!st fire of the year..

Had to do it, 43 degrees outside, raining and just plain nasty. She fired right up, used the cowboy stuff and I'm warm..

Will probably shut her down on Monday but thats okay...Gonna have a beer,enjoy the baseball games and be warm..

It's neat to see it fire up and come to life again. I get a kick out of being semi self sufficent, always have enjoyed puttering around with the stove and again its another season for all of us to enjoy.

Any one else fire up today??

lit a wood fire last night. too early and not cold enough for the coal yet.

Fired up the new to me Efel yesterday at noon 30 yesterday. Same conditions here outside Shamokin Pa. yesterday. 43 and rain and wind and nasty. This is the first time I fired a hand fed stove and I gotta say I love it. The only thing you hear is the occasional tink tink of the sheet metal on it to let you know it's working. I never realized how noisy the stoker was!!! I only filled it 1/2 way at 10 last night and when I got up at 6 this morning it was still a good glowing bed. The draft was just fine for our stoker and the wood stove before that but I see I will have to add at least another 2 feet to the SS chimney for this hand fired coal stove. The draft is ok but a little lazy. It was acceptable for the wood stove and fine for the stoker but I need a bit more draft for the hand fired Efel. I also have to work on how to finesse the fire in the mornings or after a long burn. I almost put it out this morning by doing things too quickly.

No I don't have a baro yet and I don't have a mano yet. Notice the operative words yet?

Anyway.....at 6:56 Sunday AM outside temp is 40 and rain rain rain. Inside temp on two story house 72 down stairs with 70 upstairs. Window in farthest of 4 upstairs bedroom is open an inch or so to function as a window stat. Doing a fine job I must say.

The Efel is at idle with a stack temp of about 175-200 measured with a stick on magnetic thermometer about two feet above the stove outlet.
Sittin here toasty and nice while it's ugly and cold outside.
Larry

New Hope Engineer wrote:lit a wood fire last night. too early and not cold enough for the coal yet.

Yep, same here..

No anthracite fires for me. I have had two wood fires, scrounged some up in my yard and then bought a little bundle for one night. But, I've had about 8 Cowboy Coal fires. I toss a bag in, light it, then open a second bag to add to the first bag as the fire wanes down. I may have one tonight again.