[TheForge] Re: Heating with woodstove OT

Tue May 24 06:35:08 EDT 2005

Hi Grant, A couple of friends put the pellet stove into the shops as they
dont' create the creosote problems of undried wood does.

The find them to be nice, easy to load, and bagged fuel is better than
splitting and chopping.  They find they need more pellets for a stove the
same size as the wood ones were.  In other words going with a same size
pellet stove found their shops about 10 degrees cooler.......so they'd
wished they'd gone a tad larger with the pellet stoves they purchased for
output (for those who may be considering this).

I spoke with Bob Bergman last fall and he'd mentioned he'd put in one of the
outside boilers (that he'd built himself from a set of plans).  This spring
he was thrilled with the results and felt he'd beat the game as he was able
to burn pallets, crating, stumps and all the local debris from his farm
neighbors for heat, along with some wood he's chopping off em a wood lot.

He said the forced draft of one of these outside boilers allows things like
stumps to be burned for heat as it keeps them going instead of smoldering
and the availability of cull wood is pretty prevelent in the area.

I'm toying with digging trenches to the house, and shop, placing the outside
boiler near a storage shed and running the heat to both buildings.  Jan and
Feb saw $1200 per month costs for wood, propane and oil that it was taking
to maintain the two buildings.  That boiler cost will recover fast with
savings on those kind of prices.

One of the greatest problems around here is the wood supply.  The power
genrating plants (Oil fired) are all converting to bio-fuels so they can
burn sawdust, chips, mulch, and logs........so it is driving the cost of
firewood over $200 per cord as local loggers can get $900-1200 per truck
load for cord wood now...........   So if you dont' have a cheap wood supply
this whole exercise will be null and void as the loggers are now up to about
$600 per day in fuel and need to recover it somewhere's and the power plants
are a sure bet to help that situation

Ralph

----- Original Message -----
From: "gblacksmith" <gblacksmith at alamedanet.net>
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 10:44 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: Heating with woodstove OT

> Ralph:  have you looked into wood "pellet stoves"  These are in common use
> around Yellowstone NP.   Grant
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Walter Mullett" <wmullett at bright.net>
> To: "'Sponsored by ABANA'" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 7:22 PM
> Subject: RE: [TheForge] Re: Heating with woodstove OT
>
>
> > Ralph,
> >
> > If you do have a source of wood, maybe you should consider getting one
of
> > those outside wood burning units like the "Hardy".  They are pretty
> > efficient and won't burn your place down.
> >
> > I'm considering one for the house since it cost over 2k this year for
> > fuel.
> >
> > Walt
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> > [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Ralph Sproul
> > Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 8:52 PM
> > To: mspencer at tallships.ca; Sponsored by ABANA
> > Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: Heating with woodstove OT
> >
> > Hi Mike,  I was very dissappointed this winter.  I locked all the doors,
> > insulated them, went in and out of just one door, covered the windows in
> > plastic, and kept the thermostat at 40 at night and 52-55 during the day
> > ...........and really tried to keep the heat to it all winter to see if
it
> > would make a difference........and I just could NOT afford it and turned
> > it
> > off and dawned my insulated coveralls in March.   I gave it an honest
> > try -
> > but it just ain't gonna happen unless I can get an outside boiler to
heat
> > this place on free wood - but for the time it takes to load the boiler.
> >
> > My shop has 6 inch insulation in all the walls, and a frost wall
> > foundation
> > tight to the walls, and 9 inches of insulation in the ceiling - it's
> > frustrating as hell, as I was really comfortable for $150 to 225 per
month
> > for the past three winters......but this last one when our dollar fell
so
> > bad was killer.  I found heating it full time was way worse than turning
> > it
> > on each time I came in.........even with all the improvements I made.
It
> > was less drafty, nice and workable - but just plain unaffordable with
the
> > high price of propane now.
> >
> > The thing that really scares me with the wood heat in the shop - is four
> > of
> > my friends have lost their shops to fire in the past three years.   All
at
> > night - due to chimney fires.  This is making me head in the outside
> > boiler
> > direction as I just can't afford enough insurance for full replacement
> > value
> > - last time I checked it was $4 per hundred.  Afraid I just don't make
> > that
> > kind of profit - like they do.
> >
> > The house I feel comfortable heating with wood like we always have - as
> > there are nice masonry chimneys and we keep things clean and run hot
fires
> > before closing them down at night.  To run slow burning stoves all night
> > with huge fireboxes thru metal pipe like most shops are set up is too
> > risky
> > to me - and I'm not going to spend 10 grand on a masonry chimney to heat
> > with like the house has.
> >
> > I figure I've worked outside and in cold shops for all but the past four
> > years of my life - so I'm going back to insulated coveralls or the
boiler
> > project - if I can complete it by next Dec.  I'm sure next November's
> > temps
> > will be motivational.   :-(
> >
> > Ralph
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mike Spencer" <mspencer at tallships.ca>
> > To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> > Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 4:32 PM
> > Subject: [TheForge] Re: Heating with woodstove OT
> >
> >
> >>
> >> Thanks for the numbers on your heating setup, Ralph.  It'll give me a
> >> starting point to ask questions here.  I expect to do something for
> >> heat in my 1200 sq. ft. shop this year.  Ten ft. ceiling and an upper
> >> story where Peggy has her looms.  We need to heat her 600 sq. ft. more
> >> than mine -- weaving is fiddly finger-work and/or sitting-down work)
> >> but it would be nice to have my space up to 50 (or at least 40) deg.
> >> F.  And I can't afford $400/mo propane bills either.
> >>
> >> Despite heating the house with wood, I don't want to go with an indoor
> >> wood stove in the shop.  Don't want oil.  Mumble.....mutter.
> >>
> >> On the original question, I found that a 50-gal oil drum wood stove
> >> would get my previous shop up to comfy (for all but fiddly little
> >> finger-work) in about four hours, starting with all that iron
> >> heat-sink at ambient -- say, 5 to 20 deg. F.  Interior walls but no
> >> insulation. If I'd had New England/N. Dakota outdoor temps of 20 to 40
> >> below, It would have been totally useless.  Our coldest spells here
> >> are c. -10 F. at night, 0 daytime.  Maybe 15 to 20 deg warmer than
> >> northern NH.
> >>
> >> - Mike
> >>
> >> --
> >> Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
> >>                                                            /V\
> >> mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
> >> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >>
> >>
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