Wood Burning Stove - is it worth having

[Johnp33]

My wood stove does not have a catalitic converter, a friend of my son, works for a company that builds stoves, I am going to see about getting a retrofit to my stove.
They clean the smoke and reduce the chimney deposits. The extra heat supplied would also be a bonus.

 

[Pete Judd]

I heat the shop with wood, and I know that it is CO friendly. I have a woodlot that grows faster than I can cut it. Mostly alder, the only CO cost is in the gas and oil for the chain saw. I split the wood with an axe or a maul. I also live in a county that rarely has a burn ban, and but my neighbors would not turn me in even if I was using old tires as fire starter.

Wood is a great carbon netural way to go, if you don't have to pay for the wood, as well as the transport costs.

 

[ultrarunner]

I heat the shop with wood, and I know that it is CO friendly. I have a woodlot that grows faster than I can cut it. Mostly alder, the only CO cost is in the gas and oil for the chain saw. I split the wood with an axe or a maul. I also live in a county that rarely has a burn ban, and but my neighbors would not turn me in even if I was using old tires as fire starter.

Wood is a great carbon netural way to go, if you don't have to pay for the wood, as well as the transport costs.

Were you affected by the stage 2 ban?

Have some neighbors that only heat with wood... been in their home 55 years with wood heat...

The new regs have been driving them nuts and they are thinking of leaving WA...

 

[lockhaven]

all this government burn ban and stove ban is the result of the oil and electric companies paying off the elected officials. My house has base board electric heat but my budget payment is $24 dollars per month, most of that is from the water heater. I am sure Constellation Energy would love a wood stove ban so they could charge me $500 a month.

 

[beppington]

all this government burn ban and stove ban is the result of the oil and electric companies paying off the elected officials. My house has base board electric heat but my budget payment is $24 dollars per month, most of that is from the water heater. I am sure Constellation Energy would love a wood stove ban so they could charge me $500 a month.

A wood burning ban delights at least 2 groups: People profiting off other heat sources (as you said) & environmental alarmists.

I wonder if in 10 or 20 years we'll all be regulated right into being lemmings. Our choices in life are dwindling.

 

[dmccarty]

There was a report in the Wall Street Journal in the last week or so about air quality in CA. Specifically one valley, I think it was the San Joaquin, has air quality issues. Most of the pollution, which is particulates, is caused by farming, trucks, and cars. The farming pollution they blamed on dairy operations. Semi trucks was another big emitter.

The government is banning wood burning because it is the only thing they can do. The other sources of pollution are out of their control and the only button they can push is wood burning bans....

Even though wood burning adds very little pollution in comparison to the other sources.

There have been a couple of stories about the high speed rail that CA wants to build in the valley. I wonder how much pollution a high speed train is going to produce?

Later,
Dan

 

[Pete Judd]

Ultra, we live in the next county to the west. All of our smoke blows into Thurston county where the burn ban was.

 

[ultrarunner]

If the powers that be could find a way to profit from wood... I'm certain things would be different.

It's no different then wanting to put meters on private wells for taxes and fees or one that wants to ban urban gardens without environmental and permit fees/licenses to raise vegetables and chickens.

Can you imagine if every residence had a garden... it would hurt business and tax revenues...

 

[DIRTROAD]

Here is a link to my simple wood stove build thread: Simple WOOD STOVE Build - TractorByNet.com

I wanted to see just how simple of a stove I could build with what I already had laying around the shop. I am very pleased with the results.

 

[Tororider]

With the question being is it worth it, how much is up front installation. I am considering getting one, but before I move forward any further I am trying to figure out how much I am looking at. I have plenty of "free" wood, only my labor is required. I know a good insert/stove is going to run me in the neighborhood of $2500 to heat most of my house, 3000+ sq. ft. I would want an interior chimney and have a two story great room. Probably need to extend the chimney down to the basement for support. So if someone were to ball park it, am I looking at $5-6k, $10K, more? This is all assuming my township will let me add one and my insurance won't kill me on adding one.