Reducing my dependence on fossil fuel

[DavidAubke]

Unfortunately, we don't have enough land to sustain my firewood habit, which leaves me scrounging wood where ever I can. I do my best to stay a full season ahead, so it usually works out just fine.

This is an annual challenge for us as well. We heat our small house on 2.5 cords. We get a permit to harvest from the nearby national forest. For $20/year, we can clean up any fallen trees we want.

Maybe there's some kind of scrubbers you can put on the chimney to clean up the smoke.

Our catalytic stove does a good job of emitting no smoke. It can be burned low and slow and still there will be no visible smoke or odor from the chimney. The catalytic converter recovers a huge amount of heat as well. The only downside is that the element (~$120) must be replaced every three or four years.

 

[TripleR]

I sure wish people around here wanted wood, we have some big Oaks down and have had Hickory etc. lie and rot because no one would come and cut them up for the wood. I can't use a chainsaw safely anymore and quit burning wood.

 

[DavidAubke]

I sure wish people around here wanted wood, we have some big Oaks down and have had Hickory etc. lie and rot because no one would come and cut them up for the wood. I can't use a chainsaw safely anymore and quit burning wood.

By your avatar image, I'm figuring you don't live in S.E. Ohio, otherwise I'd be out tomorrow.

 

[TripleR]

By your avatar image, I'm figuring you don't live in S.E. Ohio, otherwise I'd be out tomorrow.

No, I live in SE Missouri, need to check my info as it use to show up.

We have 150 acres of woods on one property, about twenty on another and six on another.

I have a fireplace and a good supply of wood put back in case of emergencies. Our renters cut the wood for us when a tree blew down in one of the fields.

 

[NativeSon]

I'm with you guys. I've been building a new house the past couple of years and have no central heating system. The downstairs is open concept with a bedroom and bathroom and a Vermont Castings Vigilant heats it all well. I had the whole house spray foam insulated and the stuff is amazing. I do have a Rinnai wall-mounted heater but only use it on cold mornings like today when the woodstove would be too hot in a couple hours. I also put electric radiant mats under both bathroom tile floors and electric baseboard units in the kids' bedrooms upstairs but haven't needed them at all (mostly put them in just to satisfy 'the establishment'). I have 13 acres with plenty of hardwood, so the BX has been a workhorse. I only burned a little over 2 cords last winter, pretty good for northern New England. I'm using a "palletized" wood storage system so I can keep the wood in a sunny spot away from the house in summer and then move it with BX & forks close to the back door in the late fall.

For domestic hot water I installed a 30-tube solar collector feeding an 80 gallon storage tank; no conventional water heater. It works incredible, actually heating more water than I can use so I'm thinking of tapping a baseboard unit off it to dump some heat. I am super happy with my design, it's been working great. I love not paying for gas or oil.

Great looking home!

 

[Haywire]

I sure wish people around here wanted wood, we have some big Oaks down and have had Hickory etc. lie and rot because no one would come and cut them up for the wood. I can't use a chainsaw safely anymore and quit burning wood.

Too bad. I too would be knocking on your door and making lots of noise on your back 40.

I wish I had the room and money to build a proper drive-through wood shed (barn) that would hold about 30 cords stacked to chest height. I built a wood shed that will hold about 15, but it's stacked 8' high and I have to stand on one short run to get to the top of the next. It's gonna bite me in the butt sooner or later.

Ian

 

[TripleR]

Too bad. I too would be knocking on your door and making lots of noise on your back 40.

I wish I had the room and money to build a proper drive-through wood shed (barn) that would hold about 30 cords stacked to chest height. I built a wood shed that will hold about 15, but it's stacked 8' high and I have to stand on one short run to get to the top of the next. It's gonna bite me in the butt sooner or later.

Ian

I miss harvesting and burning wood as it was a family affair with kids, grandkids, and grandparents involved. It was a lot of work, but enjoyable.

A nice wood shed like that would be nice, we kept ours stacked in barns, sheds etc. that were pretty unhandy.

 

[Rob-D]

Radair, like the home!

I have a Tulikivi fireplace from Finland with a bake oven in it, the only problem is I'm older now and very sensitive to the smoke, it actually makes me sick so I don't use it often even though I have cut wood as a back up.

I'm looking into Geothermal and am getting bids now. I built this house back in 1992 and insulated it very well for the time (R55 ceilings, etc.) It's also a relatively small house, big houses multiply your heating needs drastically but I know some folks with lots of kids that can't avoid it.

My goal is to use geo and preheat the water with microhydro and wind to get it as high as possible before the compressor pumps it up to heating levels. It's going to be a busy summer and I'll post pics when it's done.

Rob

 

[crazyal]

I'm with you guys. I've been building a new house the past couple of years and have no central heating system. The downstairs is open concept with a bedroom and bathroom and a Vermont Castings Vigilant heats it all well. I had the whole house spray foam insulated and the stuff is amazing. I do have a Rinnai wall-mounted heater but only use it on cold mornings like today when the woodstove would be too hot in a couple hours. I also put electric radiant mats under both bathroom tile floors and electric baseboard units in the kids' bedrooms upstairs but haven't needed them at all (mostly put them in just to satisfy 'the establishment'). I have 13 acres with plenty of hardwood, so the BX has been a workhorse. I only burned a little over 2 cords last winter, pretty good for northern New England. I'm using a "palletized" wood storage system so I can keep the wood in a sunny spot away from the house in summer and then move it with BX & forks close to the back door in the late fall.

For domestic hot water I installed a 30-tube solar collector feeding an 80 gallon storage tank; no conventional water heater. It works incredible, actually heating more water than I can use so I'm thinking of tapping a baseboard unit off it to dump some heat. I am super happy with my design, it's been working great. I love not paying for gas or oil.

I've been thinking of adding a solar hot water system. I looked into it a little bit but never really found anyone who could give me an honest opinion as to how well they work in New England. I've heard the solar vac tubes will frost and not work when it's real cold. How well does it work in the colder months in winter? Honestly I probably would be happy having one that only worked from Mid April to Mid November reliably.

 

[crazyal]

Radair, like the home!

I have a Tulikivi fireplace from Finland with a bake oven in it, the only problem is I'm older now and very sensitive to the smoke, it actually makes me sick so I don't use it often even though I have cut wood as a back up.

I'm looking into Geothermal and am getting bids now. I built this house back in 1992 and insulated it very well for the time (R55 ceilings, etc.) It's also a relatively small house, big houses multiply your heating needs drastically but I know some folks with lots of kids that can't avoid it.

My goal is to use geo and preheat the water with microhydro and wind to get it as high as possible before the compressor pumps it up to heating levels. It's going to be a busy summer and I'll post pics when it's done.

Rob

Call it a pet pev of mine but when I see couples with 2800 sqf houses with central air saying they can't afford to live I just shake my head. It's one thing if you have a big family but otherwise a big house is just more to clean, keep up, and heat.

 

[archerynut]

I enjoy the work of heating with wood. I save about 450 gallons of oil each year by using wood.

 

[TripleR]

I enjoy the work of heating with wood. I save about 450 gallons of oil each year by using wood.

There are few things as enjoyable as a day spent in the woods cutting firewood. I taught both of my sons to work in the woods at an early age and made sure not only that they could safely run a chain saw, but an ax and splitting maul and wedges too. We later got a hydraulic splitter, but I think it is nice for kids to know how to do it the old way.

At the end of the day, we would build a fire and cook our evening meal before going home.

I sure do miss it.

 

[Tom_H]

radair,

That is one really nice looking house!

 

[radioman]

This is my 31st year heating with wood (half my life). With the skyrocketing fuel prices, the firewood pile looks better all the time. I've been using the BX24 to haul logs out of the woods for six seasons now. My back thanks the little orange work horse every day. I can't imagine getting firewood out without it. I estimate that my total fossil fuel input to cut, haul and split 7-8 cords of wood at less than 10 gallons (diesel for the Kubota and gas for the saw and splitter). The firewood saves me approximately 1,000 gallons of fuel oil. At today's prices that's big money.

same here- I use by BX24 to handle my firewood for my woodstove as well.

 

[Rob-D]

Call it a pet pev of mine but when I see couples with 2800 sqf houses with central air saying they can't afford to live I just shake my head. It's one thing if you have a big family but otherwise a big house is just more to clean, keep up, and heat.

I hear you, our house is 1400 sq.ft. plus an unheated sun room that we use three seasons without heating it even in the mountains here.

Here's the house before I put the sun room on.

Rob

 

[radair]

I've been thinking of adding a solar hot water system. I looked into it a little bit but never really found anyone who could give me an honest opinion as to how well they work in New England. I've heard the solar vac tubes will frost and not work when it's real cold. How well does it work in the colder months in winter? Honestly I probably would be happy having one that only worked from Mid April to Mid November reliably.

Evacuated tubes work just fine in very cold temps. Any frost disappears as soon as the sun comes up. The tubes do not get hot, so snow can be an issue. Even so, with all the snow we had this winter (a lot) I only roof-raked the tubes 3 times, and two of those was just because I wanted to take advantage of a sunny day and not wait. I have REALLY good southern exposure so if yours is questionable you may need to clear some trees. Relying totally on solar for hot water may be asking too much for some folks. I live mostly alone but a family of 3 or more would likely need some sort of conventional water heater. Last December was mostly overcast and combined with the short days I had to be selective with my hot water use. I'm willing to live with that where a wife and kids may not. The rest of the winter was fine, in fact at times I took extra long showers just to knock the temp down a bit.

Thanks for the compliments, Tom H, Rob D, & Native Son. The house is pretty small, only 1600 s.f. including the cupola, but works perfectly for my needs. The woodstove feels real nice on this chilly morning!

 

[Grateful11]

Curious what happened to your firebox and how you
fixed it since we are considering putting a wood stove insert into our masonry
fireplace by next winter. Is this a common issue with wood inserts? Got to
find a way to use less oil.

The insert was in the house when we bought it and we believe it put in during the oil crunch of the 70's so it was pretty old. We didn't try to fix it because it's just not a very efficient stove I suspect if there would be a flue fire and the insurance company found there's woodstove that's been welded back up we would have a hard getting them to pay off. We're going back with a Buck Stove Model 21, There's actually 2 flues in our Den one was originally a reg. fireplace and the other is a never used indoor grill. We're putting the 21 in the grill spot, kind of a odd setup but I think it will work, it won't heat the whole house but it'll be a big supplement to our Heat Pump/Oil Furnace dual fuel system.

 

[Rosiejoydog]

Hi, I am new to the site and am enjoying the threads. I read the wood burning stuff and thought you would like to see the latest wood burning machine for a boiler. It is a smokeless wood burner with huge thermal storage. 2000 gallons of water. GARN. There are you tube videos and mine is in there. Type in : garnWHS2000John. Hope you like it! Video is not super exciting but the boiler is very efficient. John

 

[Alan L.]

Now if you guys can just figure out how to run the air conditioner on wood down here in Texas we'll have it made.

 

[Redneck in training]

I am building a shop. Since it doesn't need to be heated to constant comfort temperature I am considering pasive solar pannels as in this building. The building is not to far from my house so I am planning to approach the owner and ask about the experience. The manufacturer of the collectors is also local.

DeSoto Solar Heating Panels