Wood heat

[OregonPlinker]

Love wood heat. I can usually get enough wood for a year in 3 days. But its right out my door. I buck it up and haul it to the house for a day. Im only traveling on my property and sometimes my neighbors so I can LOAD the truck down. Get 5-6 loads to the house in a day and spit and stack for a couple days. I usually pay my little bro in law to help my wife stack it while I split like a maniac. I also have a splitter for the knotty hard to split stuff. A winch on my truck to get logs to the road. So Im pretty well prepared for wood cutting. So for 3-4 days work and 150-200 bucks for the brother in law and diesel and gas I cut my power bill WAY down. Running on electric heat we spend 250-280 a month and the house is cold if the outside temp is below 45. With wood heat the power bill is 60-80 bucks and I can get the house so hot my wife runs around naked... Cant beat that!

 

[knuckle Head]

Well I have had fireplaces and wood stoves and my grandma used a wood stove to cook and and wood/ coal heat, I loved.

Where I am at now, uh renting a place they won't let me put one in, but I bought a used wood stove like this one, but not brand new like this in good shape, I will clean it out good, put some moisture absorbers in and wrap it up in card board so I will have and when to where I want to be I will have it.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

We save junk mail for fire starting, plus cedar kindling.. I have (2) 60 gallon barrels full of junk mail and 4 full of split kindling

 

[nwg19]

Great thread!
This earth stove totally heats my house and it is the only heat we use. We turn the furnace on low if we are leaving for a few days, other than that we haven't used the electric heat for 15 years.
I also have not bought any wood in that time. I don't have property with wood on it so I am always on the look out for wood. Like some others here said it is a lifestyle LOL.
When we go to my wifes folks in Bend we come back with a load of pine. I get cedar kindling from a couple different fence builders, and I always volunteer to take someones wood fence down if they are getting a new one.
When we had the ice storms last January we didn't miss a beat, ALMOST felt guilty being warm while others complained about freezing while the juice was out for almost a week.
I ran a cord from my generator so my next door neighbor could run his pellet stove, he bought his own generator after that!

Here's the stove with one of the cats loungin on the dog beds. the dogs love it!

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Got me to thinking.. I have a large piece of heavy timber out near Shelton (hemlock, alder, maple, fir) and I had no way to haul wood this year so I'm low.. would be willing to give a hearty cut of each load if a fellow could work with me and split to large chunks, load it onboard and deliver my part to Lacey. Have chainsaws and all the hand tools.. and plenty of timber experience and I can do all the main sawing

Would be even better if you have a winch or are set up for a winch, I have a new Warn 9500 ready to rock. That would make getting alder out of my lowland really easy. We could do it one day at a time right along my HWY, no 4 x 4 required

 

[slingshot1943]

I used wood or pellets for 21yr. in a 76 model mobil. Being a carpenter getting scrap wood and having several acres of oak and fir made cheap heat. We built a big new house in '04 and only put a heat pump in it. We rarely turn it on. Great insulation and huge south facing windows keeps it 65 plus with no heat most of the time. 65 degrees feels good with a fleece robe.

 

[MissJ]

I do think that wood heat is a survival topic. I would also argue that wood heat is one of the only truly green and renewable forms of energy (right up there with solar, wind and water- each have their environmental impact, but at least they are not fossil fuels)

in survival 101 shelter outranks water. warmth is a basic form of shelter (and how good is a freezing shelter?) Also, heat is primary way to make potable water.

We have a flat top wood stove as a back up to our heat pump. We primarily use an electric heat pump due to convenience (we both work full time and have a family, kids sports, hobbies, school etc. busy lives cannot be tending a fire all day).

But whenever we lose power (usually happens for 2-3 days each year) or the temperatures dip below the 30s (usually happens 10-20 days each year) we rely on our wood heat.

There is nothing quite like when we fire up the wood stove...we usually play cards or games or music or at least interact somehow in the living room right in front of the stove- it becomes the "heartbeat" of our home (because everything else is cold, or boring). We cook grilled cheese, soup, coffee, tea, quesadillas, bacon and eggs right on top of it in our cast iron skillets and kettles.

once your friends, family and neighbors know that you "burn wood at home" you'll undoubtedly receive numerous offers to remove unwanted wood from their properties. All you need is a way to haul, split and stack the wood and it can be pretty cheap. Since we "put the word out" we haven't had to BUY any wood in over 3 years. (and each year my wood stacks grow bigger than the year before-keeping an eye on an uncertain future)

+1 on the always keeping a kettle of water on the stove. not only will this humidify your home, but you'll always have hot water ready to go for a drink or meal.

+1 on the junk mail used as tinder and fire starters...we LOVE that one no need to buy a shredder because you are worried about ID theft....

 

[Cheesemaker]

I've used wood stove for all my life. I have no other sources of heat in my house. I get wood cheap, and I love going up and cutting firewood with my BIL and my son. There is nothing like the heat you get from a wood stove. No heat pump, pellet stove, or gas furnace that gives you that down to the bone heat feel. I'll cook on it whenever I have it going. It saves on electricity.

 

[ripcity]

Same here, wood heat is what I grew up on, and I still use it today. I grew up in northern Idaho, and it gets pretty cold up there. I remember in the late 90's we went without power for 2 weeks, it was out during Thanksgiving. My dad cooked thanksgiving dinner on the wood stove. It was awesome. During the power outage it got to negative temperatures, so if we didn't have the stove we would of been screwed. At my house now I have a gas furnace and a wood stove. The furnace never gets turned on. With the stove we keep it in the mid 70's