Posted on 10/20/2011 4:03:34 PM PDT by Chickensoup
Just bought a new old woodstove for my ground floor. A Vermont Castings big one. Have a Big Jotul on the first floor. Planning on burning two and a half to three cord this year. Have an extra cord for margin.
So, what kind a wood stove do you use?
Two Lopi woodburners and a Vermont Castings.
Napoleon, main living room. Compressed hardwood, clean and less soot.
(unlike the gas, uses no electricity..no blower)
But pine is soft and doesn't burn as hot as the hard woods. We have some oak, but not enough to use it exclusively.
Ours looks a lot like a fireplace. Usually if we have a fire we have to run the AC to keep the place from getting uncomfortably warm. This is Tampa Bay, FL.
Right now we’re at 68 and could drop to 54. I’m still in shorts and a fashionable Tori Richards Hawaiian shirt on my screened porch/office. We do live in a hardwood hammock so most of our “gardening” is collecting dead fall for our cold snaps.
I’ve lived in colder climes but with the next little ice age coming we’re staying put - this winter could be interesting. Stay warm! ;-)
Haven’t used a wood stove since I had a cottage on Seneca Lake in New York State in the ‘60’s. We gathered drift wood, dried it and then burned it.
Using wood as a fuel for heat gets old in a hurry.
When I lived in a house that I built out in the country, I had
a cast iron unit in the middle of the living area.
It was nice and cozy but a lot of work if it is your only heat, even in the mid-south.
One note, burn only hardwoods.
Hickory is one of the hottest, and should be mixed with others, such as oak.
Do not burn pine.
Beautiful installation!
We live in the mountains of Western NC and after trying to use our fireplace and then gas logs we finally bought a wood stove and had the associated chimney work done. Best decision we’ve made in a long time. It’s in our den which is colder than the rest of the house and we only light a fire in the evening so we only burn about 2 1/2 cords a year. My wife loves it so much she doesn’t mind tending it and cleaning it.
A Woodstock soapstone.
When it is cold I start the stove at around four when the sun goes down (we are sited to the southeast). Has to be below ten to have to use it during the day. I fire it up, get a good burn going and kick in the catalytic. At bedtime I load and fire again. In the morning I check the weather, might do a small burn if it is cloudy, or no burn, just a sweater if it is going to be sunny.
Hot tea water always available.
Our stove is an “Earth Stove”. Got it new back in 1999; so it’s about 12 yrs. old. Lots of big trees blew down this year; most is split and cut up, so we have enough to last a while.
Husband used to stoke that thing up until it was hot enough to smother in the house. Now, after the fire is set up in the morning; I just toss on ONE stick of wood about every hour. No need to waste wood just because you have it. We turn it down pretty low, close doors upstairs to keep hot air downstairs, keep the upstairs bathroom door open a little bit to keep pipes fairly warm. It just keeps a nice even, low heat going all day. At night, we put some big logs on, turn it down low, and let it just percolate all night slightly. It’s good heat. (We have a poison air alarm. It has only alarmed once; but once is enough to make it well worth the money.)
We replaced our 6 year old Lennox Earth Stove last year just before Christmas with a Quadrafire 3100. The Lennox was overfired a few times:-( and was starting to not burn as efficent. So far I am happy with the Quadrafire this year will tell the difference I think.
We use about 2 to 3 cords a year and I have about 5+ cords on hand that are split and ready to go. I also have another 2 cords that I need to split. I usually spend about $300 a winter on wood. That includes usually buying 1 cord at about $200 here in Kansas City and the rest is on chains saw repairs and chains etc.
The gas bill runs about $50 a month during the winter. One of my kids has a similar sizes house and their gas bill runs over $200 a month if it gets really cold. Our furnace runs mainly at night.
Regards
alfa6 :>}
I have a stainless steel chimney. I could burn tires if I wanted to (hope it doesn’t come to that).
I have a stainless steel chimney. I could burn tires if I wanted to (hope it doesn’t come to that). Coal works really well.
Uh, have a spare room?
:)
Two woodstoves up here in Northern Ontario (albeit the southern part). I have a bit more than eight cords in the shed, and will probably go through four to five of them over the winter. Need to replace the cording in the next couple of weeks to improve the airtightness.
A tandem load of logs, yielding 6-7 cords, runs $700, and is good for quite a bit of exercise. Fortunately, a number of my students are 19 year old guys with energy to burn, and a good chunk of them are from farms or the woods.
Napoleon insert connected to stainless liner. Replaced the Jotul after I got sick of the catalytic converter. Live in NE Ct on 5 acres of old growth oak, 2 to 3 foot in diameter and 80 feet tall. I am 60 and I still cut and split. Granddaughters stack in the 3 cord woodshed.
I had a wood stove once. Only for 18 months. You become a slave to those SOB’s.
Ten cords! good grief, you should build your house IN the woodlot and just set fire to a tree each week!
10 cords. Depends if its a face cord (18+” wide X 4ft high X 8ft long) or a full cord 4H X 4W X 8ft long. Good black oak cured after two years is hard to come by and if not selective on whom you buy it from. You can get green stuff which burns slower at a lower heat rate and does creosote up.
Use an 40 year old Ashley accepts up to 3- 2ft X 10” logs. Getting wood that size 2ft long is hard to come by. Most sell a 18’w face cord around here, Friendship, in central Wisconsin for $50-60 bucks.
Using face cord measurements I’ll go through about 8-10 face cords. We start to get 40 below over here begining around Christmas lasting until the middle of February sometimes into March.
I;m also supplemented by a propane furnace if not wood stove is not in use.
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