NY chicken lover!!!!

[Lapeerian]

  a local tree guy / landscape guy/ farmer / logger  drops off any wood here he can not sell as firewood. He just shows up and dumps it off or a log truck shows up and unloads it. When he drops it off in his dump truck it is already cut, just needs to be split. This year the world offered me 8 cord of pine in log lengths. a few ugly oaks and maples, a HUGE willow tree.  He knows I can burn anything. Burned the willow before it got cold. Switched to pine with a chuck or 2 of hardwood in it in the OWB when it got stupid cold. I have to load it more often than if I bought good dry hardwood but this is much cheaper. I grew up on firewood and have not had a fuel bill here since 1991. Firewood our ONLY source of heat for the house, workshop and our domestic hot water.

We just bought a 3 cord load couple weeks ago, haven't had time to split any ourselves. Will probably get a couple ash and cherry trees from the farm to finish us out this winter. We have been using the woodstove as primary heat source for 2 years now, love it over the fuel oil furnace. We still let the furnace run a couple times per day to keep the basement from freezing pipes.
Our problem has been the new woodstove has 6" pipe, the chimney is 8", so not as efficient as it could be. And hubby's dad gave us some cruddy leftover logs, causing major creosote. We will need to replace our chimney this year, the creosote is bad enough that it leaks through the outdoor clean out and has eaten away the concrete blocks. We had it cut out and patched this summer in hopes of getting by for a couple years. Worst part of the deal is we won't be able to find matching siding for the house when the chimney is replaced with the stainless double wall pipe.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote: Be Careful with that creosote...stuff ...can be dangerous

Wood stoves sound like a horrible lot of work ...& a lot of clean up .
At almost 60 thats not something I want to do or take care of . I cant carry anything that is very heavy ..If I do I pay for it later .
I could when I was younger .
My husband is Retired & somewhat disabled so he cant either .
I want something that I turn it up & it heats .We have hot water baseboards ..easy & clean

 

[miquwid]

Lol miquwid share all you want i posted it on the net. Never post what you dont want out there you can never get it back.

Thanks! I hear ya, when it comes to my photography i only post my copyrighted images. But yes i dont put many images out there unless i want the whole world to see.

Good morning. Off to work. Got a promising meeting tonight about another grooming job with an amazing polic/protection and all around dog trainer, his friend n him actually run s charity n spayed my dog for free n hooked me up with shots. Good peeps n he thought of me for this business i feel honored.

 

[stonykill]

Be Careful with that creosote...stuff ...can be dangerous

Wood stoves sound like a horrible lot of work ...& a lot of clean up .
At almost 60 thats not something I want to do or take care of . I cant carry anything that is very heavy ..If I do I pay for it later .
I could when I was younger .
My husband is Retired & somewhat disabled so he cant either .
I want something that I turn it up & it heats .We have hot water baseboards ..easy & clean

my mom is going to be 66 in a few days, my dad is 72. They have burned wood since 81 or 82. They still burn firewood.

I want something that I don't have to wrok my butt off for JUST to turn around and give all of that hard earned cash to someone else. THAT to me is insane. If I am going to work hard I will reap the benefits, not pass all of the earnigs to the heating guy....no thanks

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote:

Quote:

Quote: Why I agree it is a lot of work my best friend cut up the logs in smaller pieces to split. My mom helps me stack it. We used to to do it all in 2 days but its easier to do it over a few weeks. My yard is the biggest so all the wood is dropped at my house.

Stony I agree I hate paying out my hard earned cash for heat. I def wouldn't be able to afford the gas bills for these past 2 months if I heated only with my furnace. Its on and set at 55 but it only heats the basement so while it does kick on its not for long. My gas bill is $52 a month budget billing. I usually end up with 3 months I don't have to pay

I also pick up any wood that people have put to the curb, I don't burn pine because of the creosote issues. I also use ACS spray to keep the chimney clean all burning season.

And Gramma there is no better heat then from a wood stove. Its heats everything in the house. Its just not warm when the fan kicks on. I freeze in house that are heated with forced air or baseboard lol

 

[Metella]

If you get a good woodstove and it is placed right in your house (easy access and clear all around) then you just have to re-start the fire from a good banked one that burned to coals in the night .... that just involves bending or plopping on the floor to stir it up and put in a few smaller cuts to get it started.

then all you do is carry one already split log and toss it in - less than once an hour ... or that is how my works when I have it cranking ... I couldn't get anyone out here to glue some chimney tiles -so didn't use it this year - but most years I use it for about 1/2 my heating needs. I don't use it when I know I am going to long meetings and such - I worry too much - so that is when I use the fuel oil - also our hot water is connected to the fuel (that's the way the house was when we bought it).

 

[stonykill]

If you get a good woodstove and it is placed right in your house (easy access and clear all around) then you just have to re-start the fire from a good banked one that burned to coals in the night .... that just involves bending or plopping on the floor to stir it up and put in a few smaller cuts to get it started.

then all you do is carry one already split log and toss it in - less than once an hour ... or that is how my works when I have it cranking ... I couldn't get anyone out here to glue some chimney tiles -so didn't use it this year - but most years I use it for about 1/2 my heating needs. I don't use it when I know I am going to long meetings and such - I worry too much - so that is when I use the fuel oil - also our hot water is connected to the fuel (that's the way the house was when we bought it).

just to make a point most people miss. A fuel oil furnace is a flame in a tin box relying on a few electric gizmo's to not burn out of control. It is still an open flame in a tin box with a chimney. That if ONE item fails it will dump 250 gallons of fuel into your furnace without shutting off.
Electric heat is essentually a dead short. Used to create heat.

Propane is highly explosive

ANY heating source is not 100% safe.

BIG picture... I always look at the big picture

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: Me to. I get my chimney cleaned & inspected every year. No excuses. In the fire service I have seen to many people lose their homes to poor chimney maintenance or using things they shouldn't as chimneys. (Old metal light post-lost their entire house with that chimney)

I feel ok with keeping a fire going when I am not home because I know the chimney is good. The chances of a chimney fire are as good as the pilot light on the furnace going out & house filling up with gas fumes.

Prevention is the best spent money for me

 

[Metella]

Stony and Armorfire - true true ..... but what about budget ? Stoney seems pretty frugal ... how do you insure a healthy chimney when you can not afford a cleaning of that and furnace each year ?

 

[stonykill]

Stony and Armorfire - true true ..... but what about budget ? Stoney seems pretty frugal ... how do you insure a healthy chimney when you can not afford a cleaning of that and furnace each year ?

I clean my own chimney. A chimney brush is dirt cheap. Buying a chimney brush cost LESS than having your chimney clean ONCE. Way back when when I had a furnace I was taught how to clean and maintain it myself. By my grandfather. Depression era child. As he always said to me "If you can not do it yourself it probably does not need to be done. " As for my furnace now.... it is outdoors. There is a wood stove in the living/ dining room. Clean out ashes and check the chimney. Triple wall stainless steel chimney on that. NEVER and I do mean NEVER has has buildup in it. HOT fire once a day prevents that. And an old fashioned NON EPA woodstove. Those EPA woodstoves are creosote BUILDERS! A hot fire once a day prevents buildups and fires. And those EPA stoves just smolder all day. Which leads to chimney fires.