Wood Heat Thread ~ post pics

Awesome thread. We've got two homes here in SoCal, live in the wife's and rent out mine. Unfortunately, her place has a cosmetic fireplace. Lot of you folks in SoCal have seen these. Brick box, straight tube out the roof. Worthless for heating. So we use gas. Works great but no fun to look at.

Now, I bought my condo from my mother. Doesn't have gas. Had crappy (and dangerous) electric radiant heat. Which could have been good if they'd built it into the floor...but they didn't. The builder put it in the damn ceiling. You could spend a couple thousand bucks a month heating the roof for the birds, and have the inside of the place still be cold. So she spent months getting about ten different agencies and the condo board to sign off on a woodburning stove, and it has one! Only one I've ever seen here in San Diego.

Two pieces of oak or dense eucalyptus will keep the place sweatbox warm all night. Doesn't take much because the place is pretty small, and our cold season is short. I kept it going for years on found wood. Couple of eucalypts always come down in the winter and if you can get there before the chipper shows up the guys are always willing to let you haul off a truckload. Cut 'em to size with my chainsaw and I'm in business for another year. Just gotta clean it every year or two if I'm burning eucalyptus because that stuff does generate a lot of creosote.

Woodburning stoves are the best.

 

Thanks. It's a newer model based on an old design. It's an Elmira Julia, near as I can tell it's late 70's or early 80's. So it's got a bigger firebox than the antiques, and it's firebrick lined. Plus it can burn either wood or coal. It's got a 5 gallon reservoir that comes in handy for a boost when the GF wants to take a bath, or if the power's out for a couple of days you've got hot water for dishes or bathing.
I bought it and restored it to its current condition, but it definitely needs a cleaning again. And yes, moving it up the steps into our addition was a real pain in the back. I actually pulled an abdominal muscle getting it up the stairs.
But, on days like this it's worth it.

 

Time to split

 

Are you burning that this year ?

 

The freshly cut no way. Only the smaller pile in the back and part of the one next to it. I'm trying to get next years supply.

 

Awesome , I'm usually stocked up for 2 years ahead

 

I wish I could do that...I do think about it a lot though!

 

If I had an insert in my fireplace I'd stock 2 years ahead as well.

 

Were you drinking when you cut that, or do you have two stoves with radically different firebox lengths?

 

None of the above. It was already cut when I got it. 80% of my firewood is for camping. I don't have a wood stove.

 

Ah, gotcha. I guess length would be unimportant, then. But I was going to admonish you for drunken chainsawing.

 

i love this stove.

we had a Franklin cook stove growing up. smoked back like a son of a bitch until it got warm. but cooking on it was great. my mother would do a lot of cooking in it. a turkey cooked in a wood stove is amazing!

 

Thanks! I like it a lot too. I like the way the true antique units look, but this one's a lot easier to live with because of the more modern design (bigger firebox, better smoke routing, better air control, etc)
This one has got a damper on the back that lets smoke go straight up the chimney until it's warmed up and drafting in good shape. Then you close the damper and it circulates around the oven and the water heater instead. Cuts down on creosote buildup a lot (always a problem with cookstoves, even with well-seasoned wood). We do a lot of cooking with this during the winter. I've done roasted chicken with it a couple of times, but not a turkey yet.

 

Nice! I like the warming oven on that stove; nice and big. Mine's only tall enough for stuff like loaves of bread or smaller dishes. Anything taller than 8 inches, forget it.

I like the older stoves too. I've always got a couple kicking around at various levels of restoration (something of a hobby, I guess). Right now I've got an old wood/coal combination waiting to be stripped down, along with an early 80's Russo Wood/Coal stove I just finished rebricking and reblacking that'll go on Craigslist sometime in the next couple of weeks.
I've also got a cheapo pre-EPA plate steel stove that I'm going to put in a sauna this summer. I'll custom fab an intake damper and a box for stones this spring, when the garage is a little warmer.

 

Man, I've burned through some serious wood so far this year. Probably a solid 2 cord so far. I'd hate to do it, but if it keeps up at this rate (1 cord per month) I'll have to start tapping into my next year's supply by spring, which would be less than ideal since next year's supply has only been cut split and stacked since October. Not really seasoned up yet...

 

Not even started to season up really. What you could do it throw one or two of those logs in with the seasoned once the fire is nice and hot to help reduce any creosote concerns.

I've gone through a lot down in Southern NH also. Been very cold this year.

 

Yeah, when I get down to my last cord I'll probably start rotating the greener stuff in. Once the stove's good and hot I can toss a couple green pieces in without too much concern.
Plus I clean the chimney every year anyway, so...
Still though...
Lots of wood. I put up better than 5 Cord for this year. I may have to rethink the opinion that that's enough wood...

 

I know its a little different as I have a pellet stove, but I bought 4 tons of pellets in October and will definitely need one more to get me through March. Going through roughly 2.5-3 bags a day when the temperatures stay below 20°. Did the math out and 5 tons of pellets at $260/ton is going to cost me a total of $1,300 to heat for the entire winter (add a little for a space heater in my office to take the edge off). Still beats the hell out of Oil at $3.75/gallon in central MA. The previous owners put around $3,250 in oil for the winter; I would shit myself if I had to shell out that much.


Haven't had to use the dino fuel once and I'll be damned to let this week make me touch the thermostat.

 

Since we redid the back of our home over the summer we burn a half-a-face every 8 days, up from 5-6 days! Plus $110 a month for LP!

 

WTF is a face cord ?

Is that 4' x 8' one rick deep ?