Heat with wood? Info on BTU's

[Blowdown1]

What is this I see? "Few" sparks from cherry? Last time I threw a piece of our southern wild cherry on the fire I might as well have tossed in a box of .22 long rifles. One spark hit the lamp shade 5 feet high 20 feet away and bounced into the easy chair, where it burned a 1" hole 1/2 inch deep before I could get it cooled off. Glad I wasn't sitting in it.

Same with some oaks. I see the three oaks listed are all "few" in terms of sparks. I have a bunch of oak my neighbor brought me (not sure, but I think red) that sparks like crazy sometimes. I had a cinder blast out and go down my shirt. That was fun!

 

[eyeinstine]

We use wood heat all year round, although less in the summer when we most days only need it to heat water for the shower/bath

Wood sold by weight would probably mean that most woold sold would be quite full of water :Compare to frozen chicken and fish, we have to pay for frozen water basically, while getting less chicken and fish "Consumers want it that way", yeah, right.

mktest,

hmm.. never gave the water content a thought.. Guess i just assume everyone is honest and would sell seasoned wood, unless otherwise stated.. :angel:

Heat the bath water with wood?!?!?! and my wife calls me a hick!


haha,
Ron

 

[max2cam]

Is anyone else sad the wood heat season is over?!?!
Suposed to hit a record high of near 80 today!

Ron

I'm sad about it. I've been heating water and cooking on my woodstove all winter long. Now it's back to EXPENSIVE propane instead of cheap wood.

Between building a house and outbuildings out of local wood, milling lumber from it,
and burning firewood, trees sure are useful things. Too bad we can't eat and digest bark and sawdust....

 

[eyeinstine]

Too bad we can't eat and digest bark and sawdust....

Max, why not give some boiled bark a try.. maybe apple or cherry.. if it all passes through okay, with out getting jammed up anywhere; change your handle to Termite or something..

 

[leweee]

good thing

max2cam is on a distinguished road

Too bad we can't eat and digest bark and sawdust....

good thing or thier wouldn't be any trees left.

 

[Chris J.]

Here in Houston we pile wood up the side of

the road for heavy trash pick-up, & it winds up at the dump. Oak, pecan, pine, & others that I don't know the names of.

Someone mentioned wood over gas. When my Dad was on the farm in Oklahoma (it didn't stay in the family ), they discovered a pocket of natural gas. My grandfather & some kin figured out a way to pipe it into the house, & apparantly my grandmother (she passed away before I was born) was very happy with her gas stove. Thing that amazes me is this was of course unscented gas, & they never had a leak (at least not a major one ) or an accident.

But I digress......Chris J.

 

[Locoweed]

"Heat the bath water with wood?!?!?! and my wife calls me a hick!"

 

[Chris J.]

That there must be a fancy model;

I thought a redneck hot tub was a galvenized tub left out in the sun most of the day.

Chris J.

 

[mktest]

mktest,
Heat the bath water with wood?!?!?! and my wife calls me a hick!
Ron

Yeah, just like that image someone posted later. Well, not really, my familys house (not my flat, I'm a student) can use oil, electricity or wood to heat the water system in the house, but we prefer wood as its more economical. And nicer. It's "tradition" and stuff. We also have a couple of electric radiators that we haven't used in like 20 years, but they could come in handy if the water pump breaks down when it's -25C outdoors. It's always good to have options

Speaking of wood, which wood requires most chimney cleaning? I know a well adjusted system won't give much trouble. But from what I've seen pine and spruce doesn't burn as cleanly as birch, would it make sense to first get the heat up with birch, and then throw the pine and spruce into the fire?

 

[DanMan1]

Between building a house and outbuildings out of local wood, milling lumber from it,
and burning firewood, trees sure are useful things. Too bad we can't eat and digest bark and sawdust....

One more use.. You can make maple syrup as we just did last month.

 

[mktest]

One more use.. You can make maple syrup as we just did last month.

And you can make wine from birch sap. Trees are wonderful creatures, aren't they?

 

[Blowdown1]

mktest, a university study from somewhere in Canada determined that creosote is primarily a result of moisture content, not wood species. Now obviously different woods will have higher moisture and sap contents than others and will therefor affect that. But they made a point of saying that burning green hardwoods produces lots more crud than well seasoned conifers. Of course conifers typically have lots of moisture and sap, so I think that is why they have the bad rap as fuel wood.

Also, the creosote results from the moisture condensing on the inside of the flu, so your point of putting pine on a hot fire is a good one. Flu material also contributes to how readily the smoke moisture condenses and also sticks.