Wood stoves are a very pleasant way to heat your home.
I recently installed a wood burning stove. I thought I might enjoy a fire from
time to time, but purchased it primarily so that I had a back-up heat source.
I ended up using it every day. I enjoyed using the wood stove so much that I decided to share the details.
Financial Benefit
The wood stove has paid for itself in the first year. Subsequent years will save
$2,500 at current oil prices. I bought the wood stove over the summer at
Fleet Farm for $ 600. The triple wall chimney segments, stove pipe and flashing kit were
$650 on sale.
My neighbor, who is an excellent carpenter, charged me $400 for 16 hours of time to install the woodstove . The total purchase and installation was $1650.
In the next ten years I will save roughly $25,000 on my $2,000 woodstove investment - not bad !
One of the things that prompted me to get a wood burning stove was the threat of very high oil prices.
I had read Matt Simmon’s book, “Twilight in the Desert” and became convinced that the possibility
of an energy crisis was real. It is a great feeling being immune to oil price spikes;
at least one part of the monthly budget won't be going up.
Regarding the cost of the wood, for the early winter months I used wood that I
had cut over the summer, about 2.5 cords. I obtained a permit from the local
forest service to cut dead or down trees for $30. In March, I bought a cord of
ash for $120 to get through the last cold month. That cord had an energy
equivalent of 200 gallons of heating oil. At $3.30 gallon, that is $ 660 of
energy for $120. I may have gotten a particularly good deal, but it would be a
good deal at twice the price. If you buy wood, heating with a wood stove is a bargain. If you cut it
yourself it is an extraordinary deal. It takes about 750 gallons of oil to heat
my 1200 square foot house for the year, which is about 3-4 cords of wood.
Psychological Benefit
One thing I underestimated is what a feeling of total relaxation and security watching the fire provides.
It has a primal effect on me and I am not alone; it affects the whole family in the same way, even the dog.
I think I understand where the feeling comes from after watching the show Survivorman the other day.
The show is a less staged version of Man versus wild.
Anyway, the guy was trying to start a fire in the Alaskan wild and it wasn't coming easily.
After struggling for quite some time and contemplating what a rough night he had coming if didn't get the fire going, he finally succeeded.
He was a very, very happy guy.
It has been like that for vast majority of human history; creating a fire was always a life or death proposition.
He also talked about how the flames at the door of his shelter would deter the bears that were thick in the area he was staying.
It is such a basic human instinct to enjoy a fire. Nature's Television.
It provides such a simple and base level happiness that it seems a shame not to enjoy it even if isn't necessary in modern times.
The psychological effects are still there and they are very pleasant.
Click to see a video of my wood stove:
(Windows Media Player required)
Physical Benefits
I am a software developer, so my job involves long sedentary hours at the computer.
I have sporadic luck getting myself to run and lift weights, but neither activity is much fun.
I think there must be some part of the subconscious brain
that keeps score as to whether you are actually accomplishing anything
practical when you exercise. The work associated with cutting and splitting
wood doesn't have that mental resistance. I actually look forward to it and it is a nice combination of cardio and strength training.
Running a chainsaw and chopping trees down is much more fun than I expected. Splitting
wood even more so. I am sure it is pleasing to some primitive hunter gatherer part of the brain, being outdoors and working hard.
It also feeds on a sort of pioneer vibe, you feel more self sufficient and connected to the wilderness. I have a wife and 3 sons
and it is a perfect excuse for us all to get outdoors. We always had fun as a
family going to the woods and chopping down the annual Christmas tree; now we
can have that sort of fun year round.
Other Benefits
Walking around bundled up in sweaters with the
thermostat at 65 is no way to live, yet
when I am paying $3.30 a gallon for heating oil, frugality wins out over
comfort. Now that we use a woodstove, we keep the house at about 74. I had read that heat from
wood stoves is like none other. I wasn’t sure if that would be the case, but it is
absolutely true. My wife was the toughest sell when I wanted to put the wood stove
in this summer, she did not think that we had the proper footprint
available. But now, she absolutely loves it. Beyond the warmth, EPA rated
woodstoves are optimized to produce a brilliant flame. I put a video of my wood stove further above, but as with all photography, it can’t do reality
justice. Looking into the wood stove window is amazing through the whole burn
cycle. I had seen these beautiful flames on the stove literature and I thought they must have poured gasoline in the woodstove to get the picture. Absolutely not, the woodstove is rip-roaring much of the
time. And the coaling phase may be the most beautiful of all. It glows so
brightly it looks radioactive. The house feels like a ski lodge now. This is
the first year in my life where the thought of spring is depressing.
The other nice thing about wood stoves is in the event of a power outage,
heating and cooking won’t be hindered. You can cook right on the wood stove.
To give an idea of how hot the top of the wood stove gets, three logs is roughly a low setting
on our electric stovetop and five logs equals a medium-high setting. It aggressively boils water
with 5 logs.
I can almost feel my blood pressure dropping when I sit in front of our wood stove. I
took an entrepreneurship class and the professor touted being outdoors and
being near flowing streams as maximally creative environments. I would add
sitting in front of wood stoves to that list. You really can get yourself into
a nice frame of mind looking at a fire for a few minutes.
Since burning wood this year I have become less tolerant of the noises associated
with other forms of heating. I never noticed how annoying our oil burning
furnace was until I started burning wood. Wood stoves silently crank out the
heat. I just stayed at a friend’s house and couldn’t believe the racket
associated with their natural gas, water pipe setup. Our electric baseboard
heater upstairs also produces a clanking noise. As I get
older I gain more admiration for simple things that work well. The newer EPA
approved wood stoves are a monument in that regard. The new wood stoves take in the perfect
amount of air, produce a beautiful silent flame and will do it round the clock
forever. No moving parts.
Some Negatives
Felling trees and running a chainsaw can be very
dangerous. Even if you just nick yourself with a chainsaw you are emergency-room bound,
there really isn’t such a thing as a minor chainsaw accident. You need to learn how to avoid situations
that can cause kickback.
The stove pipe and chimney do need to be cleaned annually, maybe more depending on the wood you are burning.
Wood that has not been aged will not burn as well and may deposit creosote.
Chimney fires can be terrifying, apparently, although they don’t necessarily burn the house down with the
modern triple wall chimneys. I purchased the chimney brushes for about $30 and found it to be a pretty easy task.
Cutting and stacking enough wood for the first year is a challenge, and time is working against you.
The longer the wood has been aged, the better it will burn.
The denser the wood, the longer it needs to be seasoned, so really hard woods do better after two years of drying.
Burning green wood is very frustrating, because it is difficult to start the fire and it smokes. I had a small amount of
birch that was split and stacked for 4 years and it was amazing to burn. I am sure rot will set in after a really long time, but
generally the problem is not enough seasoning.
My homeowner's insurance went up a reasonable $ 30 per year. Our insurer did need to inspect the installation
for chimney and wood stove clearances and hearth size. The hearth needs to cover the floor adequately, and must meet R-value (heat retardation) requirements.
Since our house had a radiator and door location issues, we built the hearth ourselves. I obtained ¾ inch plywood,
½ inch Durock (a non-flammable board) and then grouted tiles over the plywood
and the Durock. It made a beautiful hearth and was pretty easy.
Miscellaneous
I live in the coldest part of the lower 48, eastern North Dakota. My wood stove heated the entire 1200 square foot house even on the day it was -34
degrees (-50 with the wind chill). Our wood stove has a built-in blower on the back and we have ceiling
fans running in reverse to circulate the heat. I throw 3 logs in every 3-4
hours. Because the newer wood stoves are so efficient and burn so completely, I only have
to carry ashes out of the house about every 4th day.
The longest burn cycle we get with our medium-sized wood stove is about 6 hours,
so you could conceivably load up the wood stove and leave for the work day and
only use a small amount of your other fuel source. Burn time seems to depend on the wood density and the strength of the chimney draft. Draft gets stronger
the colder it is, as the differential between inside and outside temperature increases and there
is less resistance to heat rising. Make sure you Google how to install the chimney to ensure a optimal draft.
If you have a good draft, you can add wood and not get any smoke in the house, one of my wife's big concerns.
Wood stoves are so much better than fireplaces in that regard. They are also much more efficient.
You get roughly 30 % of the heat from a fireplace warming the house and up to 70 % from a wood stove. Less smokey and more heat is a winning combo.
If I had a fireplace to start with I would definitely buy a woodstove fireplace insert.
Speaking of smoke, I also found it amazing that most of the time there was no visible smoke coming out of our chimney if I burned seasoned wood. The EPA rated wood stoves do
an amazing job of burning not just the wood but the smoke also.
There is a learning curve for many aspects of burning wood. It took us awhile to
figure out that we can only burn light woods like cottonwood in the spring and
fall or the house gets too hot. When it gets below zero, we burn oak or ash.
Regarding chainsaw usage, the biggest pain is keeping the teeth on the chain sharp. Let
me save you some major time. I tried hand filing, which proved to be tedious,
the files would go dull. I then bought a bench grinder, which works pretty well
some of the time but I would have to take the chain off each sharpening. It is
also very easy to over file and go through chains quickly. Very, very frustrating.
Then I tried the last option. In my opinion, by far the best way sharpen chains
is to buy yourself a Dremel rotary tool and the appropriate sharpening stone
for your chain size. I used to have to change chains every 10 cuts or so. Now
that I use the Dremel method I cut up entire trees without having to change
chains. Hallelujah! I have used the same chain to cut up 4 trees, a personal
record by far. I have a 12V to 120 V converters for my
truck in case I need to sharpen in the field. I bought a knockoff Dremel and
cheap sharpening stones, which broke apart. Buy the Dremel stones. If you need
to cut costs, buy the knockoff rotary tool, but still get the Dremel stones.
I have a separate article on chainsaw sharpening here.
Another tip:
To save time and eliminate the frustration of having the fire go out a few minutes after lighting it,
I recommend you buy fatwood kindling. Fatwood comes from the stumps of pine trees.
The stumps are where much of the pine resin accumulates.
It burns like crazy.
I have tried a wide variety of fire starting products
and fatwood works the best and is all natural. I was never too excited about using chemical starters,
who knows what nasty stuff the smoke contains. I am guessing fatwood can't be too bad since it is
nature made.
Fatwood
Fatwood can be expensive, but if you buy it in bulk, it is much more
reasonable. I bought online from a site called The Fatwood Company and the product is great.
Another big problem fatwood solves is that it appreciably cuts down on the amount of smoke that comes out of the chimney during startup.
I don't like smoking out my neighbors. For the most part people would never be able to tell I am burning wood except when I first start the fire.
Without fatwood, I have visible smoke coming
out of the chimney for about 15 minutes after I first start the fire. With fatwood, the smokey
phase is limited to just a few minutes. The fire gets roaring almost immediately, and once this
occurs the modern woodstoves burn all the smoke.
Another thing I have figured out is that my wood stove does better with wood
that has been split into fairly small pieces, maybe 2x4 sized chunks. My stove
handles lengths that are 18" long, so 2"x 4"X 18". If I put 4 or 5 of these
smaller pieces in with a single piece of fatwood, I don't have to open the stove
door to add wood early in the burn cycle. This eliminates getting any smoke in
the house. I can run my wood stove without smelling any smoke if I adhere to
this technique. If I don't put enough wood into the stove at first and am forced
open the wood stove door within 15 minutes of lighting the fire, it is virtually
impossible not to get smoke in the house. Once the wood stove makes it to the
coaling phase of the burn cycle several hours later, I can open the door and add
wood without getting any smoke in the house. Once I have coals I can get away
with putting bigger logs in, so the above advice relates to starting the stove
cold .
Common Problems when operating a wood stove
There are two common problems when using a wood stove: Inadequate draft and the
wood stove not producing much heat. There are two solutions. Burn smaller pieces
of wood or burn more seasoned wood. The two solutions are intertwined in that
the smaller you split the wood the faster it will dry out. An un-split 15 inch
diameter oak log might still be green after 3 years of drying time, whereas the
same log could be dry in a month if split into 1 inch by 1 inch pieces. This is
the reason to burn smaller pieces: When more of the wood surface is exposed,
more of the log can burn at once. The more surface area burning simultaneously,
the greater the amount of air will be pulled into the stove, improving the
draft. Burning smaller pieces of wood can overcome a weak draft. I remember
reading about a forest fire where they said the flames were consuming so much
small fuel in the form of under-brush that the air rushing in to the flames was
creating 100 mile per hour winds. They said the fire was like a micro hurricane.
If you are having problems with poor draft, simulate this phenomenon by getting
more fuel burning at once to create your own little weather system in the stove.
The bottom line: Burn smaller pieces. To prove this, try taking two logs from
the same tree, split one in two and the other into 20 pieces. The two logs will
burn calmly if they are seasoned and smolder if they are not. The 20 pieces will
create a roaring fire regardless of the situation. At the extreme end of the
small pieces scale, saw dust can cause an explosion - no lack of draft in an
explosion ! The more surface area exposed, the better it will burn. Seasoning
your fire wood is the other solution. If you don't feel like spending the time
to split your wood into smaller pieces, then let time do the work. If you split
and stack your wood 2 years before you burn it, you won't believe the heat your
stove will produce. One thing that had me scratching my head was the fact that I
would occasionally put several pieces of wood into the stove and everything
looked o.k. , but the stove wouldn't get very hot. This is usually caused by
burning green wood. Most of the heat is expended driving off the moisture in the
logs. When I opened the stove door I could hear a sizzling noise. That is the
telltale sign that you are burning green wood. More often then not, if you buy
wood from someone it usually hasn't been seasoned for long. Most people selling
firewood don't cut several years in advance. Oak makes some of the hottest
burning firewood if it has been seasoned properly. But because oak is so dense,
it needs more time to dry. I had great luck with some old oak. It practically
cooked us out of the house! I was excited to get a second cord. It turns out the
second cord was freshly cut. The stove was barely warm when I burned the
unseasoned oak. The same type of wood produced both the hottest and coldest
fires I have ever burned. Seasoning was the difference. It isn't always possible
to get wood that well seasoned, but wow, what a joy it is to burn when you can.
It burns smoke free and produces tremendous heat. If you can't season your wood
that long, then try spliting it into smaller pieces. I just bought an electric
splitter and it works great for smaller pieces and pretty well with logs up to
14 inches in diameter if you split where the is a preexisting crack in the wood.
I realized that I don't enjoy using gas powered log splitters. It is really hard
to get away from the exhaust. I can't think of anything unhealthier than
breathing exhaust for 4 hours while you split up a tree, so an electric wood
splitter or using a maul are the best ways to split wood. That said, there are
some logs that require a gas powered splitter, they are impossible to split any
other way.
Summary
Installing a wood stove has allowed me to heat my home virtually for free, put my
monthly gym membership fees in the bank, sleep better, enjoy being
outdoors, get closer to my family with a fun outdoor activity and be more creative.
Use it some of the time; use it all of the time. Either way, get yourself a
wood stove. You won’t regret it.