Firewood Gathering With A Power Trac

[MossRoad]

One more thing.... duct booster fans...
Some duct booster fans are made with plastic parts and will not withstand higher temperatures. I bought one that is rated for 266 degrees from here...

Aero-Flo™ Booster Fan

I chose the 6" model. It was $36.00.
It draws about 2/3 of an AMP and is wired for 110V

I also stuck a meat thermometer into the center of the duct work directly before the fan to monitor the air temperature inside the duct work. I was worried about overheating it and causing a fire. By playing with the distance of the duct work over the stove, I came up with a distance that when the stove is at maximum temperature (500-600 degrees on the stove top) the air entering the duct is 135 degrees. It never gets higher than that. Well withing the ratings of the fan and I can put my hand on the duct work and leave it there for a minute without getting burned.

I mounted the portable thermostat om the ceiling between the floor joists in the center of the room, too.

 

[johara1]

boy do i miss that,i heated my house for about 14 years with a barrel. well it was a double barrel kit. now i have a heat pump......jim

 

[MossRoad]

We are thinking of getting one of those Napoleons in the next year, probably the same model as yours. Any regrets or tips?

I missed this post last March. Sorry about that.

The unit works great. It is a little slow to heat up but once it is hot it stays hot a very long time. Simple control on the front. I like it.

One thing to note... the literature says it will hold 20 something inch logs. That is very misleading. That is the diagonal measure of the firebox. The directions tell you to load wood horizontally, not diagonally. Horizontally, it is more like 18". I cut my wood about 14 to 16 inches and that works well.

Again, very sorry for missing this post last March.

 

[MossRoad]

My Holz Hausen!
First pic is the ring 10' in diameter.
Second pic is paint mark at 8'.
Third pic is first course of split wood at an angle inward.
Fourth pic is several courses of split wood angled inward and internal area of circle with wood both split and small unsplit pieces stacked vertically.
After it was about 3' high I put another course of shims around the outside ring to keep the wood angled in and continued. I am up to about 5' high now. I split a 10' diameter by 5' high in about 10 hours. That's about 3 cords, according to the Holz Hausen instructions.

 

[wasabi]

ausgezeichnet!

 

[MossRoad]

ausgezeichnet!

Thanks!

 

[SpringHollow]

I was going to build a Holz Hausen this Spring but decided not to after seeing peoples' comments on the web. Basically, they said more work and most said it did not dry any better. I also thought 10' high? I would need to use a ladder. On the plus side, you get a lot of wood in a small area.

Ken

 

[MossRoad]

I don't see how it can be any more work. In fact, I think it is easier as you don't have any ends to brace up and don't have to worry about it falling over. And it does seem to take up a lot less room. 6 cords stacked conventionally would be 4'x4'x48' and take up 192 square feet of ground. This method takes less than 80 square feet. You don't have to haul the wood as far, either.

However, you are correct about the height. I am currently at 5 feet. I can toss it to 8'. But after that will require a ladder.

Perhaps I should have taken the author's advice and made a few 7 footers.

 

[SpringHollow]

Lots of the ones on the web fell over. Some were not on level ground. Don't remember if it was in this link or not but one person used a rope looped around the post - may have been attached to a disk or something - and used that to keep a good cylinder. Another wrapped his in chicken wire to keep it together after rebuilding it a couple of times.

I stack my wood on plastic pallets and use T-posts vertical pallets on one end. Stack 6'+ high, double row on each pallet. Tried 6' at the T-fence end but the double high vertical pallet is not stable - the top one bends back over time and then that end of the pile collapses. The plastic pallets i have can also crush or settle unevenly. So works best to start at 4' tall then taper to 6' +.

Still thinking about one of those wooden cylinders for next year's wood - do it for fun. Couldn't try it this year because the only spot for it meant it would hit some valuable things if it toppled.

Ken

 

[MossRoad]

I'm trying to keep mine fairly level and tapering slightly in. I'm also putting the shims in every few layers to keep the outside ring of wood tapered inwards. It's 6' high right now.

It is kind of weird how as you build up the outside ring how fast it becomes level again. You'd think it would stay tapered inwards from the first row of shims, but it does not.

 

[SpringHollow]

Hi Moss,

Yours is looking really good - looks like you did a nicer job than most did!!!

I have been keeping my eye out for used car ports - i think they would be nice to store wood in.

Ken

 

[MossRoad]

I think once this pile is built, I will put some sort of loose cover on top of it to keep the rain out. Most of that wood was cut and sectioned this spring, I just split it in the last week, but it is already pretty dry. I will have to start using it around mid November. I'm not sure I'll have enough wood to finish it to the top. I don't want to top it with green wood. I think I will start a 7 footer with the greener wood that I will pull from our property in the fall and see how it dries during winter.

Anyhow, it looks neat and takes up little space. My neighbors say it is pleasing to the eye, which means they were tired of seeing my old stacked wood behind the garage!

 

[MossRoad]

Hi Moss,

Yours is looking really good - looks like you did a nicer job than most did!!!

I have been keeping my eye out for used car ports - i think they would be nice to store wood in.

Ken

Just some 4X4 posts with some light weight stringers and some corrugated metal roofing would work well, too. Do you get much snowfall?

 

[SpringHollow]

My largest 24 hour snowfall was 7 feet but normally a large storm is 18 - 24". It is pretty typical for me to get a couple of inches a day with an occasional 6"-10" snowfall. Then once or twice a month, a larger storm. So the roof needs to be reasonably substantial. When i moved here, there was a metal shed but it collapsed from the snow (not even the 7'). The normal carports are not strong enough here - I design my roofs for a 60lb/sqft snow load at a minimum.

Ken

 

[MossRoad]

My largest 24 hour snowfall was 7 feet but normally a large storm is 18 - 24". It is pretty typical for me to get a couple of inches a day with an occasional 6"-10" snowfall. Then once or twice a month, a larger storm. So the roof needs to be reasonably substantial. When i moved here, there was a metal shed but it collapsed from the snow (not even the 7'). The normal carports are not strong enough here - I design my roofs for a 60lb/sqft snow load at a minimum.

Ken

Ah, good old lake snow! I forgot about your location.

 

[catsco]

Not quite as attractive as the neat piles, but since I have the room and a lot of scaffolding I don't need during the winter, I set up two 6' high scaffold ends with the "X" brace on one side, and my homemade "planks" (2 x 4 w/OSB surface) on top to make a compact 6' tall x 8' wide x 5' deep stack that I can find in the really big snows. Occasionally we get 6' overnight.

To keep on the thread of Firewood Gathering, I've been cutting dead trees off our 7 acres for several years. The challenge is that the most of the property is a 2:1 slope, so I've used the PT-425 to cut and maintain small access roads, just barely wide enough for the tractor. Then I use bucket forks to carry the 4' or so rounds up the roads and numerous hairpins to where I further cut and split for our use, or sell as is for others to cut and split.

The nearly 180 degree turns are too sharp and steep to tow my log trailer or even drag larger pieces. This type of work is the reason I bought the PT in the first place.

It's amazing how much wood a lot like this in Colorado has. The only forest management has been forest fires over 100 years ago.

 

[SpringHollow]

Pallet racks also can work quite well for making tall stable piles of wood.

Ken

 

[wasabi]

if you have the room....

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, I've seen that tree art. You need the room AND the time!

 

[andymax]

Hello Everyone !

I have built 2 holtz Hausens already with some interesting results. Both were built on 8" cinder blocks to keep them off the ground. 8' diameters each, approx 5' high. #1 built Nov '08, broke down May '09, The "ring" wood very dry, vertically stacked wood "damp" #2 built Apr'09, broke down Jul'09, same result. I was thinking.... has anyone built one w/o the center wood???? I think this would speed up air flow, or maybe just stack some pallet wood in the center to prevent it from possible collapse????. I agree that the amt. of wood in a circular H.H. is great, just that all the center wood doesn't really get dry. I'm from NW WI . Any others out there with similar results or suggestions?????