Wood Heat Thread ~ post pics

Yes , we got a weekend of rain a couple weeks ago which helped a bit but it's since been dry and hot again so there are more new fires . My area is still in Drought Level 4 ( highest ) and the Wildfire Danger Level is Extreme ( no saws in the bush )

 

Are you allowed to go 'old school' and use an old crosscut saw and an axe? Or is it because they're concerned about branches/sticks being left behind as additional tinder?

 

Ouch! It's worth reporting on. I've been repairing the foundation of an old homestead with a friend; as we left the site last Thursday, the lighting cut loose all over. Fortunately, the fire was stopped within 30 yards of the house. We have so many fires in close proximity they are beginning to merge. Long story short, it is a mess here in Trinity County, CA.

 

Yeah , you can do that . I'm not super concerned , I think I can cobble together enough wood for this year with what I have around but I usually like to be 2 years ahead so that streak is definitely going to end

 

Nice to have reserves, that's for sure. My firewood guy actually dropped off my supply for next year on Saturday:




Annoyingly, I'd already dropped 5 cord for next year on another supplier's land, lol. I called my firewood guy a few times starting two weeks ago and hadn't heard back from him, so I found another local guy (who doesn't deliver) and bought 5 cord from him. I'd already worked up and hauled out around 2 cord. Then at 6AM on Saturday I got a call back from my regular firewood guy saying that he had my order loaded up and was on his way
So I took delivery, and now I'll just keep a 3-year rotating stockpile instead.
I'll probably play lazy, though, and only work up the 3rd year's supply into 4-foot lengths, stack it in a cribwork grid, and tarp it for now.

I also am jumping ship (kind of) to pellets.
We have a propane stove in the living room that we never use because it'll burn through 40lbs of propane in about 10 hours of burn time. So I'm ripping that out and installing a pellet stove in the same place. I picked up a pellet stove in Craigslist on Friday. It's only a couple of years old, but they used it as their primary heat source and had put about 10 tons of pellets through it. The fan motor on it had a wicked loud whine/resonance that vibrated through the whole stove, and it leaked smoke at startup. A replacement fan motor is $350, which is why the previous owners were selling the stove (they were buying a new one with a warranty instead )
I got it home Friday night and Saturday morning I took the fan motor out and tore it apart. My hunch turned out to be correct; I'd say they had never cleaned it/oiled it. I stripped the motor down, blew it out with the air gun, took a wire wheel to the impeller to remove the caked on scale/fly ash, and repacked the bearings with some high-temp wheel bearing grease. Put it back together and reinstalled it with some red gasketmaker to help seal up the (cracked) factory ceramic gasket (the source of the smoke leak) and fired it up. Works perfectly. No smoke and it's almost completely silent.

So now I've got a nearly new pellet stove that cost over $2500 three years ago, and I only spent $500!

 

Whoops.

 

Damn be careful

 

I use Wood and Coal. About 1 1/2 cord a year and a little over a ton of coal. This stove has saved me lots of money over the years.
Bought it back in 1983 for $450 bucks New !!
Changed door gaskets a couple times , fire brick once , glass once.

 

Damn , coal , I thought that went out about the same time as the introduction of the horseless carriage

 

Depends on where you live. They still mine it in Appalachia, so it's still pretty cheap there. And there's nothing like it for heat. But man oh man, the dust...
My gram used to burn a few tons of coal a year, and nothing warmed you up faster when you came in from hunting than sitting in front of that stove. Especially because she kept the house in the low 80's.

 

Took me a second, then my sphincter clinched.

 

Yeah...
I was cutting a piece and stuck my boot under it to lift it off the ground to keep the chain out of the dirt. I've been cutting there for a couple of weekends now, so the sawdust is pretty deep, and my foot was a little further left than I thought it was. As soon as I felt it tickle the boot tip I pulled the saw back, but it was still unnerving. I always wear steel toes when I'm cutting, but I've never kissed the boot with the chain before now.
I took it as an indicator that it was time to be done for the day.

 

Wood isn't my primary source of heat, but I love cutting it.






There was an Avalon gas stove here when I bought the place. Putting this Regency in was one of the first things I did.

 

Loving that setup!

 

Me too, but that forced perspective is hurting my brain.

 

That little stove heats the ground floor and loft really well. I cut all my wood pretty small to make it easier to load.

 

sub'd....

 

I live in coal country Pennsylvania. Small mines all over.

 

I didn't mean I thought coal was no longer mined , I know you guys use a lot of coal fired powerplants still , I meant I didn't realize it was still used residentially

 

Haha ! It's cheap, gives great heat , less work than wood , beautiful dancing blue flames , very cozy.

We keep the house @ 75*
Yes the dust .... Only drawback
Not far from Schukill county and carbon county