Multi match club. Who's in?

I'm in this club, i think i am on number 2 already. I ran out of oil (same tank for 5 years) and i started the coal fire during a chilly spurt. I only have about 9 gallons of oil in the tank since i got a bit with a 5 gallon container, but i am hesitant for a 100 gal delivery since i use so little of it. I'll have to get some more with being away hunting for the wife and daughter.

Yes! We should totally have a multi-match club. I'm in!!

I fired up mid October and shut down by the 21st. Then I refired about 2 days later. I'll probably be out again in a week or two for some maintenance.

This is an easy club to get into. One slip & *poof!* we're in. Good one!

I just don't want to see a "I heat with matches" club starting up.

I woke up this morning to find that the boiler went out AGAIN. There were two problems. One was the timer wasn't running and two, the thermostats were off. Looks like I'm a third degree member so far!

Let me in, I know the secret hand shake. Yesterday morning it was 22* when I woke up and white crap falling from the sky, soooooo the wife said "go ahead lite the stove, you know you want to." So drinking my coffee with crumbled up newspapers in my hand and a small bag of matchlite under the kitchen table I let her rip and shazzam, it was 82* in the house 3 hours later. The 80 lb. labragoldendoodle, or what ever the f&%k the breeder called him, was passed out on the tile floor in the kitchen and I had 4 windows open in the livingroom. Well I put new windows in my little 1100 sq. ft. ranch last winter and what a difference. I burned half a bag of stove coal yesterday and let it go out last night and it was 78* in the house this morning. The stove is definately going in the basement soon. It's a beast and I'm looking forward to heating the basement as well. I enjoy the practice of lighting fires anyway.

I'm in, 3 so far and shutting down again tomorrow for a couple days.

michaelanthony wrote:Let me in, I know the secret hand shake. Yesterday morning it was 22* when I woke up and white crap falling from the sky, soooooo the wife said "go ahead lite the stove, you know you want to." So drinking my coffee with crumbled up newspapers in my hand and a small bag of matchlite under the kitchen table I let her rip and shazzam, it was 82* in the house 3 hours later. The 80 lb. labragoldendoodle, or what ever the f&%k the breeder called him, was passed out on the tile floor in the kitchen and I had 4 windows open in the livingroom. Well I put new windows in my little 1100 sq. ft. ranch last winter and what a difference. I burned half a bag of stove coal yesterday and let it go out last night and it was 78* in the house this morning. The stove is definately going in the basement soon. It's a beast and I'm looking forward to heating the basement as well. I enjoy the practice of lighting fires anyway.

I'm sorry michaelanthony, you let that fire go out. You see, this club has standards and we can't raise them just for you. That fire had to go out because you did something wrong or had a failure. You are not in the club. Keep trying!

Freddy wrote:This is an easy club to get into. One slip & *poof!* we're in. Good one!

I just don't want to see a "I heat with matches" club starting up.

Hmmm, how many BTU's are there in a typical match?

As for me, so far I'm in the "No Match" club (having used a BernzOmatic type propane torch to light my boiler). Is that cheating?

mr1precision wrote:

michaelanthony wrote:Let me in, I know the secret hand shake..... I burned half a bag of stove coal yesterday and let it go out last night and it was 78* in the house this morning..

I'm sorry michaelanthony, you let that fire go out. You see, this club has standards and we can't raise them just for you. That fire had to go out because you did something wrong or had a failure. You are not in the club. Keep trying!

Good call mr1precision I broke a grate first week in, on match #2 now.. I'm gonna run her low and slow thru the next couple warm days, nights will still be cool enough. I got window stats in operation currently

Isayre ->

A standard unit of measurement used to denote both the amount of heat energy in fuels and the ability of appliances and air conditioning systems to produce heating or cooling. A BTU is the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of a pint of water (which weighs exactly 16 ounces) by one degree Fahrenheit. Since BTUs are measurements of energy consumption, they can be converted directly to kilowatt-hours (3412 BTUs = 1 kWh) or joules (1 BTU = 1,055.06 joules). A wooden kitchen match produce approximately 1 BTU, and air conditioners for household use typically produce between 5,000 and 15,000 BTU.

MBTU stands for one million BTUs, which can also be expressed as one decatherm (10 therms). MBTU is occasionally used as a standard unit of measurement for natural gas and provides a convenient basis for comparing the energy content of various grades of natural gas and other fuels. One cubic foot of natural gas produces approximately 1,000 BTUs, so 1,000 cu.ft. of gas is comparable to 1 MBTU. MBTU is occasionally expressed as MMBTU, which is intended to represent a thousand thousand BTUs.

lsayre wrote:
As for me, so far I'm in the "No Match" club (having used a BernzOmatic type propane torch to light my boiler). Is that cheating?

I would think that techincally its a match, a damn good one too! So if it was more than one you're in!

I thought 1 BTU was the measure of the heat energy required to raise 1 gallon of water by one degree F. Either way, at only 1 BTU per match, I'd best abandon that idea.

lsayre wrote:I thought 1 BTU was the measure of the heat energy required to raise 1 gallon of water by one degree F. Either way, at only 1 BTU per match, I'd best abandon that idea.

For some reason I thought it was a gallon too... hmmm..

Heres another definition ->

Definition: A British Thermal Unit (BTU) is the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree F. This is the standard measurement used to state the amount of energy that a fuel has as well as the amount of output of any heat generating device.
You might be able to imagine it this way. Take one gallon (8 pounds) of water and put it on your stove. If the water it 60 degrees F. and you want to bring it to a boil (212 degrees F.) then you will need about 1,200 BTUs to do this.

Ah, one pound raised one degree! That's it! (pretty close to one pint)

And as to the propane torch, I agree it is the technical equivalent of one match per use. I actually tried using matches last year and the draft repeatedly sucked the flame right off the matches, so I can't use them.

Jeesh I must be in the 100 match club...

I have a small house, 3400 square feet and a little ole Vogelzang stove, but my house is really tight, has plenty of insulation and I can easily get the hot to 85-90 degrees when I burn coal. So I start a fire about 04:30, let it burn to 08:00 and let it go out. With this mild weather, the house stays warm enough all day and by 04:30 the next day the temp is around 65 degrees or so, so I fire up the stove again and do it all over.

As the winter wears on, I will keep the stove burning longer and longer until it is burning 24/7, but in the fall and spring, I figure as long as the stove isn't burning, I am saving money whether it be coal, wood or propane.

I am not sure what a match puts out, but I was always told a candle puts out 2000 btus per hour.