Heating With Wood Thread - Another homestead mouth to feed.

[matefrio]

Feel free to offer advice, show your setups and comment\questions about feeding wood stoves.


After just two nights of feeding this furnace it had become in my mind a working animal on the homestead to feed and care for. So much so I'm looking for a name for the furnace.

Background:
I'm new to this. Never had more than an ornamental fireplace fed by store bought wood. After moving here about 6 months ago I've finally lit my first fire at this house. The house is all electric. No propane and no city gas. There's a bit of wood on the property that was left by the previous owner but not much at all. I do have a wooded area to pull some trees out of on my property. To keep electric bills down this house has a stove hooked up to the furnace. I received no instructions on how it worked and had to go to the manufactures website and get a manual.


Example of what's on my property.

I knew winter was coming but with little experience gathering and cutting wood, and electric backup, this fall I volunteered through my church group to help others in need get wood and learned from others who've done this much much longer than I. This included pulling wood from back lots, cutting it up and getting it to their homes.


Pulling out a log from the deep woods to get cut with a rope puller.

Helping an elderly church member on his property with a large oak that had been cut down for it's trunk cutup haul and split wood for his heating needs. That hillside was really steep to work on. All those rounds were cut that day.

I hope to be better prepared next year with wood reserves. Really takes the edge off the cold just running it overnight.

Equipment owned so far....
Chainsaw - Stihl MS170 - came brand new with the house as part of the deal.
Chainsaw safety gear - chaps, eye pro and gloves.
Rope Puller - Maasdam Long Haul Rope Puller
Fiskars IsoCore 8lb Maul. - just ordered and should be here Friday.
Wheelbarrow I got for free, restored\upgraded.



Future plans.
Wood storage
Splitting area\setup including an old tire
Work on my splitting skills
Work on my tree falling skills
More serious chainsaw. - this one is handy. Not for anything big though. It currently fits my skill level though.
Longer rope - Help me pull things from deeper in the woods.
Timber tongs or something like them.
Hookeroon

 

[Big Dipper]

Definitely add a logging chain to your list!

Something on the order of 3/8" by 10' to 15' with a grab hook on one end and a slip hook on the other end. With the slip hook it will easily tighten up on anything you are winching, skidding or otherwise dragging. Plus it will save some wear on your rope puller rope.

 

[matefrio]

Definitely add a logging chain to your list!

Something on the order of 3/8" by 10' to 15' with a grab hook on one end and a slip hook on the other end. With the slip hook it will easily tighten up on anything you are winching, skidding or otherwise dragging. Plus it will save some wear on your rope puller rope.

Currently I'm using a 24 inch and 32 inch axle straps with D rings wrapped around the logs. Chain is in order as well and I'm searching craigslist to get something cheaper I hope.

 

[Saltyag2010]

My parents ranch house is heated by a wood stove from the 60s. It sits in the corner on sandstone rocks with an exhaust pipe that goes straight to the roof. Heats up the whole damn house and there's nothing better to warm your hands up with. I'll take pics one day.

Since theyre surrounded by post oaks, live oaks and pecan trees, all the wood is free. The trees harvested are all dead or dying from lightning strikes. The only equipment besides my great grandpas stihl is a hydraulic splitter. We move wood in truck beds. It's piled on the back porch or on the ground. You really don't need much. The hydraulic splitter is a luxury.

 

[grasshopperglock]

If you decide to change or modify your set up. Read up on Rocker Mass Heaters. Less wood required, more efficient.

 

[Recoil45]

I supplemented my hydronic gas heat with a wood stove when I was living in the north east. Burnt a true 5 cords every year mostly heating a 1800 sq ft house. That was a huge amount of wood but house temps were often in the mid 70s and I saved a ton from what would have been 400-500 a month gas bills in dec, Jan, and feb. I also enjoyed it immensely.


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[Vaquero]

Good exercise too.

 

[shortround]

My crib has a huge fire-place, hearth, & chimney.

Every time I build a fire, most of the heat goes up the flue and we get very little radiant heat.

Does anyone know of a good fireplace insert?

Be well.

 

[Jack Ryan]

I only burn the tops and scrap junk that won't make an 8 foot log to sell.

You need a chain as mentioned, two saws, a splitting maul, a few wedges, a can't hook probably would be handy, ear plugs, helmet and chaps.

 

[matefrio]

If you decide to change or modify your set up. Read up on Rocker Mass Heaters. Less wood required, more efficient.

Yep. Have an idea for one. Huge issue is home owners insurance doesn't always think they are safe.

 

[dw257]

I hope you know what poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac looks like.

 

[Byrd666]

shortround, - Years ago, okay, decades ago, I seem to remember hearing of, or seeing something of, a fireplace fan. It blew the heat from the fireplace outward. Don't know if something like that is even still made. And not sure if this would for ya either, but, have you thought about maybe getting a piece of 12 or 14 ga. stainless steel cut and bent to fit to use as a "reflector"? Don't know if it'll pass code though. I know of a couple shops in the D/FW area that deal in stainless and can do it if you have all the measurements for it.

 

[Rebel]

Matefrio, the BHM forum is your friend.

shortround, - Years ago, okay, decades ago, I seem to remember hearing of, or seeing something of, a fireplace fan. It blew the heat from the fireplace outward. Don't know if something like that is even still made. And not sure if this would for ya either, but, have you thought about maybe getting a piece of 12 or 14 ga. stainless steel cut and bent to fit to use as a "reflector"? Don't know if it'll pass code though. I know of a couple shops in the D/FW area that deal in stainless and can do it if you have all the measurements for it.

https://www.lehmans.com/product/deluxe-heat-powered-stove-fans

 

[duckknot]

Hydraulic splitter....used to help chop and stack would for a friend and that thing helped immensely!

Get it into stackable sizes (we would do half rounds) then chop with an axe as needed....his stove was MASSIVE so half rounds fit right in!

Sent from...wait where am I!?

 

[texasjohnboy]

Hydraulic splitter....used to help chop and stack would for a friend and that thing helped immensely!

Get it into stackable sizes (we would do half rounds) then chop with an axe as needed....his stove was MASSIVE so half rounds fit right in!

Sent from...wait where am I!?

I'll second this - if you can afford it a hydraulic log splitter will make your life much more bearable when cutting firewood!

 

[Davetex]

shortround, - Years ago, okay, decades ago, I seem to remember hearing of, or seeing something of, a fireplace fan. It blew the heat from the fireplace outward. Don't know if something like that is even still made. And not sure if this would for ya either, but, have you thought about maybe getting a piece of 12 or 14 ga. stainless steel cut and bent to fit to use as a "reflector"? Don't know if it'll pass code though. I know of a couple shops in the D/FW area that deal in stainless and can do it if you have all the measurements for it.

Like this?

 

[Byrd666]

I think that's real similar. I remember warm air being blown out from the fireplace and there being a fan sound to it. I was a single digit kid at the time so, some of those memories may be a bit muddied

 

[ROGER4314]

For years, I heated my third home in Oklahoma with a fireplace insert and wood that I cut myself. I left the central heating "off" and kept the place toasty warm with the fireplace. In fact, the area in front of the fireplace served as a "love nest". I always joked about roping that area off with velvet ropes like you see in the theaters......snicker.

I cut wood during the summer at construction sites. There was an ordinance that prohibited burning wood in the brush piles bulldozed off of the building sites so the builders were happy to get the wood off of the property. I never paid a dime for any of the limb wood that I cut. It was ironic that I'd be cutting firewood when it hovered around 100% outside!

Some things that I learned:
Many of the stoves and fireplace inserts take short lengths of wood. It makes it very difficult to buy wood that will fit. You may as well cut it yourself. Consider wood length when you buy a heater or insert.

Limb wood is the best. There's no splitting required.

Oak is highly prized as firewood but I didn't like it at all. It was too hard to keep a good fire going with Oak.

Elm trees were considered junk so I cut and burned a lot of it! Cut it while it's green. After it dries, it will be impossible to cut as sparks will fly off of that concrete hard dry Elm! Don't even try splitting Elm! Cut it to size and burn it as is.

Hackberry is great! There's plenty of it and it burns with a cheery flame. Pecan is good, too.

Don't stack your wood against the house or outer wall. It is a termite magnet!

There are lots of bugs in the wood. Bring inside only what you plan to burn.

Keep several sharp chains and new bars for your saw. The idea that a saw will run forever with the original lade & bar is a joke! I sharpened each of my chains several times. After a few sharpening sessions, it's best to trash it. A worn bar can turn your cutting into misery. It costs money to replace them, but it will save in the long run. When a bar gets worn, we over tension the chain. That craps out the chain quickly.

There are two places that need to be filed on a chain. First, the actual cutting surface is slicked up. The second place is the cut limiters that reduce the depth of cut of the chain. Without maintaining those limiters, you couldn't turn the chain. It would take a deep cut and lock up.

Kickbacks? Bad Mojo! Find out about kickbacks and avoid any cut that may produce one. How to fix it? MOVE! We get lazy, don't want to change our position and we risk a kickback. That's bad business. A coworker some years ago, had a kickback that caused the blade to hit him in the center of the forehead. He survived and is retired, now. He's a lucky man!

I burned just about every kind of wood. I tried Willow. OMG! What a mistake! That stuff pops and explodes!

Hope that helps!

Flash

 

[Recoil45]

Oak is awesome, I'd use it for the long overnight burns and still had lots of coals for the morning. But it needed to be split and stacked for almost a year to season in my old climate.


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[Vaquero]

I hauled some seasoned mesquite up to 10,000' above sea level in September, because another guy was bringing ribeyes. I must admit, it seemed to burn cooler at altitude. The steaks were as good as ever. Grilling time was much extended though. Just some info for digestion.