We've had a fire today ...

[JimT]

the first of the winter season.

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[AJMD429]

.
We heat with wood only, so usually have a fire from Halloween to Easter. Maybe let it go out 2-3 times during that period in warm spells.

Not as pretty to look at though - it is in a metal box wood furnace in a metal-lined concrete block room.

[piller]

This is sideways

[Bill in Oregon]

Nice. It got down to 23 here this morning, but my fireplace is on my screened and windy porch.

[Molasses]

No fireplace, wood stove or anything of that nature here.

Watching a fire and feeling the warmth of it fighting back a chill seeping in from the outside just seems soothing to the soul.

Somehow, central heating, even though it keeps the place pretty comfy, doesn't feel quite so right, even though ours is natural gas and you can hear the flame in the furnace while it's running.

[stretch]

I heat mostly with wood here in Maine, so we've had the Jotul fired up since October.

Right now at 9AM it's 17F outside, (ABOVE zero! ) with a howling wind out of the WNW.

Inside, it's right cozy at 64-68F, depending on what room we're in. Temp will go up
by suppertime.

Here's to hoping that we don't lose power in this wind.

-Stretch

[JimT]

I remember Jotul from the 1970's and 80's. One of the best wood stove's made at the time. May still be, though I have not followed them in years. They were super efficient with very little heat loss up the chimney.

[Scott Tschirhart]

It’s getting to be good weather for casting bullets.

[765x53]

I stoked a coal furnace and carried ashes from the basement when growing up. Natural gas is fine with me.

[geobru]

In 1978, I was making $800 a month working as a forester for a private timber company. I bought an old dilapidated house on an acre of ground in September of that year and outfitted it with an Orley stove. The woodshed had some dry wood in it but was about a cord and a half short of having enough to last the winter. I scrounged up firewood logs when I found them at work because we didn't have money to buy firewood. I remember cutting up a maple log in early October hoping that it would be seasoned enough to burn by the time the dry firewood was gone. Our first child was a babe in arms when I had to burn that maple. It was still wet and sizzled as the water came out of it as it burned in the stove. There was so little heat generated from that wood that you could put your hand on the top the stove without getting burned. The only alternate heat source was a wall heater in the front room. My wife made a tent with chairs and blankets around that heater to create a warm place for the baby. It was 45 degrees in the house during those weeks until spring finally came and he temperature warmed up. Needless to say, I never ran out of dry firewood again.

Since then, I have had electric or Propane heat in the homes we have lived in. Whenever there is a chill on the house, it reminds me of the comfort of a wood heat source. I really do miss that feeling, but I don't really miss cutting, splitting, and stacking 5-6 cords of wood every year!

[GunnyMack]

Firewood warms you many times before it ever catches fire!
Warms you when you cut it, split it,when you stack it, carry it to the house .

We used to keep the Buck Stove going 24/7 in the basement from early November till spring. The really cold spells the Fueago, then a Regency stove on the main floor would get lit.
8 to 10 cords of cutting, splitting, stacking, carrying warmed me lots!
Now I do all the work one day a year with 2 pellet stoves.
I built 2 boxes, one holds a ton the other 2 ton of wood pellets. I devised a chute system and pour the pellets into the boxes in the basement .

Wood heat cant be beat! It gets into your bones unlike other types.

[LeverGunner]

We use a 2 eye stove from long ago. Last couple of days, had a good fire going all the time.

[.45colt]

Always Good to see an open fireplace! We have had our coal furnace going since Oct 20th and the wood/coal stove in the front room for about six weeks. We had rain for Christmas but now back in the 20's and the Lake Erie snow machine is working well . Fairport Harbor had wind gusts of 72mph Monday and we weren't far behind . looking for about 8-10" of snow for the New Year. Happy New year Jim ,stay warm. .