Building a fire in a wood stove

[NH.Solar]

The key to starting a fire is kndling and you can quickly and easily make a pile from your cordwood using a Kindling Cracker. I've heated with wood for much of my life and this is one of the best tools I've ever bought for the task! I heat from the basement and this tool and a hatchet are sitting just a few feet away from my stove. A super easy, super fast, and super convenient way to build your fire.
It is also a lot easily to fit longer wood in a smaller stove if it has been reduced in diameter

[BoatHouse]

Originally Posted by NH.Solar

The key to starting a fire is kndling and you can quickly and easily make a pile from your cordwood using a Kindling Cracker. I've heated with wood for much of my life and this is one of the best tools I've ever bought for the task! I heat from the basement and this tool and a hatchet are sitting just a few feet away from my stove. A super easy, super fast, and super convenient way to build your fire.
It is also a lot easily to fit longer wood in a smaller stove if it has been reduced in diameter

I love my kindling cracker!

[SailinAway]

Two questions:

(1) How about this stovepipe thermometer: https://www.amazon.com/WoodSaver-Sto.../dp/B0011BBAH4

(2) Is it OK to put a large aluminum pot on the stove for humidity, providing that it doesn't run dry? Can the metal get thin and possibly crack over time?

[John Mercier]

The temperature meter should help keep the flue in the proper range.
As long as water stays in the pot... not sure that anything bad would happen.

Because the stove is most likely not a cat with external supply air... you will only get it so efficient.

Because you are starting a new fire repeatedly, the flue will drop outside the optimum range and into the creosote range as you warm it up and let it cool down.

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by SailinAway

Two questions:

(1) How about this stovepipe thermometer: https://www.amazon.com/WoodSaver-Sto.../dp/B0011BBAH4

(2) Is it OK to put a large aluminum pot on the stove for humidity, providing that it doesn't run dry? Can the metal get thin and possibly crack over time?

1. Yes, but I prefer having one with the degree marks. I have 2 on the stack about 8-10 inches apart with the lower one about 36 inches up the pipe. I do compare the two, and there really isn't much difference between the two. Call it redundancy.

2. I use cast iron sitting on a trivet on my stove. I used to buy the $80 ones but they got a build up of mineral deposits that really marred the appearance. We switched over to an inexpensive one and I get the same deposits. Each year we have taken a wire brush to the deposits and then put some some polish on it. We usually change them at 3-4 years. Cheaper is easier on the mind to replace.

Never used aluminum pots. Go on Amazon for the cast iron or to your local fireplace and woodstove retailer.

Dave

[Descant]

Yes, cast iron. But don't add cold water if it boils dry. Remove it, let it cool, than add water and reset. It's April. Save this thread for next fall.

[John Mercier]

Something like this is what they are talking about...
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...All%20Products

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by John Mercier

Something like this is what they are talking about...
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...All%20Products

Actually this is like what I have.

FireBeauty Woodstove Steamer Stove Humidifier Cast Iron Lattice Top Rust Resistant 2.3 Quart Capacity (horse) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FJHP3PW...NMYREM6GSR2PXJ

Dave

[SailinAway]

Originally Posted by Descant

Yes, cast iron. But don't add cold water if it boils dry. Remove it, let it cool, than add water and reset. It's April. Save this thread for next fall.

By next fall oil will be $2 a gallon and I won't need to heat with wood.

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by SailinAway

By next fall oil will be $2 a gallon and I won't need to heat with wood.

But if you can get wood inexpensively, it'll always be a good source of heat, especially for those days you wanna get a bit warmer than the 47° you keep your house at!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[John Mercier]

Originally Posted by SailinAway

By next fall oil will be $2 a gallon and I won't need to heat with wood.

Better safe than sorry.
I have several solar projects in the works for areas that do not have shading issues...

[Descant]

Originally Posted by John Mercier

Better safe than sorry.
I have several solar projects in the works for areas that do not have shading issues...

Congratulations on passing the 1000 mark in less than a year. You're a busy guy.

[John Mercier]

More bored.

[SailinAway]

Now that I've had a month to practice heating with wood, here's what I've learned. I think I was splitting the wood too small and burning it too hot, hence the rapid consumption of fuel. I switched to burning larger pieces---8" instead of 4"---and I close the damper about 2/3 once a hot bed of embers is established. So Thinkxingu was correct about all this! (But not, I think, about the number of large logs I can fit in my stove for burning all night.)

Since I have no idea what the price of oil will be by the fall, I think I will try to replenish my wood pile from my own woods. That will save money on fuel and also clean up the woods. At the very least, I can set the thermostat to 50 day and night, and supplement with wood so that the thermostat would only come on on a cold night, and never during the day.

Some tricks I learned: I prefer to split kindling the lazy person's way, sitting down. I got a 12" x 12" log that happened to have a vertical notch in it. The notch will hold any oddly shaped piece of wood, like the ones that were cut at an angle---the poor person's Kindling Cracker.

To cut larger (8"-10") but short (24") logs with a chainsaw (it's hard to hold those), I made a contraption like a miter box and nailed it to the top of a 15" high chopping log. Even a small electric chainsaw can cut through larger logs just by cutting and turning the log in the miter box. The miter box can also hold one or more long branches for sawing.

This is mostly tedious and messy work, not to mention dangerous, although splitting kindling is pretty satisfying. I read the mini split thread with envy and dream about solar heat also. Anything but oil.

[John Mercier]

Originally Posted by SailinAway

Now that I've had a month to practice heating with wood, here's what I've learned. I think I was splitting the wood too small and burning it too hot, hence the rapid consumption of fuel. I switched to burning larger pieces---8" instead of 4"---and I close the damper about 2/3 once a hot bed of embers is established. So Thinkxingu was correct about all this! (But not, I think, about the number of large logs I can fit in my stove for burning all night.)

Since I have no idea what the price of oil will be by the fall, I think I will try to replenish my wood pile from my own woods. That will save money on fuel and also clean up the woods. At the very least, I can set the thermostat to 50 day and night, and supplement with wood so that the thermostat would only come on on a cold night, and never during the day.

Some tricks I learned: I prefer to split kindling the lazy person's way, sitting down. I got a 12" x 12" log that happened to have a vertical notch in it. The notch will hold any oddly shaped piece of wood, like the ones that were cut at an angle---the poor person's Kindling Cracker.

To cut larger (8"-10") but short (24") logs with a chainsaw (it's hard to hold those), I made a contraption like a miter box and nailed it to the top of a 15" high chopping log. Even a small electric chainsaw can cut through larger logs just by cutting and turning the log in the miter box. The miter box can also hold one or more long branches for sawing.

This is mostly tedious and messy work, not to mention dangerous, although splitting kindling is pretty satisfying. I read the mini split thread with envy and dream about solar heat also. Anything but oil.

The solar that I am looking at is more about hot water...
But Gary (ex-Boeing engineer) has been working on it and compiling the effort for decades. He was a strong contributor to the Mother Earth News forum over the years as we worked out the differences between theory and real world outcomes. He keeps his information on the www.builditsolar.com site.