Love that last fill for the night...

[Nuzzy]

I always love heading down to the basement for the last nightly fill. It's after I've turned off all the lights and everything in the house has settled. Usually the lady is already in bed and I'm the last one up. Everything is so peaceful in the house as the day draws to an end.


I open the bottom and shake the three iron grates to help the ash fall into the pan and clear up airflow. Helps to create a stronger draft as well right before I open the main door. As I open the firebox door, I get that intoxicating scent of burning campfire and immediately smile no matter my mood. A few logs still burning from the evening.

(You'll have to excuse the excess of creosote as the fire has been smoldering fully dampened for over 24 hours)

Depending on the night, how cold it will be, and how early in the morning I'll be waking up (I don't like waking up in the middle of the night), I pick the logs I feel will best suit the aforementioned game plan. Species, thickness, and split vs whole round are all taken into account. As is stack/pack ability.

Tonight was a 9ish" round of elm and a large split of red oak, topped with an elm and black walnut chaser

Come morning, I should have most of the carcasses of the three smaller chasers glowing, ready, and willing to fire off the "while at work" load.





God I love wood heating.










p.s. This thread serves absolutely no useful purpose :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Blazin]

Dang!! I put that much in the OWB last night at 6 to heat two houses for 14hrs You better keep cuttin Mr!! :hmm3grin2orange:

That elm and black walnut is purdy though

 

[Rookie1]

p.s. This thread serves absolutely no useful purpose :hmm3grin2orange:

Nice pics,nice words and nice thoughts. The thread does serve a purpose,It shows that I am not the only one who enjoys burning!

 

[toyfarm]

Nice photography...I can almost feel the warmth!!

 

[muncybob]

Great pics and description! How cold was it that night?

 

[Nuzzy]

Apparently last night didn't get all that cold. Near freezing but not much lower. Thus, I was greeted this morning by a still good sized pile.

A quick load up for the day and I was off to work clutching my coffee

I do enjoy how haphazardly I can throw anything in the box and just let the fire work it's way slowly from bottom to top. I like to think of it as my gravity fed system

 

[Nuzzy]

Dang!! I put that much in the OWB last night at 6 to heat two houses for 14hrs You better keep cuttin Mr!! :hmm3grin2orange:

That elm and black walnut is purdy though

Yeah, she does ok for efficiency and can burn all night without tending which I love. But she sure ain't winning any awards for super low wood consumption!

Our ranch style house is 1750sqft above ground and matching 1750 unfinished basement. With keeping the main floor at 71-75° and the basement at about 60°, we went through 7-8 cords last year during our Michigan winter.


We have two regular fireplaces as well, which I'd love to convert at least one to an insert at some point. Just so I can see some ambiance flames in a cozy living room without watching all the hard work go right up the chimney :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[sloth9669]

system

can you post a pic of the outside of the system what was its cost and how does it heat the house. ( air or water )

 

[logbutcher]

firepor#

 

[iowa]

I enjoy doing the same. Load up my longwood at 10pm and the smell is intoxicating. The furnace is directly below our bedroom so the smell eventually goes up. It's great. Even greater coming home to see smoke coming from my chimney and the house being tasty warm. I make the neighborhood smell nice!

I only fill my furnace about 1/2 full at night. When I get up 7 hrs later there is a nice bed of cherry red coals lining the bottom of the furnace. I rake the ash forward and spread the coals. Then throw some more wood on. Pile it pretty full for the day. By 5pm there is just ash in the furnace with some hot coals here and there hiding. I throw a few pieces in for the evening and it ignites right away. Wood heat is the best!! So long PROPAIN!

 

[Nuzzy]

can you post a pic of the outside of the system what was its cost and how does it heat the house. ( air or water )

I have no idea the cost as it was installed by the previous owner and home builder back in early nineties. It heats via an air jacket around the box that is piped through the forced air vents. We have a propane burner as well but it is never used, except for vacations. When the air in the jacket reaches a certain temp, the fan which is set to auto kicks on and pushes that air throughout the house before kicking off again once the jacket drops back below temp. The damper is controlled by a servo wired to a thermostat in the living area. The therm then opens the damper to maintain temp ands shuts it down when temp gets above setting. Also has a safety override that will shut the damper if the air jacket gets too hot. If we do happen to lose power, we just open all the vents and let the air work it's way through the ventilation naturally. Have to keep the fire lower, but it's nice to still have heat! Of course a generator will soon make that point moot





*edit* In the above pic, the damper is being held open as is my normal operating procedure when starting a fire. Normally that is only a "helper" spring.

 

[Highbeam]

Wasn't a useless post at all, well it was until you said what kind of furnace it was and how it worked. I think it's great how the wood falls into the fire. My stove doesn't have the room like that. Even the loading door is huge.

Oh how I wish I had a basement and HVAC ducts.

 

[blizzard]

no that was a great post. i'd like to see a similar one in mind jananuary on a 10 below night and see how long it takes to go through a similar load of wood

 

[Nuzzy]

i'd like to see a similar one in mind jananuary on a 10 below night and see how long it takes to go through a similar load of wood

I'll have to remember to take that pic A similar load to that would prolly be done in 5


For that time of year I'll usually go another row higher. That's when I jam in 3 rounds of red oak in the 10-14" range with a few splits or smaller chasers to top off or fill in airspace. Can usually eek out a 10 hour burn time with house set at 68° overnight and have *just* enough glowing coals to get it fired up again in the morning. I think we were pretty lucky in that the previous owner put in all nice Anderson windows!