New Milestone.....

I left for work this morning at 4:30 and I had asked my wife if she could take care of the DS. Reluctantly she agreed but had to state how afraid to do it she is. I responded with the, 'Well, you and the boy need to learn to do it in case I'm not around.'

At 8am I get a call asking to walk her through it I did. At 8:15 I get another call saying its done. I got home to a warm house. I eat dinner, play with my daughter and watch sesame street with her. I go to shake the DS down. Front and rear grates dark grey, ash to the bottom of the hopper. I look, small fire on the center grates. Damn. I shake down, see very little red. Hopper empties. I toss a full hod of coal in thinking, 'That's it, it'll die and I'll have to empty it out and start again.'

I walk back in the living room a few minutes later. BLUE FLAMES! My wife did not murder the fire.

23 hours at 350°.

I'm not a hand fired guy but it sounds to me like your wife got 23 hours out of the stove!
Good job

Well, if we're going to get technical I got the first 12 on a well stoked fire. My wife got the second 11hours on a half assed shake and a starved fire.

I know how you fell, I've been walking my wife through the load process for two weeks now and still is afraid of a ball of fire engulfing her when she opens the door. This from a women who grew up burning soft coal.

Bruce, is your wife at least getting it? Mine isn't. Don't even get me started on the 13 year old. He can barely bring in coal. He's afraid of manual labor. It would seem the only one who actively tries to do it is my two year old little girl. She sits right down on my lap when I'm shaking the stove down. Puts her little hand on the handle pushes mine away and says, 'Me do, daddy. Me do.' She however doesn't like when I pour coal I the hopper, 'Daddy, stop. Too loud.'

Yeah, she's getting it, it's just that the first time she tried it she got a puff back so now she expects it all the time. She has gotten better, she has to. I work all kinds of hours and am away sometime for a few days so... Like I said she grew up burning coal so that part isn't new, just the stove type is.
I like that you get your little one involved, even if she doesn't remember that stuff you will, they grow up and move out pretty quickly enjoy while you can, she's two only once.

I had a knee replacement 3 seasons ago, my wife dutifully kept the stove running without fail and nary a complaint. She never poked it in the corners, I was thankful for her shaking/emptying/filling and anything she could muster. I wasn't about to suggest opening the front door to do the dirty deed either. We got through it, maybe a few more gallons of oil than necessary, but I was quite satisfied---"You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em..."

I think we've gone from the 'dirty coal' denial to having her brag to friends about how warm and comfortable we were 2 years in a row during the power outages. We've only had the oil turned on 2 days this year, I'm getting NO subtle complaints about the chill in our bedroom vs the area where the stove is. I think our fan management is making the heat more even throughout. Saving a couple thousand $$$ in oil probably helped also.

I used to chuckle to myself when she stood against the stove whining about the dust/dirt/fan noise while toasting her buns.

I thought I'd post this to give all us addicts out there hope that you CAN win 'em over... (or wear them down?)

It's a challenge that we all face!

I'm On Fire wrote:Well, if we're going to get technical I got the first 12 on a well stoked fire. My wife got the second 11hours on a half assed shake and a starved fire.

OMG, no I do not text or even have a cell phone but like that short cut. About 25 years ago I would go away to computer school, and the bride would be in charge of the Buderus hand fed. Well she got Conjuctivitus from the ashes WTH I came home on weekends to revive the poor stove. I gave her safety goggles for dumping the ashes Remember the coal forum did not exist, and I was the only one around burning black rocks. The shaker grate in the Buderus was not helpful with red ash coal, but who knew there was different kind of coal Technology changed I did not have to go away anymore and the Buderus lived to survive the experience. The new Keystoker 90 would of been a gift from GOD at the time Who would of thunk they made a coal stove that fed itself like a horse Life goes on ,I just hope I live long enought to benefit from my school of "Hard Knocks" experience.

My wife a while back informed me that my job is to fill the LL Econo 1 stoker with rice coal and take out the ashes. She will do the dusting and cleaning in the house.

She also stated that her job will include sitting in front of the stove in her rocking chair with the cat in her lap and the two of them napping and soaking up the heat generated by the stove. Otherwise it just goes to waste.

Sounds logical to me.

Rev. Larry

I've been trying to teach my wife how to operate the stove since we had the Chubby SR. She does the DS but only barely. There are times where I work over nights and won't be home to do it.

I will never have that to look forward to . My wife will NEVER tend to the old boiler. She loves the money we save burning rocks, but is WAY too intimidated by the Burnham. Fortunately for me i have a fairly consistent work schedule so its easy for me to tend to the fire every 12-13 hrs. occasionally something comes up and the old girl has to run 16-17 hrs with no attention but she is more than capable! Ive gone as long as 18 hrs and still had plenty of fire to salvage.

The wife took well to the Hitzer. Only one explosion with no real consequense. I'm away a lot so it really helps she tends to business so well. Sue gets new "hot" gloves for Christmas this year. Hey our 1st anni was a cement Bird Bath, 2nd was a Lawn Boy mower. Yup 41 coming up soon.

Last year when I first started burning coal, the female unit tried to tend to it while I was at work a couple times. She did OK until one day I got a call with a panicking wife on the other end. OMG, I left the ash pan door open and forgot, furnace is at 500 degrees and the pipe is off the scale!! OMG what do I do??!!

SO since then, I'd rather keep her out of the furnace. And I think she likes it better that way too