My fellow wood burners!

[hex0rz]

So I'll fill you in a little so you get an idea of what's going on. Back in start of August we found a house and bought it. It was darn near everything we've always wanted. It has wood heat and electric heat on the furnace.

I knew that the furnace would be expensive to run so I went for wood heat by default. we've always wanted wood heat!

So we ordered a log truck load of wood and had it dumped at the house. 10 cord of paper birch. With all move ins things get hectic. But I finally managed a day where I could get a big group together to help with the wood since it was so late on the year.

Managed to muster up about 10 or so people. But it ranged from 4year old's to 50 something year old's with emphysema and a handicap from their leg.

Haha, what a combination.. I was the only one able to run a saw and a neighbor Running a splitter. The rest just stacked wood.

We managed to put Back what looked and calculated out to be 4 cord in 6 hours.

Now, it was just sitting and letting it season. Fast forward to now, when the temps are really dipping down. A lot of wood had time to season up pretty good. But the other stuff didn't. I'm sitting on half seasoned wood with winter staring me in the face.

If I run the furnace for heat, I know the Bill Will skyrocket. The previous owners highest electric Bill was in middle of winter at 650!!!

They must have liked it warm!

I've been burning quite frequently now trying to keep wood in the stove at all times for burning. My coal pile is getting so big I can barely get more wood in.

The temps are dipping into the 20s, and I'm struggling to keep this 2500 square foot house warmer than 60!

I've got fans pushing all the air around I can and using the furnace on fan to get the air into every bit of space that the fans can't.

The woodstove is a Quadrafire 4300 and I'm slightly impressed with it. It says in the manual it can heat a house this big, but I'm having a hard time believing it. I've been Running it as high as I can without over firing it and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I'm looking at getting a different stove. I've always wanted a blaze king and their king model is exactly what I want.

The stove isn't in our budget this year so I gotta figure out what to do as we can see negative Temps for weeks during winter peak.

We're running around in layers but in reality with wood heat we just shouldn't have to do that. I want to cook myself out of the house!

Also, unless I go retrieve my own wood, loggers don't sell anything else around here for firewood except the paper birch.

I was thinking my best bet would be to buy a cord of wood and hope for the best. Anyone burning got ideas?

I sure hope next years season Will be better!

[Mopar1973Man]

As I sit here tonight I'm sitting in my chair with shorts and tee shirt on nearly sweating at 79-82*F inside the house burning Red Fir. No fans needed it just cooking hot most of the time in here. I'm having to throttle back the stove to keep from roasting to death upstairs.

Another secret we close down the rooms not used and only heat the living areas we are using. The use the cooled rooms to throttle the temperature in the main living area.

[JAG1]

Anthony I sent you a message

Edited November 23, 2015 by JAG1

[AH64ID]

I haven't ever burned much birch, is it a hot enough wood?

Are all the bedrooms closed? We heat with pellets and it does wonders for the house especially with the bedrooms closed. We also sleep better with the bedrooms in the 50's and so do the kids. 

[hex0rz]

It's a 3bd 2ba with two living rooms. The only room not used is the extra bedroom. 

http://firewoodresource.com/firewood-btu-ratings/

According to this, it burns just as hot as red fir.

I do like the bedroom cooler, but the master bathroom and toilet room is nippy. It sucks taking a hot shower then stepping out and knotting up from the cold.

I really think allot of it has to do with the stove. I think it's got too small a firebox, and I think they're focused too much on trying to make the fire burn clean.

Jag, if you think it can't be said, pm me and tell me.

[Wild and Free]

I have a pretty small house @ about 1100 square feet including the entryway where the stove is on main level and my wood stove is in the entryway and we primarily burn either Chinese elm or cotton wood. cotton wood cures fast and burns super hot and fast and gets the house HOT real fast, Chinese elm is a medium speed burning wood and about medium heat. If its sub zero and we are home for a few days we burn cotton wood if its around zero to teens we burn Chinese elm above 20 we do not use the wood stove as it gets too hot too fast and is un-tolerable in our small house. I Tend to try and mix it 50/50 to get good heat with a bit longer burn per stoke seems to work ok for us.

Edited November 23, 2015 by Wild and Free

[Mopar1973Man]

Kind of like myself I burn alpine fir and spruce for my mild fuel not as pitchy as red fir. So alpine fir and spruce I can throttle stove back more without ceosote issues. Then now with the cold nights the red fir burns hotter keeping the house toasty.

[LiveOak]

her0z,

I had a similar issue when we moved into our house.  Have you checked to see what kind and how much attic insulation you have?  Fortunately for us, the house was already equipped with a Clayton wood furnace that had enough surplus capacity to over power the lack of (read NO attic insulation) insulation.  When I put a new roof on the house, I had R-40 insulation blown into the attic and WOW!  What a difference that made!  My wood consumption drastically dropped to near half of what I was burning.  I am also going on the presumption that the wood you are burning is properly cured and not wet.  That I am sure you know will kill the heat output. 

[hex0rz]

I think I May have figured out my problem.

Before buying the house, we had An inspector and engineer look at the house. The engineer said it was one of the best manufactured home he's ever seen. Especially insulation. He said he was impressed with the r value and the snow load rating.

It doesn't have an attic space. It's a triple wide though and I'm thinking it has at least 12 inches or more of insulation.

I Found my moisture meter but don't have batteries for it. Will be checking my wood out and see if I need to buy a couple cords of dry wood from someone.

But life I said previously, I think I May have figured out my problem. I stuck some wood in the stove and it got going but not like I hoped. It was more like I was not getting air. Even the smoke would come out more then usual despite opening The door slowly.

So I found that the previous owners had installed the stove and installed the fresh air kit and routed the intake through the floor under the crawl space.

I just went outside and popped one of the crawl space vents. Holy cow! With the stove turned all the way down, it is still burning hot! I'm on my way to cooking myself out of the house!

I can't believe what a difference it made by just opening a vent!

[dorkweed]

[Mopar1973Man]

It would be best to ditch the cold air intake for the wood stove. Pre-heated air for the wood stove will allow you to throttle back more without creosote issues and you won't have to sweat to death either.

(Back fire fighting training)

You need to pre-heat your fuel to make the wood burn. This why like house fires and forest fire burn so well in the summer time because all the fuel is pre-heated to 100 plus degrees. Now in the winter time even camp fire have trouble burning because of the cold air taking away pre-heat ability of the fire. More prone to stalling out a fire with cold air. Like ventilating a house fire your pushing the pre-heated air and gasses out so the fire can't spread.

So I would pull that cold air intake off the stove and allow the warm inside air to feed the stove works much better!

Edited November 23, 2015 by Mopar1973Man

[JAG1]

Mobile homes are supposed to have the cold air intake Mike. That is a code special to manufactured homes..

 

Anthony, dont modify a Stove designated for a manufactured home, that was a mistake that I suggested earlier.

Could run that CAR to the outside.

Edited November 23, 2015 by JAG1

[Mopar1973Man]

Wow! A normal sticks & bricks home its OK to pull from inside? Building codes are all whacked...

[dorkweed]

I use an OAK.......Outside Air Kit..........on my stove.  Really cut down on the "draftiness" in my house.  My house is much warmer now.

 

Think of it this way..................if you're using your heated inside air for your stove, where does the air that "replaces" your heated inside air come from??????  It comes from the outside, thru all the little nooks, crannies, and gaps in your house.  That's also why it gets so dry inside your homes in the Winter.  You're pulling outside air into your homes which has almost no moisture in it;  and warming it up, which makes it even drier................relative humidity.

4 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

It would be best to ditch the cold air intake for the wood stove. Pre-heated air for the wood stove will allow you to throttle back more without creosote issues and you won't have to sweat to death either.

 

If you're getting creosote buildup, you're burning wood that's not truly seasoned yet IMHO.

[Mopar1973Man]

It's way seasoned! It was harvested back in April of the year and allowed all summer to cure/season out. Hardwood vs softwood is different too. Softwood has a pitch factor that can be bonus and hindrance. Bonus for getting the fire lit with just a match and no paper. Also can become extremely hot burning rapidly which most will choke down a stove to hold some sort of comfort. Pyrometer of the stove drops too low then the creosote will start to build. So out here its about burning the right wood for the temperature outside. 

As for drawing in a draft we like a little fresh air once in awhile and been known to open the front door leaving the storm door shut and just sliding the glass pane down one notch. As for moisture and humidity it holds a good 35-40% in the house with normal living, showers, etc. The only time we really tighten up everything temps fall below 0*F which is rare. Heck today its 44*F out and snow is basically gone.

So what about a fire place? Hmmm?

Edited November 23, 2015 by Mopar1973Man

[dorkweed]

Houses that run fireplaces often have a "net heat loss" in the house as a whole............although the fireplace room way be warm.

 

 

If possible, save a cord or 2 of your "softwoods" Mike...............and let them "season" another year..............burn them next year.   I think you'll find much, much less build up in your chimney!!!

 

I know I posted the pictures here when I swept my chimney after last season...........what was it...........less than 5 cups of stuff that looked like coffee grounds???

[Mopar1973Man]

Kind of like the spruce that's been laying in my yard for almost 2 years now and just about turning rotten / punky. Softwood tend so get punky faster depending on the location it stored also the bred of wood it is too. Creosote level is based on the pitch content also. Like this piece will roll coal by itself. Also noticed I split that piece smaller so it could be used for start wood. Highly flammable and extremely smoky.

Again softwood dries very rapidly typically a full summer of 100+ temps it bone dry by fall. All my wood is stored in a cover shed and I usually get the wood gather and split in the shed by late spring.

Here is the scraps of this years logs. Still needing to be bucked and split.

 

Edited November 23, 2015 by Mopar1973Man

[Killer223]

Very bad idea to pull air form inside the house.. always use a cold air kit if you can.

why pull air from every air leak in the house to heat it up and sent it up the pipe? this will keep a cold stream of air always entering the house.

when i switched to a cold air kit on my stove i burned 1/4 the amount i did the year prior. so much better to have cold air kit.

[Mopar1973Man]

Not happening.

Both houses (stove above) and a shop stove. Heat two houses with 6-8 cords of wood. These stove are bulletproof. This main house stove will run you out if you turn it up and plug in the blower.

 

Edited November 24, 2015 by Mopar1973Man

[Wild and Free]

My stove is old school too, no way to add an outside air source although mine sits between to windows less than 2 feet on either side of it so if I need a bit of air I can just crack one of the windows.