Getting "Antsy" ?

I can't imagine running my coal stove in these temps. Way too warm. We are getting daytime highs of 70. I can smell wood burning stoves from somewhere, and I'm in the back yard in a t-shirt.

Same here BS. You must be on one of the "green" streets. I see smoke from a stainless pipe on my way to work. I still don't think mine will be fired till thanksgiving...maybe. See what mother nature has in store for us this winter.

Last year it was an Oct 9th start up for me as it was a first for me , and that was a couple weeks to early . I plan on the end of this month if I can wait that long as I really want it up and running again . We have had some crazy weather here as it will be around 30 in the morning and around 70 in the afternoon .

Wow1 talk about an"extreme differential." I though we only got those here in lower New England. I thought you "Maine-iacs" would already be in full bloom. Didn't think your highs were anymore than 45-50.

joeq wrote:Wow1 talk about an"extreme differential." I though we only got those here in lower New England. I thought you "Maine-iacs" would already be in full bloom. Didn't think your highs were anymore than 45-50.

Depends on where you are in Maine. My in-laws retired and moved to the lower section of Maine and they actually experience about the same temperatures as where I live up in the mountains of Northern NJ.

joeq wrote:Same here BS. You must be on one of the "green" streets. I see smoke from a stainless pipe on my way to work. I still don't think mine will be fired till thanksgiving...maybe. See what mother nature has in store for us this winter.

I usually try to hold off until thanksgiving, but give in if temps hit steady below 40 degrees. It gets too hot in here if I burn while temps are in the 50's.
I have been known to use the windowstats though.

advantages and disadvantages of having a ranch with a full basement, Shoulder months are cake to just take chill out of house or a dry out a damp day, cold weather hits its a biotch to evenly distribute heat with a handfed. Could be worse, I could be burning oil, screw that nonsense.

anthony7812 wrote:advantages and disadvantages of having a ranch with a full basement, cold weather hits its a biotch to evenly distribute heat with a handfed..

You got that right. I guess that's where the art of properly situating some fans to help circulate the hot air into needed nooks and crannies. I've never thought about the benefits of a full blown coal furnace to replace my oil fed "Thermo-pride". I know some of you members in the colder climates rely on these dedicated cellar units to primarily heat your home. With a 2 story house, I'm sure duct work and blowers are needed. How much more of an inconvenience are they compared to an oil unit? Does the coal need to be tended to, daily? Weekly? Monthly? (I'm sure it depends on many factors, but wonder about the cost savings, compared to oil.)

I don't have any issues with heat circulation. The only blower I use is the one on the stove. The way a house is setup makes the worlds difference. Because my stove is in the basement but near stairs, I use the blower from the stove pointed toward the stairs. The heat goes upstairs. I have an open floor plan in half my house. The vent in the floor on the opposite side of the house allows cold air to drop downstairs and more hot air to rise. It's not perfect but I usually walk around the house in shorts and a t-shirt.....in January.

joeq
...do you currently have a forced air furnace set up now??
...on cold days have you ever tried just putting the blower on 'manual'...to see if that helps distribute heat from the coal stove...more evenly?

Rigar wrote:joeq
...do you currently have a forced air furnace set up now??
...on cold days have you ever tried just putting the blower on 'manual'...to see if that helps distribute heat from the coal stove...more evenly?

I think I heard something about this last yr Rigar, and was under the impression this would only be beneficial to a stove mounted in the basement. Yes, I do have forced hot air, and altho my return is literally within a few feet of my stove, I'm not sure how well it would work. I'll take a picture and repost.

OK, so I had a problem with my tool-bar, that's why the need for a repost. anyway, you can see the location of my main return to the bottom right of the photo. So the theory is if you run the blower, it'll take the heat and circulate it through the house. But isn't most of the heat up high, and not on the floor? Would it actually "suck" the hot air down the return? And if so, How often would the blower need to run to redistribute it to other areas of the house. And would the minimal amount of heated air going down to the cold cellar ducts, cool it anyway, before it makes its run through the system? Just curious if anyone has tried this out successfully? I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a try when the season hits.

I have a single story ranch with a hand fed on one side of my house. It was hard to distribute the heat, the far side of the house was always chilly. I would have to crank up the stove to get the heat around the house. Luckily I have an attic, so I ran ductwork to the other end of our house and installed an inline fan in the attic. When the stove gets to temp I turn the fan on and the house stays a steady temp. I couldn't be happier with this setup.

That sounds like a great idea! Unfortunately my house has an upstairs, But I "could" use it to put heat in my girls bedrooms. I was originally thinking about putting a grate on her door, so the heat would seep in. But she/they haven't complained about it. You know what they say. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

joeq, nice set up. Bet there's nothing like sitting on that bench on a cold winters day.