Any one else burn wood??

[fastfredracing]

Sorry for so many posts, I am sort of sick, and bored. Any how. Its about 22 degrees outside, and 72 in my house, and I havent turned on the furnace yet this season. Sweet. This is my first season with wood in the house, but for the last three years , I have been heating my 35x 120 shop, primarily with wood. My shop heating bills went from about $3000.00 dollars a season to about 500. And home heat will nearly be free as I have been cutting wood. It does take a little time, and I thought this would be a negative, but I found that I actually like cutting trees, and splitting, stacking wood is kind of theraputic, and a good workout. I put the wood burner in just to help with heating, but it looks as if it will heat the whole house by itself. We have a long ranch style house, The wood burner is all the way at one end, and we have been using fans to move the air, but next year, I will put some ducting in the attic to put the air right into the rear bedrooms. . Even though heating oil is not as pricey as I had anticipated ( 4.02 a gallon last season) this is still great.

[futuresoptions]

You are venting the smoke right???

[crustychief]

Slow down and use plenty of lube..... Oh wait. Here in San Diego when it gets down to a chilly 65 or so at night I usually burn a duraflame log to keep the heat from coming on at night. Nothing as compared to your part of the states though. I kind of got spoiled with heat since I grew up here and have been to Iraq six or seven times while in the military, now if it gets below 70 I can't move, kinda like a lizard.

[legion]

Originally Posted by futuresoptions

You are venting the smoke right???

I don't think he is...

[fastfredracing]

I said wood, not weed!!

[futuresoptions]

LOL! I know, I know....

[Taz's Master]

I enjoy heating with wood. I like the cutting and splitting, and there is some talent in keeping the stove burning like you want it. No way around it, it is dirty, but it is cheap as well. I don't think I'd own a house without an alternative heat source.

[p911dad]

I used wood to heat one of my houses years ago, and it was sort of fun, and like a hobby with the cutting and stacking and all that. You can save a lot, although I love the story of the guy(a friend) that got a good wood stove( a Jotul, as I recall) for $500, back in 1980, to save on the gas bill on their rather large colonial style house. He had wood delivered for $50 a facecord, nice seasoned oak, burned clean and hot. So Paul decided to get his own source of wood, to save more money, and convinced his wife he needed a woodlot up in the hills. Bought 50 acres of second growth hardwood cheap($20,000.) Then of course he need a truck to haul it in, so bought a used Dodge pickup for $5,000. Then of course he needed a chainsaw and a woodsplitter, as the ax was too slow. Another $1,000. This is my $26,500. woodstove story. All of this was to save on the cost of delivered cordwood. This story has no particular moral, but if you find yourself looking for a woodlot, think about this story.

[SlowToady]

We used to, when we lived in Woodenville, WA. No longer though. The farm where I work, the owner heats his house with wood, though. (Guesses on who gets to cut and split it? lol...) There's an abundant supply, so it's not like it costs him anything beyond the gas and wear and tear on the equipment. Luckily for him, the wood is on the main horse farm property (where he also lives) so that makes it easier and cheaper, also. It heats really well and is less $$ than gas (and likely electric).

The other guy I work for at the body shop is putting in wood burning stoves and heaters at the secondary house at his farm. He's got even more trees than the other guy, and has to cut them down anyway per the DNR. That, and there's no more room for it in the storage shed

Cutting and splitting wood is a blast; I really do enjoy it. Hell of a workout, too, especially if you have a splitter that doesn't tilt.

At the body shop...

[LakeCleElum]

I've been heating with wood only for over 30 yrs. Have it in three of my homes. My new retirement home is 2,500 sq ft with the largest wood stove Lopi makes. Does just fine, even with outdoor temps in the 20's........I've always split by hand until recently. Went in with 2 neighbors and we bought a wood splitter. What a difference.

Only issue is, it's getting more difficult to get free wood. I have about a 3 yr. supply on hand. After it's gone, I'm going to buy it by the logging truck load. Then I stay home and cut/split at my leisure.....

[jim72911t]

When I bought my house, the only source of heat was from the wood stove. It was rustic and quaint and even romantic at times, but after the first winter of having to go outside at 4am to fetch wood to reload the stove, I installed a furnace.

Now, the wood stove gets used when I want to use it, rather than when I have to use it.

[Dottore]

I'm up at our recreational property, sitting in front of the wood stove as I type.

About 80% of our heating is done by wood. I have found a great source of dried alder and birch, that burns hot clean and slow.

[on2wheels52]

My first house in AR used wood as the primary heat source. The first owner used a hearth stove (a normal wood stove connected to the fireplace chimney, a steel plate sealing the opening). That wasn't totally satisfactory so went with a fireplace insert w/blower motor. Better. The last few years there I used an outdoor furnace (not the hot water type). That kept the house warm.
About three years after we sold it the new owner burned it to the ground with a chimney fire. It happened at night, he took his hearing aids out then and didn't hear the smoke alarm, flames were coming throught the bedroom wall when he woke up and got out.
Jim
Jim

[Turboo934]

Got a wood stove for the house. I'm going to have a wood fired boiler built ,for Cristine's Hanger.It will heat the floor.
Be good for the heart too.

[azasadny]

We had a wood burniong stove in our house in Fallbrook, CA (home of Henry Schmidt's shop) back in the late 80's and early 90's when I was in the Navy. We burned avocado wood and it heated the house, but burned very fast. We were always paranoid about the chance of a fire, so it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been. We had a very efficient wood burning stove and never had a problem, but we never went to bed until the fire had burned out and we had a very safe distance from the hearth to the closest combustible item in the house. We also had the flue and chimney professionally checked before we started burning wood.

[Bill Douglas]

I've got a woodburner that can burn coal as a backup.

It's been really good fun. A great excuse to get obsessed about chainsaws and car trailers. I start the fire with cheap (free actually) building demolition wood then move onto some hardwood. I burnt some old power pole wood last year, Australian Jarra, one piece burnt for 23 hours and is nearly as heavy as concrete.

The idea was to have some fun and NOT pay for electricity and gas. An opportunity always comes along where a tree blows down nearby or someone wants a tree removed.

[JavaBrewer]

Here in SoCal we don't get much use out of our FP. Admittedly it's a typical gas unit that can burn real wood if pushed but I wouldn't recommend it. It's configured with a gas log setup and provides some heat but we use it more for atmosphere. We use it at night maybe 3 week nights out of the year. Our furnace rotates in for ~ 2 months/year at night when temps drop below 50F. I refuse to burn wood in the house cause I get sick of the smoke smell rather quickly. All homes that burn wood, at least the ones I've experienced, have a slight smoke smell. Gives me a headache. We get our wood fire fix with an outdoor unit.

[pwd72s]

Nothing like backing your ass up to a warm wood stove when a pacific northwest sou'wester is blowing...

[MT930]

Ax split logs for an hour this morning. I burn wood in my shop for heat, burned dimensional lumber drops from job sites for a long time though with construction slow down I am back to pine from the forest service. It is very therapeutic even bought a new saw which I really like. The Porsche Of Chainsaws

$6.25 permit 12 cord max personal use in the forest service pretty cost effective too.