Who burns? ... Wood that is.

[GunZ McGraw]

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[GunZ McGraw]

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[GunZ McGraw]

Father in laws a Chimney Sweep and has a hobby farm. He keeps their house heated by wood and still cooks on a wood stove. Holiday's are best walk out to the backyard kill a turkey bring it inside and cook her up!

Old school. Off with the head or a sharp object at base of brain?

 

[GunZ McGraw]

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[GunZ McGraw]

Burn apple and cherry that we get from some of the orchards nearby. Burns long and hot and makes the place smell great. But, the house isn't set up to efficiently heat on wood alone. So, it's just for ambience. Kids and I love it.

My neighbour has a overgrown apple orchard with very mature trees. Gave me all of them. Only problem is the work to get it. So much undergrowth. I've been working on it the last 5 season but don't get a lot. Tend to go for the easy stuff first. Apple is a good hardwood when seasoned and a nice blue flame.

 

[GunZ McGraw]

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[GunZ McGraw]

Wood is the primary heat source at my cottage. We try to use the electric baseboards as little as possible (for obvious reasons).

I'm in the sticks with no gas line so forced air electric is why I burn. When I do kick the furnace on you should see the hydro meter spin. Make ya dizzy & the bill makes you pass out.

 

[CruisnGrrl]

We use a wood stove to boil sap for maple syrup season; just got finished stacking a couple cords in our sugar shack in preparation for it!

While in the bush cutting wood we were keeping our eyes peeled for puffballs, but still haven't found any; anyone found puffballs yet this season? I'm hoping its just later than usual...

may have seen some in the back yard but don't trust my botany abilities to differentiate from ones that will make me sick.

 

[GunZ McGraw]

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[CruisnGrrl]

Heating oil should be cheaper this year?? Get many power outages? Hydro One's grid here is terrible. Had to put in a automatic genny running off propane. Do have the big tank now so may get a propane furnace next year..or the one after .. well someday ;-)

it would be nice if heating oil drops. it's still cheaper than electric. looked at going propane last year and then propane spiked in price. will wait until have to replace the furnace/oil tank. i am surprised the furnace can't be retrofitted to use propane, they all look the same on the outside.

have had fewer power outages since installing the wood stove... funny how that works.

 

[GunZ McGraw]

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[kwtoxman]

Got just over a half cord for this year. City house, wood fireplace ambiance. Birch, the best for this. It will give me a fire every 2 to 3 days this winter. And I have another 1/3 cord at the bottom of my stack, super seasoned, if ever needed.

And just harvested the garden today. Fall work is near done.

 

[RockerGuy]

Is wood cheaper than a gas furnace? What about insurance? Does it affect your insurance?

 

[PrivatePilot]

Nice grill! Looks like a nice dinner on there! How is the flavour off the pellets? I went to charcoal 8 years ago and will NEVER go back to gas.

The flavor is very pronounced when you smoke on it obviously, less so when you're grilling..but it's still there - no matter fast or slow you're still cooking with wood basically....except it's all push button - dead easy to use, arguably easier than a propane grill for that matter.

When using it to smoke I've had great success...here's the smoke ring in my pork butt I did a few weeks ago:

I use generic hardwood pellets, $6 for a 40 pound bag at Canadian Tire. It's also cheaper to use vs a propane grill.

 

[GunZ McGraw]

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[GunZ McGraw]

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[RockerGuy]

That depends on a few factors. You can't get much better then gas. If I had a line to tap into it would be cheaper for me. To compete you need to source your wood for free. And have someone home to feed the stove. Add costs for processing like fuel to haul it. Fuel and maintenance for the saw to buck and for the splitter. The problem is labour. If you add that in the equation your loosing money. Very labour intensive. You handle it a lot. If buying wood I think it's about $300 to $400 for 128CF split and dropped on your driveway? Thats not cheap. Other factors would be how much you burn, stove efficiency, house size and R factor. Not sure what gas is these days. Plus high efficiency direct vent units. That would be a dream ;-)

I pay insurance a $80 surcharge per year for the stove. It had to be a WETT certified installation. I get it swept every fall too. Keep receipts in safe. If I do get fire in the chimney I'm not giving them an excuse to welch.

I guess it doesn't make sense in the city. If you live out in da country then it's better.

I just moved into a new home with a gas fireplace. Just doesn't feel as good as wood

 

[GP_RZ]

i run an insert on out main floor go through 2 cords of wood a season for the house and also just started using a wood heater for my pool, sure saves me money over oil and propane. $800 worth of logs get me 7 bush cords and I split it with my buddy next door to me.

 

[CruisnGrrl]

Is wood cheaper than a gas furnace? What about insurance? Does it affect your insurance?

costs me about $25 a year extra on home insurance, how ever that's with oil being my primary heat. a full cord is $150 delivered, I get my wood from a local lumber mill. it's certainly less convenient, wood stove is good for about 6 hours.

 

[Torren]

I just moved into a new home with a gas fireplace. Just doesn't feel as good as wood

They never do. I don't understand peoples desire for gas fireplaces. Very little visual, almost no heat and definitely no character. Sure it's easy, you just flip a switch, and then get nothing.

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