[Concerned]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WisJim', 'I')nsulation is cheaper than fuel in the long run. Our present house is an old 2 story farmhouse, gradually remodeled and insulated over the last 17 years, with wood heat. We replaced the old woodburning forced-air furnace with a new one last fall, and burned a bit more than half as much wood this winter as in most previous winters. Our new furnace is a Charmaster Chalet:
http://www.charmaster.com/wood.html and we are pleased with it. It also has a coil to preheat our domestic hot water, which we have set up with a 50 gallon water heater tank, so it is also reducing the amount of LP (propane) that we use in the winter to heat water. Our house is about 1800 square feet plus the basement, and we will use about 3 to 3.5 full cords of mixed hardwoods to heat it this winter.

[benzoil]

I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but I suspect that wood is measured by volume rather than weight because it's a ton easier to get out a tape measure and measure the size of the stack than to put that stack on a scale. Buyer is assumed to know that pine is a lot different than oak/maple.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('benzoil', 'I') don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but I suspect that wood is measured by volume rather than weight because it's a ton easier to get out a tape measure and measure the size of the stack than to put that stack on a scale. Buyer is assumed to know that pine is a lot different than oak/maple.

[Commanding_Heights]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('benzoil', 'I') don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but I suspect that wood is measured by volume rather than weight because it's a ton easier to get out a tape measure and measure the size of the stack than to put that stack on a scale. Buyer is assumed to know that pine is a lot different than oak/maple.

[steam_cannon]

SOME small IDEAS.

Having a back up plan is a good thing. Like making a warm room with a tiny "back up" stove. Having a small ice fishing stove when you need it could make a big difference. And if you need to change your location, many small light stoves can go anywhere, like in a fishing tent.

Extremely Tiny Woodstoves

"The original Very Small Woodstove is the Jotul 602, from Norway. This model is a mere 12 inches wide, 19 inches deep. They are found most often in cottages and cabins in the woods, where the 602's good looks are a highlight. It's been around almost forever. Jotul claims over 1 million of these have been manufactured. Waterford and Garden Way produced a near identical stove called the Reginald 101, but it is no longer in production, but available used, as is the Jotul 602. Although very small it can heat amazingly well." http://www.jotul.us


http://www.marinestove.com/futurestoves.htm
http://www.walltentshop.com/FourDogStoves.html
http://goodoutdoors.theshoppe.com/wilde ... stove.html

Also I was reading an article about how some people in Poland use tiny wood stoves for extra heat in apartments. They are certainly small enough to stick a stove pipe out a window (with fittings).

Another thought, about frozen pipes... In a house a person could install drains for the water system and set up a warm room, all just in case. Most houses don't have any way to drain the pipes, like this one:
http://www.kunstler.com/Grunt_wrecked_house.html

In Old Sturbridge Village, a reenactment museum near me, the people who lived here years ago didn't have any plumbing in the walls, so freezing water pipes was not a problem. Interestingly they only warmed up their house if someone was sick. In one building, in the winter they had hanging frozen meat in the room the children slept in. The old days sure were something else! Fun fun!

[Commanding_Heights]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('benzoil', 'I') don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but I suspect that wood is measured by volume rather than weight because it's a ton easier to get out a tape measure and measure the size of the stack than to put that stack on a scale. Buyer is assumed to know that pine is a lot different than oak/maple.

[Commanding_Heights]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '=')"Gideon Most important thing about woodburning - use seasoned wood.

[kjmclark]

This is our stove:

It doesn't look like Lopi is carrying this model anymore. It's supposedly 70% efficient. It sure does a good job of heating our house, but our house is only 900sq. ft. I insulated the heck out of the attic last year, and we seal the windows with plastic film. We also don't bother heating the basement, but we send the exhaust air from the gas dryer into the basement with a special vent. My wife is also fond of baking.

It's really nice having that cooking surface on the stove, btw. The two levels make for a great cooking/warming set of surfaces. We boil down most of our maple sap on the stove in the late winter.

My favorite book on wood heating is "The New, Improved Wood Heat" by John Vivian, available used at Amazon for $10. A bit out of date, but full of great ideas and wisdom. Just don't split wood like they show in the picture on p. 344. (Splitting wood with your maul on a billet, next to an axe w/ head buried in the top of the same billet!)

For the record, we use between 4 and 6 face cords per winter. This winter we used 5 I think. We had a few face cords left over from last season and ordered a cord late in the winter.

I agree with everyone who said seasoned wood. There are also a number of good references online for green and seasoned wood moisture content.

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Commanding_Heights', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'N')o one has mentioned the labor (and time) involved in heating one's place entirely with wood.

As someone who heats entirely with wood, I can tell you that this is a huge oversight.

Also, Gideon is right: There is an inverse relationship between how fast wood grows and how much heat energy it supplies. That is because the slower wood grows, the denser it is, and vice versa. "Fast-growing" methods (like coppicing) aren't a magic bullet.

Wood can play an energy role in a future world, but it will be a radically different world with far fewer people.

[Tanada]

Speaking of Cottonwood and Pine we had a special name for those when I was growing up, Gopher Wood. Why? Because as soon as you got the fire stoked you had to Go-For-Wood because it would be ashes by the time you returned.

This thread drums up some strange memories

[nocar]

Growing, cutting and seasoning your own wood certainly requires a large lot and lots of labor. I think we can develop systems that are more convenient for the user, and more adapted to city life.

Wood burning district heating is a possibility. In Sweden (and Finland I believe) it is very common for cities and neighborhoods to have district heating plants that heat water for tap water and radiators. In fact, district heating systems were used already in the happy cheap oil days, and were rather easily converted to burning renewable fuels. Most of them do these days.

A more modern development is cogeneration of electricity and heat, using biomass. You get electricity and heat. Such plants must be large, though, and are not yet common.

I am also surprised that noone so far has mentioned wood pellets. Many homeowners in Sweden that are not connected to a district heating system now replace their oil furnaces with wood pellet furnaces.

Wood pellets have some drawbacks compared to oil. You need three times as much by volume (bigger storage place or more frequent deliveries) and some weekly emptying of ashes. 15-20 minutes work per week is what I read about. You set it up with an automatic feeding system to the furnace - that is why it requires so little work. The advantage today is the price - a lot less expensive than heating oil.

Not everyone might be familiar with wood pellets: They are industrially made from scrap wood, ground up and very dry, and then compressed into standard sizes, shaped like cigarette butts but about twice as big. Wood pellets burn very cleanly, with little smoke and pollution.

Of course district heating with wood and wood pellet furnaces in individual homes require more transport than growing your own wood around your house. In a totally oil free world - can we imagine wood-fuelled steam ships on inland waterways? Sailing ships with wood on larger bodies of water? (In fact, wood transporting sailing ships was the last commercial use of sails to disappear in Scandinavia, a viable business well into the 20th century.) Can we imagine ponies pulling carts on rails from the ships to the heating plants? Slow speeds and rather light loads need quite simple rails to increase efficiency and can be drawn right through neighborhoods, since there are little risk of serious accidents and noise. (Wasn't rail transport started with ponies pulling coal, by the way?) Can we imagine homeowners transporting their weekly load of pellets by bicycle trailer a few kilometers from the pony transport? Teenagers having their pellet routes (like a newspaper route except scheduled differently) for pellet distribution to homeowners who rather pay for the transport of their pellets?

A very nice thing about wood, wood pellets and such, is that it is not poisonous - a spilled load is no environmental hazard, and you need no specialized containers to transport it safely.

nocar

[Heineken]

Growing wood doesn't require any labor, nocar. Given the right conditions, it happens naturally.

As for pellet stoves, I hate them. Why put oneself in the position of having to rely on, and buy, an engineered wood product?

In recent winters many people with pellet stoves had trouble buying pellets because of pellet shortages. And pellet prices soared.

Suddenly pellet stoves didn't seem like such a hot idea.

[nocar]

Well, if you own a wood lot and just have to contribute your labor, traditional wood is probably the way to go. Especially if you like the job.

The major premise was a city situation.

Cost going up with demand? Well since wood pellets are made from renewable material, old Adam Smith economy would say that supply soon should start to increase, when the producers discover this is a good way to make money.

In what ways are wood pellets loud? I have never heard this before. (Almost ten years ago when we had to change our heating system, I wanted wood pellets. Hubby thought the techniqe and the feeding thing looked very primitive and unreliable, so we installed a ground heat pump. Constantly dependent on electricity, which I think is the major drawback with heat pumps. It has worked fine, though. So I have no personal experience of wood pellets, but I know they are used more and more here. As are heat pumps)

nocar

[nocar]

OK Gideon then I understand. You are relieved of the (sort of enjoyable) task of putting in fresh wood, but instead get mechanical noise. The reason this issue has not surfaced in Sweden probably is that the typical situation here is an oil furnace in the basement being replaced by a wood furnace in the same place. Basements like this are usually used for furnace, general storage, perhaps a laundry room, possible a garage. A bit more noise from the furnace is not a problem.

nocar

[benzoil]

Gideon raises an interesting point about location. Around here most people seem to have their wood burners outside. This could be because Michiganders just love going outside at the height of winter to toss logs/pellet bags around or for some other reason.

My understanding was that the insurance companies loathe wood burners and so most systems have been outdoor installs since the last energy crisis (late 70's). I've seen several outdoor pellet burner systems around here. The hopper for the pellets looks huge.

Placing one outside probably doesn't do too much to the overall energy efficiency since you'll need a pump indoors or out. Of course, this assumes your water line is relatively well insulated, unlike mine.

[Frank]

Outdoor boilers are horrible polluters; typically just a big fire box surrounded by water. They burn very inefficiently and use lots of wood. We installed a Tarm wood-gasification boiler with 600 gal. storage tank so it's always burning hot. Upside: easy to tie into existing hot water baseboard. Downside: expensive but that's about it. The simplest system is a smaller well-insulated house with wood stove. Outlying rooms get colder.

Deforestation was a major issue in Europe and New England before coal came onto the scene. That was, what, 250 years ago? Given population increase and lifestyle expectations, wood won't help much for the masses. I expect to have to defend our woodlot with force.

Never heard of anyone buying wood by weight.

[Heineken]

Good tips, Gideon.

Also:

Wear safety glasses and safety boots when splitting. And keep those legs SPREAD.

Extend the wrists (sort of angle them backward; it's hard to describe) when the maul is coming down so that the head hits the top of the log squarely, not at an angle. Significantly increases the effectiveness of the stroke. This is a great little trick I taught myself.

If you have to use a wedge, use the sort that is twisted (kind of like a screw), not straight. Much more powerful. (I dislike wedges, but every now and then they're worth the bother.)

When you're cutting up a tree, bear in mind that you will be splitting the pieces, so make your cuts cleverly so that the knots will least interfere with the splitting. E.g., put a large knot at the end of a piece, not in the middle. Cut branch junctions into sections short enough to split or small enough not to need splitting.

Anyone else got any other tips or advice on splitting?

[Fredrik]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nocar', 'W')ood burning district heating is a possibility. In Sweden (and Finland I believe) it is very common for cities and neighborhoods to have district heating plants that heat water for tap water and radiators. In fact, district heating systems were used already in the happy cheap oil days, and were rather easily converted to burning renewable fuels. Most of them do these days.

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Gideon', ' ') The best part about an indoor wood stove - put wood in and you have heat. No electricity, no wires, no water to freeze or pipes to break.

Negatives - work. Not for pencil pushers with soft hands.

[Heineken]

White oak splits fairly easily if it's not green and if you've cut out the big branch junctions. I don't have much trouble with it. Red oak splits easier, but white oak burns and coals significantly better.

Beech---now there's a nightmare for splitting. But what a beautiful, clean-burning firewood it makes.

Red maple is also very nice, as you say, Gideon.

Yellow-poplar (like pine) is great for starting a fire or goosing it up. It's also useful when you need some heat, but not a lot of heat.