Wood Heat Thread ~ post pics

Make sure you keep that sucker watered, man.

 

stays full

 

damn thing drinks water too, got a question for everyone.. should i leave the glass dorrs open or closed while having a fire only. i know to close them while not burning a fire. i dont have a insert, it is a masonary fireplace and i do not have a blower or fan. i dont have any problems with drawing air or smokey fires or anything like that. just want to know what the more efficient way to heat is. doesnt get extremely cold around here, prob teens to 20s at the worst, sometimes. heard it both ways some say open some say closed. What do you guys do?

 

My uncle nearly lost his house that way; he's got nearly the same setup and he went two days without watering it. They were eating dinner and the smoke alarm went off. Ran into the living room and the whole right side of the tree was smoking, haha! Good thing they had the extinguisher handy as a Just In Case.

I would think it would depend a lot on your chimney. No experience personally w/fireplaces, but if you've got a Russian Fireplace setup I'd think the doors closed would be more efficient. But if your Chimney's a straight tube I'd imagine doors open would throw more heat.
I'm sure somebody on here's got a fireplace and can contribute a better answer.

 

Be careful closing some fireplace doors when the fire is really going. Some are not rated for that much heat and will shatter.

 

Generally an open fireplace draws combustion air from the room , I would say open unless it's an insert or zero clearance type unit

 

I'm not sure what u mean by Russian style but it's not a tube literally, it is a squared brick shape all the way up, and also it's not a insert

 

Doors open IMO

 

Dude that is too close for me to feel comfortable, and remove those stockings ASAP.

As far as heating, get an insert or a stove. You are losing a lot if heat up you chimney.

 

I have heard a lot about those but don't have any experience.they also have pellet and coal furnaces that work similar.

I heard they have longer burn times, since the damper is tied to a thermostat, but because of that, it is usually a cold fire, so creosote build up is something to watch. Probably have to do a chimney clean a few times during the burn season.

I have a family member that has a pellet furnace. It has a huge hopper that holds around a weeks worth of pellets. I haven't seen it, but they rave about it all the time. I believe theirs also does the hot water as a second zone as well. They have forced air too.

Since these units require power to operate, my aunt and uncle have a generator for when the power goes out so that they can continue to heat, and make hot water.

 

Russian fireplaces have a labyrinth of passages that move smoke from the firebox to the chimney, so you get the most heat out of your fire. They then radiate it for hours after the fire has gone out. The standard fireplace most people have got is literally a tube, since it's usually a pretty straight shot from the fire out the chimney, so most of your heat goes up the chimney rather than into the room.

 

I just installed a non-OEM blower on my stove (Osburn 2200) and am now looking to control it with a thermostat. Do any of you guys have your blower hooked up to a thermostat? If so, where on the stove if the thermostat is it located (firebox, heat shield, etc.) and what temp of a thermostat is it? Also any gripes or improvements.

Just to be clear on my setup: The blower (0.6A dual squirrel cage fan) is mounted on the rear heat shield with a duct directing the air between the firebox and heat shield. Most of the air is then (by heat shield design) directed across the top of the firebox and exits the front just above the door. I am looking the control the stove with a simple on-off thermostat.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I just finished the install today and will be measuring temps to get an idea for thermostat selection and placement.

 

I bet it's a bitch to clean.
Looks efficient. Is it also drawing its combustion air from outside?

 

They actually have clean out openings built in to them. They burn so hot that only fly ash is deposited and requires cleaning a few times a year. Russian stoves are also called "Masonry Heaters" or "Finnish Stoves". They are supposed to be a lot more efficient than wood burning stoves.

 

They act on the principle of heating a thermal mass

 

not if you're burning truly seasoned wood.
And the best designs draw their combustion air from outdoors, through a dampered pipe the shuts off the airflow when there's no fire. A simple flap damper usually does the trick pretty well.

^^
This. Typically they're built with a cleanout door for each level, for cleaning out the fly ash a couple of times per season.

When I finally get around to building a spec house, it's going to be a house built around a heating system. And this will be that heating system. I already have the blueprints drawn up for a superinsulated post and beam that's built with a Russian Fireplace as the centerpiece for the ground floor. The girlfriend's parents have a similar setup, and they heat with just over 1 cord per year, with no supplemental system. They typically build a fire on Sunday morning and on Wednesday evening from November to April, unless the temps drop below freezing overnight for the better part of a week. Then they have to build a fire on Tuesday and Friday instead of on Wednesday. Pretty rough.

 

Sunday Breakfast. It's snowing like crazy right now, so I don't have anything else to do but fire up the cookstove until it stops snowing later on today

 

That's a cool stove, how old is it? And what's up with the water nozzle to the right, so you could heat some water up for bathing back in the old days maybe? Bet it was fun moving too lol

 

Friends of ours used to have one of those stoves too

 

I want one