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I'm 67 (1954), and have been heating with wood since the 90's. Almost 100% wood (I have a Tarm indoor boiler). Hope to keep burning until at least my mid 80's. I burn about 6-7 cords a year.

I first block my wood into pieces about 50 lbs, and stack it on pallets with plywood covering only the top. This keeps most of the rain off the wood. Two years later, I further split the wood into pieces for my wood boiler, and stack it in my wood sheds (sometime I'll post a picture). This...

Tarm sold me the tank. I think it was around $2000, but that was in 2005. It is a flexible round structure, with 2 inches of insulation on the bottom, sides, and top. It has a liner that looks like thick rubber. The boiler and tank are in the basement. I sympathize with your dislike of bugs...

I have a Tarm gasification boiler with a 820 gal storage tank, along with a DHW coil. I burn all year long (once every 5-6 days in the summer), and burn 7-8 cords of wood / year. The house is about 2600 square feet, and only medium insulated. I buy $600 worth of logs / year, and cut/split...

-Check out the Tarm boilers. They are also gasification boilers, and have external 800-1200 gallon storage tanks. i have been using the Tarm excel 2300 boiler for 6 years now, and don't use any oil. As the previous posters said, this type of boiler needs very dry wood to work best, but I...

I broke a couple of ribs twice this year ... once when I fell off a ladder, and the second time when I tripped on some wood that was on the ground. Both times, it took about 2 months to heal to the point that I didn't notice it sleeping. After 2-3 weeks, I was able to do most things, unless I...

I forgot to answer the question about using 1.25 inch piping. Yes, increasing the length of the pipe will always add more head pressure, which translates into slower gallons/hour, and more electricity needed to run the pump at the desired flow rate. A 1/2 inch pipe is good for about 25,000...

I am replying to your question about the efficiency of heating hot water and storing it. The main reason for doing this is to allow the gasification boiler to run full bore until it consumes all the wood, and then shut down. You get the greatest efficiency out of the boiler this way, and you...

I sharpen all my chains with an Oregon grinder (cost me $350). I'll use a chain until is starts to get dull (1-2 tanks of gas), and then switch it out for another sharp one. I have about 30 chains, and typically go through 3-5 chains a day. When I have about 20 dull ones, I set up the...

I have a Tarm gasification boiler with a 820 gallon storage tank (water). I only do one burn / day when the temp is > 30 degrees during the night (40 + during the day), and 2 burns / day, one in the morning and one at night when the temp drops below 30 at night. If you have space in the barn...

For many years, I tried to pick up wood on the side of the roads. I would wait for storms, look for broken trees, answer neighbor's calls when they wanted a tree cut down ... you know the drill. I spent every weekend hauling back 1/2 cord of wood, and never seemed to get ahead so that I had at...

Last week we were running -9, -8, and -6 degrees during the night time. Now it has warmed up to 10-15 degrees above zero. Thanks to all the wood I cut 2 years ago, I have lots of seasoned wood to burn, so I'm nice and warm (71 degrees everywhere in the house).

It looks much better now. Thanks.

In the winter months, I was burning about 250 gallons of oil in 4 weeks. This came to about 1000 gallons for the coldest months (mid Nov - mid March). Then, the rest of the year was a little less than 2 tanks (about 400 gal), for a grand total of about 1400 gal. Oil now is over $3.00 / gal...

I've had baseboard heat in my houses all my life, and never had a problem with them. Occasionally, you should suck out the dust with a vacuum cleaner, but besides that, they are very reliable.

I have an indoor Tarm boiler with an 820 gallon storage tank. In the summer, I burn about once every 6 or 7 days, and that supplies all the hot water I need for the week. Each burn lasts about 4 hours. Last winter, I only used 10 gallons of oil for the entire winter (I went on a business...

I user an anti-seize compound on all my tire lug nuts. Never had one rust. If you are using it on the car, be careful not to use too much, or it could get into the brakes, and then they won't work. For the trailer, it doesn't matter unless you have trailer brakes.

I've had an insert in my former house (2800 square feet), a wood stove in my current house (2700 square feet), and a wood boiler in my current house. The insert looked really good, but was useless without the built-in fan, since it only stuck out about 7 inches in front of the fireplace bricks...

Could you leave a small light on outside during the night, that would give you just enough light for the camera to work? I would think that would be cheaper than rigging up a special IR light and relay.

I have a Tarm Excel gasifier boiler, and it really likes dry wood. Oak, maple, and other such hard woods need to be stacked under cover for over a year to really dry out, but ash is usually dry enough after 6-8 months. I do see a difference if I let it sit for a full year, but the ash...