How do you think the wood heat "newbies" did this past season?

[sbhooper]

We put in a wood furnace last summer and by about half of next season it will have paid for itself. It has used lots of wood this winter and we are not done yet. I thought that we had finally gotten to the end and now it is cold again. As long as I can physically do it, the wood will continue to heat the house. It saved us at least $1800 in propane this winter.

 

[zeb_walton]

newbies?

Even though i've cut/split wood all my life, It was the 1st season that I attempted to heat the house with an insert. winters are Cold here in the Hudson Valley, N.Y., so it was a challenge. started with a Lopi Answer- great stove but not quite big enough for what I had in mind once the bug bit....upgraded to a Lopi Freedom and am very happy with it. Didnt have much seasoned wood at start, so I spent the winter scrounging and cutting dead falls. Lots of locust here as well as ash, cherry, etc..in between my work, I would cut wood on the ridge often with the help of my brother,"the Moose". he kept me laughing as everytime he thought he'd seen a snake, he'd let out a scream.we'd load it onto my '99 E 350 s.d.-yeah a van! lol and home it would go for splitting. last fire was 2 nites ago as its been up around 90 degrees for 2 days. I already miss the fire and all of the fun and hard work needed . to tell the truth, i cant wait for a cold snap to light a fire.
Zeb

 

[damifino]

I was a newbie this past winter and I loved it. Best winter I have had in a long time. Looking forward to next winter only with better seasoned wood. If there is anyone who is thinking about burning wood next winter but you are not sure and you don't have a stove yet you still need to start gathering wood now so it will have some time to season.

 

[willsaw4beer]

I was a newbie this past winter and I loved it. Best winter I have had in a long time. Looking forward to next winter only with better seasoned wood. If there is anyone who is thinking about burning wood next winter but you are not sure and you don't have a stove yet you still need to start gathering wood now so it will have some time to season.

What you needed to do was drop, buck and split the trees in late December to early Feb. Get em in the dead of winter when there's no sap flowing, and the snow makes it easier to buck em up. If you don't mind cutting when it's 5 degrees...

 

[fiasco]

did pretty well

I'll have to preface this with I did have a chimney fire in the fireplace LAST year, so we had the flue lined for a stove and put in a Vt. Castings Encore (non-cat).

Did pretty well, went through 4 to 5 cords of wood from late October until about April 1, when I ran out of seasoned stuff. Had the chimney cleaned, it was dirty but not bad. Oil was filled up from the summer in December (can't remember if it was before or after the ice storm and 9 days w/o power), then in late January had 58 gallons added, and 72 gallons added in late March. I've burned more oil since the wood ran out than I did throughout the winter!

The Encore is an OK stove, needed a mid-season clean-out in the back chambers (pull stove pipe out, rig length of narrow hose to shop vac, stuff it down each side behind the damper), and I had to replace one gasket and re-glue a couple others. Had I known about the bankruptcy and whatnot, I may have gone with a Jotul instead...then again, my parents' 4 year old Jotul just needed a BUNCH of repair work. We were originally thinking of the stove as a two year payback with oil savings, but being able to stay home in a 72 degree house during the ice storm (with a 1.5 month old and a 2 year old) and not end up somewhere else for a week paid that stove off immediately!

One thing I will do differently this year is stacking, I made a sort of big square of wood by the house. Some of the middle stuff could have been a bit dryer, so I had to do a bit of picking through the wood as the season wore on. This year it's going to be a long line (or three) of wood to get my (hopefully) 6 cord stacked and ready. I would LOVE to get ahead a year if I can, we'll see how things work out. There is lots of deadfall from the ice storm to still clean up (I have about 2 cord split and stacked already, and should be able to get my 6 cord from dead and damaged trees on my 2.75 acres, and more from friends and relatives)...and my saw is in the shop.

I would like to get a wood shed built, but with all the other things i need to get done, I think I'll just tarp the tops of the stacks later in the year and call it good.

 

[Marc]

This was my first year burning in a stove in *my* home. Grew up with a wood stove in my parent's home.. and I can remember swinging an ax at a pretty young age!

I was in a similar situation this year.

I had one of the four chimney's in the farmhouse lined with the cast in place deal, threw down a hearthpad and my new Hearthstone Heritage and went to town. Couldn't have been happier with the stove's performance. Clean chimeny at the end of the season.

As for wood, I wasn't sure if I had enough for next season, so I've added about three more cords to the stack since I took this picture:

 

[stephen44]

Well we're really pleased with our first year of wood heating - via a Taylor OWB.

We fill it twice a day - we only had it go out once - and that was because of a "I thought you did it" scenario - lol

Our electricity/heating bill went down from $600/month to $150/month - and for the first time in years we were comfortable - not paying a fortune and still being cold !

I have actually enjoyed cutting the wood - we go every other weekend - I now have next years already stacked and drying !

All in all - a good move - plus I get to buy new Power Tools (chainsaw etc) !

Stephen

 

[fredmc]

2nd year in a row we didn't have to pay the oil Nazi! We burnt roughly 5-6 cord this season. Nothing like wood heat over the holidays!!!
:greenchainsaw:

 

[FIRESMOKE]

First year burning, went through about 7 cords was only planning on 5 or 6 but we made it. Only used about 100 gallons of oil. Wish I would of bought the next size bigger stove. I have a regency medium size and the door opening is a little small. The good thing with the door being smaller I split my wood a little smaller and the Mrs. really likes that.

 

[jcappe]

My first winter went well with my Woodmaster OWB. I didn't have enough wood stacked at home but was able to go to the timber and cut what I needed so I didn't actually run out of wood. I WILL have enough stacked at home for this winter. Saved $2400 worth of gas and loved the fact that if our house was a little cold I could turn up the t-stat and not worry about it It was an enjoyable winter, my dad helped me cut quite abit which was fun as well.

 

[tals2]

This was our first winter in our old 4-square farmhouse in MN. Due to an unlined chimney I didn't get started burning until the last week of Feb. Before that, we were spending around $300/month on propane--ouch! After lining the chimney myself and buying a used Northern Leader wood furnace, I was off and running burning the well seasoned pile of old ash trees I got with the acreage. Over all I really like burning wood---and we are still burning! 42 degrees today and windy. I do know it will already pay for itself next winter. Now I just have to make sure i have enough wood for next winter! Shouldn't be a problem--tons of green ash, hackberry, and cottonwood to be had in this area.

On a side note: My house has a large 3' x 3' cast iron grate in the floor between the living room/dining room. My wood furnace sits below this in the basement, and I direct hot air blown in from the back of the furnace out the top and through the grate. Anyone else have something similar?

 

[November Wolf]

My Central Boiler has worked flawlessly since I put in online back in december. I load it once a day and have used about 12 face cords. I figured I saved about $1500-$2000 this season and it will be more next winter.

 

[woodbooga]

I sure wish I knew this site existed when I was a newbie when we bought our house 6 years ago.

The constant stream of loaded-up trailers and p/u's is inspiring.

And I thought I was a woodboogah before I joined this forum!

Thanks for the inspiration, guys. And gals.

 

[Beefie]

newbie

Last April we bought are current house. It came with a Hot-blast 1400 add on wood furnace, also has a three sided fireplace with a flagstone hearth. We needed to get the chimneys relined, so we spent the money and put a liner in the wood furnace flue and had some of the fireplace flue fixed up. My neighbor who has been burning for 30+ years tried to tell me not to stick any money into the fireplace. He was right we used it twice and it took as much wood to use the fireplace as it did to run the wood furnace for 3 days. What a waste of wood that was. know I am trying to figure out how to get a insert for it .

I asked the previous owner how much wood he used each year, he stated that he heated only with wood and had not fired up the gas in three years, He did not no how much wood he used. I asked about how many cords he used , he asked what was a cord. I had no idea how much I needed so i had about 8 cords cut and mostly seasoned, and I ended up with a little over a cord left. I don't know how much money we saved in the gas bill but the wife was brought up on wood heat and she liked the idea of having the wood furnace and had no problems going down and firring up.

In all I think I am hooked on cutting wood and heating with wood.

Beefie

 

[stephen44]

My guess is that the people who gave up - aren't still reading this forum - so we will only hear positives

 

[Laird]

My guess is that the people who gave up - aren't still reading this forum - so we will only hear positives

:agree2:

 

[jorge016]

2nd season

I'm not quite a newb. We got our CB 6048 in the middle of the 2007-08 season. Going into the year I had a little less than 9 cords of wood cut and I thought that I was going to be short (about 2500 sq. ft home). I burned small hot fires all season and even with a relatively tough Minnesota prairie winter. I've got 1/2 cord of wood left over. What I learned my 2nd year in was that I burned less wood by having seasoned wood and also that I can save wood by burning smaller and hotter fires. My first year I just packed the stove full and walked away. By some very rough unscientific calculations I burned 20 to 25% less wood in 2009 even though it was a colder winter. Now I'm stacking brush and trying to keep enough dry small stuff on hand as we keep in going all summer to heat our hot water.

 

[dawzie]

Hi all, Well,I'm a newbie
Spent about $5000 on used hot air furnace for the basement and some duct work. That also includes new log splitter and chain saw with some safty gear.

Started gathering downed oak trees around end of august till early december. Had about eight cords cut and split.

It was quite the learning cruve to master the furnace, but by febuary I had it figured out.

My first chimney fire in january got the fire dept here but no water was used as I had it under control by cutting off the air supply by the time they got here. (11 mins after the 911 call) Had the chimney cleaned and inspected and back on line in three days.

In november I had a load of green hardwood delivered for 09/10 season. I have about 2/3 of that cut/split and stacked.

I ran out of wood around end of march. Just looked tonight and used about 100 gallons of oil since then.

On those windy zero degree nights the house was about 65. But on 20 degree days 80 was normal if the sun was out and no wind.

Was it worth it ??????
the up side
The excersize was great
I love running equipment
The house has never been so warm
Great during the black out (only 32 hours for us)
saved on buying 600 gallons of oil
The GF wore alot less clothes:hmm3grin2orange:

the down side
On cold days/nights the furnace NEEDS wood every six hours
it took alot of man/woman hours gathering, cutting, splitting, stacking, carrying, cleaning, equipment upkeep
cost of equipment
The ticks, millions of 'em
When the fire was out the GF wore alot MORE clothes:chatter::chatter:

 

[mattmc2003]

Everything went well. Really enjoyed the wood heat.

 

[Steve NW WI]

On a side note: My house has a large 3' x 3' cast iron grate in the floor between the living room/dining room. My wood furnace sits below this in the basement, and I direct hot air blown in from the back of the furnace out the top and through the grate. Anyone else have something similar?

Our old farmhouse did, and this winter when I replaced most of the subflooring in my house (mobile home on full basement), I put a couple smaller (4"x12") grates in above the woodstove. It did help move the heat a little better into the upstairs.

I've been burning wood all my life, but just found this site in January while trying to teach myself to sharpen my own chains instead of paying for a hack grinding job. Besides being more than adequate with a file now, I enjoy reading and learning from everyone else's experiences, and seeing the pics of everyone's setups.

Of course, the CAD bug has bitten as well, but I did NEED a new :chainsawguy:

Best of luck to all the new and soon to be woodburners out there!

Steve