The Famous Annual "Really Heat With Wood" Poll

[logbutcher]

Exactly. I can't tell my 7 month old to suck it up and wear a hoodie to bed. I could just dress her in a hoodie for bed, but I have a feeling she sleeps better when it's comfortable for her and when she sleeps better, the wife and I sleep better and that's worth it.

Good discussion. But some relativity and our capacity for adaptation is the point. Air conditioning: none until our lifetimes for the masses north or south.
No need for "suffering" with cold; that's not what adaptation is.

Anecdotes.
Being a bred northerner, I hate heat and humidity. Hate it: wet crotch, sticky hands, moldy pits. Training at Camp Elgin (Pensacola) was a horror for me in November. Guys from southern states, also out of ROTC, actually wore sweaters at night in 60 F temps. It's what you're used to.

Then again, training people for winter in Watertown, NY in February was a not nice time for the southern crew. Well below zero F ( not wind chill )
bivouacing without tenting is not much fun for anyone. Strange though, after a few days, 10 F felt warm. You acclimate....fast. Read Ernest Shackelton.

Are we getting "soft", accustomed to constant temperatures---not too hot, never too cold ? Arctic infants thrive. Why ? Do we really need to spend so much on keeping our indoor environment at a constant petrie dish temp ?

Let the argument begin. So the house is 45 F in the morning........:yoyo:

So, opening a discussion on why we "need" 72 F year-round indoors.

 

[LadyToysDream]

This will be our 3rd winter 100 % with the OWB.

The propane furnace remains in place but the propane is shut off. We use the blower on it and heat exchanger under it to run the OWB heat through the house via the existing ductwork. Works great
The OWB also heats our hot water once it gets turned on for the season.
In the summer, the hot water heater is run by electric.
He turned the OWB on Sept 11 this year. One log put in late afternoon, usually goes the 24 hours this time of year.

We do have a 100 pound propane tank but that is for our cookstove. The 100 pound tanks equals 23.58 gallons ( google search ) The last tank lasted us 9 months and 3 weeks. I was very satisfied with that We have 2 tanks so when one is on, the second tank is in storage filled and ready to go.

If we have a few warm days now, I just open the windows up to help balance things.

 

[JeffHK454]

Heat 100% with wood.. have a NG furnace that gets run twice a year to make sure it can fulfill it's backup duties.

 

[Spotted Owl]

A.) Not more than a generation ago, few heated whole houses 24/7. It was too expensive for most. Most in northern Europe heated only small areas until VERY recently where they spent the most time.

My gram thought that we had lost a couple screws. She found out that we would be 100% and looked at us for several minutes soaking in what we had just told her. Then she told us what they used to do. Helped Mrs build some curtains to help close things off. When she would talk I would listen. She grew up in North Dakota during the depression(born in '22). She was right, certain nights those curtains save some needed heat.

B.) No need to "get up and load the stove @ 0300". Silly. The temp in our place does get colder in the morning....so ? My job to do the stoves in the morning so that SWMBO can be warm and cozy arising from a night's rest. Even on the below zero mornings the house is rarely below freezing.

ERRR, UHHH, UMMM. I think I might just get a slight tongue lashing and/or (less or the cold it might be)less than friendly awakening should the Mrs wake up for any reason and find the house even remotely close to 32*. I don't know what SWMBO is, but if it has anything to do with the family I think that loosely comfortable any time of the night is better than not. Super cold nights we will start the basement stoves just for the pipes, and to make laundry a little easier for the Mrs.


C.) open the windows in winter ( the Swiss and Scandinavians do) with no, repeat NO problems with their procreation.

We sleep with the window open most every night of the year. Contrary to popular opinion it can have a prolonging positive effect on procreation. So long as you stay very close to and preferably under the blankets. I may have fibbed just a tad before when I said 100%, Mrs does have an electric blanket that she uses from time to time


JMNSHO

Owl

 

[USMC0802]

Good discussion. But some relativity and our capacity for adaptation is the point. Air conditioning: none until our lifetimes for the masses north or south.
No need for "suffering" with cold; that's not what adaptation is.

Anecdotes.
Being a bred northerner, I hate heat and humidity. Hate it: wet crotch, sticky hands, moldy pits. Training at Camp Elgin (Pensacola) was a horror for me in November. Guys from southern states, also out of ROTC, actually wore sweaters at night in 60 F temps. It's what you're used to.

Then again, training people for winter in Watertown, NY in February was a not nice time for the southern crew. Well below zero F ( not wind chill )
bivouacing without tenting is not much fun for anyone. Strange though, after a few days, 10 F felt warm. You acclimate....fast. Read Ernest Shackelton.

Are we getting "soft", accustomed to constant temperatures---not too hot, never too cold ? Arctic infants thrive. Why ? Do we really need to spend so much on keeping our indoor environment at a constant petrie dish temp ?

Let the argument begin. So the house is 45 F in the morning........:yoyo:

So, opening a discussion on why we "need" 72 F year-round indoors.

We don't NEED those temps, but we can, so why wouldn't we? I don't mind wearing a layer or two in the winter, but since I burn wood that I don't pay for, why would I keep the house below 65-70 when it only cost me my time and some wear and tear on the saw to provide that heat?

I'll pay the electric bill when it's hot to have a comfortable house because I'm not a fan of sweating while I sit on my couch. I already sweat enough doing the yard work and anything else outside.

I know what you mean about acclimatizing...I spent my time at artillery school at Fort Sill during a July-December time frame...heat index was over 115 for 2 weeks. I was comfortable outside in jeans at night when it was in the 90s and I got a chill one evening when it was 89.

I was born in the south and I lived in Minnesota for a few years with time in Maryland on the peninsula and North Carolina. I hate humidity and I grew up with it. To a degree, I prefer the cold.

I hate getting out of the sleeping bag when it's cold, but I can sleep through the cold better than trying to get to sleep when it's 90+ temp and humidity.

 

[mhyme71]

we are probably 90 wood 10 propane. i m gonna fire up the owb as soon as it stays under 60 consistenly and then i can turn off my water heater hurray. its funny we save more money in winter on bills but it seems to disappear around the end of december?

 

[logbutcher]

Sorry guys, those TLA's ( Three Letter Acronyms ) can be tiresome....bureaucratic.

SWMBO = She Who Must Be Obeyed . Taken from "Rumpole of The Bailey", Masterpiece Theater on PBS.

 

[Somewood_guy]

Only about 20% wood here. I'd like to do more, but we have a cape cod, and the woodstove is located in the sunroom, which can't get the heat to the rest of the house, so our gas boiler/radiators it is, for now.

 

[Somesawguy]

I heat about 50/50 depending on how much wood I have. I'll usually get a fire going in the morning, and let the furnace handle the rest of the day. I may get a fire going at night, but unless it's really cold out, I prefer to have the house a little cooler for sleeping.

 

[sbhooper]

I heat with mostly wood, but leave my thermostat on 60 for the times that the temp drops in the early morning.

 

[Windwalker7]

i heat 100% with wood. We have an oil furnace, but have not used it in a couple of years.

ditto!