wood stove ?

[brokeasajoke]

With older stoves you can get away with less seasoned wood. Newer air tight (EPA) stoves really need dry wood to work properly. I have both. I heat my house with an Englander 30NC and my shop with an old Sierra from the 1970s or 80s. My preferred wood is Locust. Poplar is good for short burns and shoulder season. My wife also likes it because it's light and she feeds the stove during the day.

[MOshooter]

I'd pass on the briquettes, in your area around Lebanon you have a large supply of oak and other hardwoods.

As others have said insulation always is a big improvement with comfort and heat supply costs. When burning wood outside make up air should always be installed to safely and properly heat with wood

[Bmi48219]

Are you talking about the ones that look like a pizza oven?

Like a pizza oven-entertainment center-cathedral altar, all rolled together. Even the plain ones take up a lot of space. The idea is to use a massive masonry structure to absorb and store the heat and slowly radiate it through the building.
Seen pictures of some that are really ornate, with all the fancy Czarist Russian style detail work.
Only thing I can’t figure is; with all the exhaust gas flue work and chambers running through thick, heat absorbing masonry, they must be a bugger to clean.
There are actually new plans out there based on old ‘Russian Stove’ designs. With modern materials (and no need to use them for sleeping or bathing) they could be built more compact and efficient.

[MaryB]

I can't remember where I saw the article but in one country they run the flu under the floor so it heats it, then up the wall and out the roof. The vertical section has a door to place something fast burning to get a draft started in the main stove. And acts as a clean out access for the horizontal run.

[MUSTANG]

I can't remember where I saw the article but in one country they run the flu under the floor so it heats it, then up the wall and out the roof. The vertical section has a door to place something fast burning to get a draft started in the main stove. And acts as a clean out access for the horizontal run.

Common in Korea (North and South), as well as portions of China to the North of Korean Peninsula. Called Ondol Heating. Great feeling in the dead of winter with the toes nice and toasty. Traditionally they sleep on the floor; so the heat keeps the bottom warm and heavy blanket/quilts traps the heat while sleeping.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ondol

[MaryB]

Common in Korea (North and South), as well as portions of China to the North of Korean Peninsula. Called Ondol Heating. Great feeling in the dead of winter with the toes nice and toasty. Traditionally they sleep on the floor; so the heat keeps the bottom warm and heavy blanket/quilts traps the heat while sleeping.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ondol

It was one of the Scandinavian countries in the TV show it had a 10 minute bit showing it.

[Bmi48219]

We’ve been blessed (so far) with an abundance of wood, not to mention coal and natural gas, for heating and cooking. In many European, Asian and Eurasian countries the forests have long ago been harvested or reserved for the wealthy and governments. In England cutting firewood, or even just picking up dead wood, in the King’s forest was a capital crime. Alternative fuels and wringing the last btu out of what you had, made a lot of sense.
The American way is to build a super efficient furnace that relies on chips and mother boards to run at all. The result is using less fuel but massive repair bills.
My mother was raised dirt poor in Southern Pa. She once talked about how her brothers would climb up on top coal cars on the train tracks to kick coal off the piles. The railroad detectives would run them off but in the evening the kids would come back and pick the coal up off the tracks to heat their shack.

[atr]

if you have the correct type stove, i.e. one made to burn coal you idea should work but it would be expensive. Cheaper to just buy coal which is still available. Just make sure your stove is able to burn coal, not wood burning stoves re made to burn coal.

[Alex_4x4]

...
Only thing I can’t figure is; with all the exhaust gas flue work and chambers running through thick, heat absorbing masonry, they must be a bugger to clean.
...

A lot depends on the quality of the firewood and the proper operation of the wood-burning stove. There is a complete analogy with the internal combustion engine of a car - fill the car’s gas tank with good fuel, do not skimp on high-quality motor oil, observe the timing and types of car maintenance, and the car will serve you for a long time and without unpleasant surprises. A wood stove is not a fire in a landfill for burning garbage - if you accept this and operate the wood stove correctly, then there will be no problems.

[JFoster48386]

Interesting thread. One of our daughters just bought a large Victorian homestead. The main house uses in floor radiant heating on three floors, a large wood burner on the first floor, vent-less gas fireplaces on two more floors and electric baseboard heat as a supplement. The fourth floor is plumbed for gas heating but isn't heated. The second building uses electric baseboard and another large wood burner for heat. The barn is getting a new wood burner soon too. A mini split will probably get worked into the mix at some point as well. They are going to see how the first year goes before making any major changes.

Jon.

[.429&H110]

+1 What Alex said!

I found out I could get wood (beech) too dry
"Destructive distillation" with excess air, I was never airtight, had a draft fan on startup
made enough tar to sell. Never did have a chimney fire, but I was primed for one.
(Burned Aspen for a week, the alkaline ash powdered the slime, flaked it off..)
(Mom liked to have Tremuloides for her fireplace, we made lots)

I got a handheld probe, jab the wood it magically reports 18% and that wood burned clean.
I set up in the cellar two wood bins and ducted hot air under them from the wood furnace
Last winters beech made the house smell like beech not good not bad, it went away.

But but but after kiln drying a month the beech got down to10% and slimed the chimney.

I burned 7 cords a year, figured $0.20 a stick, 28"x8"x8" 300+ to a cord about 2800 lbs a cord, green.
Was fun for a decade, free trees, free recovered coal furnace, free labor? Nothing's free.
(Splitter- chainsaws- gasoline- tractor- truck the sticks home...)(everything breaks)
Nothing is free except sunshine and God's Smile.
No, it's 91F today, physical therapy floating in the pool, no more ice storms for me, thank you Lord.

[ulav8r]

Dad and a bunch of other soldiers tried to spend the night in a Korean farmhouse during the winter. The owners had left the area and no one had paid close attention to how the fireplace worked. It was very cold so they built a big fire and sacked out inside. 2 or 3 hours later they had to move outside because the floor was too hot.

[.429&H110]

NH was fun for a couple decades long ago...
Once, only once, I had a sweet drop dead gorgeous redheaded babysitter. Oh, my.
My bachelor boss forever wanted to go to my house for lunch.
Like a dog chasing a schoolbus...

Pits of winter, at 10AM Judy would toss two sticks into the wood furnace and open all the windows.
From the street we could see the heat shimmering over the house as all the ice dams fell off.
Furnace was a 1926 American Standard coal furnace with a main blower added later
I pulled the thing out of a church cellar in pieces, a ton of riveted steel
(Installed a neat little oil furnace in the church, fast air exchange, efficient)

I guess I coulda fired that old furnace to at least 200kBTU with oil
Wood would be half that in a 2400 sq' insulated ranch style house so was plenty of furnace
using the uninsulated full cellar for a dump zone, I moved down there where it was quiet
I put a dishwasher dryer fan on the bottom door powered by a one shot relay to the plenum switch
Add wood push a button, the little fan would fire up and shut off at 120F.
Main blower had a plenum switch, would flap the toilet paper in the bathroom.
I don't think I had $20 in the project, 'cause I never had $20, I had 4 kids.
I was pulling out and replacing old furnaces, scrounging firebrick, wire, ductwork.
Boss was a Tarm dealer, Passat dealer, drat those are heavy...

Being a thrifty yankee, I cut a boot into the back of my drier ran 10" duct to the furnace
I had twins in cloth diapers, set the drier to air fluff, open the damper
presto hot dry diapers in half an hour! Sheets towels work clothes free heat! Hat's off!
But no... hat's back on... would melt nylon into a hot sticky ball at max Q, oops
what could go wrong? Gotta close the damper sometimes.

Furnace came with a giant 1960's Arco oil burner that I donated to the museum at the Voc-Tech
I later found the burned out coal grates buried behind the church
(I was married in that church, did chores, renovated the basement)

I didn't think the furnace was heavy enough so I put a quarter ton of sand in the bottom
the sand holding a vee of firebrick 30" long so I cut 24-28" sticks
The sand stayed hot all winter...kept the chimney drafting.
The house was built with electric heat, power is not cheap in NH

Spring and fall I could heat with junk mail, remember junk mail?
I cut up and burned a particle board pool table, felt, bumpers and all
even some broken furniture, if you aren't airtight anything is fair.
Even tried some anthracite when I found the grates,
but that was silly, burning $20 coal in a coal stove.

Never even made a dent in that woodlot, just a road.
Got some complaints because I was next to a wetland without a permit.
Don't need a permit, not selling it. Get one anyway? Bah humbug on greenies anyway.
Parts of my dad's deed to that lot were 1790AD
And the townies considered me a flatlander. Ayuh. Yam wut a yam.

The beech came back up thickets of root suckers, flowered made beechnuts, made deer, made ticks.
It's quite the suburban deer yard now, three houses on it. Dad sold, went to FL.

I cut in February with snow on the ground because of ticks
Started out the project summer vacations, but every year the ticks were bad to worse.
Work slowed down in mud season a swell time for a vacation.
So as soon as the snow started to melt, it's logging time in the mud.
Free wood, anybody?

[AlaskaMike]

I can't remember where I saw the article but in one country they run the flu under the floor so it heats it, then up the wall and out the roof. The vertical section has a door to place something fast burning to get a draft started in the main stove. And acts as a clean out access for the horizontal run.

Yeow! I would hope that's engineered right, otherwise it sounds like a recipe for a house fire!

In my younger days I actually planned out running soft copper tubing for the cold water intake for my hot water heater to first make 8 - 10 coils around our wood stove chimney before it transitioned to insulated pipe. The idea being that the cold water would be pre-heated by the wood stove before entering the hot water heater, reducing our gas load.

I never made it very far with the idea, but I always thought it might be interesting.

[cwtebay]

Yeow! I would hope that's engineered right, otherwise it sounds like a recipe for a house fire!

In my younger days I actually planned out running soft copper tubing for the cold water intake for my hot water heater to first make 8 - 10 coils around our wood stove chimney before it transitioned to insulated pipe. The idea being that the cold water would be pre-heated by the wood stove before entering the hot water heater, reducing our gas load.

I never made it very far with the idea, but I always thought it might be interesting.

My first house had a water back in it. It would fill from the well pump pressure and would circulate when I got the wood / coal fired kitchen range going. The copper tubing formed a grill on the back side of the stove, there were lines into the two bedrooms that would give off heat, the balance could be used to draw a bath. The water would vary between nice to OH MY GOSH hot. Got used to it, burned a lot of old cedar posts and hedge. Hedge was terrible!!! It would burn hot enough to be able to push a nail through the glue pipe!

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[pmer]

https://www.nitterhousemasonry.com/o...k-flue-liners/

I grew up in a 2 story farmhouse with a wood stove in the basement. We had a cement chimney like in the link above. It went up the middle of the house, 3 stories worth plus a few feet above the peak. We didn't have hardly any issues with draft or smoke or fresh air but I suppose newer homes are more air tight. It was burning wood all the time in the winter and the chimney outlasted wood stoves. We'd pull a scraper through it occasionally for cleaning and would it survive a smaller chimney fire BUT that's not the way to clean them! When it was burning in the chimney it sounded different and it was pulling more air through the stove. You could shut the air off by closing up the wood stove. This wasn't a common event for us but it's something to keep in mind if you are new to wood heat.

My dad had a fire in the chimney one time when I was away in the Army and it got so hot the chimney cracked. Fire department put it out and he was burning wood again with a new cement chimney. Wet wood was avoided and no wood from pine trees.

Insulated that shed and match the size of the stove to the square footage.