Quitting with wood burning?!?

[FLHX Storm]

As many have said, show her the bills! :msp_scared: There is one language which is universal between the sexes and that is MONEY! Show her one bill and then tell her that "we can keep the gas/oil heat but we will have to make some concessions" like limiting or cutting the times she can go have her hair done, no more name brand makeup if any at all. No more getting her nails done and she would have to do them herself with drug store brand polishes and removers. And forget about those new shoes/dress/handbag she's had her eyes on n so on.

I love the smell of fresh split or seasoning wood, and the little mess I might drag into the house is inconsequential. I keep my place comfortable, more so with wood heat than using gas/oil heat. And my pocketbook REALLY loves it.

 

[FLHX Storm]

I would think just figure out how to keep the mess more in order, small wagon to contain the wood as it is brought inside from the porch/door maybe?

I use a 30 gallon trash can and a two wheeled dolly rated to 600# to bring my wood inside or to the staging area. Really, it does keep the mess to a minimum. :msp_smile:

 

[unclemoustache]

You could also tell her you wear the pants around here and what you say goes. I would not suggest you do this unless you don't like sex.

I see you don't know much about me yet! I've got 8 kids and counting, so sex is rather high on the ol' priority list!

It's just a negotiating tactic. Uncle M is about to add house cleaning to his list of chores.

Almost! See below:

Seriously, put a pencil to paper and show her how much you are saving, then train a half dozen kids to take care of the fire, cut, split and cleanup.

Yes, I already do that. Two boys are my chief wood splitters, and my 2nd daughter is a whizz operating the splitter valve. Still, my junky Lopi stove...... hey, maybe that's the ticket. I need a good stove - one that I can control the burn better, and not eat up so much wood. Hmmm.

I'd love to do the OWB thing, but I live in the city limits - not allowed. I could do a wood furnace inside, though.

 

[Festus]

My wife is just the opposite. She says putting in the wood stove is the best idea I ever had. I started a fire tonight for the first time this season. We don't really need it, but she wouldn't stop bugging me about when I was going to start a fire. I told her, fine, if she brings in some wood. So, she brought in some wood, and I started the fire. She likes the warm feeling, the warm glow of the fire, and the smell too. We both get sick of the mess and bringing wood in every day or two all winter long, but it sure beats paying through the nose for a whopping 68 degrees with LP. I wish I could get her to help more outside with the wood, but she works 40 hours a week too, and she does most of the house cleaning, laundry, and dishes, so I ain't complaining.

 

[brenndatomu]

I'd love to do the OWB thing, but I live in the city limits - not allowed. I could do a wood furnace inside, though.

There ya go, a wood furnace! That oughtah get things rolling around around here again, a good ole which-brand-wood-furnace-should-unc'stache-install pizzin contest! I mean, between the hackers and the fact that 'spidey seemingly has his situation under control, at least until heating season starts (LOL)(my smilies still don't work) things have been kinda slow around here! Heck, I had to go over to hearth to get my fix there for a bit (insert scared smilie)(my wife says I need an AS intervention, LOL)

But I know how to remedy your problem Unc. Tell her that if you go off the wood heat, she will have to pick one, paying the gas bill or paying the delivery room bill! That'll fix 'er

 

[Rio_Grande]

Well, she is a wife and if she dosent complain about this, it will be something else. My wife dosent complain about wood because natural gas in our area is really expensive.

We have an indoor stand alone furnace. She will even feed it as long as I bring the wood into the shop.

 

[Deleted member 83629]

buy her a gallon of kerosene and a heater and the smell would break her but it doesn't bother me. or give her two sticks to rub together.

 

[stratton]

humor

This has to be the funniest thread yet !!!! There is always divorce

 

[dancan]

This has to be the funniest thread yet !!!! There is always divorce

With 8 kids it's cheaper for unclemoustache to pay for oil LOL

Put a wood furnace in the basement or you could always get a pellet stove .

 

[olyman]

If you like heating with wood, and she doesn't like the mess...switch to a outdoor wood burner. That way the mess stays outside, and you only have to fill it twice a day. She can then crank the thermostat as much as she wants, with no costs above your free wood. Plus you get unlimited hot water for shower etc.

and you go thru,,an average of three times the amount of wood.......and unc has run out more than once in the past...................

 

[greendohn]

Dang it all, Uncle'stache !! Some of these fellas are missing some very important points.
1) Yer' a man who lives by the Scriptures, love and cherish the wife, check, it's obvious from your post you do.
2) Provide for the family, check, it sounds like you stay plenty busy.
3) I might also point out the age old adage, "If the wife aint happy,,," I would bet your household is beyond all that.

The idea of leaving the stove cold and looking at the cost of other heat is the best advice yet.
I mean no offense, but with your families' size you could maybe get the guv'munt to subsidize the heating of your house,,just a thought,,,

If you have a basement, you could maybe move the stove down there and use the "radiant effect" from the stove to supplement your heating. Plumbing a flu might be cost prohibitive though, tossing the wood thru a basement window would eliminate the mess.
You might look into an add on or freestanding wood furnace. Them outfits can be hungry for the feed but installed in the basement or even outside and plumbed into the house, and now we're looking at an upfront expenditure to recoup,,I dunno, good luck to ya'.

 

[unclemoustache]

This has to be the funniest thread yet !!!! There is always divorce

Not for me. That's a durn fine woman I got here! Wouldn't trade her for a world full of chainsaws and standing dead oak and no taxes. :msp_biggrin:


It's 8 AM and I've got our first fire going right now. Feels pretty good, and she, like I predicted, has suddenly decided wood heat is not all that bad. Still, I think a new stove is in order. This Lopi Leyden is junk junk JUNK! I know many of you like Lopi, but you probably don't have the Leyden.
I saw one stove on here a year or so ago that was exactly what I wanted, but they don't make them anymore for the EPA shut them down - cost too much to do the emission testing. :bang: Dang EPA. If they want the test they should pay for it themselves.

Anyway, now the thread should be "what stove should Uncle Moustache get?" I did lots of research before, but every company says great things about their own stoves, and I wasn't really able to find a site with good reviews about different stoves. Help?!?

 

[mga]

i'm going to slow down heating with wood.

i have enough for two more years right now, but i'm going to replace my gas boiler with a 95% one then after that remove all the baseboards and run pex lines under all the flooring. should make every thing more efficient to heat.

i enjoy doing the wood thing, but i'm getting older too. climbing trees, picking up rounds, hauling, splitting, etc takes a toll on you and, unfortunately, i'm not getting any younger.

 

[Rudedog]

I save about $500 a month in the winter, oil is too darn expensive!!!! I had to fight with my wife to put a stove in, she complains about the wood in the yard but she also now knows how much warmer the house is with the stove. I used to keep it 50 on the first floor and 65 on the second, now it is 68~72 on the second floor and 72~76 on the first floor. She loves coming home from work after being cold in her office, they keep it 65, she sits next to the fire soaking up the heat.
I told her when I put the stove in that I would buy her a car after one year of burning with all the money we saved. She now has heated seats to keep her toasty when She's driving the kids around.
Unless you get cheap natural gas it sound like a real costly proposition.

Dave has said it all. My heat pump changes to the oil furnace for emergency heat at around 35F degrees. Even in Maryland I am saving about as much as Dave and that $500 is after tax money. SWMBO has stopped complaining about the stove itself but I still gat grief about how the stacked wood has ruined our yard.

 

[FLHX Storm]

Anyway, now the thread should be "what stove should Uncle Moustache get?" I did lots of research before, but every company says great things about their own stoves, and I wasn't really able to find a site with good reviews about different stoves. Help?!?

The ones I REALLY like the looks of, and I'm sure your wife would find them appealing are the Soapstone models.
Welcome to Woodstock Soapstone

The wood stove I have is pretty and functional. It will likely have me opening windows in the dead of winter. But it is not nearly as attractive as those soapstone models. I'm cheap, and I refuse to spend that kind of money for a wood stove. But I will say the Englander Wood Stoves (made here in the US) are pretty and efficient which is the one I use.
Englander wood stoves

 

[FLHX Storm]

SWMBO has stopped complaining about the stove itself but I still gat grief about how the stacked wood has ruined our yard.

Try stacking with a purpose in mind. A privacy fence made out of fresh cut n split firewood, A wall on one end of a patio. A wind break. Or stack in specific shapes. Round ones, square ones, rectangle ones, but make them look like a house by adding a frame for a door and a couple of windows. Maybe even put flowers around them! In other words, get creative, use your imagination. OR build a shed to stuff it all in!

 

[Gypo Logger]

Brian, I have the solution. Send the redhead here to the Yukon to chop wood. Before the winter is half over she'll be begging you to take here back, She can stay in one of the wall tents I have here with it own cute lil wood stove. Lol
John

 

[slowp]

You could, and it sounds like you are a home remodler, insulate your drafty house so it would take less wood to heat it. Then there's less of a mess.
This advice doesn't go over very well on this forum though.

 

[Rudedog]

Try stacking with a purpose in mind. A privacy fence made out of fresh cut n split firewood, A wall on one end of a patio. A wind break. Or stack in specific shapes. Round ones, square ones, rectangle ones, but make them look like a house by adding a frame for a door and a couple of windows. Maybe even put flowers around them! In other words, get creative, use your imagination. OR build a shed to stuff it all in!

Killer idea. I left off the last sentence where I had made a 4 foot privacy fence with split white oak stacks between me and my neighbor. It keeps the dogs off of the chain link fence and reduces the complaints from the handyman she employs. I'm going to hit the other stacks with some flowers this spring.

 

[zogger]

You could, and it sounds like you are a home remodler, insulate your drafty house so it would take less wood to heat it. Then there's less of a mess.
This advice doesn't go over very well on this forum though.

I agree with more and better insulation as well. Good if you own, not so good if you have unlimited wood for free, just add labor, and basically living in a rental. To insulate my house/ small old cabin really, would require complete tear down of the outside walls, one layer of wood siding, buy insuilation, stuff it, renail it all back up. Then add a couple feet to the attic through an 18 inch square crawlspace opening in the top of a closet.

heck with it, I just slap more wood in for now.

if I owned it outright, different story, I would be doing all that work and more. Built and worked on some superinsulated structures, you can get by with a cord or two easy for a large house, even way up north in the border states. Not just insulated (sweatshirt), not just well insulated (light jacket), but *superinsulated* (arctic parka), which is an actual term, and there is a profound difference, and it goes beyond just thick insulation, you have planned air in and out with a heat exchanger, etc. neat stuff.

search terms for anyone new just finding out about that,

superinsulated, passivhaus

I have no idea why this isn't pushed more, as it works for both heating and cooling, other than, it would drop traditional home energy costs quite a bit...that would impact a lot of fatcats bottom line too much....