What got you started in heating with wood?

[Huskybill]

In 1978 we got hit with a really bad blizzard with two storms about a week apart. They didn’t plow the roads good enough on the first storm. We got hammered with the second storm. I’m living on a mountaintop. We had drifts up and over my ranch house. We were snowed in with three small kids. What if the power went out? Luckily it didn’t. The next year I installed a woodstove that could heat 15k square foot of floor area my house is only 7k Sq ft. They started cutting for a new highway. For some reason piles of wood were missing over night. Everyone was cutting. I purchased craftsman saw and ended up with 20 cords of hardwood. Soon after everyone was inviting me to cut trees. I hustled every stick of firewood I could get my hands on. I got rid of the sears saws and got Husqvarnas. The rest is history.

I was in the best shape of my life cutting trees I wanted to stay in the woods. I was offered a engineering job on the corporate pay roll level. The benefits were unbelieveable. I stayed bad move but I stayed. I still cut firewood part time.

What’s your story?

 

[rancher2]

I bought my first farm 35 years ago and the farm needed a lot of wood clean up work done. I put a wood stove in the house and later in my shop when I built it. I have burning wood ever since. We move to a different farm 16 years ago and switched to a Garn to heat the house and my current shop. Still cleaning up farms.

 

[066blaster]

7,000 sq ft?? stove that can heat 15,000 sq those are big numbers... When i was young i had to help my dad cut ,split, stack, put wood in the house, we had a wood furnace, and never ran the gas furnace. I didn't enjoy it back then, but I got paid a dollar for a few hours of work, so i was ok with it. I finally got a house with wood burning capabilities a few years back so I quit selling wood and just cut enough for me and my dad since he is getting to older and recently had heart surgery. Other problem is my house is all electric 2500 sq ft plus basement, no ductwork and everything is finished and its a tri level.
I would like to add a gas furnace , the on ly thing i can think of is to put one in the garage and have a few vents blowing into the house or run some ductwork though the attic.

 

[muddstopper]

I grewup burning wood so it was only natural my first house had a fireplace. after one winter and a $300 powerbill, I bought a Ashely wood stove. we suffered thru many power outages over the years, but we always had heat. My next house was totally electric. 3658sqft, 5 bed, three bath. Needless to say, I spent as much on power as I did the mortage. I Sold that house and bought where I live now. There was a old wood stove in the basement, but it was rusted out and unsafe. I took it out and threw it away. after a couple of years of heating with electric, I cae home one week and my wife said, "quess what I bought" Yep a wood stove. It was Oct and I didnt have a stick of wood on the place. I spent most of the winter scrouging green wood where ever I could find it. Next year I bought a log truck load and rented a splitter. I started scrouging wood, but still ended up buying another log truck load. I was finally a year ahead. I havent bought any wood since. I think its about 75* in the house now and the wife just said go check the stove. Guess I had better go fill up the stove, heaven forbid it cools off enough I have to put on a shirt.

 

[Huskybill]

At the new place I installed a top loader woodstove in the basement fireplace. I cut vents in the floor so the heat and transfer on it’s own. I put one of those self powered heat fans on top of the stove. I need duct work and a hood over the stove to do it right. My lowest bill so far from the oil man was $500 all year that’s the boiler with hot water all year.

 

[chucker]

the need for heat at 20 below …..

 

[merc_man]

My grandpa stuck a 038 mag in my hands when i was 12 and tje rest is history lol.

I started heating about 10 or 12 years ago. I started pretty low cost. New stove and pipe was the big expence. Had two poulans and a 8 pound splitting maul. Then cheap saws heated my house for almost 3 seasons befor i baught my echo 520.

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[jrider]

To save $$

 

[Saiso]

My father always had a small fire going on growing up although I never really helped.

When I met my wife, she wanted to buy the piece of land behind her parents and live in the camp that was already there. So, my wife got me started cutting and burning wood

All of this is new, mind you. We’ve been doing it for roughly 4 years now and I’m looking forward to utilizing the rest of our 100 acre timber land in the years to come!

 

[jimdeere]

When we built our house in 1993, we wanted a chimney going up through the house, but with the house design, it didn’t work out. The first winter we stayed cold with the heat pump running almost constantly.
The following summer, we built a chimney on the outer west side of the house and put a stove in the basement.
It never did draw right. Fought the thing for several years and finally got an OWB, which we have loved from day one.
My wife’s father and brother had always burned wood and they helped me a lot.
Our heat pump has lasted 26 years because we never run it for heat. Going to replace it soon with unit with a propane auxiliary.
At 65, my wood cutting days are numbered.

 

[buckhunter1967]

The cost of propane.....

 

[grizz55chev]

When we built our house in 1993, we wanted a chimney going up through the house, but with the house design, it didn’t work out. The first winter we stayed cold with the heat pump running almost constantly.
The following summer, we built a chimney on the outer west side of the house and put a stove in the basement.
It never did draw right. Fought the thing for several years and finally got an OWB, which we have loved from day one.
My wife’s father and brother had always burned wood and they helped me a lot.
Our heat pump has lasted 26 years because we never run it for heat. Going to replace it soon with unit with a propane auxiliary.
At 65, my wood cutting days are numbered.

At 65, cutting wood is what keeps me going! If I had to do it for profit, I’d starve.

 

[Gundy]

I decided to put an owb in the year after propane hit $5 a gallon. Of course it hasn't been that high since.

 

[djones]

A 275 gal. fuel oil tank and a $600 fuel bill every 2 months.

 

[sirbuildalot]

Seemed a logical excuse to buy toys and get alone time......

Seriously, my parents always did and still do burn wood, so I guess it came naturally as what I wanted to do. They had a Jensen wood boiler installed new in 1985 and still use it today. Before that they had stand alone wood stoves.

By the time I factor all of my equipment and time spent, I'm not sure I'm saving all that much, but I do enjoy the journey from tree to heat.

 

[grizz55chev]

Seemed a logical excuse to buy toys and get alone time......

Seriously, my parents always did and still do burn wood, so I guess it came naturally as what I wanted to do. They had a Jensen wood boiler installed new in 1985 and still use it today. Before that they had stand alone wood stoves.

By the time I factor all of my equipment and time spent, I'm not sure I'm saving all that much, but I do enjoy the journey from tree to heat.

The saws are my passion now, getting wood to heat with is just a bonus.. I have at least 15 working saws, only half a dozen see much cutting time. I’ve only been collecting for about 9 yrs. Wright saws were a thing for a while, I have 3 working blade saws. I don’t have any that are “ restored “ , I just get em running and ready to cut.

 

[Eli Meyer]

When I was younger, I spent many weekends helping my grandfather cut firewood for his OWB. Around three years ago, my wife and I bought our first house and it had a mixture of electric baseboard and pellet stove heat. We spent one winter using both the electric heaters and the pellet stoves and I had enough of both. We installed a wood stove for the next heating season and have been using it since. The heat from the wood stove cant be beat and my electric bills are much easier to open every month.

 

[Antarctica]

In 1979, my father bought a small piece of property that we eventually built our house on. It was overgrown and needed a lot of clearing. He bought a SOTZ kit and found a barrel and put it in our suburban home basement. We'd haul the junk wood home from the property to heat our house. After we built the other house, the Sotz moved to it and we continued to heat with wood, at least supplementary.

I went off to college, and afterwards moved to a dairy farm - a small apartment/house with electric heat. Mentioned to a guy at worked that I missed heating with wood and sure wished I had a woodstove. He says "I just saw one on the side of the road this morning on the way to work - lets go get it". We did, and I've been heating myself with that stove for right about 20 years now. Its an old (very well done) home brew copy of a papa bear.

I love the self sufficiency of heating with wood.

 

[pauljoseph]

But a house that was built in 1905, drafty to say the least. My first electric bill was stupid high in the winter. That was to keep the house 64°. Had a fireplace so I have a chimney sweep come and inspect the chimney and he said it was in great shape. I told him I wanted to burn fires to try and offset some of my electric bill, he told me I may want to try a woodstove. So glad I did! Had to buy the first years worth of wood while I started scrounging , but now I get it for practically free. I haven’t turn my heat pump on in four or five years. Instead of 64, my house cruises in the low 70s when it’s cold.

 

[U&A]

I grew up with one and always enjoyed it. Got into my 2nd house that is bigger that we need ( Women [emoji849]) and I didnt like the gas bill in the winter.

So now I get to do something I’ve always enjoyed and save a bunch of money.


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