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Just an update: I've been doing as Ryan suggested and it has been working perfectly. Wake up to a hot bed of coals in the morning, the house is not freezing, and all I need to do is add logs. Just thought I'd let everyone know how well it's been working. Thanks again to all and especially to Ryan!

Dear Ryan, Will you marry me? :love Seriously though, as much as I appreciate all the input I've been getting, I did exactly what Ryan said last night and woke up to a wonderful bed of coals and a warm house for the first time ever!!! Now, I kind of botched the concept of a scientific...

Yes, mine has the same thing that you "pull" to close it. Well meaning visitors keep trying to tell me you PUSH it to close the air, and I have to show them: NO, you PULL it to close it. Last night I tried opening it just a "smidgen" (I feel so scientific, ha ha), but it was still totally out...

Okay, I'll try and address the several posts that you folks have added (all of which I appreciate very much). First of all, it's a small stove lined with bricks, with baffles at the top interior. There is no ash pan, I simply have to scoop them out from the interior. I do not have a "chimney"...

It's mixed seasoned hardwoods, birch, maple, oak, etc.

I have an owner's manual for it but it doesn't clearly describe how to use the air control. It just says to close it partially to maintain a "slow burn". No other details. Definitely no other controls I don't know about. It's a very simple stove. I can get a good coal bed going before bed...

By the way, don't know if this matters or not, but there is no flue, or anything in the chimney pipe. Only the air control lever that I described on the stove itself.

Yeah, that's another thing that's bugging me. I have to add wood constantly. It will NOT last through the night, ever. I can go to bed at 2am and wake up in the morning and it's totally out. Everyone tells me that's odd and that theirs goes all night. My stove is brand new, I don't get it.

This is my first full winter with a wood stove. I've mastered lighting it, loading it, etc., but I'm having trouble with the air control. Mine has a knob in the bottom front center that you pull out to close off the air, and push in to open it. I'm not sure when and how to use it. I thought I...

Disguising it is a good idea, but I can't let it freeze, because if I have an outage, I'll need the water! My tap water isn't drinkable, so I need to fill something with store bought drinking water, and just keep it on hand, a permanent place, not in my tub, etc.. So I don't want it anyplace...

I like the barrel and pump idea, but where would I keep it? I don't have a basement, and I'm a little concerned about putting something that heavy in the attic. If I put it outside or in my shed it would just freeze. Any ideas?

A few of you mentioned wrapping your freezers in blankets.... I'm a little confused. Are you talking about separate free standing freezers or the kind over the fridge? I just have a regular top over bottom fridge, so do you mean I should wrap a blanket around the outside of it??

Water jugs in the freezer is another idea I hadn't thought of! Thanks!

That's a great idea!! I have no idea where I would find one, but I'll start keeping an eye out. This is exactly the kind of ideas I am looking for, I don't even need storage space for that, I could just put it behind my shed or someplace. Great idea, thank you!! A really big thing is the water...

Thanks. I don't have the money for those alternatives. I am saving for that type of stuff, but right now I'm concerned about this winter, and the small (inexpensive) things I can do to make it easier.

4 or 5 hours would be lucky here. It's at the least a day, typically several days, and a few times it's been a couple of weeks. Last winter the longest was 18 days! That's why I have so many questions about it, because it's so common here and lasts so long! I really want to be better prepared...

I recently moved into a house in a very remote area. Last winter was my first winter here, and I lost power A LOT. And for a couple of weeks at a time. It gets very windy here (hence my username) and we lose power at the drop of a hat. Because I'm so remote, it takes the power company forever to...