GOOD MORNING NOSTR.

LIVE FREE. 🫡

So... Uh... I had to drive back to Pennsylvania and tomorrow I wake up early and drive back to Maine.

What a waste of time and resources, all because I cannot cryptographically confirm my friggin' gubment issued identity so I can get a job and get forced to pay taxes. And also because the effing postal service can't send mail in a timely fashion.

I'm grumpy, but, the greeting I got from my niece was worth the trip just on it's own.

Good nothing morning, #nostriches!

Today I'm going to write about some lessons I've learned about running a wood stove over the last few months.

1. The first fire of the kicking morning is not about warming yourself up. It is about warming up your chimney/flue. This is essential for a good draft, especially in colder weather. The temperature differential in the flue vs. Out of the flue creates the pressure differential that drives the whole system.

2. I use more kindling than most to get the fire going quickly and I I have learned to arrange the wood and coals so that most of the time, I don't need anything else to get the fire really going, especially with the mind to get the secondary air system heated up as quickly as possible in order to ensure the stove heats up into its best efficiency range as quickly as possible. Thus, I use less wood overall to achieve this.

3. Running your wood stove takes time to fiddle and learn. I read a bunch. I experimented. My dad never did that and has been loosing out on a lot of heat over the years because he didn't take the time to understand modern wood stoves and how they are supposed to be run.

4. Different types of wood need vastly different airflow rates to burn optimally, and this affects the temperature that is optimal for the that type of wood. Don't be afraid to run things hotter that the generic indicators may suggest, as long as you aren't hearing the stove up past the recommendations from the manufacturer.

GOOD MORNING NOSTR.

LIVE FREE. 🫡