The end is near

buffalo bob wrote:

freetown fred wrote:And a WISE man you are

DITTO

Thritto

I suppose it works differently with different people in different areas in different houses....differently. If its an average april I cannot imagine using coal heat during that time. I wont do it because temps over 55 degrees and I could lose the fire simply cause draft isnt that great.

Short Bus wrote:Sunrise 7:52 Sunset 6:23 gaining six minutes a day ....

WOW your already way ahead of us here. Sunrise 6:17 / sunset 5:44 here. We've already gained an hour of sunlight at the end of the day. Was setting at around 4pm. Not quite as bad as your 3 hours of daylight in December.

I'm On Fire wrote:

wsherrick wrote:I will be heating well into May.

This, unless it will hit the 60's during the day and 50's at night.

Temperatures vary widely up here where I am. I know you aren't all that far away, but; there is a still quite a difference in temperature due to elevation.
It can get down into the 30's here at night almost into June.
The stove upstairs will soon go out for the year, but; the stove in the basement will continue to run. The ground is quite frozen and it takes a long time for the ground to warm up enough not to freeze me out of the basement.

Not really sure how long I'll burn coal this year. Sometimes spring comes early here in south central Pa. And as I put a Baker Contender II in place and fired it up for the first time Saturday I really don't know how far I can throttle it down. With the weather we've had the last couple days 24 hr burn times could be stretched maybe to 36 hrs. Time will tell and the wife will decide when she's to0 hot.

Just brought in my last 6 buckets of nut this evening. Thats just about 5 tons(nut), started burning middle of october. Colds not over with yet though, so saturday off i go to get another heavy (1200#) half ton nut, got half ton pea for when it does get mid 40's and higher during days(idles better,lasts), bed of nut, pea cap several inches to slow burn. Figure mid april will put out the glow, all depending on temps.

wilder11354 wrote:Just brought in my last 6 buckets of nut this evening. Thats just about 5 tons(nut), started burning middle of october. Colds not over with yet though, so saturday off i go to get another heavy (1200#) half ton nut, got half ton pea for when it does get mid 40's and higher during days(idles better,lasts), bed of nut, pea cap several inches to slow burn. Figure mid april will put out the glow, all depending on temps.

It's still fairly cool here in Girardville Pa. Days into upper 30's and nights in upper 20's. Momma still likes to sit in the rocking chair with the cat in her lap in the mornings. We keep the LR about 76 with bedrooms at 70-72. I guess I have burned a little over a ton if that much all winter long. Just got finished installing a little bucket a day water heater that I only have to fire up every third day. We are now 100% on local coal. My car engine doesn't even warm up by the time I get to one of two coal yards!

The Kodiak'll idle down and surprisingly stay running in 60s day/50 night even in the rain. Oil going off in a couple days, I'll barely use 100 gallons this year. DHW is via a 30 gallon electric, it costs me $15-20/month only. I know thisw because of comparing months with it and without. Oil would be a bunch more. I've had the electric hot water heater for 7 years now.

Oil burner guy scolded me for turning the boiler off for summer. He'd crap his drawers if he knew I turned it off for days at a time during the winter. He said it isn't good for it? I told him I don't keep my car idling all the time because I may use it today. Heck, it's on and off some days ten times, gaskets and hoses seem to hold up just fine. (I would think copper and soldered joints were a lot MORE durable)

PLUS, since I only do 100 or so gallons per year, and since it's also 7 years old, cleanings are every 4 years. 3 years ago when cleaned it wasn't sooted bad.

Anybody else tired of air conditioning the ski resort for the A-Rabs?

Another ice storm is raging away in New England. The Cape escaped the snow but it is windy and raw. Since I am buying coal now I know my usage very well, about 25 pounds pounds per day costing in the neighborhood of $160 a month, not cheap if it's not cold out . Of course, I can idle her down a bit to reduce the consumption but there becomes a temperature point when it is not worth it, probably somewhere in the low 40s. Will run through March and then it is time to shut her down.

I am still burning a fair amount up here on the border. 23 degrees and 15 mph North winds forecasted for tonight.

End of April, stove in basement family room, although insulated and looks more like a living room, the below grade room gets no sun, so heat has to come from somewhere. The Keystoker90 can creep along at pretty low rate.

another 2 freeekin' feet of snow, no stove hooked up yet...starting to make me mad

I live near Rob and yes we are still pretty cool up here. However unless April is exceptionaly cold I find by mid april that burning coal all day with the window stats open is more wasteful than running the oil furnace a little at night. This seems like a pretty typical year so I will gues two or three more weeks and I'll be done for the year.

A good portion of the 2' of snow is gone now. Water table is WAY up there between the snow melt & almost 3/4" of rain on top of it. The frog has been hanging out in the basement - he climbed out of the sump since the river started flowing through it again.

Weather patterns are looking good. Looking forward to cleanout day! Should be my last season with a handfired, barring an emergency, so this will be a momentous occasion!

I'm with Griz two or three weeks till the end. Used up the 4 ton I got this year and now into the leftover from the year before and what a differance in how the stove is burning. Now I see the differance in coal year to year, hope this coming year is better coal than this year was, had to fight with the stove constantly all winter.