Appropriate Weather Temps for Burning

 
stokersmoker
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Post by stokersmoker » Mon. Nov. 14, 2011 2:31 pm

I think the concern with burning your stove on a day that's not cool enough is two things: like the other posters mentioned, you may heat yourself out. You can idle the stove, but it can never go down to 0 BTU's like your furnace can when there is not a demand for heat. My stove can go as low as 5000 BTU's when it's idling, and on a "warm" day when it's in the 50's, that's all the stove does is idle, and even that little heat output is enough to push the temp in the house to 75 degrees or more. It's not really worth running the stove then because your wasting coal and electric and your uncomfortably hot. You want to open up the window, and it totally defeats the purpose. I've found a way to easily shut down the stove whenever I want, and even found a way to pretty easily and reliably relight it, so it's not that big a deal for me to just shut down.
But a bigger problem is, and I was told this by the dealer, is your draft in the chimney is created by the difference in temps between the outside temp, and the temps inside the chimney. The hotter it is inside the chimney as compared to outside, the greater the draft your gonna get because heat rises. If the difference in temps is not sufficient enough because of a warm day and the fact that the stove is idling not creating much heat, at some point the exhaust can back into the house and youll get carbon monoxide.

 
musikfan6
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Post by musikfan6 » Mon. Nov. 14, 2011 3:47 pm

Yep,

That's what I'm told. That's probably my biggest fear and hesitation for burning when it's over 55 degrees

 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Mon. Nov. 14, 2011 3:59 pm

musikfan6 wrote:
markviii wrote:The "one match club" is a group of people that only light there stove once during the entire season, hence the "one" match.
Goofy me....I should have figured that one out. I'm not in that club this year, unfortunately. I hoping to make it to the 2 match club this year!
It will be at least the 3 match club for me. First match was during the snowstorm, then let it go out when we jumped back up to 70*, then second match late last week when it cooled down again, but I turned it off today as we hit 70* again. Probably start it up again late this week if the forecast is correct with Thursday and Friday having a high of 48*.

 
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Horace
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Post by Horace » Mon. Nov. 14, 2011 4:09 pm

musikfan6 wrote:Hey! Impressive chart you have there. I have great respect for your technological expertise.
Thanks for the kind words. I wanted to keep track of what I burn each year, and it sort of grew from there. (First attachment)
musikfan6 wrote:From what I can read, you are doing pretty well with your coal consumption, eh?
It's about average as compared to previous years. (Second attachment.) I have electric baseboard as backup heat, and I hate to turn it on. I'd rather open the windows and waste the heat.
stokersmoker wrote:But a bigger problem is, and I was told this by the dealer, is your draft in the chimney is created by the difference in temps between the outside temp, and the temps inside the chimney. The hotter it is inside the chimney as compared to outside, the greater the draft your gonna get because heat rises. If the difference in temps is not sufficient enough because of a warm day and the fact that the stove is idling not creating much heat, at some point the exhaust can back into the house and youll get carbon monoxide.
Exactly! Wasting heat and coal is a much smaller concern compared to CO poisoning. Check the batteries in the CO detectors.

Attachments

frontend.jpg
.JPG | 131KB | frontend.jpg
TotPerMonth2.pdf
.PDF | 20.5KB | TotPerMonth2.pdf

 
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SteveZee
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Post by SteveZee » Mon. Nov. 14, 2011 4:15 pm

One of mine (The Herald) has been running for the last couple of weeks and heating the whole house. It's been as high as the mid 50's (actually 57 one day) but low 40s and 30's at night so the stove mostly idles along except during cooler nights. Mid 50s is about as high as I'm comfortable with before shutting down. My typical rule of thumb is under 50 degrees 24/7, for the stoves to be going full time. It's more that it get uncomfortable than I'm worried about CO. The chimneys here will draw up to about 70 before losing pull, They are tall and I'm on a hill with a consistent breeze, but no sense pushing it.


 
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DennisH
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Post by DennisH » Mon. Nov. 14, 2011 5:49 pm

If it's above 40degF outside my wife won't let me burn coal. Even when at idle, it heats the house to about 80degF! (2500 sq ft house!) She makes me burn wood instead until it's colder outside!!! :cry: :cry:

 
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grizzly2
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Post by grizzly2 » Mon. Nov. 14, 2011 6:34 pm

I have been burning contiually for about 3 weeks. I have only had about 3 days when I have had to open the windows during the day. Today was one of them.

I monitor manometer and have a good CO detector. It is good to feel it is not costing me a fortune to have a window open for a while when it is warm out or when raising a lot of dust or varnich fumes. I am doing a lot of interior work on the house right now. My stove temp is 200* right now and a window is cracked a little. 77* in the house and 58* outside.

 
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I'm On Fire
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Post by I'm On Fire » Tue. Nov. 15, 2011 9:06 am

I too have been burning for the past three weeks. I've got a short chimney so draft in these warmer temps was a problem last season. This season not so much since I added a draft inducer. I've contemplated shutting down this week as the weather is calling for mid to high 60*'s. My wife says not to bother and let it go; she sites that it's pointless to shut down now since it'll probably get cold next week. So, I'm idling the stove along at 180*-200* my draft inducer is running 24/7 and set to draw .06" (I found that it can be adjusted :D ). I'm still shaking and reloading twice a day but am using a coal hod every two days now.

 
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Chuck_Steak
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Post by Chuck_Steak » Tue. Nov. 15, 2011 10:39 am

musikfan6 wrote: .... I have a local friend who told me that he pretty much doesn't lite up until Thanksgiving.
I'm pretty much with your friend on this one. :yes:
I live in the northeast, where it does get pretty cold, but this time
of year, the daily temps are just too unpredictable.
I use natural gas, and right now, it is not that expensive.
It's easier to use the thermostat, just set it and forget it.
(Thanks to Ron Popeil)
Having my house at 78 would be very uncomfortable, and just wasting
time and coal for when we really need and enjoy it.
This time of year all things considered, it's actually cheaper for me.

Dan

 
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I'm On Fire
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Post by I'm On Fire » Tue. Nov. 15, 2011 12:38 pm

Well, considering right now #2 is at $3.56 a gallon and one of the cheapest places near me won't deliver for anything less than 150 gallons it'd cost me $534 to fill my tank up from 1/4 tank to run my furnace for maybe two weeks. It's still cheaper for me to burn coal during these warmer temps.


 
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SteveZee
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Post by SteveZee » Tue. Nov. 15, 2011 5:20 pm

I have oil in the tank and a brand new boiler but it's become sort of a "principal" thing with me. They higher they keep jacking up the heating oil prices, the less I'll ever use or buy. Understand it's only because I can, having two coal stoves, but it makes me wonder if more folks could say "naw forget it, I don't need any thank you, how fast the price would come down?

 
musikfan6
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Post by musikfan6 » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 8:12 am

SteveZee wrote:One of mine (The Herald) has been running for the last couple of weeks and heating the whole house. It's been as high as the mid 50's (actually 57 one day) but low 40s and 30's at night so the stove mostly idles along except during cooler nights. Mid 50s is about as high as I'm comfortable with before shutting down. My typical rule of thumb is under 50 degrees 24/7, for the stoves to be going full time. It's more that it get uncomfortable than I'm worried about CO. The chimneys here will draw up to about 70 before losing pull, They are tall and I'm on a hill with a consistent breeze, but no sense pushing it.
This is similar to my situation - on a hill with more breezes than not, and a 20 foot chimney. That would explain why I always had such nice fires in the grate when I used to just burn wood for asthetic purposes. Never had any smoke coming out my chimney, even with a rip-roarin' fire going. It makes me think that I could probably get away with burning the stove even with the temps at 55 degrees or so. But then I think about the CO stuff. Can it come back down a 5" stainless steel liner as well??

 
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SteveZee
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Post by SteveZee » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 4:10 pm

Well, I think its more like it stops getting pulled up the pipe or chimney rather than coming back down. It's a pressure differential (fluid dynamics, Bernoulle's principal) and at a certain point when there is no longer any differential the gasses dissipate into the room rather than flowing up the pipe/chimney.

 
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Vangellis
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Post by Vangellis » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 6:38 pm

Chuck_Steak wrote:
musikfan6 wrote: .... I have a local friend who told me that he pretty much doesn't lite up until Thanksgiving.
I'm pretty much with your friend on this one. :yes:
I live in the northeast, where it does get pretty cold, but this time
of year, the daily temps are just too unpredictable.
I use natural gas, and right now, it is not that expensive.
It's easier to use the thermostat, just set it and forget it.
(Thanks to Ron Popeil)
Having my house at 78 would be very uncomfortable, and just wasting
time and coal for when we really need and enjoy it.
This time of year all things considered, it's actually cheaper for me.

Dan
Same here.......but,

I lit up today. :D I usually try to hold off until Thanksgiving also getting by with my electric heat in parts of the house. So today I'm eating breakfast
and the temps are in the 40's, still feeling a chill in the house with the electric humming away and thought, aww, what the heck. :P
Started a wood fire and once I got some good coals in there, I started to layer. It's roasting down here now. :P
For me it's not only about the money saved, but it's just so much of a better heat.

Kevin

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