Just Cruising

[dorkweed]

A couple pix of my Englander 13NC wood stove cruising at about 625* stove top and 475* stack temp. The pix don't do the secondaries justice IMHO!!!! This little stove is the proverbial "cat's dupa" as far as I'm concerned. It'll be Nov. 1 tomorrow, and I only switched on my furnace while I was gone in NoDak from Oct. 12-Oct. 20!!! When I got home I turned the furnace switch off, and she ain't been on since!!!! While I was gone I set it a 50* also!!!! Don't think she clicked on at all while I was gone!!

[Rogan]

looks like a nuclear explosion! :)I've been rehashing the replacement of my wood stove insert (which greatly reduces my options, due to size) as I'm considering getting a more efficient unit. I think mine is about 15 yrs old or more, and not really designed to do what I want it to do.

[Mopar1973Man]

What furnace??? I don't have one... Been burning firewood since Oct 1...

[Rogan]

I have a POS heat pump.. It does 2 things well:1. runs up electric bill :spend:2. keeps the house cool in the winter

[dorkweed]

I have a POS heat pump.. It does 2 things well:

1. runs up electric bill

2. keeps the house cool in the winter

That had ice tea coming out my nose!!

- - - Updated - - -

What furnace??? I don't have one... Been burning firewood since Oct 1...

With 20/20 hindsight, I never should have flipped the switch. Don't believe it ever clicked on though, because it was pretty mild the 9 days I was gone. When I got home, I turned the furnace switch off and built a fire. That was just over 2.5 weeks ago.

Don't know that scrounging firewood will save me any money this winter, but I know I'll stay a lot warmer!!!

[Mopar1973Man]

Ummm... I've got nearly 8-9 cords in the yard now and splitting wet firewood. So what I got to do is ran with the dry stuff in the shed and stack the wet stuff out in the yard to allow it to dry some more under a tarp. I learn my learn long ago you never split wet firewood and stack it in front of you dry.

[Rogan]

I'm down to 3 pcs of hickory. I'm heading out to cut this morning. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

[Mopar1973Man]

:lol:Well I'm down to 3 pieces of miscellaneous fir. But I got a shed full of dry split wood. Just roll the truck down and load it up. Bring it back to the house and stack it in the wood hole.

[rancherman]

I have a POS heat pump.. It does 2 things well: 1. runs up electric bill 2. keeps the house cool in the winter

have a neighbor who built a new house, and he paid a LOT of money for a very complex ground-heat-exchanger. ~60k~ Lots of electric circulation pumps, several hundred feet of underground pipe... And not even 10 years has gone by and the first pumps have failed. Control circuits have gone bad. Oh sure, not burning much fuel... (unless one of our famous ice storms knocks out the juice for a week) then has a diesel tractor running a PTO generator @ 5 gallons/hour... Our electric rates have about doubled since his installation of that contraption too.. His "break even" date might not ever be seen! "If you build it".... And the Govt says it's a good Idea....(green).... you will probably: 1. starve 2. freeze to death 3. file for bankrupcy I'll bet the contractor and supplier who shared the 60k probably burn COAL as fast as they can shovel it in!

[Mopar1973Man]

:rolleyes:I watch people out here in Idaho with either electric heat or propane heat that basically pay $300-$500 per month to stay warm. As for myself for $300-$500 per year in fuel, permits, saw supplies, etc. I can have enough firewood for entire winter season if not some for next season.Winter out here is officially from October 15 to April 15. Those are the dates to close down all irrigation systems state wide. Basically 6 months of cold freezing weather.

[rancherman]

I been keeping warm for 15 years now with a Stihl 039 Has the 23 inch bar.It's a little big for general clean up type work and de limbing... But it's well balanced and I like a larger saw.I sure would like to see the pile of wood that thing has produced over the years!This saw is old enough, parts were made in Germany, and final assembly was in USA. I wonder these days if Stihl jumped on the asian rickshaw route?

[dobienut]

I'm actually trying to decide before next summer how i'm going to replace my wood furace and with what. I am looking at the in ground heat source (Geothermal) and here's what I'm comparing . Now I spend $280/2 months power, $6-700/year firewood,around $6-800/oil (oil fired hot water). Never priced stuff out yet but I have to replace my wood/oil combo next year due to rotting out(cant be welded), oil tank needs replacing and my current heat pump for cooling is getting old and not efficient.Roughly I spend $3000+-/year now for all I use, i'm figuring Geo will run me roughly the same with good heating, cooling and supply hot water all winter, some in summer when I'm using cooling. Geo will be about double the cost of replacing my stuff that needs to be replaced, but no wood, no mess, cheaper insurance, no worrying about flu fires(even tho i've never had one yet), no chimney repairs...it's alot of pros to think about

[Rogan]

Here's my dilemma...

Curvy no?

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

[Mopar1973Man]

[*]Chain isn't sharpen properly

[*]Chain bar is wore out and not holding the chain true vertical

[*]Pulling hard on one side of the handle bar

What does your chips look like long nearly stringy or dusty and small? A sharp chain should have nice long chips.

Does your chain rock left to right in the bar? Shouldn't. The chain should have little to none rocking left to right.

When you cutting are you forcing the chain into the wood or are you letting the chain cut on it own? Looking at the pic I say your forcing rather hard and digging the saw dogs into it. Sign its dull...

[Rogan]

[*]Chain isn't sharpen properly

[*]Chain bar is wore out and not holding the chain true vertical

[*]Pulling hard on one side of the handle bar

What does your chips look like long nearly stringy or dusty and small? A sharp chain should have nice long chips.

Does your chain rock left to right in the bar? Shouldn't. The chain should have little to none rocking left to right.

When you cutting are you forcing the chain into the wood or are you letting the chain cut on it own? Looking at the pic I say your forcing rather hard and digging the saw dogs into it. Sign its dull...

I made sure I wasn't applying pressure to cause it.

Chain is sharp. Properly? Questionable (it was on the saw when I bought it a couple weeks ago.)

Chips are chunks about 1/4-1/2" in length. I didn't notice any rocking of the chain.

I'll actually put this info over in my 'saw' thread, so not to hijack this one any more than I've already done..

[dorkweed]

Rogain, go back and double check what Mike told you...........he's spot on!!!!If all that is Kosher; when that happens to me, it's ususally from fatigue from cuttin a while. Tthis is what I do for that.......................We all know that 99.86% of all chainsaws are "right-handed", correct???? Often times when cutting, I'll go "lefty" on my McCullock ProMac 610. I'm amazed at how straight she cuts that way. After a while going lefty, I'll go back "righty" and the saw cuts just fine again.I think what you may be seeing is fatigue or possible over "right-handedness". What I mean is this.............are you one of those guys that is absolutely inept with their "off" hand???? If so, you are probably unconciously pressuring the saw to cut that way.A good sharp saw for vertical cutting should almost want to pull you over the top of the log. If that's not what you're getting, you saw is not sharp.

[Mopar1973Man]

DANGER!

Becareful with this method...Single hand saw running is very dangerous!

But what I'll do to test the saw is cutting true is start the saw cutting into a log and release the handle bar and hang on to the throttle. Let the saw fall under its own weight if the chain is dull on one side it will stop cutting but if the chain is truly sharp then it should continue to fall/cut under its own weight.Tomorrow in the daylight I'll get out the chainsaw and show you a few pictures of wore out bars and dull chains.Take a close look at the tip of this cutter its been hit on a rock. Blunt nosed and worthless.My old 26" bar and chain need replacing.Pushing the chain away from me... On the next two ipicture look at the teeth they are totally dull.Pulling the chain towards me. You can see the movement. Bar is wasted...

[rancherman]

you have a combination of 2 things... a bar that is wallowed out.. and one side either dulled a little on one side *kissed the ground, imbedded hardware, or other foreign bodies. Or it was sharpened unevenly: makes one side shorter and the taller side does all the work.If your bar was really in good or new condition, it would cut about an inch, then act like it was stuck (chain would still be turning.... but with a little jiggling, it would drop another inch or so. With a worn bar, it allows the chain to "follow it's own kerf" and that is the first sign that your chain is not right. Mike is right on the dust... if you are cutting in no wind, your chips will actually fall in 2 distinct piles. The dull side will be noticably fine, and the sharp side will be nice long curly chips.I don't worry too much about worn bars, But when it's really bad.. I take it to town and have it remachined.They basically squeeze the groove down a little, and re machine it to spec. costs about 40 bucks. I'll rebuild a bar 1 time. I only use Stihl bars... It's a PITA, but I flip the bar every other tank of fuel. I try to cut 25-30 loads of oak and elm during the season. (I only cut during the winter.... summer heat kills saws!)