Monday, January 18, 2016

The Annual Firewood and Wood Furnace Evaluation





You haven't seen me whine or complain about firewood much this year. Other than logging in the times when I went and cut or split I have barely mentioned it because this has been a pretty normal year truth be told. Perhaps a bit towards the warmer than usual honestly but when it has gotten colder it has mostly stayed in the normal cold range for our area.

Unlike the 2013 to 2014 Winter with all those Northern Clippers coming down back to back that stayed for literally a week or more, this Winter has been much closer to the norm. We have had maybe two days with temperatures down into the single digits and last night was the first time we dipped below zero. That's as it should be around here and what we are best prepared for.




After the 2013 - 2014 Winter I came very close to chucking the entire outside wood furnace idea into a dumpster. I have been using this furnace for quite a few years now but that year fully showed me it's true limitations as I went through more firewood that year than an old fashioned steam engine would use to travel across the nation. Twice.

I was literally opening up the burn box and chucking it in non-stop while having to over ride the automatic air flow controls and burn it with the vent wide open as well. The real issue was that when the wind blew in hard and cold over the blower motor it would never heat up enough to allow the thermostat to kick in. There were a few times I thought I was going to burn the firebox out of the thing while the thermostat still insisted it wasn't warm enough to kick on.

I went through a complete set of 1 inch iron grate bars that year if that tells you anything.

This year however has been much closer to normal and it's only fair to sing the old wood furnace some praise for a change.

We have went through very little wood this year and until last night have not experienced the thermostat issues we got back in 2013 - 2014. Even last night the problem was very short lived and I was able to determine that the temps need to be in the single digit or below with a wind speed out of the North in excess of 20MPH in order to begin causing problems.

Since the 2013-2014 Winter I have also been able to once again build up my emergency reserve as well. I actually dipped into it twice this Winter due to time restraints of my work schedule but even with that I am back up to at least a month or more of firewood in reserve. Considering I burned every stick of wood I had cut on this place by Spring of 2014 it's coming back fairly well.




All in all I must say that while I still in fact use more firewood overall burning the furnace as opposed to the inside wood stove I used to run, the extra amount of work is well worth it under normal circumstances and as long as I have fuel to run the chainsaws and such. It keeps the entire house very comfortable instead of just a room or two.

But I keep the inside wood stove operational just in case!!!!

In a grid down situation or a repeat of what we had back in 2013-2014 we will be damned glad to have it to fall back on.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!


14 comments:

  1. Definitely nice to have wood stove heat as an option. We lost power twice this week and were thankful for heat and a cooking surface!
    I used the sun oven again today. I cooked one of our roosters in it. Cooked from 10 - 2. Temps ranged from 18 to 24 and it was windy. Temps in the oven hit 300* and stayed stable. The chicken for dinner perfectly... I was really pleased because I wasn't sure it would get done with it being so cold and windy.

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    1. Lisa - That's interesting. I really need to look into one of those solar ovens. What brand/model did you get?

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  2. It is getting cold again here so I have 2 stoves going and can bring a 3rd online if need be.
    We butchered and cooked 14 roosters today and I will be canning tomorrow, it must have been the day to process roosters in VA, mainly because my helper was off for the day.

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    1. Sf - Damn that's a lot of butchering. I hate butchering lol. Always have ever since I was a kid.

      Looks like you guys got this storm hitting us now coming your way before the week is done too.

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    2. They say that the storm coming here is still over near CA and NV now, not sure why we won't get your storm. I got sprayed with rooster blood and forgot to switch coats and wore the thing into the grocery store this afternoon. Some lady was giving me a look while in line but didn't ask if it was blood.
      It was not fun for sure, those birds would run down the hill with their heads cut off. I canned half of them today and more tomorrow, should end up with 36 pints of meat and maybe 21 quarts of broth. The leg bones were about 8 inches on some of them, big birds.

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  3. hey - you KNOW not to chuck anything out - LOL!!!

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  4. It hit 50* today and for a couple of hours when the rain let up, the bees all had a chance to fly. Positively balmy!

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    1. MV - Haven't seen my girls fly in over two weeks now. I suspect they were out last week when it got warm but I was stuck at work :(

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  5. Its been a mild winter here we have the wood burning range in the kitchen that heats radiators upstairs and our hot water its on 24/7 we also have a wood burner in the living room, last year I was lighting the small woodburner in the living room in the morning as well but not this year its late afternoon its lit ready for the evening, we are still seasoning wood and next winter will see us use logs properly on rotation, it has taken us 2 years to get this set us

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    1. Dawn - I cut so much standing dead wood I have to evaluate each tree as I cut it. Some I allow to cure a bit longer and some I split in Spring and let sit while some goes right into burning. Usually the Oak I let sit while Elm goes right into the fire and I split as I need it.

      Haven't fired up the inside stove in almost two years now though.

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  6. We had a chinook sweep through yesterday and in less than 3 hours we went up 20 degrees and then last night the wind shifted, the chinook went away and the temp drop back to -20C.

    Spring is still way off. Sigh.

    Exile1981

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    1. Exile - By chinook you mean a storm or the helicopter?

      We are getting pelted with snow this evening. Looks like we may get more snow than they were forecasting too. Still pretty cold barely out of the teens today.

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  7. Hey, thanks for sharing your log-splitting story. As a fellow prepper, I don't like having to be reliant on any outside assistance that I can instead produce on my own. The self-sustainability of being able to chop wood for fuel is a great survivability asset for anyone who values backup plans in life.

    Jodi Bennett @ Marsh Heating

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