Lighting up

lsayre wrote: Since I'm running my boiler year round, my decision for tonight is: Do I turn on the thermostats, or don't I?

... Same here going to run boiler year round, last night was first time house called for heat.. Thermostats set at 70, wife wants more heat. I told her to put sweater on

Wiz wrote:Same here going to run boiler year round, last night was first time house called for heat.. Thermostats set at 70, wife wants more heat. I told her to put sweater on

My wife is the exact opposite of most. I want the house at 72 and she would be happy at 62. Last winter we compromised and settled upon 68. But she complained frequently that it was too hot.

I fired up the Hitzer 503 this morning.

It looks like temperatures in the 30's at night and 40's during the day all this week, and I can't stand the idea of burning oil for heat.

My Hitzer idles pretty well, so as long as it doesn't get too warm later in the month, I'll get to stay in the one match club this year.

So, I've had a wood fire all day. I've been throwing a log or two every few hours, pretty much been letting it die then putting a piece on. I only bought one bundle of wood at $5. The house is 82º. I was saying earlier that I was going to start throwing coal on it. They've changed the temps for the week. I still might. At least with coal I can idle it way down. With the wood it's going.

Hell I'm already on my 3rd match. A test fire and a small cool down followed by a warm spell and a rock caused the 1st and 2nd fire. Lit up again last night. Looks like I should be burning all this week coming up. I have already broke out the winter gear... sleeveless shirts and mesh shorts

I know what you mean. I went from wearing pants and a sweater to short sleeves and shorts myself.

Well, we did turn on the T-Stats today, but we compromised at 66 degrees.

lsayre wrote:Well, we did turn on the T-Stats today, but we compromised at 66 degrees.

You are such a radical.

The Monticello is sitting there all neglected and forlorn due to my lazy self. Now I'm tempted myself to get a scrap wood fire going tonight. I'm looking at some potential bench legs like a fox looking at some chickens I'm never gonna make those 4x4 into a bench so I might as well make some room.

I have the aux. Mr.Heater nat. gas garage heater keeping the place at 74. It's 47 out now. At these temps, the Mr. Heater which is like a Modine HotDawg, doesn't come on but once an hour or so. It's loud and annoying but it heats the place.
I still have the last bucket of coal sitting here from last year. Once a wood fire gets going, one short step to throw some coal in.

With all this procrastination, I don't think I'd make it as a Yukon Man

Rob R. wrote:

lsayre wrote:Well, we did turn on the T-Stats today, but we compromised at 66 degrees.

You are such a radical.

When it gets consistently cold outside, I hope to move the bar back up to 68 degrees. In 32 years of marriage, I've learned to compromise with the better half.

Currently 40 outside and the OLD LL Econo 1 that I bought last fall for $150 is in second gear so to speak at about 450 without the convection blower keeping the first floor at 73 and the three upstairs bedrooms and bathroom at 70.

This house is a 1285 sq ft two story cottage design. Per the neighbors it was retrofitted in the early 60's with an oil fired hw boiler and baseboard radiators. The last time it supposedly saw a coal stove was about 15 years ago. Looking at the design it appears that this place was originally designed to be heated with a coal stove. Natural assumption since I am only about a 20 minute walk from the Girardville, Pa. mine and breaker !

We moved in just before labor day and one of the first things I did was check out the chimney that is in the dining room corner. It was in surprisingly good shape so I hooked up the coal stove. We are getting the most fantastic natural circulation across the dining room, through the living room, up the canted ceiling in the stairwell to the second floor. You can stand on the steps and feel the heat flowing past your head and cool air sliding down the steps. If I want to heat a bedroom all I do is open the window in that room about 1/2 inch and wallah you have a nicely heated bedroom sitting at about 70. Without opening the window you can get it at about 65.

I am sitting at the dining room table and I can feel the cool air sliding across my feet as it flows towards the coal stove. when in the house I am barefoot with bluejeans and a T shirt. When it gets cold I may have to resort to wearing socks but right now it feels pretty good ! I love the way this little stove sits there and sips the UAE coal making the wife and myself nice and comfortable. The best part is knowing that I am heating my house with American coal and my dollars will stay right in my hometown area and preserve jobs right here in the USA.

Well, it's official. I have run out of diesel fuel in my oil tank.
II'll be starting the stove tonight. What with the temps for the next few weeks.

I started my stove sat night at 8pm, I only shook it down between then and now(9:30 am mon). The stove still has 1/4 of a full coal load. I know it isn't real cold out but that's a 39 hour burn between fills, we will see how that goes when it hits zero.

Going live! Got a fairly thick layer of Cowboy Brand Charcoal (probably too much) then I've got a nice little pile of pea coal down the center of the grates.

IOF - looking good partner!!