Ready to heat

[SwampDonkey]

My woods here is full of ash. Nothing big, the big stuff was cut years ago. Might see one 8" in diameter here and there, mostly saplings and whips. I have been getting firewood on the edge of the Arthur blow down patch. Cleaning up what is usable and still alive. Some stuff I just knock down, I don't like dead stuff around my work area, stuff can be dangerous around old snags. It's rotten or dote. Once you look around after the cleanup, it is full of ash whips, pencil sized and maybe as big as a thumb at ground level, red maple seedlings everywhere and fir seedlings. No shortage of trees for the next crop. I don't have ash borer here.

[taylorsmissbeehaven]

sadly, I do have the Ashe borer here. The worst part is I let a lot of it get a bit dote before I started cutting it up for firewood. It will do alright on milder nights (we have a lot of them here) but not so great when we do have a cold snap. I pulled out the insert this past Sunday and cleaned the chimney and the stove. Im ready when the time comes, Brian

[SwampDonkey]

I open up lots of trails as I cut to, so I'm not carrying wood very far to a trail edge. I don't like 'non productive' walking. Known as NP in the biz. :D :D I spaced the area years ago, so a trail is simply like cutting a single tree every so many feet in a path. So it doesn't take forever to get any distance. The time is in the bucking of each and tossing off the brush. ;D

[Al_Smith]

For all intents I'm done .Got it all tarped yesterday .I will get more of course but no hurry for it .Unlike some of our brethren of the great frozen north country I really don't care for it .I'll take 85-90  and hot over 15 below any day.

[SwampDonkey]

Well, more have perished in the cold than the heat so your preference has merit. ;) We try our best to keep the cold outside and the 80 in the living room. ;D I do love winter.

[Al_Smith]

That insert I have will hold 80 pretty well .However I have to get a new humidifier because the last went on the fritz after 20 years .I made a house for the outside cats from the old one .Waste not want not they say .

[SwampDonkey]

20 years on a humidifier is good mileage. I bring mine out of the basement in November. Still lots moisture in the air until I run the furnace a lot more. 40-50% now. Drops to 20-30% when I burn more and run it. I can't run the RH up more than that in the cold, too much moisture for windows. That is a red flag that it is likely getting to the attic. If moisture is high enough, the heat will move moisture through anything. It's got to go somewhere, usually up. :D

[Al_Smith]

On the belt type humidifier  I've baby sat that thing for at least the last 5 years to keep it going .I've tried the automatic types which don't last that long for some reason .Besides that they only work if the air handling unit on the furnace is blowing air and with the fan equipted insert the furnace doesn't come on that long or often .
I've got three methods of heat .Forced air propane ,radiant ceiling and baseboard electric plus the insert .During the cold of winter the insert carries most of the load except the two bath rooms which have baseboard .The "outside " bathroom only has the oak trees .  One thing I'm not going to do is freeze myself in my own house .

[SwampDonkey]

I use an Air wick with a blower, does the whole house. Been using this one 4 years, this will be winter 5. Jury is out on how long it will hold up. :D We had one like yours on the old furnace years ago, it lasted about 10 years maybe before it corroded to bits.  Hard water will do them in. I have a water softener on the water line here at the new place. I've got a forced air furnace here which uses wood or when I get lazy or old or go on a big vacation uses a 20,000 watt element. Anything gas or oil up here would cost a king's ransom. :D

[Al_Smith]

I might have used $400-$500  in propane last winter and that mostly when after the temps got up over 30F . The propane thermostat is set on 72,the radiant at 65 but those are room to room,some set a 60 .Actually two spare bedrooms .
As far as the new furnace which is 95 percent efficient I'm not used to it yet .Uses less temp output around 120 degrees and less cfm fan blast .It's so quite I can't tell if it's running or not . 

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, temps like today in the 60's I let the electric element do it's thing and it hasn't been on all day. With the window up all day says 74 in the bedroom. Been a wet day, but no amount of rain to it. A couple showers. The furnace fan here is hardly noticeable, doesn't take more than 1/4 HP motor and direct drive, no belts. I might burn $50 of electric a month in the warm fall and spring months if I don't want to cook like a ham roast with wood. Fan alone with wood for heat, only goes up $25 a month. With the grow tent though I put the fan on continuous to throw heat in there, so probably adds $50 total to bill a month. Start that after Christmas. Otherwise on sunny days the furnace fire is out before noon. The windows are like a furnace, so if that fire was burning full bore it would be over 90F up stairs and close to 85F down stairs.  Well, there's always the open windows, the winter coolant. :D