Firewood
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 8:58 pm
Anyone else burn wood during the winter?
I have an indoor wood stove I was burning in for a couple years, with a $600 heating bill all season, the price of the wood. While it was cheap, it was also a lot of work and a lot of cleaning bringing wood in the house all winter. The wood stove is centrally located so it heated pretty well. I also have a new Munchkin boiler with baseboard, and in-floor heat that only runs for hot water, as I have the thermostat shut off.
Last year I decided to build and outdoor wood boiler and pipe it into my existing boiler system, and through the house. I ended up builder the boiler in my garage, and decided to leave it in there without the insulation on it. So last year I had a 75 degree garage all winter , and a 75 degree house all winter for $250 all season, the price of the wood because I got it in log length and blocked/split it myself. The problem I had last year was having too much heat, I literally had to install 4 cast iron radiators in my basement to dump all the excess heat that I wasn't using.
This year I am using the same set-up, but I cut all of my own wood this year for free, well, minus bar and chain oil, mixed gas, gas for the truck, and my time. So I'm looking at a $100 heating bill this year. This is a picture of what I have currently stacked, 24 inch length, mostly un-split. It's all cherry and hard maple, which are my favorite to burn. I've got about 5 full chord stacked in the yard right now, which is about half of what I cut total. Halfway there...in two days. Gonna take a couple weeks then finish the rest up.
Both taken at the same time, one is with the night time feature, which came out blurry, and the other is normal.
I have a little idea for next year, that I think I'm going to do. Pretty set on it right now. That is to re-pour my driveway(it is concrete, but getting old) with hydronic heat lines through it. With this I could be dumping all of my excess heat, and never have to shovel my driveway again
Any experience or thoughts with this?
I have an indoor wood stove I was burning in for a couple years, with a $600 heating bill all season, the price of the wood. While it was cheap, it was also a lot of work and a lot of cleaning bringing wood in the house all winter. The wood stove is centrally located so it heated pretty well. I also have a new Munchkin boiler with baseboard, and in-floor heat that only runs for hot water, as I have the thermostat shut off.
Last year I decided to build and outdoor wood boiler and pipe it into my existing boiler system, and through the house. I ended up builder the boiler in my garage, and decided to leave it in there without the insulation on it. So last year I had a 75 degree garage all winter , and a 75 degree house all winter for $250 all season, the price of the wood because I got it in log length and blocked/split it myself. The problem I had last year was having too much heat, I literally had to install 4 cast iron radiators in my basement to dump all the excess heat that I wasn't using.
This year I am using the same set-up, but I cut all of my own wood this year for free, well, minus bar and chain oil, mixed gas, gas for the truck, and my time. So I'm looking at a $100 heating bill this year. This is a picture of what I have currently stacked, 24 inch length, mostly un-split. It's all cherry and hard maple, which are my favorite to burn. I've got about 5 full chord stacked in the yard right now, which is about half of what I cut total. Halfway there...in two days. Gonna take a couple weeks then finish the rest up.
Both taken at the same time, one is with the night time feature, which came out blurry, and the other is normal.
I have a little idea for next year, that I think I'm going to do. Pretty set on it right now. That is to re-pour my driveway(it is concrete, but getting old) with hydronic heat lines through it. With this I could be dumping all of my excess heat, and never have to shovel my driveway again
Any experience or thoughts with this?