Wood for OWB

[ktm250rider]

Ive got about 30 acres of accessable wood on my lot. Actually, the lot size is 50 acres but if you take out the marshy areas, house lot, etc its about 30 acres.
This year from Oct to today, we have used 1917 gal of propane for a total cost of $3911. Thats heating roughly 4000 sqft during the winter and all out domestic hot water throughout the year. I built the house with energy savings in mind. HOwever, I have not had a chance to get the blower door test done. The company doing the test recommends that I have all the trim up, which I havent gotten around too. Also, I know there is one air space between the rim joist and first (floor) joist that I need to insulate. Unfortunately, I cant reach it without drilling access holes and then adding insulation.
It seems that most of my wood on my lot is Pine and Hemlock. Not sure of the size. Some of them I couldnt wrap my arms around (should probably figure out how to estimate tree diameters). There are some hardwoods but it seems that those are the ones Id like to keep if I was thinning out an area.
So what are your thoughts on pulling out the pins and hemlocks and what hardwoods as well and then supplementing that with perhaps a truck load of hard wood logs. Im not sure what a load of logs is going for around here but its got to come out less than propane in the end.

 

[Butch(OH)]

My farm has about 25 acres of woods and all lies low so I have precious little of your classic American "firewood" but have plenty of Cotton, Sycamore, scrub Walnut etc. I know nothing about Hemlock but I did burn some Sycamore and Cottonwood in the OWB this winter and those two are as crappy as wood gets for burning around here they will heat, just need to install fresh fuel more often. My opinion is that any more or less free wood (that will burn) is better than any store bought kind, period. I also happen to live close to the county leaf and branch drop off place and cut some firewood there. Most of it was pine. Again, I wouldn't buy Pine for firewood but is was free for the taking and it heated the house for probably a month total this winter. I think cutting the junk and burning it while letting the hardwoods grow is a great plan.

 

[stonykill]

use as much free wood from your land as you can. I have 30 acres also, I only cut whats dead, stormdamaged, super ugly, etc. Once you have an owb you will be surprised how much free wood is given to you. Keep a few cords of really good dry hardwood around for the sup zero weather and you'll be fine. I heated my house, workshop and hotwater with mostly garbage wood this year. Pine, popple, free stuff that most toss out. An owb is well worth it.

 

[ericjeeper]

free wood=fire wood

anything will burn if you get it hot enough.
Lot of time red oak will get "doatey" on the ouside white wood. but the center will stay solid for many years.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

If you can find a log processor in your neighborhood, you may be buried in wood. I found one, and I can't begin to haul all the log ends he wants hauled away. If I had a triaxle, I could haul a load every week, for free. If some firewood scrounge doesn't take them off his hands, he has to pay to dump them.

Worth looking around, anyway.

 

[infomet]

I hope you'll investigate selling the good evergreens for timber. It's a shame to waste the straight ones.

 

[Husky137]

99% of what I burned in my OWB this year has been the junk pine and hemlock logs that sucked for sawlogs and wouldn't fit in the chipper. I'm getting 24 hour burns right now w/ 3000sq. ft. and domestice hot water. Averaged 12 -16 hours when it was "winter" cold. Very pleased with the results. No oil man this year.

 

[yooperman]

I just threw pine and 1 piece of hemlock into my OWB an hr. ago that was scrap wood left over from the mill and clearing my house lot. I told the wife the OWB is 1/2 paid for now after the first year.

 

[ADAMH]

wow thats a crazy amount for heating.....

we have a 5000sq ft house that we just built..we have r-28 in the walls and r-40 in the roof...

we have 2 wood stoves both new and efficient.... I have them just for back up heating and cause I like to burn wood (since i sell and cut it)

however.... I installed a Tranquility 27 geothermal heat pump system (6ton) unit.

it basically has 4000ft of piping 6ft under the ground that extracts heat from the ground..then uses a heat pump to boost it up..it also provides all my hot water heating...

I had it tested it has a COP (co efficeint of performance) of 3.8... meaning every watt of power i put in I get 3.8 out in the form of heat...

from Oct to April I have spent $1400 on electricity ..some of which is used for lights ...Tv ect... as normal.... I also power a 5000sq ft garage that is my work shop ..so the lights ..welders ect...

its a very good way to heat your house..... it was only $9000 more than a conventional oil/gas furnace...

plus its zero emmissions ..and has no flames ect...

PS it also is the air conditioner as well... it takes the heat in the house..and dumps it into the ground in the summer...

Adam

 

[ktm250rider]

I looked at geothermal when building. I was a little nervous because the system included an electric heating coil to take up the demand when the ground couldnt provide enough heat.
Right now im so cheap, i dont want to do the blower door test on the house until its warmer outside so i dont waste the heat.

 

[ADAMH]

yes my system comes with a 20kw ...yep 20kw ..20,000 watt electric backup element heater...

its there in case for some reason the heat pump craps out...or the system cant keep up with the demand....

lets put it this way..... I am in Canada..and we have had -40 deg+ weather here and a long winter basically cold weather from October to April (its still -4 out)..and my system is heating a very large 5000sq ft home...my thermostadt is set to 71 degrees for heating..

and at no time this winter has the back up electric heating come on...

if you wanted you could pull the 100amp fuse for it...

point is.... its a back up

and rightly so.... what if you go away..and your heat pump craps out? or some idiot digs thru your heat exchange lines? you need a way to keep the house warm so pipes dont freeze..

anyway..its 100% the best decision I have made...it uses hardly any power(vs cost of oil or propane)..is 100% safe and emmissions friendly..and 100% cheapest way to heat.... other than wood (even then it would be close in wood costs)..which i like as well... however its a PITA

 

[ADAMH]

yes my system comes with a 20kw ...yep 20kw ..20,000 watt electric backup element heater...

its there in case for some reason the heat pump craps out...or the system cant keep up with the demand....

lets put it this way..... I am in Canada..and we have had -40 deg+ weather here and a long winter basically cold weather from October to April (its still -4 out)..and my system is heating a very large 5000sq ft home...my thermostadt is set to 71 degrees for heating..

and at no time this winter has the back up electric heating come on...

if you wanted you could pull the 100amp fuse for it...

point is.... its a back up

and rightly so.... what if you go away..and your heat pump craps out? or some idiot digs thru your heat exchange lines? you need a way to keep the house warm so pipes dont freeze..

anyway..its 100% the best decision I have made...it uses hardly any power(vs cost of oil or propane)..is 100% safe and emmissions friendly..and 100% cheapest way to heat.... other than wood (even then it would be close in wood costs)..which i like as well... however its a PITA

 

[ktm250rider]

And why didnt you tell me this 2 years ago when I was building!!! I was thinking at the time of using a small gas furnace as backup. It seemed that everyone I talked to said heat pumps were not very good for use in the northeast or cold climates.
I was looking at a system that a company puts together as a DIY type unit. they send all the equipment and supplies and I would install. I was looking at about the same amount of tubing if I remember too.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

It seemed that everyone I talked to said heat pumps were not very good for use in the northeast or cold climates.

Geothermal is a very different ballgame from air-to-air heat pumps. (Not that I know anything first hand - I've been researching it.)

With air to air, the heat is coming from your outside air. If the temps drop down, you have much less heat to draw on, right when you need it most. With geothermal, you are drawing heat from the earth, where the outside air temp is largely irrelevant, and the temps don't vary by more than a few degrees all year round.

As for a 20kW electric backup - if that scares you, there are also propane or natural gas backups. That's the direction I'm leaning.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

It seemed that everyone I talked to said heat pumps were not very good for use in the northeast or cold climates.

Hmmmm. These folks claim their heat pump is good down to ZERO degrees!

http://www.gotohallowell.com/

 

[hockeypuck]

ktmrider

You lot sounds like mine. I burn what ever I can get my hands on. I burnt alot of pine and hemlock. You will have to mix hard and soft woods because the soft woods do not have long lasting coals, so if your boiler is off for a while there may not be enough coals to get it going again. This is not a problem in the dead of winter when the boiler cycles more often, only at the beginning and end of the burning season.

Keep your eye out on the side of the road for wood droped by the power line companies. If you own a pick up make sure you have a chainsaw riding shotgun:greenchainsaw: .

Puck

 

[Husky137]

You will have to mix hard and soft woods because the soft woods do not have long lasting coals, so if your boiler is off for a while there may not be enough coals to get it going again. This is not a problem in the dead of winter when the boiler cycles more often, only at the beginning and end of the burning season.
Puck

And even then only very little hard wood, just a little to get it going again.

 

[ADAMH]

yes my system draws heat from 6ft under the ground..its a constant 45 degress in the winter down there..there is 4000ft of piping in a horizontal loop in my backyard..they fill it with ethanol..

never heard of the air to air system...cant imagine that would work well when its -40 out

anyway..its not BS these systems actually work..and work very well...

not much to fail on them..and its your heating, water heating, and airconditioning..all in one...plus its forced air..so its like a normal system...

it also is very quite...and NO oil bills... ha ha...

i plan to put up a 10kw wind turbine in the future...and then really screw the electric company... will be 100% self sufficient..well when the wind is blowing anyway

i still throw on some wood now and then..just cause i like it..and i have heaps of it

100% consider these new geothermal systems..they are the future!!

 

[ADAMH]

here is a link to the website on them..

http://www.nextenergysolutions.com/products_for_home_tranquility27.html

 

[Sprig]

Hmmmm. These folks claim their heat pump is good down to ZERO degrees!

http://www.gotohallowell.com/

Heya BlueRidge, have you run into any info on air-to-air heat exchange systems that scavenge from a 'green house' air space built on the sunny side of a house? I seem to recall several designs mentioned and given (I think) in some old copies of Mother Earth News years ago that were very, very basic heat pumps (like plywood boxes and old funace ducting, recycled glass, etc.) that used this and the spaces under buildings to create warmth/cooling. Seems to me that anyone build their own place in other than sub-arctic regions would do well to look into some of these 'alternative' options, especially considering the cost of conventional heating (oil, gas, electric, and yes, even wood) that are on a never ending rise. On this rock there are some pretty funky solutions and I think my favorite so far are some of the semi-inground straw bale houses, very efficient. My PC tech/teacher lives in a house that uses passive solar (Pipes in glass casings) to heat their swimming pool, way cool and by the begining of May the water will be 65+Fh., nice and relatively cheap with very few moving parts.
Personally if I could ever afford to build my own place I'd probably look at a rammed earth structure built into a small south facing hillside, ah but I dream

To a great topic!

Serge