Wood heat

[joel]

Coppiced wood land

First, I cut down a 40-year-old American beech tree with a single trunk, likely established from seed. The tree measured 8 inches in diameter at breast height (DBH) and yielded one face cord. I then harvested an 18-year-old, coppice-grown American beech tree that had four stems. The coppiced American beech also produced one face cord. In other words, coppicing encouraged equal wood production in less than half the time.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/coppicing-trees-for-firewood-zm0z18fmzmulMany types of deciduous tree can be coppiced: Alder, Ash, Beech, Birch (3-4 year cycle), Hazel (7 year cycle), Hornbeam, Oak (50 year cycle), Sycamore Sweet Chestnut (15-20 year cycle), Willow but Sweet Chestnut, Hazel (7 year cycle), and Hornbeam are the most commonly coppiced tree species currently. The trees are cut during the winter before the sap has risen, and the branches are all cut low to the ground. By repeatedly cutting the trees their lifespan can be greatly increased.
https://www.stovesonline.co.uk/coppicing-firewood.htmlThe only problem is the labor in cutting trees & hauling wood.
I used a five pound ax to trim limbs after Dad fell a tree & limbed it up, then loaded the rounds after he cut them. My younger brothers remover the limbs as I cut them off the tree. We would unload the wood in the split yard & wash up, eat & bath then bed. Split & stack in the coming days, never cured wood, burnt it green. My father lift home when I was twelve years old, that is when I stopped cutting fire wood in the swamp & cut wood on the farm hedgerow. We moved into a house with gas heat when I fourteen years old, only cut wood when I cleared land after that.
No something I would want to do today unless it was the only way to heat the house. With solar tech of 2001, we can get a lot of heat from the sun, but would need some wood, too.
I never used a Rocket Stove, but they are said to put out more heat on less wood, & almost no smoke, the stove burns all the ash, so no smoke.

 

[jazzy]

i lived for years in a mobile home with a small wood burner stove. in the winter, i thought it made a huge difference. not only for saving money on electric but when the grid was out i could still heat and even cook.

if you get one make sure it has a good flat top for a stew pot and coffee pot. some are very small forget those, get a good flat top. and id highly recommend this item---IF you live in a wind prone area you want to make sure your pipe out the roof is tall and or get one of those chimney caps shaped likle a flat mushroom---it prevents blowback of gusts of air into the stove. ive found this to make a real difference---but i do live in a windy area

id never live without a wood burning stove i feel like it gives me more independence.

yeah, you got to cut or buy wood., its just a pattern in life. every spring start the garden seeds, get the manure, start looking for wood--which is not hard as someone is ALWAYS selling wood. sxtock up when you can, cut your own when you can.

also---if you are going to spring for one, get a good one, do some research, not all wood stoves are equal. good to get an epa approved one.

 

[UrbanHunter]

3 years before we move here we lived in an all electric town house, in 96 we got 3 back to back 3' snow events with no time in between for clearing. We lost power after the second and were snowed in for a week with 3 children, no heat, no hot water, no cooking. The outside temperatures in the day time was getting into the high 20s and low 30s, nights got cold. We camped (tents and all) in the living room. When we bought this place, I said I am never going to rely on 1 source of heat again. We have gas heat, and some electric backup. But the house had a fireplace with no hearth (figure that one out). I went to a place that sold cast iron stoves and hearths, I looked at a cut-away of the hearth, went home and made a 3'X6' hearth and installed a small cast iron stove up against the fireplace, lined the old fireplace chimney with stainless steel liner connected to the stove. I never regretted the decision to install the stove, it is the centerpiece of most of our holiday gatherings.

The fireplace can quickly heat the main part of the house in the event of a power outage, we have used it for years to keep the house warm.

 

[Pearl]

I miss wood heat! Have had it most my life. That said, it's just a numbers game. How much does a stove and wood cost where you live? How much is your current heating bill and possible replacement of furnace? Compare then consider the added perk of not depending on a mass system be it gas or electric. Then you can make a real decision. One other thing is wood is a little messier in the house - whether that bothers you or not???

Wood is definitely messier! Critters (bugs, lizards, etc) sometimes slip in from the wood. A lot of work cutting and splitting, but keeps our woods clean.

 

[viking]

In western Washington, western Oregon and northwestern California, Madrone is the king of firewood, it's a conversion wood like Alder, it grows until the evergreen trees overcome them in height then they die, rot and become food for the evergreens. The thing is logging companies don't like madrone because it takes too long to rot down and so they spray herbicides on them to kill them quickly and that is rather sad because madrone makes excellent firewood, stoves can be dampened down to almost no fresh air coming in and the wood burns hot with very little ash left behind. Madrone can be cut to a stump and grow new trees many times and when that happens burls are formed underground, often weighing over a 1,000 lbs. and they are valuable. Sorry to say this but now madrone is being used for chip wood for the paper industry and it's getting hard to find for firewood.

 

[UrbanHunter]

The thing about cutting your own firewood in the winter is that you get warmed up twice, when you split it and when you burn it. I don't count cutting and hauling it in as that usually happens when you don't need the heat.

 

[viking]

For our winter heating we use roughly one cord, plus or minus per year, when I built our home I wasn't stingy with insulation and our north wall is double insulated as well as having a cold roof, very often my wife complains that it's too hot and we have to open a window or two. I'm going to have to replace the door gaskets on the stove because with the fresh air valves closed and the firebox doors shut tightly there is still too much air getting in, when the stove is closed up tight, generally three small logs will give heat all night. We keep about three years worth of firewood on hand up in our mower shed and so far, due in part to my age, we have friends that supply us with enough firewood to get us through the winters, so my chainsaw/firewood splitting time is next to nothing and all I have to do is stack the wood and tarp it, yeah, we have been blessed with good neighbors that are dear friends.

 

[Neb]

For our winter heating we use roughly one cord, plus or minus per year, when I built our home I wasn't stingy with insulation and our north wall is double insulated as well as having a cold roof, very often my wife complains that it's too hot and we have to open a window or two. I'm going to have to replace the door gaskets on the stove because with the fresh air valves closed and the firebox doors shut tightly there is still too much air getting in, when the stove is closed up tight, generally three small logs will give heat all night. We keep about three years worth of firewood on hand up in our mower shed and so far, due in part to my age, we have friends that supply us with enough firewood to get us through the winters, so my chainsaw/firewood splitting time is next to nothing and all I have to do is stack the wood and tarp it, yeah, we have been blessed with good neighbors that are dear friends.

Better a neighbor nearby by than a brother far away.

Proverbs

Ben

 

[Pearl]

For our winter heating we use roughly one cord, plus or minus per year, when I built our home I wasn't stingy with insulation and our north wall is double insulated as well as having a cold roof, very often my wife complains that it's too hot and we have to open a window or two. I'm going to have to replace the door gaskets on the stove because with the fresh air valves closed and the firebox doors shut tightly there is still too much air getting in, when the stove is closed up tight, generally three small logs will give heat all night. We keep about three years worth of firewood on hand up in our mower shed and so far, due in part to my age, we have friends that supply us with enough firewood to get us through the winters, so my chainsaw/firewood splitting time is next to nothing and all I have to do is stack the wood and tarp it, yeah, we have been blessed with good neighbors that are dear friends.

Insulation is everything!

 

[joel]

[QUOTE="viking, post: 355049, member: 20
We keep about three years worth of firewood on hand up in our mower shed and so far, due in part to my age, we have friends that supply us with enough firewood to get us through the winters, so my chainsaw/firewood splitting time is next to nothing and all I have to do is stack the wood and tarp it, yeah, we have been blessed with good neighbors that are dear friends.
[/QUOTE]
I rented a room from a friend family just out of high school. The power company cut the small trees & brush down on the power line & this family went down to cut up the logs that would have rotted. A grumpy man came by told then to get of his land, so they left & went home. About 2 hours later a dump truck full of cut firewood pulled up & ask where did the want the wood pile. The man's son was a successful road builder who was known all over the state & lived next to his Father. When his father told him he ran people off the power line easement gathering wood, the son sent his driver with a dump truck load of wood, it lasted all winter. My father cut wood for a widow & gave a devoiced mother of three at church vegetables for years, when we were young.

 

[Biggkidd]

We've used wood heat almost all my life. I'm looking into a masonry heater build for our next home. Granted these types of wood heaters pretty much have to have the house designed with them in mind or "around" them. Another option I am considering is a large wood heater in the basement with ducting to the rooms above. Think central wood stove heat either way.

 

[Meerkat]

In western Washington, western Oregon and northwestern California, Madrone is the king of firewood, it's a conversion wood like Alder, it grows until the evergreen trees overcome them in height then they die, rot and become food for the evergreens. The thing is logging companies don't like madrone because it takes too long to rot down and so they spray herbicides on them to kill them quickly and that is rather sad because madrone makes excellent firewood, stoves can be dampened down to almost no fresh air coming in and the wood burns hot with very little ash left behind. Madrone can be cut to a stump and grow new trees many times and when that happens burls are formed underground, often weighing over a 1,000 lbs. and they are valuable. Sorry to say this but now madrone is being used for chip wood for the paper industry and it's getting hard to find for firewood.

My thoughts exactly, wood will soon be another hard to find commodity. Once we use our own between land owners and restrictions wood will be hard to come by.Happened in other nations already long time ago.

 

[Terri9630]

We use wood heat with elect for those days when we aren't going to be home so the pipes don't freeze. Right now we have lots of down/dead trees on our land but a $20 permit let's you harvest 3 or 4 cords of dead wood out of the forest. Keeps the forest safer from fires and diseases and keeps my home warm.

 

[viking]

We've used wood heat almost all my life. I'm looking into a masonry heater build for our next home. Granted these types of wood heaters pretty much have to have the house designed with them in mind or "around" them. Another option I am considering is a large wood heater in the basement with ducting to the rooms above. Think central wood stove heat either way.

Look for information on Russian wood stoves, they do have to have the home designed around them but they are very efficient. I considered building one for our future home, however things changed and it didn't work out, however years ago I saw one that was built into an earth bermed home and it was built on a large footing and reached to the ceiling, it was roughly 4' wide X 8' long, the smoke from the firebox zig zags to the chimney threw the stoves thick stone walls, what you do is to burn a really hot fire for just a short time and the stove walls retain the heat giving it off all night.

 

[Biggkidd]

That's exactly the idea. I have spent years looking at Russian and many other designs Including roman.

 

[angie_nrs]

As mentioned, there's many pros and cons to wood heat. Hubs wanted a wood stove when we built our home. I said NO! When I was a kid we spent most of our weekends during the spring and fall putting up firewood. I hated it! I told him I wasn't going to do that in my home. So, we didn't get a wood stove. Years after the fact I kinda regret that. Although I like a steady temperature in my home and that is very difficult to do with wood heat. One minute you're freezing and the next you're sweating. At this point in my life, that would drive me crazy. I like it on the cooler side and he likes it warm, so it's already difficult to make it comfortable for both of us even with a steady heat source.

We could easily put up enough dead wood on our property to heat our home and barn. We still put up firewood, but it's when we want to and it's not a necessity. We have a firepit outdoors that we cook on and lounge around, so we put up wood for that when the weather cooperates and we have the time. Thankfully we are still healthy enough to do it, but there will be a day when we're not. Even an accident or some unforeseen illness could make things difficult for anyone heating with wood only and may have to make a change in heating choices due to health concerns. It's always good to have a backup.

Many stoves and fireplaces require an electric fan to move air, in addition to a humidifier. You can get a humidifier to just put on the stove, if it's not a fireplace, but you'd still most likely need electric for a fan for heating the entire home, unless it's relatively small.

When we ran the numbers several years after we built the home, it was cheaper to heat with natural gas than to invest the money to put in a wood boiler. Since we aren't getting any younger, and we'd like to perhaps vacation to a warmer area in the winter, it just made sense for us to pass on wood heat. I'd still like a woodstove in a sunroom someday though, just as a backup. If it was in a room like that, I wouldn't have to deal with the mess and bugs that having a stove in the home comes with.

 

[Pearl]

We have no electric dependency on our wood stove. A lot of work cutting, splitting, stacking wood. Yay we can still do it

 

[Biggkidd]

We have about 30 acres of standing wood. From new groth where 6-8 acres were timbered 6&9 years ago and are growing back and some that probably sprouted early in the last century. Mostly mixed hardwoods. I still want to clean up most of the area that was timbered and use it for pasture etc.. We already cleaned up about 6 acres. Long hard job!

 

[joel]

Biggkidd, do you have a backhoe to help with the clearing.
I hated digging out stumps at 12 years old, now that I am retired, I got a backhoe for retirement & love it.

 

[Biggkidd]

I have one that mounts on the TPH of my tractor. So not much of a hoe. I find it a lot easier to pull the trees down with the stump attached. I have a 69 M35A2 that makes a good job of it. Wish I had had the truck before I had the timber cut. Not enough leverage on the cut stumps.

 

[Proud Prepper]

What's a good brand of wood burning stove for both cooking and providing heat? I plan to have an abundance of wood.

 

[Amish Heart]

We got ours from Northern Tools. Depends on what's allowed in the state you live in. The size would depend upon how big a space you need to heat

 

[Terri9630]

We bought this one to install. We are going to wait until spring since we are going to have to move the chimney pipes. Magnum - Wood Burning Cook Stove - Sopka Inc

 

[jazzy]

What's a good brand of wood burning stove for both cooking and providing heat? I plan to have an abundance of wood.

long as you got a good flat top you can cook on it. when the stove is burning---its my only source of heat--i have pot of something simmering on it. ive used a fry pan to cook eggs and such---eat water, etc. once you get the hang of it it is easy

 

[Smalltimefarmer]

My goal was to convert my fireplace with an insert. Can't find an insert that fits plus I have ano oak mantle and you can't have wood within 41". I would have to tear everything out and rebuild .

For the time, I am stuck with a fireplace with a fan sitting in front to distribute the small amount of heat that doesn't go up the chimney. Hopefully, it will work in an emergency. I get my wood from the property. Cut and split myself.

 

[Mountain trapper]

What's a good brand of wood burning stove for both cooking and providing heat? I plan to have an abundance of wood.

I have a Kuma wood stove in my house. It has a flat top that we use it for cooking, plus its also our "toaster". Sometimes we turn the ceiling fan on to move the heat around. When I built this house I put in a gas furnace too, with AC and heat pump. When we need to go somewhere during winter I can set the thermostat to keep the house warm. We have several thousand acres of timber so we'll never run out of firewood. But for the last several years I've been trading beef and pork for our firewood. Just have to split it.

 

[zoomzoom]

My goal was to convert my fireplace with an insert. Can't find an insert that fits plus I have ano oak mantle and you can't have wood within 41". I would have to tear everything out and rebuild .

For the time, I am stuck with a fireplace with a fan sitting in front to distribute the small amount of heat that doesn't go up the chimney. Hopefully, it will work in an emergency. I get my wood from the property. Cut and split myself.

That's a little confusing to me. You can run your open flame fireplace with no issues to your mantle but if you put an insert in there you do have an issue?

For an insert, check these out. I have 2 of them installed in my house.
https://www.regency-fire.com/en/Products/Wood/Wood-Inserts/On that page, there's a place to enter your fireplace dimensions and they'll tell you what models fit.

 

[Smalltimefarmer]

I had my fireplace measured and it is 2 inches too small for any insert to fit. Yes, the insert is much hotter than the open fireplace.

 

[zoomzoom]

I had my fireplace measured and it is 2 inches too small for any insert to fit. Yes, the insert is much hotter than the open fireplace.

Do you have a brick fireplace or a steel one with fire bricks inside? If the latter, did you remove the fire bricks? I think I had to so the insert would fit.
As for the 41" clearance, is that building code in your area or the mantel mfgr's suggestion?

 

[Smalltimefarmer]

Firebricks are required for insurance purposes