Wood heating for less
How will you heat your house when the power goes out? Do you have access to cheap or free firewood? Have you considered installing a wood stove and you don’t have much money?
First of all, what is needed to heat with firewood? Well, to start with, you need a good, approved wood stove. Why certified? Because they use less than half the wood used by the previous generation of wood-burning stoves, they don’t expel clouds of unburned soot as they burn, and they also have close clearances to fuels, some as much as 4″. Virtually all have a ceramic window that looks like glass but is impervious to heat, through which you can enjoy the fire and keep up with the need to adjust the kindling or feed more. I don’t recommend getting a stove with a catalytic combustor as they are more expensive and have decreasing efficiency. The efficiency of a stove without a combustor never changes and the newer standards have been met without combustors since 1992, when the current EPA standards were established. The fire chamber of certified stoves is designed to burn wood efficiently without smoldering, even when completely turned off. This gives you more heat from each piece of wood while exhaust is cleaner and hotter, virtually eliminating creosote buildup in your chimney. By the way, never connect a certified stove with a 6″ exhaust to an 8″ pipe. Due to designed burning, all certified stoves are designed for a 6″ chimney, which has a stronger draft than an 8″ chimney. Be sure to use the listed stovepipe and allow for clearances in the pipe and stove for safe installation. Your insurance company may deny a claim caused by a stove that is improperly installed or does not meet all authorizations. Also, I recommend a wind directional swivel cap on all wood stove installations. They are the solution for drafts caused by a strong wind coming down the chimney and filling the house with smoke.
Once installed, a wood stove can give you a lifetime of trouble-free service. So why don’t more people heat with wood? Probably because it’s not comfortable, it’s messy, it takes up space, etc. While this is true, I would like to say how comforting it is to have my three cords of firewood winterized, knowing that if a storm or blizzard blows or the power goes out (sometimes for days), my family and I will be hot and we can cook our food on our trusted stove. Our children remember those moments as special, all in the same room not far from the stove while outside the snow piles up and the wind blows. There is nothing like the warmth of wood to soothe the soul and warm the body!
If you can’t afford a new wood stove, keep your eyes peeled on Craigslist or eBay for a good deal on a used stove. Last week I called a newer Lopi for $400 but someone offered them $450 and they took it. It was an $1800 stove when it was sold new 4 years ago and hardly used. I’m always looking for used stoves for friends and sometimes I’ll trade one in for a profit. If you buy a used range manufactured after July 1, 1992, it will meet the new Phase II standards. Washington is the only state that has its own standards, which are now 4.5 grams per hour (gph) of particles. Most new and some used stoves will meet this standard. Check out “EPA Certified Stoves” online if you find a used stove you’re considering.
It is true that firewood takes up a lot of space. There’s no way to avoid it. If you live in the city, you may have to get creative to make the space. Perhaps the lumber can be stored under a second-story deck, against a garage wall, or even in the basement. If you live in the country, a shed roof can be attached to a barn to make a stylish wooden shed. On my house, I installed a metal roof under an overhead deck and kept a whole bead of oak just outside the door. In the cold of winter I don’t have to go far to get more firewood. The other two cables are stowed under an overhang on the far side of the barn and wheelbarrowed up when necessary. By the way, I have never burned 3 whole strings. That’s my extra margin of safety!
Inside the house, I store a week’s supply of firewood near the stove in purpose-built brick containers. The raised hearth is 3 1/2″ thick concrete and filled with rebar, allowing me to split firewood right on the hearth. Under the fireplace there is a large drawer for firewood where I also keep the paper. The implements hang from hooks nearby. I use a coal hood to remove the ash and carry more firewood.
Lighting the fire in the morning is a special ritual for me. After heating with wood for more than 25 years, one thing I am clear about is starting a fire. I always start by using at least two pieces of wood, 1 of them large and the other smaller and facing each other. I split the kindling into chips for initial starting and add larger pieces until ignition is achieved. The smaller logs start first and the larger one ignites soon after. My favorite wood to burn is oak. It burns longer and smells better than anything else in these places. My favorite wood stove is a Brass Flame. Of course they’re certified, they’re built like a Sherman tank, they have a double air vent for quick fire starts, they look good and burn efficiently. I have found used ones for several friends and family. I have a bit of a bias in this department; my brother developed the Brass Flame and it was the first stove to pass emission standards without a catalytic combustor. All certified stoves on the market now copy their combustion process, the big secret being a lot of secondary and tertiary air. He made 10,000 of them before selling them to Earth Stove, who made them for a few years and then sold them to a larger company, which dropped the line. They come in 2 models, the 805 (smaller) and the 1005. If you can find one, you won’t be disappointed! Expect to pay between $150 and $500.
When heating with wood, it’s a good idea to keep a pot of water on the stove to replace the moisture removed by dry heat. An old cast iron teapot serves this purpose. Another useful addition is a ceiling fan, placed near the stove and used to move heat away from the stove. Without a fan, it takes much longer for the heat to fill the house. Since heat seeks cold, it eventually warms the place up, but in the dead of winter, who wants to wait? This little addition makes a big difference!
One more thing that makes a big difference in helping to heat your home more efficiently is bringing outside air directly into the stove. This is required on mobile homes and all new homes, but it’s a good idea in any home. If you have a crawl space under your house, a 3″-4″ pipe in the crawl space is adequate for this purpose. In my case, I put a 4″ pipe in the open air before pouring the slab. Pedestal stoves are designed for outdoor air, but stoves with legs will need to be adapted. Special outdoor air adapters can be ordered or made for any range.
To clean ceramic glass in the morning when the stove is cool, I simply take a piece of newspaper dipped in water and emulsify the creosote, scraping it off with a razor. Even the best stoves accumulate in the window.
I hope these tips are helpful. I cannot stop sharing the primary satisfaction that I feel when heating with firewood. This is how our ancestors heated and cooked their food until the last century and many in the world still do. To me, it looks like the way God intended it to be!
