Heating With Wood ?

[SwampDonkey]

welcome aboard sharp edge. If you get to make your wood vinegar, maybe you can share pictures of the process and post them on the board. Info on posting photos is on the 'Behind the Forum' board. I've never heard of wood vinegar either, although I take all my ashes and soot to the garden as long as I don't have to wade deep snow.  ;D


cheers 

[sharp edge]

Thanks for the welcome.I'm not to experience on computers, but will do more of it when temp. drops to 20 below this winter.

[Onthesauk]

About 70%   We've got forced air propane heat that will come on in the morning to initially warm the house but otherwise pretty much all wood stove.

Wood comes from our own 40 acres.  Blowdowns, thinning, clearing and cleanup will keep me in wood for the rest of my lifetime.

Lots of alder just because we have more of that then anything else.  Balance is big leaf maple, birch and a little wild cherry and cedar.

Hearthstone, slightly undersized for the house.  Have just started the process of trying to find a slightly larger stove.  This one doesn't quite keep up when the temps get down below freezing.

[thurlow]

Hey sharp edge; glad to see someone else with an M-14;  we're a distinct minority.  All these swingers (my wife's at work, so I can type that; she monitors my computer usage and wouldn't want me hanging out with a bunch of swingers) and band saw guys think they're so DaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnG smart  ;D 8)).

Have a Phoenix Hearthstone, backed up with natural gas forced air furnace.  Only burn wood about 4 months per year; house gets too hot with it the rest of the year.  Burn mostly red oak, although 3 or 4 years ago, the county cleared a right-of-way just down the road.  Land owner asked if I wanted the trees........all black locust;  lasted me the better part of 2 years;  almost no ash; cleanest/hottest  burning wood I've ever used.

[solodan]

1. 95% wood. 5% LPG. We don't keep the thermostat on or even the pilot lit for that matter, but every once in awhile we need to help get the cold parts of the house back up to temp.

2. We use slabs from the sawmill, and buy timber from the USFS for $10/cord, cut it and split it right there in the woods.

3. 80% ponderosa, sugar pine, lodgepole,cedar,and white fir. 20% black oak.

4. Lopi airtight with a blower.

5. Heating with wood is definately more work, but IMHO it is the best heat. There is nothing like coming in from a winter's day and feeling the warmth of the wood heat. 8) Wood is free or almost free, it is a renewable resource and if you use your stove corectly, it burns effeciently and clean.

[SwampDonkey]

OWW, wood burning appliances are banned in homes in many areas here because of smoke particulate in the air. Older ones are grandfathered but they cannot be replaced with another.

I don't get it. It came from the air or ground to begin with and it's going back where it came from. No net gain or loss. It's renewable. We're just recycling it and using the heat from it. It was a living organism that packaged it and it wasn't buried several hundred or more feet in the earth.  8)

[pigman]

About 80% wood and the rest electric. Cheap rates here in coal country. ;D
Use some slabs from mill and the rest blow downs from farm.
Mostly red oak, white ash, cherry and anything else I find.
Use an old cheap airtight stove that I need to replace.
Wood heat keeps me warm without breaking the bank. When I was in the piggy business, I did not burn any wood because I didn't have time to fool with the wood and I had money to pay the electric bill.

band saw guys ..... they're so DaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnG smart  ;D 8)).

Thank you thurlow, the compliment was not necessary, but was appreciated. ;D



Bob

[tcsmpsi]

Wood is the primary heat source.  I would reasonably speculate that we use 85-90% wood.  We use some propane (coldest times) and have small electrics in the bathrooms.  Been that way for 30 yrs or so.  

The largest percentage of wood is red oak (65-70%) and the rest a mixture of pines and other hardwoods.  Mostly, we burn whatever works out the best at the time.

Cut most of it in various places/circumstances.  Trade (various things/services) for split red oak.  Cut some from our place.  Things will change now that we have a mill.
In the future, we will be burning most our own wood.  Will still barter for firewood from time to time when someone needs a little help.

Been running an old used parlor stove for about the last 20 yrs, and do most cooking on it when it is being used.   Makes the best split pea soup ( I make about 4 gals at a time) and beans (make about 4 gals of them at a time) and cornbread.

I like the stove just fine.  It is not as 'efficient' as some, I reckon.  But, a lot of them you cant cook on either.

We don't have to adhere to any regulations out here with regard to the stove.

[Ianab]

Code Select Expand

I don't get it. It came from the air or ground to begin with and it's going back where it came from. No net gain or loss. It's renewable. We're just recycling it and using the heat from it. It was a living organism that packaged it and it wasn't buried several hundred or more feet in the earth.

Thats true, but in some areas the smoke from house fires gets trapped in the cold temperature inversion in the winter. Christchurch City is one such place, the smog there is one of the worlds worst, mostly because of heating fires on cold calm nights. Yes eventualy the carbon cycle sorts things out, but in some locations it's pretty toxic in the short term.  :-[

Ian

[SwampDonkey]

On real cold mornings here along the river valley I see a haze of wood smoke. I just take a big breath and think of all the warm soles this cold morning enjoying their wood heat.  ;D

[tcsmpsi]

I had never considered clean wood smoke as particularly toxic, Ian.  But then I had not considered the specific situation you describe.  Though, certainly, I know there are certain toxins in most things.

In all honesty, I had not considered NZ has having any smog of any sort.  In fact, candidly, for many years, I had been keeping NZ as kind of an 'ace in the hole' as a possible retreat.   ;)

Now look what you've gone and done.  :(   :D

[Onthesauk]

We've got a problem up our valley when you get an "inversion layer."  Smoke just sits over town, almost like driving into a fog bank sometimes late at night.  But it's a timber town and most everyone has burned wood forever.

Big problem in my mind is the number of people who don't plan ahead.  They're out, starting in September, looking for firewood for this winter.  So with all the green, wet wood being burned, bound to be too much smoke.

[SwampDonkey]

There are some folks that cut wood all the time, not aways firewood, but they'll wait till the last minute to cut firewood for themselves and are always burning green. There was a family who lived up the road from grandfather, and they always went with the hand sled in the snow of winter to cut green wood. Bring it in and put it on the oven door and try the burn the rest. One of them kids grew up and always said there's going to be lots of seasoned wood here from now on. And his yard and sheds are always full of stacked firewood all seasoned. My uncle has kitchen stove wood enough for 2 or 3 years ahead stacked in the garage.

[wolfden]

Hi There!

We heat 100% with wood using a wood stove hooked into what used to be a conventional fireplace.  All wood is harvested from our woodlot in the form of rock maple, 40%, yellow birch, 40% and the balance is some white ash and beech.  We have LPG for hot water and cooking, but use it for heat only when away from home for extended periods or extreme cold.  Hope this helps!

Polly and Jim
at Wolfden

[jgoodhart]

We heat with about 90% with wood. We use some electric in the fall, spring and when it's down right cold out. Wood it consumed in a Mahoning outside boiler. Wood is 75% oak and the rest is maple, poplar and pine. I have 35 acres wood lot that supplies most of the wood.

[Michigan Mike]

We heat about  95% with wood we use a couple of small electric heaters for spot warming.The house faces due south and I built it with lots of glass on that side so we get quite a bit of help from the sun. We have a Consolidated Dutch west stove and I have been pretty happy with its performance. We use  oak cherry  elm and other hardwoods.  I cut and split  it myself some off our property and some from other places usually storm damaged trees.

[Max sawdust]

95 % with wood.  (No thermostat on the main level) 5% LP (Basement with thermostat set to 55F to keep pipes from freezing.  This winter plan on putting a wood burner in the basement, and only using the furnace when we leave town (Rarely)

Use wood from own land or from logging jobs or slabs from the saw mill. 

80% Red Oak/ 15% Paper Birch/ 5% Hard and soft maple.  (Going to try some Aspen)

Consider wood a clean renewable resource with that is carbon neutral 8)  Besides nothing feels better than wood heat, and how else would you dry your boots and coats ;)

Have a high efficiency Hearthstone Mansfield soapstone stove, plan on adding a Jotel box stove.

I think that answers all the questions :
Max

[logbutcher]

 :P THX GUYS !!

[beenthere]

.....................
Consider wood a clean renewable resource with that is carbon neutral 8)  ............

What does this mean?  If wood is kept as wood, carbon is locked up until it either burns or rots.....then the carbon is released. (from what I understand). 
What does carbon neutral mean?  I'd like to learn here....

[Riles]

Wood releases carbon whether it burns or decays. It's neutral in the sense that it's just giving back the carbon it's been storing in tree form. It's renewable because somebody's always growing more. Fossil fuels add carbon to the atmosphere because the assumption is no more is being made.

[beenthere]

That helps 'splain it. Thanks Riles..

[Don_Papenburg]

Somebody is making more 'cause some old dry wells are now producing again . Heard it on a radio station not long ago.

[Max sawdust]

Riles explained what I meant.  ;)   
Hmmmm.
I guess one could look at fossil fuel as just trees and plants that did not release their carbon back into the atmosphere through fire or rot yet. So it just has a real real long carbon cycle.  I would not disagree with Don either, I would think more is being made as marshes decay, it just takes a real long time :D

Not saying the current global warming is solely caused by humans, but we know that carbon in the atmosphere is a factor to global warming, so theoretically if we humans reduce the amount being released it should slow global warming.

Since we have not figured out how to make oil or stop plants from rotting, we might as well burn them and get the benefit of heat, while saving our fossil fuels since they are stored carbon already.

Or we could green treat all the trees so they don't rot and release carbon :D  Dat would be good for the planet hey ???
max

[Weekend_Sawyer]

1. 50% I have an oil furnace and my house has 2 zones. one zone does not get turned on ever. I only turn up the back zone before we go to bed. so mabe a little more than 50%

2. Mostly my back yard. Some from our property in WV.

3. Whatever is dead. Oak, Pine, Gum, Maple. I only use a little Yellow Poplar, not enough bang for your buck.

4. I have a real nice woodstove at the far end of my living room. A fireplace in the middle of the front half of the house, divides the living room and kitchen/dining room, woodstove in the basement and one in the workshop.

I love to cut, split, stack and burn wood. I love the smell of a fresh split log. I love building a fire and the smell of the smoke especally when you throw a chunk of pine on the fire.

Jon

[Riles]

There's supposed to be a guy in MO that has figured out how to make oil. He can take all sorts of things as the input, but it becomes economical (or close, I guess) when it's used to recycle materials. He's using turkey carcasses from the processing plant. I think he still has a few bugs to work out, but the process basically works.