Wood Heat Thread ~ post pics

El Nino is pissing me off again. 40's and 50's here this weekend and today; tonight we're in the 20's again, and cold for the rest of the week. I had to let the fire go out on Friday night, otherwise we'd have cooked. Now I've got to light it again this evening and get the soapstone warmed back up again. The thermal mass of the soapstone and brickwork in the cellar works great for keeping the house warm when it's steadily cold, but when the outside temps are all over the place like this it's a pain.
Still, I suppose that's why I installed the Pellet stove in the upstairs this past summer. It's a lot easier means of coping with fluctuating temps than trying to match them with the woodstove.

 

A quick question on this thread. I've seen the heat exchange units that mount in place of a section of stovepipe to direct more of the waste heat into the room with the blower, and I have an ecofan. My question is has anyone ever combined the two? Built a heat exchanger that uses the ecofans for forcing the air through the unit, instead of having to plug it into an outlet. Just curious...

 

We have a pellet stove upstairs too.

The house I'm in is a live in it for 4-5 years then sell it and make improvements along the way sort of deal. A friend and I split everything 50/50 and will split the residual value when we sell it, hopefully walk away with 10-15k each. It has a relatively new oil furnace (5 years or so), but it's expensive to heat with. Converting to natural gas was a horrifying amount. We put a pellet stove in the corner of the living room, figured that would be appealing to anyone who is going to buy a ranch in a suburban neighborhood.

We have barely used the furnace at all this winter, the pellet stove is fantastic. Even counting the cost of the stove and pellets, we're going to be ahead of last year all while keeping the house ten degrees warmer. Figure we'll be able to heat next year keeping the house as warm as we want for $750 tops even if it's a bad winter. The first winter (when we didn't have the stove) cost us nearly $2500 in oil. I think we've used 1/8 of a tank of oil this winter, and that's just to heat the basement on the extremely cold days when it starts dropping below 50 down there.

For my permanent house, I'd love wood. My parents had a big Fisher wood stove and it was fantastic. But for now, pellets sure beat oil!

 

It could theoretically work, but the Ecofans push air at a lower pressure than the blowers that those heat exchangers use.
That, and those exchangers are creosote machines

 

Thanks. I was just curious...

 

I bought a brand new Harmon Accentra pellet stove last year and it kept the whole house a decent temp last year. Went through 4 tons of pellets and not one hiccup. This year, with pellets (decent ones in MA) still being $300/ton - I bought three tons and have been using oil and pellets. With oil at $1.65/gal I am cheaper with the furnace for once than with the stove.

I have it set on a room temperature of 68°F and it kicks on when it dips a little outside, but I will have only spent 2 tons this year with oil helping. I could try and load on the shitty home depot pellets for $260/ton, but in my experience they burn REAL dirty and give me clinkers all day long.

 

You could possibly get it to work, but I'm not sure you'd gain much efficiency. Modern stoves are designed to keep most of the heat in the firebox rather than up the chimney anyway.

 

I've been having problems with shitty pellets this year as well. I bought a ton burned ten bags ended returning the rest. The stuff made a huge amount of ash with the consistency of sand, and burned with a green flame (not right). I found out I was not alone. If your not familiar with the brand I would do some checking before buying. I definitely will in the future.
BTW I heat solely with a Harman stove. Looks like I will be under 2 tons for this winter

 

I second the up and down temps being shitty. I try to burn as much as I can to save oil. But having to relight the fire every night is just one more chore. Im just glad oil is so nder $1.30/gal right now. Just had both tanks filled and im still sitting on over 5 cords of wood. Been fairly mild. All the better for next year.

 

^^^^^ Ditto. My dad had no end of woe with the one he installed.

 

You guys ever see one of these or have any experience with them? Seems like a great little gadget - especially those of us with a pile of wood stacked in the yard.

Share your experience if you have any. I'm thinking about picking one up.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki2bWiDx0p8&ab_channel=SPORTESoutdoortools


the link... https://www.canadianoutdoorequipment.com/miti-001-log-grill.html

 

pretty interesting

 

There is a way to do this with no contraption involved. Plunge cut the log length-wise to make an 'X' in the center. Then plunge cut in from the sides in 2 or 3 places to meet the top to bottom cuts, add a little fuel, carefully light and enjoy.
(I take no responsibility for injuries sustained during plunge cutting)

 

Pulled down a load of Black Oak this time. Slightly less dense than scrub oak, but still burns well. This stuff is just on the verge of becoming punky, so getting it out of the mountains and stacked down in the desert should keep it good until this fall.

 

Down to the dregs in my woodshed now , gotta get my shit together quick here to have some wood for this winter

Might have to buy a cord or two now to make sure I have some dry fir and then pick away at it

 

I need to either actually build a permanent shed or move my tent again this year. Where I've got it parked has turned to soup now that the frost has come out of the ground. I've been running the wheelbarrow on boards set onto the ground to bring firewood in because it's still chilly at night, but it's a real pain.

 

After coming home with that last load, sweating a couple pieces that were shifting under the straps on the freeway, I decided I needed more than just the backboard, so I modified the backboard to have fold out sideboards. The best part was that I was able to build it using entirely scraps and remnants.

 

I've got a question for wood stove users. I'm building a 960 SF cabin in Colorado at 10,000 feet - basically the most extreme climate zone in the lower 48. The cabin will be well-insulated, built to the specs of modern building codes (I think 2012 energy codes are enforced in this county). My heat source will be electric baseboard, for freeze protection when we're not at the cabin. I am planning on a wood stove in the 400SF living/kitchen/dining "great room" to act as the primary heating source when we're at the house.

The great room will have a 4/12 vaulted ceiling, but the rest of the house will be standard 8' ceilings. I know there are calculations that will tell me how many btu's I need to heat the house based upon R-values, windows, etc. But this isn't a forced-air system - the wood stove is going to warm the great room much more than the smaller bedrooms on the opposite side of the house.

So just as a ballpark estimate, I am thinking I'll need at least 50 btus/SF to heat the house on the coldest nights, which means 20,000 btus in the great room. I am thinking that it will be easy to heat the great room with this stove, and with a few small portable fans on the floor in the hallway I can circulate enough air to supplement heat in the bedrooms when we're staying up there.

I am looking at two wood stove options: a 40,000 btu model or a 52,000 btu model. I can add an integral circulating fan to either one for $300. The 52,000 btu model costs $200 more than the 40,000 btu model. I am thinking the 40,000 btu model including the integral fan will be plenty of heat for the cabin - more than enough to heat the great room and enough to add some heat in the bedrooms. But if I skip the integral fan, for $100 less I can get a larger stove. The larger stove plus fan seems like overkill to me.

Which combo of 40kbtu/50kbtu and fan/no-fan do you think will work?

 

Both units will heat the ceiling of your great room nicely. Are you considering any ceiling fans as well? I would go with the larger unit (longer time between reloads). Have you considered a pellet stove? I have been heating with pellets for 7+ years.
PS You'll definitely want the integral fan!

 

Yes, planning on a ceiling fan in the great room for sure, probably bedrooms also.