Wood Boilers Cut Heating Bills. The Rub? Secondhand Smoke.

NY Times ^ | December 18, 2006 | ANAHAD O’CONNOR

[nothingnew]

A good wood stove gives off heat like no other heat. Yeah, they're messy and a lot of work, but the heat is like no other.

Added plus----When my power would go out here and there, I was warm and cooked on the stove.

I now have no woodstove since my move to UT, 30 miles from the Idaho border, and my big fear is the power going out in the middle of a blizzard and having no heat.

I'll have to remedy that ASAP.

FMCDH(BITS)

[mysterio]

A lot of those wood burners didn't stand up for smokers, so they take what they get.

[Beagle8U]

"Is anyone (other than me) old enough to remember smudge pots used to keep the citrus groves from frost? Now that was some serious second hand smoke!"

When I lived in FLA I can remember them burning tires in the groves when there was a threat of frost. ( late 50's )

[ASOC]

The link provided gives a blurb how the folks did it themselves for about a kilobuck.

I ones I saw were all hand built. But there, I suppose, it was a necessity -- the electricity supply was sketchy and the town was surrounded by forest. As a rural area, it had small homes on large lots rather than the Soviet era massive apartments.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Most local people I know use natural gas or have a propane tank, a fireplace or a Franklin-type stove indoors. The corn pellet burners are getting more common, too.

I have natural gas, and have done a TON of insulating, weather-striping and replacing old windows over the past decade at "This Old Dump." I'm finally to the point where I go into the heating season with a CREDIT due to improvements on the house, watching hot water use (washing in cold, hanging laundry, taking quick "Navy" showers, etc.) and using my gas stove efficiently.

This 'Global Warming' *WINK* we're having this winter season so far sure isn't hurting us any, either, LOL!

We have a wood burning stove in the machine shed, which heats it up nice and toasty for watching football games when we have a crowd of smelly, cigar-smoking men over, or when we have butchering to do. We also burn our paper trash in there in the winter months if we can't have an outside bonfire due to the cold or it's too windy. We take wood from anyone that wants to give it to us, and we have a woodlot on the other farm.

[sionnsar]

A good wood stove gives off heat like no other heat. Yeah, they're messy and a lot of work, but the heat is like no other.
Added plus----When my power would go out here and there, I was warm and cooked on the stove.

Right on both counts. Been relying on our woodstove ever since the power went out Thursday evening.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

"You're Screwed" Ping! LOL!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Check out "The Book of Masonry Stoves" by David Lyle (Brick House Publishing, Andover, MASS, 1984.) Another description of these would be "Eastern European Stoves," as they were common in Finland, Sweden, Russia, etc.
The book gives ideas on how to store heat, trombe walls, etc.

[adiaireton8]

The primary problem here is that outdoor wood boilers do not have to meet any emission requirements, whereas indoor wood stoves do (since around 1989, if I remember correctly). My indoor high-efficiency non-catalytic woodstove produces almost no smoke. If outdoor wood boilers had to meet the same emissions specs that indoor woodstoves do, all these complaints would be gone. Not only that, but the person burning the wood wouldn't need to use as much wood.

-A8

[Portcall24]

Our neighbor on 20 acres has had one for many years. Soon after he put it in the power company came out three times to replace the meter and inspect it that he wasn't "stealing" power. He also uses water for his heat pump.

[gorush]

We heated an old, remodeled farm house for three years in rural Wisconsin. It went through 14 cords a winter on average. We had semi loads of 8' loads of logs delivered at $50.00/cord. That equalled about 1/3 the cost of running the propane forced air furnace...if you don't count labor, and one would be a fool to discount the labor. Cutting and splitting all those logs and feeding the boiler up to three times a day when near 0 degrees F, as it often was.

We sold that place and built an earth-sheltered concrete home with ICF forms heated with a ground loop geothermal heat pump...MUCH easier on these old bones, and dirt cheap after the initial installation costs, of course.

[nothingnew]

Been relying on our woodstove ever since the power went out Thursday evening.

Got knocked out by the storm?

"Woodstoves. Love'm or hate'm...they work!"

FMCDH(BITS)

[nothingnew]

"You're Screwed" Ping! LOL!

hahahaha!

I prefer tobacco 2nd hand smoke to any other 2nd hand smoke.FMCDH(BITS)

[Right Wing Assault]

How many acres of trees do you need to heat a mid-size home on a renewable basis? Just curious.

[Busywhiskers]

I use a Trager wood furnace that is tied in with my regular electric furnace to heat my 4000+ sf house. Doesn't put off any more smoke than a fireplace, and heats the place very nicely and cheaply. The closest neighbor is a football field's length away, so it doesn't seem to bother them.

[Fresh Wind]

We also burn our paper trash in there in the winter months...

I recall hearing of people who deliberately try to cultivate the junk mailers, and use the junk mail that pours in for heat. Imagine that-someone sending you fuel for free, delivered right to your mailbox!

[Gabz]

NANNY STATE PING.............

Um, um, um...........wait - only second hand TOBACCO smoke is deadly........so we've been told :)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

What brand of geothermal system did you put in ?

[Gabz]

"You're Screwed" Ping! LOL!

LOL!!!! Story of my life :)

[Gabz]

I don't have one of these boiler things..........but I use my woodstove for heat more than my oil furnace, that's for danged sure.

When the combine driver took out an electric pole across the road 2 weeks ago, on what amounted to the coldest night of the season so far, that wood stove not only kept us nice and toasty, I cooked dinner on it!!!!