[Shelter] Heat - Wood (was Wood Stoves)

uNkNowN ElEmEnt

I am so excited... I just ordered my wood stove. Now I have to figure out what to put under it and how to place it. I am so looking forward to setting it up.

uNkNowN ElEmEnt

My house is approx 728 sq ft. the stove I bought is for a rrange between 500 and 1200 sq ft. but the guy I bought it from says I'm gonna roast.

He says its goona be so hot in winter we are going to have to keep the windows open just to stay below 83 degrees. I've never used a wood stove in such a small place, but I thought all you'd have to do is turn the damper down so you get a slower burn.

Are we gonna roast? and should I rethink this?

wisconsin_cur · Moderator Joined: May 10, 2007 Posts: 2918

uNkNowN ElEmEnt

wisconsin_cur · Moderator Joined: May 10, 2007 Posts: 2918

WisJim

Here's what some people did with a steel and iron wood stove to store heat. http://www.geopathfinder.com/9597.html

uNkNowN ElEmEnt

Wow that's really cool. It looks like they wrapped piping around the top of their chimney to heat water (and there's a shower behind the whole thing).

I wonder how effective that would be for heating water, but even preheating would be helpful right? I like the masonry stove idea but don't know if my floor could handle that.

What have your heating oil prices bee like for the last couple years? $5.00 is hugely expensive right? what might it cost to heat that way this winter if the price stays at 5?

WisJim

They have been using the system for a number of years, and it works well for them. They are 100% off grid with PVs and use their excess power to heat water and run refrigeration, after charging their electric recumbent trikes.

WyoDutch

Our home is of log construction, situated next to some hills which provide protection from the north winds while giving full southern exposure. The logs (and thermo-pane windows) make a great heat-sink. As long as the sun is shining, interior temps are warm and comfy... even on the coldest days. The primary heating system is natural-gas fired (baseboard) hot water heat.

Several years ago, we decided to install a wood-buring stove in the walk-out basement level. Quite a learning experience!

1. We bought a new Blaze-King catalytic stove from a local dealer who was retiring and closing shop. Cost - $1,500

2. Because of the design of the house, the chimney had to be run through the wall and then up the outside of the house. We opted for stainless steel, 2,100 degree pipe. Cost - $900.

Could not locate a good solid-fuel chimney-man within a 100 mile radius, so hired a heating/AC shop to do the installation. Big mistake. solid fuel ain't the same as that gas furnace.

3. We quickly discovered that the hillside on the north side of the house had a dark side. Brisk northerly winds roar over the top of the hill, then drop down, forcing smoke back down the pipe and into the house. The fix? An electrically-powered chimney-top fan unit. Cost - $750. Cost to wire and install the fan - $925.

4. Since the only available fuel is pine, the fan blades in the above-described unit creosoted-up and ceased to turn.

5. FINALLY found a knowledgable stove/chimney shop who agreed to make the 300 mile round-trip to see if they could solve our problems.

They replaced the single-wall interior stove pipe with double-wall, moved the exterior chimney closer to the house (requiring that they notch the roof overhang, added 4 feet to the chimney height and removed the electrical draft unit. Cost - $1,350

Everything works now as it should, but it sure was an expensive process to get here.

What I learned:

1. Know what you're doing or hire someone who does. There's no substitute for real-world experience. The fella who solved our problems has been in the wood-stove business for 25 years.

2. Keep the temp up. We try to maintain the temperature in the stove pipe between 500 and 800 degrees.

3. Leave a bed of ash in the stove... that was the advice of our stove expert and seems to work quite well.

4. Know what you're doing or hire someone who does. (yes, I repeat myself).

I buy logs by the semi-load from a local logging company. $800 for a full load... near as I can figure, about 25 cords of wood. I cut and split manually, then stack in a covered shack that is open on all 4 sides.
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Plarin · Coal Joined: Aug 02, 2008 Posts: 19

I'm curious, where are you guys finding this wood? Do you have huge backyards, can you get a lot more out of a single tree than I'm imagining, or are you planning on having access to public land after TSHTF?

frankthetank

All depends on where you are located... In the future, as more northerners change over to wood (they'll have to or freeze or move) then you'll see a huge pressure put on local wood resources.
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dunewalker

Gothor · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 14, 2008 Posts: 89