll tell ya anyway, too dang hot is anything over 80°, unless I'm in the lake with a cold beer nearby.

 

[sunfish]

It doesn't matter what I like, if the wife is cold, I build a fire.


Then I go outside to cool off