Wood stove heat
- Thread starter Burnham
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Its amazing how quickly things can grow back, they have good rainfall down that way too.
Lots of re fencing required and rebuilding.
What you cant replace quickly is the years and years of blood line breeding on their sheep, generations of work just lost, some were able to get back some of their sold off stock to start again, but its a long process, thats what you dont see when the place looks like its re generating and green again etc.
Well since my life is basically a dumpster fire and I'm no where close to organized, i didn't have a bunch of seasoned firewood handy. I've been getting wood from my buddies wood pile, where he's been dumping logs for years, but that pile is pretty picked thru by now. He dropped a dead locust off earlier this year, standing dead but it is still a bit green, and i took down a silver maple a few months ago, the same. So i saw a redneck firewood kiln a guy did on youtube, basically using a salamander heater to blow hot dry air into a tiny shed, thus drying the wood. The guy stacked it well for drying, and only cooked it for about 2 hours and got pretty good results. So i cobbled up a wood box using some scrap wood i had laying around to see how it worked, and grabbed a small 50k btu kerosene/diesel heater, i figured if it didn't work i could definitely use it in the garage. So i cut up a load, threw it in my horribly slopped together box, and ran it for 4 hours since i didn't stack it, i just tossed it in there til it was full.
Well it worked, better than i could have hoped for. I don't have a moisture meter (I've been using a multimeter and nails) and i haven't had a chance to split one and see how well it really did, but from what I've seen out of it the stuff is really dry. The ends are cracked open, even at the end where i left it open to exhaust from. I'll report back how dry when i find time to split one, but the stuff I've burned thus far is really good. I'll probably keep running the cobbled together setup for this year's wood, but I'll be hunting materials to make a deal that I'll lower over the ibc tote so i don't have to touch it to dry it. Hopefully next year I'll be better but if this kills the bugs that alone will be worth it, not to mention the convenience of having perfectly dry wood no matter what. The heater uses 5 gallons of diesel for 14 hours of burn time, so the 4 hours i ran cost about 7 bucks, I'll take it.
Well it worked, better than i could have hoped for. I don't have a moisture meter (I've been using a multimeter and nails) and i haven't had a chance to split one and see how well it really did, but from what I've seen out of it the stuff is really dry. The ends are cracked open, even at the end where i left it open to exhaust from. I'll report back how dry when i find time to split one, but the stuff I've burned thus far is really good. I'll probably keep running the cobbled together setup for this year's wood, but I'll be hunting materials to make a deal that I'll lower over the ibc tote so i don't have to touch it to dry it. Hopefully next year I'll be better but if this kills the bugs that alone will be worth it, not to mention the convenience of having perfectly dry wood no matter what. The heater uses 5 gallons of diesel for 14 hours of burn time, so the 4 hours i ran cost about 7 bucks, I'll take it.
Good chit!!
Logging for sure.
Especially bucking big hardwoods, where you lift the saw over shoulder height a lot.
davidwyby
Desert Beaver
Haven’t used a fireplace or stove since I was a kid. This is what we do now…Euc
FireFighterZero
Captain Zero!
Still love it.
stikine
Treehouser
Timber in the wheat? field... nice.
FireFighterZero
Captain Zero!
I cut and stack it all with a Stihl saw and Stihl maul.
FireFighterZero
Captain Zero!
I had no idea when I started.
Altissimus
TreeHouser
... my friend calls it "time with Dr. Wood"
FireFighterZero
Captain Zero!
Lodgepole and a little fir.
Is it saving you a couple bucks on your overall heating bill, not to mention the toasty BTUs you are enjoying? And forgetting about that the whole process is a labor of love, the splitting, stacking, carrying, loading, stirring coals, removing ashes etc etc. If you put a price on every little aspect of it, oil's probably cheaper. But not as fun or satisfying.
Kaveman
Treehouser
Here in Arizona, we have no concept of heating oil. Just saying.
Do you guys mean kerosene, or some heavier oil derivative?
Do you guys mean kerosene, or some heavier oil derivative?
gf beranek
Old Schooler
Heating oil is basically diesel minus the taxes. If you forget to get your tank filled, you can get some cans from the gas station to get you through it(at a higher cost).
gf beranek
Old Schooler
Terri and I rent. Nonetheless, the landlord pretty much gives us free reign to do what we see fit on his property.
This year I clear about a half acre on the south side of the house to get some sunlight. Now I have room to grow a garden, and firewood is coming out my ears.
This year I clear about a half acre on the south side of the house to get some sunlight. Now I have room to grow a garden, and firewood is coming out my ears.
BlackSmith
Uncivil
Off road diesel is the same as heating oil (#2) as far as taxes/price, unless I’m mistaken.
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
When I lived in MA, we had kerosene
/heating oil on an old boiler set up (radiators) that was originally coal. And a oil burning flat top stove. It was way cheaper to heat with wood in our large wood stove. Modern systems, maybe not.
Way cheaper here in CA to heat with wood vs propane, electric or kerosene.
FireFighterZero
Captain Zero!
All of that.
Last winter our propane and electric heat bills were 500 dollars less for a couple of months.
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