Wood Heat Thread ~ post pics

You're better off without the Pine Beetle

 

I just wish I could pick up my own firewood from the forest or something. Like most of you guys do.

 

The red trees are dead from the Pine Beetle



and it covers this much of BC

 

Damn that map is huge , lol

 

Damn that's horrible. How fast do they spread?

 

Pretty quick

It's in BC , Alberta , Idaho and Washington too

 

Yeah was just doing a little research on them, crazy.

 

In BC they are accelerating the allowable timber harvest in these areas to try to get out as much wood as possible before it's worthless

 

Shame all that forest wasted. I'd imagine a huge fire risk also.

 

Yes

and

Yes

 

Good info on the BC situation here if you are interested

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/mountain_pine_beetle/Pine Beetle Response Brief History May 23 2012.pdf

 

Last load of the season?

 

Nice

 

What time of the year do you typically stop burning OZ?
It was 80 a couple days ago here and I kept it going since we are dropping back down to 50s high and 20s low. Its kinda nice when you can just throw in a few logs once every 24 hours.

 

Probably another 6 weeks , but the fires get smaller and smaller , basically just to take the edge off at night , here it is as much about feeling dry as it is about feeling warm

 

We're still highs of 40, lows 20 F for at least another week, I'm hoping no more than two more weeks because I'm already into my less seasoned wood.

 

Hey, wood heat guy checking in here...I just read the thread to see what you all are up to.
I have a Vermont Castings Encore wood stove. We do about 5 cords a winter. We pay $250 a cord for VERY nice hard wood...Ash, Cedar, Oak...We've gotten it from the same source for 3+ years now and they have been great...The guy actually "sold" the company to his son to beat the obama taxes the first of the year this year...
I light the stove in October (wife would prefer september) and if all goes well I don't have to put a lighter to it again until April...In reality it only goes out about 10x a winter. That beast is burning 24x7...I have mastered stacking 6 logs 2x2x2 on top of each other to get about 8 hours and a bed of revive able coals out of it.
I have some tips for all of you that I haven't seen in here...
-First is the biggest discovery I ever made that blew my mind..When using a wood stove to heat your home it's tough to "share the heat" with the rest of the house..I have a ranch...and it's down a hall, around the corner, through the galley kitchen to the living room to get to the wood stove from the master bedroom...Here is the trick. Place a fan on the FLOOR of the room you are trying to heat and point it at the open door. It will push the cold air out of the room and into the the hall or next room. Then at the next doorway or opening place another on the opposite side of the room from the door to force that cold air to the stove....This has an amazing effect, due to convection. When you force the cold air to the room of the stove the hot air at the top of the door way will flow back towards the fans....I can get my master bedroom from 58F(or lower because we NEVER turn on that heat) into the 66-68F range just by running a Honeywell turbo force fan in the bedroom and the dining room...They are very small and super quite and move a lot of air. If it's in the 30's or higher outside we can get the room into the low 70's..

-Get one of these collapsible clothes racks - Moerman Laundry Solutions Y rack. This thing is amazing. You can prop up the heaviest wet winter clothes/boots/gloves and the thing doesn't budge...and it folds so flat you could hide it in a closet or under a couch.

-I never buy kindling...split some logs and use a hatchet to get them even smaller in put them neatly in a coal bucket next to the stove...also get a pair of leather welding gloves too...you can grab anything hot...ash pan etc.

When we first moved to our house we had zero concept of what it would cost to heat...Our first December electric bill was $630!!!...we had all the electric heat on those dummy thermostats that are either off or on...and we had them all on...We replaced all those with the Honeywell Aube TH106/U electric thermostats and what a difference...precise control of exact times and temperatures for electric heat...they are made to handle 20ft of baseboard...

Here are some pics because the thread says w/ pics

We had 3 huge trees cut down 2 years ago, 2 maples and an ash and I split it all...I ended up with 3+ cords which at $250 a cord = $750...It cost $2000 to get the trees taken down so it ended up quite a deal...



and this is how I stack 3-5 cords every year...wood pallets with a tarp that I can fold the sides up and let the wind blow through...I can even see the tarp drying in my yard on google maps of my house


annnd here is the during!
Believe it or not that little box is heaven for the cat because it keeps the cold draft of air returning to the stove off of him...my kid designed it and I think we could sell them as "warm kitty boxes"..the little scratcher fits right in it...and the dog is there getting warm all the time too...I have a 1 gallon cast iron evaporator to return moisture to the air...but I discovered the hard way that it will (due to some funky electrical chemistry that I won't bore you with) chip the paint on the stove...So now it sits on a trivet..I too had no idea wtf a Trivet was until I sought a solution to this...It's the metal platform you put a hot tea kettle on so you don't burn your pretty little tablecloth for your british tea set...




and the after....



I need a warm spring because I don't want to have to order another cord...of course now that I have a tacoma maybe I can forage!

Happy heating!

 

Sweet

 

Have three Toyota trucks, 1987, 1994, 2013. Also use my Kabota and Several Sthil saws. Have an outside wood furnace and saw mill so wood is my pastime.
Cut three loads today.

 

Sweet x2