Wood stove heat

PCTREE said:
Squish are you still liking that PE stove? I have been trying to source one but our local dealers say they have issues and the company is terrible with warrantee work
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I worked on an older PE super 27 yesterday that had severe warping inside on the baffle and the baffle supports. That's the first one I've seen like that out of probably half a dozen or so PE's I've serviced now. In its defence it clearly looked neglected and abused, and was quite old(owner didn't know how old, came with the place). It had bricks coming apart inside, but none missing and there was evidence in the chimney of a chimney fire too. But the baffle and supports were warped enough that the baffle retaining pin was nowhere to be found and couldn't have been replaced even if I had one as it wouldn't all line up.
 
sotc said:
Try backing a high strung horse into the head chute! Lots of pressure there
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I had mentioned in another thread I participated in my first real team roping last Sunday. It was......well......a real eye opener. First off we had 'heard' that they had real slow steers where we were going, but when we arrived it turned out they had a fresh new pen. Lol. I only had five runs and my first one I got beat bad on, 2nd run I was still late out of the box, 3rd run I caught and turned but my heeler missed and my fourth and fifth runs my horse did great and I just flat out missed.

So the take away was that I've got lots of work to do still. On fast steers like I got to run on on Sunday my swing was going to shit. Quite apparent that I'm still struggling with my left handed ness when things speeds up.

In my own defence everyone was missing lots as the steers were fast and fresh, and I quickly learned not a lot of people want to run with the brand new guy as I'd say most people did like 10-15 runs in the first round, but there were certainly no lineups to run out with the squisher. Lol.

Highly motivating though, I've been videoing my ground dummy throwing practices at home, so I can really analyze my swing and get that sorted.
 
I wouldn't mind dragging calves at a branding, but it is a lot different than team roping.

I went to the practice pen last night and just killed it. Slower steers, no pressure, made all the difference in the world.

The roping I went to last Sunday and only got five runs was a 'ride in' set up. So no times and no numbers, so a few good guys that showed up were stacking runs. So there'd be like a 4+ header running with a #5 heeler. Even worse a few times I think. Combined teams of like 10 or 11's. No way for a beginner to compete with those guys. Apparently a couple of the other competitors were quite po'd about it and next time there will possibly be some sort of cap which would force the high numbered guys to go with the beginners. I don't really care myself. I was just there for the experience and working through the nerves of actually competing.
 
I practice regularly with one of the guys who won most of the top spots on both ends and last night at regular practice he said he even told them it wasn't fair and they needed to do something about it if they want the beginners to keep coming. Didn't stop him from taking the money though. Lol. Any good team ropers are fierce competitors, and not apt to cut anyone any slack. If the rules are wide open like that they'll take it to the bank.
 
I'm just between chimneys, having lunch at home. Leisurely. I'm really loving this set up of cleaning chimneys. So nice to not be run off my feet with employees/equipment. It seems to me people are much happier to hand over the money, even if I'm killing it? Like because it's something to do with the home no one even considers it outrageous if I turn a good buck orrrr something? I grew weary of constantly getting grinded by people while doing trees. The expenses are a joke compared to running my tree business. Certainly while the work is there it's much more profitable. Not to mention easier.
 
squisher said:
I should point out that up here natural gas is far from cheap. I'd be staring down the barrel of $200+ a month through the winter at least. It just increased something like 12% here too, like a week ago.
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a face cord goes for $110 here. I probably go through a face cord a week to heat my house when its cold. that comes to $440 a month if I were to buy and burn wood. I get the wood free but I still have to split it, stack it and dry it. If I were to spend the time I spent splitting and stacking wood instead on pruning someones tree and making a good rate and just buy the natural gas, I would be much better off. I can't prune or remove trees AND split wood at the same time. But I do like wood heat and it means a lot to me to be independent. I think the economic argument is not that good right now unless your unemployed and paying yourself to split wood is worth it.
 
if you have a face cord, that you could sell for 110$ then it is worth 110 regardless if you split it for free. you could sell it and have 110$ in your pocket to buy 1/2 a month of clean burning natural gas. heat is heat no such thing as good quality jeat and poor quality heat. when calculating cost/btu its hard to beat natural gas. its like 1.30 a ccf here. if you wamt to talk about lifestyle choices then I do like fire. everyone burns green wood around here. people dont really store it well. its hard to find someone who truly sells well seasoned dried wood. green wood fires are so filthy. but it costs money to store wood too. i dont know. truly heating your home with wood is a lot of work, i dont care if you are a tree guy already.
 
The way I look at it is that I get "paid" to haul my own firewood. I have this disorder that renders me unable to sit idle anyway, so cutting/splitting/stacking wood is no biggie.
 
squisher said:
But the baffle and supports were warped enough that the baffle retaining pin was nowhere to be found and couldn't have been replaced even if I had one as it wouldn't all line up.
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Look at Squish rocking the stove/chimney tech terms 8)

Maybe you can fly over and check mine out, it needs attn:/:

treesmith said:
I have this disorder that renders me unable to sit idle anyway, so cutting/splitting/stacking wood is no biggie.
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:lol: :thumbup:
 
Shit Bingham look at you breakin down the numbers.

Nothing more relaxinging to me than busting up some firewood. Mind you I have it down to an art, I never bend down or do more than an hour a day, noise cancelling headphones with some tunes and a couple beers. Shoot I sit on my ass all day now I need SOME exercise.

Squish what length do you cut your wood too. I just bought a summit
 
Kevin that hits so close to home at the moment. My wife wants chickens. My neighbor has them and brings us at least a dozen eggs a week. All I have to do now is feed and water when they go out of town. Why would I want my own?

And I agree with Paul. I work a lot of hours. When I split firewood it's relaxing to me. Since I don't sell it anymore, I find it enjoyable. That and it's a good excuse to drink some beer.
 
kevin bingham said:
i hear you. I love having chickens but i sure as hell aint saving money on eggs.
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. My chicken feed goes a long way cause we throw most of our veggie trimmings or spoiled fruits etc in to them, I'm not in it to save money but i do.
treesmith said:
The way I look at it is that I get "paid" to haul my own firewood. I have this disorder that renders me unable to sit idle anyway, so cutting/splitting/stacking wood is no biggie.
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Me too! Always moving
 
sotc said:
. My chicken feed goes a long way cause we throw most of our veggie trimmings or spoiled fruits etc in to them, I'm not in it to save money but i do.

Me too! Always moving
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I found that the chickens live just fine on my kitchen scraps but they don't lay very many eggs if they aren't hooked up with high protein. Very hard to beat .99 cents a dozen on sale at Krogers right now. Not very tasty eggs but that is pretty hard to beat. Also like sewing your own clothes. Buying the cloth, costs more than buying a done pair of pants.
 
99 cents is unreal!
I keep the feeder full of feed but they eat what they need there and pick at the scraps, hasn't seemed to affect egg production. Guess it's about time to put the light on a timer out there!
 
PCTREE said:
Squish what length do you cut your wood too. I just bought a summit
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Congratulations Paul. I like 18" myself. I feed mine North/south. Meaning the pieces go straight in, not sideways. Google up some top down burning/lighting. When I light my stove it has two full size splits on the bottom, two smallish splits crossways on that. Then I stuff a bunch of paper around and crisscross three rows of kindling on top of that and light. Within 30-60 sec the door gets closed and I don't have to add crack that door or add any wood again for about three hours. It's a great smoke free way to light your stove off. Then it's just a cycle of adding full loads with the air turned right up and incrementally working the air towards nearly closed right off for fifteen/twenty minutes as the new load off gases and temps come right up. Once the load is settled in and you have good secondaries I get 6-8hr loads out of fir real easy 8hr plus if I've 'nailed it'. out of hardwoods expect much longer times, I've seen upwards of fourteen hours.

Kevin. Wood here is $150-$200 a true cord, so way cheaper then your wood there. I have never bought or sold a cord of firewood. As I mentioned earlier it's free for the taking from the forests. And wood heat kicks the crap out of forced air natural gas hands down, no matter the price.
 
To keep my own derail going. I roped seven out of ten steers at practice last night. Best I've ever done. Videoing has really paid off for me in sorting my swing out. I got the first four in a row, then missed three, then three in a row. Even did my last two runs on my wife's horse that I haven't even ridden this year. I'm certain it's going to all go to hell again though, that's the way roping goes.
 
pretty awesome on your roping. what kind of wood you burn? how does it scale on btu? curious. forced air has advantages and disadvantages. radiated heat with a boiler is much more effecient. if you have wood heat than forced air is the best backup because its fast.
 
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