greenstorm (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greenstorm) wrote2020-10-27 09:33 am
greenstorm) wrote2020-10-27 09:33 am
Heartbeat
I really enjoy wood heat.
I probably say this a couple times a year but it's so true every time.
There are definitely inconveniences: without a good backup heat system I can't go away in very cold weather, I need to be home at about the right time to stoke the fire, I need to keep the chimney clean and source wood and that takes work.
There are clear wonderful bits: the air feels right and warmer than electric ever does, it's so quiet, feeding the fire is a calming daily rhythm, I can go stand in front of the stove and soak up extra heat, it works even if the electricity goes out, it's relatively inexpensive, and I keep in touch with the outside temperature by how much and how fast I go through wood.
And there's also: I can shift the amount of heat output by how much I fill the stove at once, by which woods I use, and by how I set the burning temperature/air supply. But the stove is still a relatively fixed amount of output. That means there's no thermostat; if I go to sleep with the stove in a particular setting and it warms up 15 degrees outside overnight, the house will be very warm in the morning. Conversely if the temperature drops abruptly overnight and I haven't set the stove accordingly the house will be chillier in the morning. And when it gets really cold I sometimes need to top up with electricity because there is a fixed safe maximum output.
So I get to be comfortable, but also to be physically aware of what's happening outside in ways that I really can't be when I just set a thermostat and leave it through the seasons. I appreciate that a great deal.
I also get to be aware of my temperature tolerances in ways I wasn't before: why does 17 feel perfectly warm enough, 19 too cold, and 26 so comfortable that my bones don't ache?
The other night I was part of a pagan thing where folks lit a candle to Hestia. I just went downstairs and sat in front of my wood stove. The house has a heart and that heart is warm and beating for the winter.
I probably say this a couple times a year but it's so true every time.
There are definitely inconveniences: without a good backup heat system I can't go away in very cold weather, I need to be home at about the right time to stoke the fire, I need to keep the chimney clean and source wood and that takes work.
There are clear wonderful bits: the air feels right and warmer than electric ever does, it's so quiet, feeding the fire is a calming daily rhythm, I can go stand in front of the stove and soak up extra heat, it works even if the electricity goes out, it's relatively inexpensive, and I keep in touch with the outside temperature by how much and how fast I go through wood.
And there's also: I can shift the amount of heat output by how much I fill the stove at once, by which woods I use, and by how I set the burning temperature/air supply. But the stove is still a relatively fixed amount of output. That means there's no thermostat; if I go to sleep with the stove in a particular setting and it warms up 15 degrees outside overnight, the house will be very warm in the morning. Conversely if the temperature drops abruptly overnight and I haven't set the stove accordingly the house will be chillier in the morning. And when it gets really cold I sometimes need to top up with electricity because there is a fixed safe maximum output.
So I get to be comfortable, but also to be physically aware of what's happening outside in ways that I really can't be when I just set a thermostat and leave it through the seasons. I appreciate that a great deal.
I also get to be aware of my temperature tolerances in ways I wasn't before: why does 17 feel perfectly warm enough, 19 too cold, and 26 so comfortable that my bones don't ache?
The other night I was part of a pagan thing where folks lit a candle to Hestia. I just went downstairs and sat in front of my wood stove. The house has a heart and that heart is warm and beating for the winter.