Firewood in Kitsap County (WA)

[Rydell58]

Just moved to the Kitsap County for a new job and looking to save some money on the heating bill at my new place (old boiler with radiant heat), was told the bill could get up to $250 a month for this tiny house over winter!! Lucky enough to have a fireplace and that would really cut down the boiler usage.

Not familiar with the area yet but I know now is the time to get some wood up and drying (wish I could have it dry longer), so any tips on where to find wood in the area would be great! Have a couple of saws and not afraid to use em

Much appreciated!

 

[stumpy75]

Anybody with used pallets in your area? Quick and somewhat easy, and usually fairly dry...

 

[Big_Al]

I'm from the other side of the state but I would start with any of the national forests. Any state land, timber companies, they all usually sell firewood permits. You can cut anything dead here. Tree service outfits will sometimes let you have their wood, although it's usually green.

 

[Rydell58]

I can scrounge around for some pallets, maybe as my backup plan if i dont get any put away soon. Ill have to try with some timber companies, im sure they leave a lot of smaller leftovers!

Just cruising CL this weekend I found two guys with free rounds they were giving away, but I didnt get there in time... maybe next weekend!

 

[Streblerm]

You mentioned fireplace. If it is one of the more or less open varieties then unfortunately it won't likely help much with your heating bill. Open fireplaces, even with glass doors, are for ambiance more than heating. While it may warm the room it's in, the net result for the house will be a temperature loss.

You really need a woodstove or a stove insert in a fireplace to do much home heating, something with doors that close and seal. A fireplace gives you little control of the combustion air which ultimately goes up the chimney. this air has to come from somewhere which will be outside air from every little crevice in your house. That same lack of combustion control will make long term burning unsustainable as the wood will burn very quickly.

True story: a couple I'm friends with has a fireplace and the wife is a smoker. She's what I would consider a clean smoker. She doesn't smoke in the house. Well, she discovered that smoking in front of their burning fireplace in the winter was much warmer than smoking in the garage and the smoke gets sucked right up the chimney. Next thing you know they're having a fire in the fireplace every night. Fast forward to the end of the winter and they have burned almost the same amount of wood as I burn in my stove but their heating bill doubled. When I had this conversation with them the said they notice don't the furnace would always kick on shortly after they built a fire. She's back to smoking in the garage.

 

[Rydell58]

Good news is that it does indeed have a stove insert, and a blower for heat distribution, but no outside air source, just pulls from inside still.

Bummer for the her in the story... nice while it lasted haha