wood burning stoves

[Les Nessman]

Make sure you actually have timber rights before you start chopping.

I'm fairly certain, but I'll make sure now. Thanks.

NPR - I like your homemade idea, but it will not pass the Wife Inspection.
I think it's going to have to be a manufactured cast iron or cast iron/soapstone or somesuch stove.

[Combat Controller]

Grew up with wood as the only heat source from Oct-May. We had really old antique stoves or built in fireplaces. You will want a small Franklin or box stove probably. There have been some good links and advice so I will address some other issues.

Try starting with the deadfall in your woods. It is dry and ready to burn and it clears the undergrowth out and reduces the opportunity for forest fires to start. Have plenty of kindling and wood for at least the night in a dry place. If you are low and don't have a dry area to store the wood bring the damp stuff in and let the fire dry it out for you by placing it behind the stove. If you don't use "green" grocery bags (a good idea in my opinion) get the paper sacks to use to get a fire going quick.

A few random ideas, more as I think of them.

[ZeroGravitas]

We have a Lopi insert too (I think that's what Blackeagle meant)...fantastic stove. We have a ceiling fan in the living room to help move the heat around the house.

What part of the country are you in?

I read CC's advice and realized western woodlore is a bit different than the wet Northeast. Once a tree's down here, you only got a couple of weeks before it's not so good. We do love the standing dead ones though.

[308Mike]

Also, you can up the efficiency of your stove heat output by ensuring the air circulates around behind the stove and especially around the flue pipe - spreading the hot air around.

[Combat Controller]

I read CC's advice and realized western woodlore is a bit different than the wet Northeast. Once a tree's down here, you only got a couple of weeks before it's not so good. We do love the standing dead ones though.

LOL, good point. I am clearing trees still that died 4 years ago in the big drought/bark beetle epidemic and they burn nice and clean. Also keeps the old homestead steadily safer and safer from forest fires (as much as one can living in a National Forest that is 1/3 dead trees).

[Les Nessman]

What part of the country are you in?

Sunny northeast Ohio.

There's plenty of decent dry-ish dead stuff around.
Helping the health of the woods is a nice side benefit. Mostly I want to save money on my gas bill and I want a backup system in case the power, gas or furnace goes out.

That woodstove link above was a good site. That is a nice sale they have going on. I had no idea about the tax credit. I'm really interested in getting a stove now!

Looking at where I'd want it placed in the living room, it looks like it would vent out the wall then at some point have a couple (45 degree?) elbows to go around the upstairs window directly above. I don't know if that's allowed according to code.
Either that or I would put the stove in the outside corner of the living room and have a straight run of pipe to the corner of the roof.

I know less elbows are desirable, but I don't think it's a deal killer.

[Darrell]

I worked with a guy who built a wood stove as a welding class project many years ago. He used an old transformer housing as a starting point, the big ones on poles, ya know? Had radiating fins all over it. Made a heckuva stove. I wondered about exposure to PCBs, though...

[308Mike]

I worked with a guy who built a wood stove as a welding class project many years ago. He used an old transformer housing as a starting point, the big ones on poles, ya know? Had radiating fins all over it. Made a heckuva stove. I wondered about exposure to PCBs, though...

JEEZUS - you aren't kidding!!! Those things are well KNOWN to be filled with PCBs, and if one ever leaks or blows, do NOT go NEAR it without protective clothing and breathing gear. I can't imagine firing one of those things up in a house unless somehow those fins were mounted on a removable shell which didn't come into direct contact with the PCBs inside.

**SHUDDER**

[SeekHer]

NPR...I have a similar one made of two 35 gal oil barrels stacked on top of each other with brackets and a flue at the rear of the bottom one and the top one exits near the front...they (the door, brackets and connectors) were available as a kit and you just had to spot weld them in place...

It heats the garage during those spring and fall days when you have to work on the machinery but won't heat too far out from the unit for working on metal in winter--couple of times when it was going to hit -30 or lower, I go and start a fire and let it burn for most of the night and the temp would be about -5 in the morning but at least the cars started with no problems...

We built a Kachelofen/Swedish masonry stove through the center of the house and heat with that during the whole year...It feeds from the basement, 4' logs and two fires a day, seldom a third keep the house at 72F or above...We have spot heat in the basement with a smaller fire chamber and a glass door and on the main floor there are two, glass doored, wood burning stoves (LR and family room) and there is provisions for another stove on the main floor (kitchen) and on the second floor (Master BR) if we need to!

We have a forced air furnace, that cost us $1,400 to heat the house for the year but the duct work does come in handy for the air conditioner...the brickwork was finished in mid Jan and the first year we had it the fuel bill went down to $600 (including the two cords of poplar I bought for $100) and for last year it was nothing...I used five+ full cords last year and still have nearly fifteen cords stacked and drying out and will go out this late fall and get another ten/fifteen or so...the first 20 cost me about $20 for chain saw petrol and maybe $100 for the truck petrol (hauling a utility trailer) to bring it in, Oh, and a case of beer for my two nephews who helped--make that did all the work...

The wood stoves are nothing great, local companies, but they are quite efficient...I have an old Queen Anne wood burning kitchen range that we brought back from the farm and is out being restored and that will go into our kitchen when it comes back this fall...Will cook a few meals on it to break it in and learn its little foibles and secrets but wanted it in case the power gets destroyed in an ice storm even though we have a gas kitchen range but electric convention ovens...

Had I even bought the five cords of wood, delivered and stacked, $300 to $400, it still wood have been lots cheaper then natural gas...Actually, come to think about it, we probably used another cord in the fireplaces for Spring/Fall beat the chill, rainy day and ambiance fires...Only thing is, wood fires are really drying, so we have an old cast iron kettle on all the stoves filled with water to put steam into the air and a humidifier running during the winter to add moisture otherwise you go through a lot of skin cream...

We got a tax benefit for the masonry stove that paid for nearly half of it and the other $1,600 was nearly paid for in the first year of operation...

[Netpackrat]

I have an old Queen Anne wood burning kitchen range that we brought back from the farm and is out being restored and that will go into our kitchen when it comes back this fall...Will cook a few meals on it to break it in and learn its little foibles and secrets but wanted it in case the power gets destroyed in an ice storm even though we have a gas kitchen range but electric convention ovens...

My stepmom has an old wood burning kitchen stove in the basement of a derelict building she owns down south. It's mine for the asking, but I'd have to somehow get it out of the basement, get it up to Alaska, and totally restore it, replacing ALL of the sheet metal parts, which are rotted out. All of which I am capable of, but I really don't need any more projects right now. Be nice to have it out at the cabin, though.