Wood heat

[oldbrass]

I froze last year during the ice storm here in Thurston county and didn`t have power for almost a week. Had plenty of food but no way to cook.
I decided to put in a wood stove this year,installed myself finished it a week ago,passed inspection with no problem. stalked up on a few cords of fir and hemlock, I know this might not be a real survival topic
but I`m never freezing in my own house again and I can cook and heat water for bathing if need be.

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[sheepdip]

good plan, wood heat is kind of a pain to use as the main heat source and not cheap these days. but for a backup or occasional use you cant beat a wood stove!

 

[Starship]

Wood heat can be hot and very very dry. Make sure you keep a kettle of water on it keep some moisture in the air. We heated our house with wood only for about 3 years (then wasn't cost effective any longer). Always kept a cast iron kettle on the stove.

 

[Kurly]

My family has heated with wood as long as I can remember, When I bought my house the first thing I did was install a good wood stove and still use nothing but. It is definately getting harder to find wood but buying log truck loads makes it a bit more affordable.

 

[woody06]

Wood is our primary heat source. Usually burn 3 to 3 1/2 cords a year, and try to start each winter with 6 cords on hand. But then we own about 4 acres of forest so wood isn't a problem.

 

[mrblond]

When I was a kid, our family had a large, flat topped wood stove. I will tell you, it was awesome when the power would go out and you would wake up to bacon and eggs cooked on that flat top. I was sorry to see it go but as its been pointed out, wood is no longer a cheap fuel source. If I ever have anything but bad luck and I am able to leave the toilet called Salem, and get a place in the country, I am buying a flat top wood stove.

 

[Angie]

Our only method of heat is wood. We have a very inefficient giant fireplace with a 5' opening and a nice wood stove. We rarely use both. I love my electric bill in the winter But, I don't have to buy wood as we have a eucalyptus grove on our ranch and if you know Euc, it's VERY hard wood.

 

[Robo]

We have a heat pump so our electric bills are farely low, and we have a very efficient soapstone wood stove that we use when the temperature moves below 40. I love wood heat, but as Starship above mentioned it can be very dry. We always keep a water kettle on the stove. We have had several power failures in the past few years, and our stove has always come to the rescue. We live on 8-1/2 acres of forrest, so we have plenty of wood for a lifetime just from wind-blowdowns. Life is good.

 

[Angie]

Us too. I can't remember the last time we CUT a tree down. I don't know if we have in the 12 years we've been here.

 

[parallax]

nice wood stove... we have been using a lopi wood stove as supplement to heat pump for 20 years. when the power goes out, we invite our neighbors over for hot chocolate, and a nice evening by the fire.

 

[parallax]

Our only method of heat is wood. We have a very inefficient giant fireplace with a 5' opening and a nice wood stove. We rarely use both. I love my electric bill in the winter But, I don't have to buy wood as we have a eucalyptus grove on our ranch and if you know Euc, it's VERY hard wood.

cool

 

[unionguy]

It's definitely a survival tool if the electricity or natural gas lines are out!

 

[Angie]

We should, but the fireplace is 120 years old. I'd just rather keep it original. I'm currently in the So Cal desert. We only get down to the teens for about a week or so, then it's mostly in the low 30s in the winter. We can easily close off that area of the house (french doors) if we don't want to use it.

 

[Mark W.]

We have only a 15 year old KOZI pellet stove to heat our 1650 sq ft two story house.

We normally go through 2.5 tons of pellets a year at $210.00 a ton or a heating fuel bill of $550.00 clean easy to use the neighbors who watch our house when we go away can easily dump another bag of pellets in the hopper in the evening and the stove is good for neary 30 hours on a 40lb bag.

No bugs no uneven heat no unloading and stacking cords of wood. (we pay the local WILCO store $25.00 to deliever and the boys even stacked them in the carport. I have a pellet box next to the stove that holds 10 bags so I fill it about once every two weeks.

used to heat with Wood WHAT A PITA compared.

If the power goes out I have big inverter set up on the pickup and while its not the most economical way to generate the less then 300 watts the stove uses. Since we haven't been without power for more then 24 hours since we bought the house in 1988 I'll risk it.

A nice coleman Propane two burner and a couple dozen Propane bottles do the temp cooking.

Having 20 gallons of frozen drinking water in the freezer (which is in an unheated part of the house) will keep a full freezer good for over 3 days (think HUGE ICE CHEST) we have 4 gallons in the fridge freezer which will go into turning the fridge into a ice box.

A very well insulated house and compartmentalization and we are snug as a bug in a rug.

 

[good2eat]

Primary source of heat for us the last 12 years is wood. We have plenty of dead standing beattle kill around and @ $10/cord for permits it's very economical.

Plus, I love being out in the woods and there is no better wrk out than firewood.

 

[RVTECH]

Economical wood heat is relative to your environment. Here in Central Oregon wood is fairly inexpensive and depending on the design of your house it can be both cost effective and very comfortable. I will agree it CAN be a PITA dealing with it but if you have been using it for a long time (like I have) you are use to the hassle and have figured out ways of working with it. Wood heat is a LIFESTYLE and not a convenience. I like getting a fire going and my house being at 75 + degrees in a very short amount of time. I also know how to keep my stove regulated where I only go through a couple armloads of wood per day on a cold weekend but the house still stays warm. I really like it when it is cold and blowing snow outside and the house is too hot and I can open the front door and windows and let some cool air in!

 

[Thebastidge]

I have a stove insert for my downstairs fireplace (daylight basement on a split-level ranch. It's often kind of cool in that room even with the electric furnace going full blast. That fireplace wamrs it right up to cozy cozy cozy. The only mistake I made iwth it was going to cheap on the insert. It's a tiny inside volume which makes it difficult to feed- the wood has to be pretty short and you can't bank it very well. On the plus side, the insert really cut down on the drafts when the fire's not burning and it projects heat much better than the fireplace did, I'm pmuch less concerned about any sparks getting out into the room (I also replaced the carpets down there with slate tiles on the floor.)

Regulations required installing a chimney liner at the same time, I am glad to have it- increases my confidence in the safety of it, since my chimney is from 1965 and has some cracks of unknown depth and severity.

I need to do the same with the big fireplace upstairs (main, ground floor), but I will get the biggest insert that will fit, or I will have a custom enclosure built that eliminates/controls drafting. Also need to get that chimney lined for the same reasons. The power rarely goes out, but I can still get firewood for relatively cheaper than my pure-electric heating solution, and nothing beats the visceral caveman comfort of sitting in front of the fire sipping your favourite after-dinner beverage on a cold evening.

 

[michaels]

Woodheat is economical, depending on how you look at it.

Personally I enjoy taking the trip to get firewood, cutting it and stacking it.

But that's just me.

What I really like is that my electric bill doesn't fluctuate between winter and summer.

And this year, through unforeseen circumstances about 4 years of firewood in the form of logs showed up on my doorstep!

Then in the process of cutting it up before the rains hit, I managed to lose 10 extra pounds that I've been carrying for the last 3 winters.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I have an endless supply of wood and of course we have a wood stove.. the best wood is hardwoods such as Maple and oak, they burn long and hot and require less feeding. Also you can easily cook on the top of a properly designed wood stove, make coffee or tea, and heat water for bathing when the power fails. For water get a few large stainless kettles. Get a stainless steel percolator, a cast iron teapot for moisturizing the air, and at least one cast iron skillet. If you really want to go deluxe look into Dutch ovens and a good cookbook on the subject for real luxury cooking

One clue.. you don't need a raging fire, just keep it mildly heating and feed it smaller pieces. At bedtime add a nice big hardwood log. If you have a portable fan and power aim it at the stove, it will heat the house better

As mentioned it's great exercise and BTW you can use hardwood ashes to make homemade soap

 

[Robo]

My wife saves old candles and I dip dry pine cones in wax to make excellent fire starters. If you have spare egg cartons you can fill the the cavities with sawdust, pour in the wax, cut them up and you have great fires tarters.