Heat the shop well??
Let's say it's 40° outside (last weekend) and I go out to do a little work. I load the stove and fire it up... takes about 20-30 minutes before it's making good heat and the secondary is crankin'. Throttle it back and shop temperature rises about 10°-15° over the next 1-1½ hours or so (which I think ain't too bad from a cold start)... and then the secondary starts shuttin' down and shop temperature stops rising. About ½ hour later the shop temperature start droppin'. Well I don't wanna' lose what I've gained, so I walk over to the stove... and there's 4, maybe 5 inches of ashed-over coals in the bottom. So I grab the rake and stir 'em up... damnit, there's 3 splits under them coals that are only charred. I pull them up on top, open the throttle a bit, get some flame, and even a little more secondary... for maybe 10-15 minutes, then just a bed of ashed-over coals. So I stir them again and I'm pullin' dead, black charcoal from the bottom... bank them in front of the door and go wide open. Get a couple weak flames for a minute or two, then nothin'.
It's only 40° outside, it's been less than 3½ hours since
cold start-up with a full load, I've got a bucket load of half-dead coals in the firebox, and I've lost nearly 5° in the shop over the last hour. Screw it... I shove more splits in there. About 1½ hours later it starts all over again... only now there's 7 or 8 inches of dead and half-dead coals in the box (but I have managed 65° in the shop). So, at this point, here's my choices...
- I can sit there and babysit the box, stirring and raking the coals every 5-10 minutes (which means I ain't gonna' get anything else done).
- I can grab the shovel and bucket, dump, reload.
When it's below 20° outside... you don't even wanna' know how much fuel I throw out.
I've even considered haulin' it in the house and dumpin' it in the furnace.
Oh... I'm burnin' elm, ash, Silver Maple and Cherry in the shop... split small(ish), like 3-5 inches. Yeah, it's 2 years seasoned and been stacked in the shop since first week of October.
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