Save $$$ - Heat with Wood

[ultrarunner]

Good tips on keeping the glass clean...

I was surprised how easy it wipes off with some old newspaper... just about all of it if I give it a quick wipe before lighting.

No fire last night and lots of sad faces... I was out on the road helping with two flats.

My brother was turning into the farm in his 2016 F250 and I heard two "Missile" shots... it took out both 20" tires on the passenger side sidewall from a rusty twisted piece of flame cut scrap metal... thought he was going to cry. I was relieved it was "Only" the tires.

No luck on a Saturday night finding tires... so the truck is down until tires are replaced... got the dump trailer unhitched and out of the way... it was loaded with Christmas Tree branches... sold 249 Christmas Trees yesterday.

No time for a warm hearth.

 

[hosspuller]

My fireplace insert builds up a haze on the glass after a few nights of fires. I found a wet paper towel ( use water from the RO system to avoid minerals) releases the haze, and clean newspaper polishes the glass crystal clear.

The stove and glass is cold when I do this ...

 

[Woodeye]

I just use the ash from the bottom of the stove. I wet a few paper towels, dab them in the ash and use that.

What he said, but use windshield washer fluid in a spray bottle.

 

[FTG-05]

The best, IMO, to keep wood stove glass clean and clear: Use Well Seasoned Firewood.

I had my Englander 30-NCH installed late Nov. 2014. Despite putting wood by since Oct. 2013 (when I bought the place) plus having red Oak CSS since May 2011 (late April tornado storms north AL), I had plenty of frosted and glazed glass when I started using my 30-NCH.

It got better in the 2015-2016 firewood season due to having much better seasoned wood. And it got better even then during the 2016-2017 season when I had 2-3 years of well seasoned wood to burn.

Now, we just started the 2017-2018 season and I have very well seasoned wood to burn. Glass is crystal clear.

My .02.

 

[goeduck]

The best, IMO, to keep wood stove glass clean and clear: Use Well Seasoned Firewood.

I had my Englander 30-NCH installed late Nov. 2014. Despite putting wood by since Oct. 2013 (when I bought the place) plus having red Oak CSS since May 2011 (late April tornado storms north AL), I had plenty of frosted and glazed glass when I started using my 30-NCH.

It got better in the 2015-2016 firewood season due to having much better seasoned wood. And it got better even then during the 2016-2017 season when I had 2-3 years of well seasoned wood to burn.

Now, we just started the 2017-2018 season and I have very well seasoned wood to burn. Glass is crystal clear.

My .02.

Very interesting, I never thought to try that observation. All mine is well seasoned but I do have an issue with our moist climate and wood having some moisture content.

 

[ratpie]

i have about 5 cord cut & split out back and move it closer to the house when the wood rack needs filling. the rack holds about a cord. i have noticed an odd occurrence after moving wood yesterday.

on the day you move the wood, you move about a cord...
the next day, when you are sore as ****, you figure out that you moved 2. lol

 

[4570Man]

I delivered and staked 4 cord in one night. That was pretty rough.

 

[TnAndy]

I delivered and staked 4 cord in one night. That was pretty rough.

Man. I'd say ! Given a cord of wood weighs in the 3-4,000lb range, you moved 6-8 tons of wood.

Here is a pile I did one year before building my sheds.....it was around 6 cords.

 

[FTG-05]

Very interesting, I never thought to try that observation. All mine is well seasoned but I do have an issue with our moist climate and wood having some moisture content.

I learned to dry wood in the Puget Sound area (specifically the North Des Moines Hill area) in the early '80's when I got my first wood stove.

The only way I could get it to work was to put the wood in huge wooden crates that I got from Boeing Surplus (RIP) for $.05/lb less the 20% Boeing employee discount.

If you can dry wood in the rain forest of the PNW, everywhere else is slam dunk, easey-peasey, dead dumb simple.

 

[ultrarunner]

How do you dry wood in the PNW???

It is skill I need to learn living in a rain forest with ferns near Olympia.

 

[goeduck]

How do you dry wood in the PNW???

It is skill I need to learn living in a rain forest with ferns near Olympia.

It seasons but I would not call it dry since the winter humidity stays around 80%. I do not bring my wood inside before burning it so when it goes in the stove it does carry some moisture. Not wet, not green but it is not bone dry.

 

[ultrarunner]

Got it...

I have an area that is protected but gets Southern exposure and is my best spot for seasoning...

Never have that issue in California... no rain for 6 months and with weeks 90+

 

[mapper]

How do you dry wood in the PNW???

It is skill I need to learn living in a rain forest with ferns near Olympia.

Woodshed with good air circulation, keep the wood off of the ground, wood stacked in the spring will be dry by fall. Hard woods will sometimes get powder post beetle if more than a couple of years old.

 

[ultrarunner]

Woodshed with good air circulation, keep the wood off of the ground, wood stacked in the spring will be dry by fall. Hard woods will sometimes get powder post beetle if more than a couple of years old.

We have powder post here in the Bay Area too... it is rather new to this extent.

Thanks for the tip...

 

[goeduck]

I try to always go 2 years since cutting, 1 year if it was a dead standing or previous year blowdown.

 

[Deere Dude]

This is my wood lay down area and a lean to where split wood goes. Wood is stacked maybe 8' high and the room is maybe 12x20? approx. The concrete slab is used as a drying area and to keep it off the sod.

I have one pile on open concrete like the one seen and another pile to the left of the screen which are fresh cut oaks early last year. I try to burn from the other side of the lean-to this year then next year take wood from this side and just go back and forth. Next spring I will split from in front of the camera and stack on the other side and visa-versa every year.

The question is am I better to try to cover logs or just let them be in the elements with no cover? Am I better off cutting it up in chunk(Mostly white and chestnut oaks and then some oddball stuff) and restack until time to split or will that increase the rotting process, or will logs increase the rotting process? I try to get the wood out of the woods and onto open air concrete as soon as I can. I spray an insecticide to keep all the bugs out, carpenter bees and ants. That seems to works quite well. I tell my stacker (wife) they can be loosely stacked for air flow benefits but I don't waste my breathe on that anymore. So, stack them tight and high.

It may be a little off topic, but is still talking about wood and as you can tell I must enjoy it at least a little bit. Just trying to get a system going.

 

[4570Man]

I don't waste time covering logs. They're not going to dry outside and it's hard to slow the rot in logs.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

LD1 I understand the point you are making. The fallacy in the argument is the assumption that I would still cut and split 5-7 cords of wood a year regardless of whether I sell it or use it. I would not cut wood for any reason other than to burn it and neither would most others I would guess. So I have two options that I am willing to do.

Option #1. Forgo the wood heat and run my geo system 100% of the time and also not split wood. Result is X amount of $ per day in heat for our home.

Option #2. Cut and split wood and supplement my heat with our wood burning insert. Result is X amount of $ per day minus Y the amount of heat from our wood insert. X-Y=total savings by burning wood (regardless of how cheap or efficient my geo system is). And yes I understand there are some expenses such as chains, fuel, etc.

There is no Option #3 for me that involves selling wood.

You can also find someone to cut on shares. The typical deal around here is one cord in four goes to the land owner, the rest go to the guys doing the work.

 

[4570Man]

You can also find someone to cut on shares. The typical deal around here is one cord in four goes to the land owner, the rest go to the guys doing the work.

Are here no such deal is going to work. There's an abundance of free wood. Do they split the 4th cord?

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Calling someone a criminal and fraud.....or actually read what they write and comprehend.......

Yea, I guess name calling is the easy way out.

When someone confesses to tax evasion it's sort of hard to see it any other way.