I'm 75.Been burning wood for 45 years. Cut, split, the whole shebang. First rule is, quit counting the 10 to 12 times you handle every gulldag piece of wood. And two, it's not about the money, it's about the life. 😊
Amen! Our main motivation was the self sustainability aspect! Awesome to hear at 75 you are still active active and able to buck the wood! I hope that when I am 75 I will be active and still able to split wood!
When my grandkids come over they stick their cold butts by the fireplace. My wife enjoys the wood heat and I do too. It's so damned right that I don't mind all the work I do to keep it going. Being able to heat the house up where it's cozy warm is nice. Tip: use a Mapp torch to light fires. Time saver.
My sons split wood with me and their grandpa they share his secrets today that my dad shared with me and I’m reminded that our way of life continues. I split wood with my grandfather also.
Wood heat is definitely a way of life more so than a money thing. And if you have to buy the wood then you may as well pay the utility company and save a lot of work. I figure handling 4-5 times (If you're cutting straight from the tree + splitting) is about right, just gotta avoid the excess handlings as much as possible.
(4) When you carry the wood and put it in the stove. 5) When you shovel out the ashes. (6) When you clean the dust and ash from the room. (7) When give the chimney/pipe its annual cleaning.
I grew up heating with wood. Now I'm 65 and still heating with wood. I clean the ash once a month if it needs it or not. I don't count how many pieces I burn a day, and never have. I just keep the fire going 24-7 in the winter. Last winter got down to -30 and average temp inside was 70-75 degrees. If I get carried away, sometimes it will reach 80. Then I'm opening a window or two. You can't beat the heat a wood stove puts out. It makes my house a home.
Do you have to keep the bedroom doors open to get the heat distributed if your main heating source is the wood stove? I currently use propane for my home and is interested in going with wood stove for heating.
@@MyDeere3320 We're also installing some small vents above the woodstove with a forced air fan to blow the rising heated air into the bedrooms and baths.
We bought 7 acres in SW Washington with Alder, Maple, Hemlock, fir, and cedar. Alder grows fast, is heavy with water when first cut, burns good when dry, but leaves a lot of ash in the firebox. I would burn hemlock/fir at night to bank the fire and make an easy start in the morning. It also cleaned out some of the ashes, but we used the ashes in the garden to good effect. Good logs, including maple and alder, I would take down to the local mill and sell. But, mostly, we burned the wood for 17 years and loved it! Wood stove with a brick surround, heated the whole house.
With over 25 yrs. of wood burning, here's my take on the situation. Before I retired, I bought a wood splitter. I knew that there would come a day when an axe and a maul would be a little more than I could handle. On the two "homesteads" I have lived during that time, I was always on the lookout for trees blown down by bad weather or died in place. Those were always targeted for firewood. I probably haven't bought over 4 cords of firewood since I started burning wood. The rest always came off my own land or, occasionally, off the land of others living in my area. When it comes to starting a fire, it takes me lass than 2 minutes. When splitting the firewood, I save all splinters and bark that I get when splitting the logs. That is my kindling and there's always plenty of it. Toss it in the stove, hit it with a hand held propane torch, and add logs...that's it. However, I must admit, I only use the wood stove once the temps have reached the point that they are consistently below 45 degrees in the day time.
I'm a 79 yr. old widow lady. Been using an Ashley wood stove for 40 + years. When my husband was alive, he cut all our wood for the winter from our own land. He would cut a year in advance, beginning in the spring of each previous year. It was my job to load the truck, then to stack into ricks. I still burn wood when the temps. stays continuously in the 30 range. I myself, haul the wood into the house, load stove 2 -3 times daily, empty ashes as needed, rain, snow, sleet, or hail. Young fell, I'm surprised by your video, and the complaining. With all respect, us old folks just don't whine when it comes to staying warm with just a little work. Just be grateful. 🇺🇸 p.s. Oh yes, when I purchase the wood from the Feed store, I also unload and stack the wood myself. It may take 2 days, but I don't ask for help. Have a Blessed day.
@@Coyotes-galore I think you may have missed the point of the video. I knew it was going to be work heating with wood. I had never burned with wood as a primary heat source before and some things were a little more work than I expected. The video was for those considering wood heat and to help them understand it’s not just simply light a fire and your done.
I only heated a cabin in Vermont with a wood stove, for a week, on vacation, but realized that watching a burning fire at night is a more wholesome, primal comfort and entertainment than watching TV could ever be.
I can’t wait for woodstove season to start each year. I love splitting and stacking in the summer, I love naps in front of the fire, I love a cup of tea and a good book in front of the fire! There is no downside to a woodstove.
1st year with my wood stove and i LOVE it . the life style,,,the labor/work of cutting/splitting,, and seeing my electric bill go from 350$/month to 70$/month is a huuuge bonus !
My first husband (deceased) introduced me to heating with wood stoves. I fell in love. I've never regretted a moment of helping load, stack, drive, deliver loads with him and stack up our own abundant supply. The warmth of wood heat over any other heat source is no contest. It is physically and emotionally warming, and it is mentally rewarding, knowing that in the Midwest, whatever kind of storms or other events might knock out the electricity, I didn't have to worry about pipes or family members freezing. We had to leave our house and stay with family one time due to no electricity and no running water for 3 days, crazy low temps, and little ones in the house. My husband stayed at the house and kept the wood stove going and we had no frozen pipes and no other damage. Couldn't say the same for others in the community. Second husband and I will be moving back to the Midwest to retire soon, and we've already planned the wood stove install for the retirement home that we bought. It seems like insanity to me to have a home in a 4 Season region of the country without a wood stove for back up and for the unbeatable comfy warmth. As for the energy expenditure of keeping up with it, I'm a believer in use it or lose it. I want to keep a wood stove for the same reason some people get a dog. Walk the dog daily or maintain wood supply and tend the stove. Another plus is the ash for the growing things!
We live in North Idaho where we can easily get winter storms. I absolutely can’t imagine living without a stove. We can use for heat and cooking when electricity is out. Saves us Bunch of $. That being said I’m blessed with a strong husband who can bring in heavy logs from the state property near us. My 2 sons are helping him split and stock. I love to help with any of that prep and split too. But my retired parents live in Suburbs of Seattle and I don’t see how they can be able to have a wood stove at all! No yard for keeping it even if someone else did all the chopping. In their case electricity will cost less than paying someone else to maintain their wood supply/stove. So it really is a way of life!
Definitely love the woodstove. I am in my 6th year of heating my home only with wood. I always think about the time and energy expenditure it takes. But the amount I would pay to heat my home the modern, normie way, exceeds what I would make at a part time job. I spend maybe on average throughout the year 20 hours a month gathering, cutting, splitting, stacking, and bringing the wood indoors. The time spent tending the stove is relaxing and not counted as worked hours. Get yourself a chair and a small table to set up by each stove, have a snack, breakfast, quick lunch or a coffee or beer while starting it. It will feel like no time at all. It gives me some down time especially after work.
I’ve always enjoyed putting up wood and would rather do that than work more at a job away from home and paying half my check to the corrupt government!!!! And the warm is so much warmer 🥰
@@rnupnorthbrrrsm6123 there is nothing like getting the chill out of your bones sitting next to the wood stove! My motto is to get as close to net zero on the money going out that I can, weather it’s eliminating my gas bill, electric bill and grocery bills!
@T Mac it’s been especially nice this past week with the highs below zero, standing next to it after being outside quickly takes the chill out of the bones!!!
Hello. Your problem with ash buildup is simple. Your wood is not properly seasoned. IF you use 💯 dry wood with moisture content less than 10%, you will have VERY little ash. We heat 💯 with wood (northern MN) and can run 3-4 woodboxes of wood (2 weeks) with less ash than you pull from yours. We do not use ash drop from stove... we hand scoop. There are NO pieces left unburnt... white fine ash, nothing else. Get a bucket with lid. You will release far less impurities into your indoor air space. Scoop... immediately lid it or you are inhaling fine particles of ash. We ran into your problem until we got our wood from 15% moisture content to less than 10%. Tiny difference... big change. Happy trails and good hunting!
Once you're more experienced at using the damper and controlling the fire it'll get easier. Also, you can cut shorter wood and build a smaller fire, keep it damped down to smolder all day and you should get a lower heat for the day. Then, still have a bed of coals to fire up in the evening. The wood doesn't have to match the length of the fire box in the stove! We used chubby little logs in spring & fall and bigger lengths on those cold winter nights! Having smaller fires in the fire box will also create less ash and your wood pile will last longer.
Cut half length so you can stack it easily even though making small fires assuming you can cut off the oxygen supply in your fireboxes. If you can't cut the oxygen supply down to zero or near zero... throw out those stoves and get something else. @@portercreek
I guess most places in winter this is 100% true. I live in the webfoot coast(Pacific Northwest which should Actually be the Pacific North East... yet the idiots call it the PNW...) as we need dry all the time and not more humidity. @@wowens1218
Ive manufactured woodstoves for 25 years. Ive never met anyone who is passionate about the lifestyle that their propane heater or their diesel fired boiler offers them.
I have been burning for 9 years mostly when it gets really cold for the house and all winter long in my shop. I started as an emergency backup for heat since we have young children. Few things I've learned... Save your ash and use it for your garden. If the glass is dirty wait until the stove is cold and dip newspaper into water, then into some ash, and wipe the window and the soot will come off easily. If you are getting a lot of soot your fires aren't hot enough. Reasons could be because chimney isn't high enough and not drawing enough air, wood is too wet, has too much sap, etc.
I'm 53 yes old and I've been burning wood, either for a fireplace then moved to a woodstove to heat my entire home. Yes, there are a few things that require your attention when you commit to this, but it's a learning experience that rewards you with the confidence gained from knowing you can be a little more independent/self- reliant. Anything worth doing requires effort and commitment.
If you want less ash… when your fire burns down and you have mostly coals, rake them towards the front, throw a piece of pine or locust in and open the air up all the way. Any hot/fast burning wood should work. Hope this helps.
Hi there all the way from Aberdeen Scotland.I run my house heating and hot water entirely on wood since 2006. You will find that to run your house and buildings on wood you need to be organised, I can’t help but notice that some people make it very labour intensive , it does not need to be. Your amount of ash is dependant on the type of wood you burn as not all wood creates the same amount of ash. I use Larch which leaves very little. The secret is dry wood with 20% moisture content or less.
Organization is very helpful! This is my first year heating with wood and the wood I split late winter/early spring so my wood is a little wetter than it should be but next year I will be a little more prepared! Thanks for the comment! Please don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!
I'm in Edinburgh I started gathering wood a year before I got my stove a wise decision as now I think and hope I have enough cut firewood to last two winters and I'm still gathering wood
You are absolutely correct about being organised.Relying on woodburners needs advanced planning ,sometimes up to two years depending on your supply of logs.Ive had multifuel burners for 7 years and could not imagine life without it.Personally I think the human race has softened to a point that even pushing a switch is laborious.
@@stuartbrixton6260 Hi Stuart one of the secrets to not being a slave to your wood burner is not to use a log splitter but use a wood processor. Something like a Mastersplit 36 takes all the effort and heavy lifting out of the task and very fast . Check them out on RUclips. I started with an axe then splitter then a bigger splitter then a processor then a bigger processor,just bite the bullet and it will not be a chore but therapy and you won’t need to go to the gym. Keep your hardwoods for burning when the winter really bites.I have all my sheds full and buy in 25 tons of Larch from the forestry and use it between me and my son who has the same set up as me. A boiler stove is a must for me with 2 solar thermal panels on the roof for hot water in the summer when you are not using the wood burner, The hot water tank is called a thermal store and is brilliant supplying hot water for the 20 radiators, hot water for the house . I have tried quite a lot of different ideas over the years and reckon I have got it pretty good,my latest being rather than waste all the sawdust that is generated make a briquette machine with a 15 ton ram on it . First snow of the winter in Aberdeen yesterday so burning birch today. I could probably get off cutting all the wood I need in 3 to 4 weeks of the year cutting it in the summer as pre being organised cutting it up to my knees in snow. Have made wood sheds so the wind blows straight through the cut logs ,on the uncut 3 m logs cover the top only not the sides and let the air through. Enjoy your journey there is a satisfaction in being self sufficient and unlike most central heated homes my whole house is heated what a bonus.
@@stuartbrixton6260 I agree! I was just talking to a friend last night about heating with wood and how we have all become softened and used to the ease of pushing a button to get the perfect temp. Thanks for commenting, please remember to hit that subscribe button!
My dad used wood heat in his house my entire life. When he got older and couldn't do the wood anymore he converted to a pellet stove. That worked out really well for him.
My older brother in MN also used wood stove all of his life. As he's gotten older, he decided to buy a wood pellet stove and he's been happy with that choice and having consistent heat throughout the day that his house is warm when comes home from work in the evenings.
Coal miners daughter here. My father used to light the fire before going to work every morning, it took time. I have an open fire that takes smokeless coal and it’s not the easiest thing in the world to get going even for me who is used to doing it!! My fire has saved us through this last winter because the electric prices have gone through the roof here in Britain to the extent that the government is covering some costs for low income families. I feel blessed that I have my open fire, especially this year although my coal jumped up a whole £10 more a bag. Yes you can flick a switch and put the central heating on but an open fire draws all family members to it when it’s on, creating a great social gathering 😂. 👍❤️
I'm 61 and have been lighting wood fires for over 45 years. I have a fire going right now. As Hank mentioned, it's a lifestyle, you get warmed up preparing the wood for burning. I'm a big fan of rocket stoves, they make a lot of sense to me.
Speaking from personal experience, heating up 56m2 with 1m3 of wood at most, even less than that. Second year of heating with wood in my life, and happy that I started straight away with rocket heater. Mine is made from metal only, with heating insulation inside the burning pipe. I put one ceiling fan above the heater, and thats it. Very cheap heating, here in Serbia, 25€ per month, buying leftovers from the palletes fabric, ideal size for it, not much extra work needed. Almost perfect 😊
I agree with Hank. I'm only 70 and I still look forward every spring to stacking my 3 cords for the winter heating season. And usually I don't even get through that even though I typically keep the stove stoked all day long. Could be your stove is too big for the space Andy. I use a medium size air-tight stove (ca. 35K btu) for a 1-1/2 story 90 yr old house that's about 1000 sqft or so, and burn from late Oct right into May most years (Nova Scotia). Flame on!
I have a 3000 sqft house and when it is single digits I have been having a hard time getting them temp above 70 in the house so I don’t think I am oversized. Thanks for commenting, please hit that subscribe button!
@@portercreek We have just over 3,000 sqft and use a single wood stove that serves that well, but we use a slow burn and have a furnace fan that sends the heat more evenly around the house. Every now and then the gas furnace turns on to supplement, but only when the temps are going below freezing. Letting the fire go out and having to relight each day must be a pain! As for wood ash, we used to make a lot more when burning and open wood fire but even then we only needed a 5 gallon container's worth once a winter. We have a buck stove and it creates so little ash but burns 2 cords through the winter. We do burn thicker logs that most people appear to use and I think that makes a big difference for a long, slow burn!
I love my woodstove which I've had for 13 yrs, got it to replace a crappy pellet stove.. It weights over 600lbs, it's a cast iron monster, slower to warm up than your plate metal stove, but the thermal mass can't be beat. I can cook on it (wonderful for stews), it's warm and I can watch the flames. Of course I take care of it in the off-season, when I'm busy bucking up 16 ft log lengths, then I stack the wood to dry, split it, stack it again, and yeah I also take out any unused wood from the woodshed, put it aside and - yep! - stack the wood I've just split. As others have mentioned, I save the splinters and bark for tinder too. I fill the woodshed, new stuff in the further reached, the driest stuff from last year closest to the door. A lot of work for an ol broad in her mid-50s, but hey, it's a great workout and pays off. So it means some mess inside. Big whoop.
I grew up with my folks using wood to heat at different times, as well as in my adult life. Personally when I get a place of my own (no longer renting) I would want wood heat as a back up. It is nice to be able to keep the house at a regular base temp with a central HVAC system, and then know that when the power goes out you have a way to keep yourself warm and fix a hot meal. As you said the price of other fuel has gone crazy. Fuel oil and propane fluctuate so much that if you can not budget a minimum amount every month, year round, and get in to a pre buy program with your supplier then you are at mercy of the grid or tolerance to freezing temps. One time my brother complained that I stank. I told him, "do you remember what it was like to take a cold bath, in a cold house in the middle of winter?". He instantly had that remembrance of nights spent under two or three blankets and quilts while wearing long johns under pajamas with a pair of socks on your feet and the dread of needing to get up in the middle of the night to answer "nature's call".
Your story’s with your brother sounds like times up north at deer camp trying to stay warm with no grid to tie into! I like knowing that in the event there is a crisis, my family will be able to keep warm in the winter and all our canned goods won’t freeze up! Thanks for commenting, please hit that subscribe button!
We have been heating by wood stove for 4 years now. I get a cord of kiln dried and mix it with my seasoned wood. The kiln dried burns hotter, burns easier & you can almost close the flue all the way with kiln dried. I find it has helped us use less seasoned wood and and has given us better heat, the majority of my neighbors have wood stoves as well so we all help each other split and stack since all of us need to do it
Thanks for the tip, I just stuck 2-3 chords in my kiln now that it was empty so we will give that a try! Thanks for commenting, please hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already!
My grandfather had tree companies dump wood at his ranch for free. He split and sold about 50 cords of wood a year. He kept the scrap pieces and anything too gnarly to stack. He kept his house heated with an outdoor stove for decades doing this. He finally stopped in his early 80's.
As a HVAC mechanic for 35 years I purchased a wood stove about 12 years ago and had to go through all the mother earth news fanboy club garbage. Let me go through a few tips. Square footage means nothing, heat load is everything. Have a professional heat load done by an HVAC contractor that is capable. I do heat loads every day and I can tell you they can easily vary up to 300%. My home is 1800sq. ft with a heat load of 36000 btu on a 0 degree day. If you dont know your heat load there is no use even talking about wood usage. 1. Outdoor chimney should be the same size as your vent connector, usually 6 inch. It should be well insulated as to protect the already low stack temperature from condensing as it makes its way out. By sizing the chimney to the vent connector you will maximize the velocity of the exhaust gases giving them less time to condensate. If your chimney is existing and is larger than your vent connector, drop a ss liner and insulate with vermiculite. 2.Out side air. There are several fallacies that permeate the "wood burning" clan. My favorite is "Wood burning is a very dry heat" There is no such thing as dry heat only dry air and if you are pulling your humidified air that you already spent time heating from inside your house to use for combustion that air is going to be replaced with cold dry air coming through every nook and cranny in your house. Turn on your bathroom exhaust fan, dryer or kitchen stove vent and you can find out the chimney can work in both directions. Like all modern heating systems the wood stove should draw outside air for combustion. If you need a little warm air to start the draft, open the firestove door. 3. Don't stack your wood, pile it up. You will get much better airflow through the pile. I purchased a 2 car carport and split it in half. This years pile and next years pile. I see people stack it and blue tarp it and just shake my head. Throw some skids down under the piles to stop rotting and increase airflow through the pile. Seasoned wood mean exactly that, wood that has dried for one season, That is not long enough. 1 year under a rainproof carport and you can light your wood with a match and your 8 inch unsplit logs will burn beautifully. If you are buying your wood, buy enough for 2 years to start the proper drying time. Stay away from CAT stoves. Pacific energy has a good paper on why. search Pacific energy woodstoves to read it. Any questions feel free to ask.
Please pardon my ignorance, what is the difference between stacking and piling your wood? I am a newbie, and am waiting for the install date on my new to me 2016 Lopi Endeavor. I am having 2 guys come out to give me an estimate on installing. I don't currently have a fireplace or woodstove so I am starting from scratch. Thank you!
Stacking firewood is usually done by laying the pieces tightly together as to save space. Piling your wood just means to throw it in a pile. Stacking your wood saves very little space and you can watch several videos on youtube where they do it both ways to show how little room it actually saves. @@carinrichardson
My biggest question is with #2. Outside air. What is the difference between pulling fresh air from nooks and crannies, vs pulling from a fresh air intake in another room like a utility room, down the hall maybe 15 feet from the stove. If its -15 out it will be pulling freezing air in to give air for the fire? I have a really small, tight home. 600 sq ft upstairs n down so total 1200. I need fresh air and i cant figure it out to make sense with the stove. Currently no duct work. Need help figuring it out before i install stove. Should a 6” fresh air intake be good enough for the house and the stove? Will the stove heat be enough to warm the cold fresh air its pulling in?
@@Hefword you pull combustion air from the outside. If you pull it from anywhere inside the structure it is going to be replaced with cold, dry air. Most stoves will come with a 3 inch outside air connection. I have found that a 10 foot stainless chimney liner extension works well for this. Connect and finish the outside with a screen covered inlet. These are easily obtained at any HVAC supplier.
Just a tip. Don't let it burn out. You don't have to burn a large fire. Throw in a log, just to keep embers going. You heat up the bones of your home. When you get your home warm, the framing, the I sukation, the flooring, the roof, then you keep warm air in the house, by keeping a log going, you do two things. You keep the heat in the materials of your house. It won't lose that heat to the air. It will hold it. So when Temps drop, you are already a step ahead of it. You don't have to reheat it. And, because you kept the fire going, you just have to throw a log on, and not have to restart it. And because the bones of your house held its heat, you do not have to burn a huge fire to get the air to a warm temp. I hope this is making sense. I hope I am conveying the information. By doing it this way, you save yourself time, and actually end up burning less wood. Because you retained the heat from the previous fires. Where as, if you let the temp drop too much, the heat in the bones of the house, will work its way out. Because that's just what heat does. And then, when you fire it back up at night, you have to start all over.
Yeah, I try not to let the house drop below 69, it seems like when we get to to single digits it takes significantly more to keep the house warm and when it is in the 40s it is super easy to over heat. With time we are learning tricks with it as it is a little more complicated to maintain house temps with the high efficiency stoves than the old style stoves. Thanks for the tip! Please don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!
Yes the brickwork and all fabric of the house heats a good time even without a fire. Once the fire place and chimney breast is warm the fire does not need to be on high. Rather than keep it going too low though when it's quite warm enough, I'm happy to let it go out and re light several hours later. You might thing that's more work, but keeping it going low when you don't need it is a false economy. You do use more wood, and you are doing more work. You also are probably having a dirty burn on low too, which is wasting wood gasses as smoke rather than heat and not so good for the environment.
@@MartinA-kp8xg at first I was keeping it going really low and found I was going through quite bit more wood, now when I have a fire I make sure my temps are in the “optimal temp range”
@@portercreek yes big wood burning slowly puts a lot of its energy up the chimney as unburned gasses that could have been flame. If you have it going hot with small often applied pieces you get more heat for your wood. . If you have an after burner and not one bit of smoke comes out of the chimney your not wasting gasses. There are so many variables though, different types of wood at different seasoning levels etc. Different dailt temperatures, there is more draw on our chimney when the wind is in the west too. But they tick the primal box too cave men lit fires 😂. I tell the kids to move if I can't see the flames.
Bought an Ideal Steel Hybrid by Woodstock Stove Company and this stove is a game changer. I’m 62 and have burned wood my entire life so I feel I have a pretty good grasp on wood heat. With this stove I am heating 2400 sq ft in northern Pa. And use about a wheelbarrow load every three days when the temps are the teens at night and 20s to 30s during the day. Wood must be less than 15 %
@@MattBell_USA been burning for 2 months now. Wouldn’t change a thing! I have the soapstone in both the fire box and the outside panels love this stove. So far I have burned less than a 1/2 cord of mixed oak ash cherry maple and hickory!
@@MattBell_USA went plain old school and everything is black! Yes we did get the ash pan which I highly recommend! I live in northern Pa and picked mine up when it was ready then visited my brother in Vt.
Great timing. I just pulled my catalytic combustor and cleaned the flue and chimney cap. -Will be cleaning out the stove in a few minutes. It's the start of Fall here in Maryland and I'm getting ready for winter.
I'd been using a wood stove for almost 25 years before I tried these nifty heavy canvas wood bags for suppling wood to the wood stove. these really help to minimize debris falling everywhere. I use 2 of these bags for convenience, that way you can knock the chill off your wood before sending it to the fire. Another recommendation would be to not completely empty your stove of ash. By using a child's toy steel tined garden rake to rake your hot embers to the back of one side corner of your stove, then shovel about 80% of your ash out. By leaving about 20% of ash it will help your fire burn more efficiently due to it's insulating values. Learn how to bank a fire in order to restart it later, too. There is a lot to learn. I'm still learning!
I've been using those canvas carriers for 20+ yrs. now. Also, I have my wood storage area outside under cover (holds 4+ cords). I have a 3 foot rack under roof on my porch, and a 2 ft. rack in the house (sets inside the bottom part of a large plastic box to catch debris) The rack on the porch holds about 6 days worth. The one inside holds about 3 days worth. I never burn anything that has not been split and stacked (seasoned) for at least 8 months and usually 12 months.
I used to have one of those canvas carriers. And I was thinking about getting a new one, but lately I just have been using 5 gallon buckets. Now I'm used to them.
@@reb1050 We cut the sides out of two 5 gal buckets, works great for carrying firewood. Cut the sides out all the way to the bottom, leave the sides where the handles are attached.
Im 65, cut. Split ,burned and sold many a cord.(arborist for 47 yrs) wood has ambient heat like no other heat source. I tell my customers " no one bellys up to the oil furnace and says, man that feels good, warms your bones "
That's it, isn't it. No one gets passionate about an oil burner, it's hidden in the cellar somewhere, and becomes almost invisible except on the day they come to fill the tank. But there is, as you say, nothing like woodstoves. You come in from shoveling the roof off and there it is, all nice and warm. And there is also that sense that well, dayum, I split and stacked every damn piece of wood that goes into this...
73; been using wood my entire life. Learn the BTU values of each type of wood . Stack different woods separately and use accordingly. Grew up in Northern Maine ,15 cords per winter to cut-haul-buck-split- and stack. My jobs starting when I turned 8. 1100 sq ft home. Now I live in S Central Ks . 514 sq ft. 2.5 cords a year. I can sharpen a chain or axe in my sleep. Love it. I keep a full 4 year supply on hand at all times. That goes for my groceries as well.
Life will become alot easier when you learn to size your fire. Stuffing logs in the stove will most likely overheat the place and then you're wasting wood. Splitting it into various sizes allows you to judge the length of burn and the amount of btu's it puts out. Heat your domain accordingly. Another tip is to be aware of the temperature forecasts for the day, night and the week; this way you'll know how big of a burn you'll need. As you progress you'll become more accustomed to "tending" the fire to keep you comfortable and save time, money and energy. It comes with awareness and practice.
I grew up with woodstoves for heat. Finally getting one installed next month and I cant wait. Being out in the bush cutting is relaxing and keeps me off the couch
Good video! experienced some of those things myself as my wife and I enter our 3rd year of heating solely with wood. We did find that the amount of ash is much higher when burning softwoods like grand fir, pine, or aspen. Harder woods (like maple, western larch) produce much less ash (and more heat, naturally).
@@briankleinschmidt3664 if it's properly seasoned, modern stoves should take care of this with secondary/tertiary combustion. Almost all my wood is fir/pine and I get very little soot buildup. I I've used both catalytic and none catalytic stoves. Noncatalytic will get more buildup but you can burn that off with a hot morning fire for 20 minutes each day.
A neighbor gifted me a big old willow tree they were taking down. That darned wood was almost impossible to split, took forever to dry, burned up fast [like cardboard], and produced 4 times the ash than any other wood I've burned. Sometimes there's a "catch" to taking the free stuff.
I love having a full wood shed going into winter, and a full freezer, a barn full of hay, full root cellar, it's not just about the money I'm saving, it's the fact I won't have to go anywhere for anything all winter. 😊😊😊
Live in North Wales, UK. A cold wet area. Have been using a wood stove for 20 years. It's heat is brilliant. It is much cheaper than electric and oil, both of which I have. These are crazy prices in the UK. I'm in my seventies so the work involved getting the wood ready for burning gives me a bit of exercise. Love it.
Years ago we had a coal/ wood stove with a hot water jacket. Coal burns through the night with the dampers turned down a bit. The hot water jacket provides free heating for the water in the Winter.In the spring we switched the water back to run through the water heater.
I moved to the mountains (6840') a couple years ago. I'm completely off-grid and I have two wood stoves to heat my house and nothing else. I have cut and split more wood in the last couple years than my entire life before moving up here.
I would love to be completely off grid! My goal is to get as close to off grid as I can in the next 5 years! Thanks for commenting, please don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!
It’s a lot of work, but we love heating with firewood in our wood stove. We’ve done a couple videos about it. From what I’ve experienced, these indoor wood burners like you have there (and we use in our videos), burn less wood to heat an area than the big outdoor burners. Great video! -Chad
After having a wood stove for the last 17 years, due to an illness, last year was the first time I had to buy split and seasoned firewood. After all those years of gathering with my cars, cutting, splitting and stacking and hauling it in the house when needed, it was a nice break to not have to do all that work. I do miss it though but would not trade a wood stove and all the work it takes to keep my home and family nice and warm for anything else. A wood stove is a lifestyle.
We have been really frowning to like our wood stove! It is definitely a learning curve as well as a lifestyle! Thanks for commenting, please hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already!
My trick is to put the last piece of wood in crooked, sometimes when the fire dies, you find a nice charred piece standing or wedged across the walls. Makes starting the next fire quick
When I’m out camping I take apart my campfire with leather gloves at night before bed so it will go out. It leaves the charred pieces ready to go in the morning to re-stack back into the fire pit. Just the tiniest piece of paper and you have a fire again. No more splitting kindling now for years. Lord knows I did a lot of that when I was a kid, not that I didn’t enjoy it.
We have a pellet stove (which has its own pros and cons) and would like to switch to a wood stove insert at some point in the future. My in-laws have a wood stove and I learned firsthand the amount of work needed to source, cut, split, store and cure the firewood-not to mention loading the stove and getting a fire to reliably start! It’s not easy, but it’ll keep you busy on the weekends for sure. Also, I wouldn’t recommend getting a wood stove unless you have a pickup truck. The vast majority of wood you’ll burn likely won’t be from your property but from fallen trees you’ll find in your neighborhood or around town. Remember, the idea here is to heat your home with FREE wood, not to pay for it. Without a pickup or similar vehicle, there’s simply no way to get that wood to your property for processing.
Well renting a U Haul pickup for a day or two works not too expensive also. Of course living in Northern AZ there are plenty of downed trees to get so one day is a big haul!
Been burning wood as a supplemental & emergency heat source for decades. First I was using a Fisker splitting maul, then as I'm getting older with a not so great ticker I bought a 25 ton splitter. For at least the past decade my woods been free from either storm damage of land clearing for construction. If I cut it & split it, I let it sit & dry out for the next season. Last week bought 4 cords (1st time buying since about 2008). Are you using cured hardwood? I find I have much less ash to dump. I use a typical hand dolly to bring the wood in & a full dolly is good for 3 days of burning. I use a ratchet strap to keep wood tight on the dolly, it stays where I want it even going down stairs. About an hour before bed I load it up nice & open the air valves to get the fire going well, then I close the air valves to almost nothing & close the chimney flue to 1\4 open. Always wake up to a good deal of embers, open the flue 100% load up the stove, & open the air valves to get it flaming good again, then adjust air in to about 1\4 open & chimney flue to 1\2 open. Hope I've always got the option of burning wood. Love the smell. Good luck to you. Cheers.
I look forward to doing it for many years, forces you to get out of bed at a decent time every morning in the winter! Thanks for the comment, please don’t forget to subscribe!
Try sprinkling ash on your fire bro. It slows the burn down and you can just chuck more wood on when you want it to roar up again. You’ll have to experiment with how much ash you put on the fire to calm it down and drag the burn out. Hope this helps 👍🏴
I heated our 1917 farmhouse with wood for 16 years. I lived pretty much in the geographical middle of Texas and we had some severe winters in the 80's. Never got cold in the house one time. I used seasoned mesquite and oak. Our stove was an air tight Old Timer and it did a fantastic job in our 1400 sq.ft. home. After we had central heat and air installed in the mid 90's we burned maybe 3 fires for the rest of our time in that house. I saved a ton of money by heating with wood for all those years and enjoyed cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking. I'm over 70 now and would be hard pressed go the wood stove route again, however, you never know what is going to happen and we may need to put an insert in our fireplace and do it all over again. Fortunately we have a wood source and plenty of trees to harvest.
You just gave all the reasons that people abandoned wood stoves and fireplaces as their main source of heat. I've reinvented the wheel a few times myself and found that to not be a productive undertaking. Best, Doc.
Hint= get a sweep brush and rod and clean your own stack. I clean twice a season. My split dougfirr is 2 year seasoned. My oak and madrona is 1 year seasond. My property is very dense forest in south Oregon. All free I use ceiling fans to circulate the heat. I don't let it go out but I open windows when it gets to warm, evan when its snowing. Oh the fresh crispe clean air. Can't wait.
I think the secret is to have as small a space for home and shop as you can. I use an electric thermostat radiator heater on low all the time. Large windows south facing. Good insulation with zero gaps. I only need the wood stove when temps are below 45’F. Use a small stove surrounded by clay bricks. Always a kettle of water on top. Works great for me but it is a small space. I enjoy the hauling, cutting and splitting. There’s a definite satisfaction in being self sufficient and a job well done. Don’t think life should be too physically easy. All the best
I love those little radiator heaters, I used them for years. I think you're right about the smaller space I am looking into a smaller space now in my older years.
Dad heated the house with a barrel woodstove for 12 years. We also had nat gas forced air furnace but we would see how low we could set it. I think the best way to do it is to have multiple heating options. If you have electricity, supplement your wood stove with a pellet stove. Vice versa. Also, homes built 120 years ago were smaller and wood stoves work great in one level. But when you have to move heat around walls, comes the challenge.
The survivor's saying is "two is one and one is none". This means that if you have only one way to do something (heat, cook, etc) and it goes out (power failure, equipment failure, etc) you have none. But with a back up plan it's like having a spare tire and an extra gas can on a trip.
One thought I had with getting a wood burning stove would be to put it in my living room somewhere around the air intake for my existing hvac system. That way I could just kick the fan on to circulate the heat through the house every so often.
@@nova31337 it is a great idea, I wouldn’t put a lot hope in it distributing very well. Mine is in the basement next to the furnace and I opened up the return a lot and plugged all the other returns and it helps but with the equivalent to about 3 returns open on the furnace it is still 4-5 degrees warmer in the basement. Before I opened up the returns more on the furnace and plugged the upstairs ones and only had the one return open on the furnace, it was about a 8-10degree difference
My wife and I are building a Timber Frame cabin in the mountains with our own hands from lumber I milled myself after renting for 40 years. I put 10" of spray foam insulation in the roof and the walls have 6 " of fiberglass insulation. The roof has R48, walls are about R21. The foam guy said "You'll probably be able to heat this place with a candle." I was warned not to skimp on the insulation by a knowledgeable friend of mine. We 're getting close to finishing. Main heat is a Jotul wood burning stove. Property is loaded with Junipers. Insulation is the key to maximizing heat retention. A wood stove is a bit of work but allows you to be independent of the power grid and there's nothing like sitting in front of the fire with a good book and your best friends beside you.
The Bible says we are not to be prideful but there is a since of pride I get from working hard to cut, split, haul, stack, and burn wood to keep my family and friends warm. Plus a wood stove is great for arthritis, it pulls the pain right out. Thank you for this video and thank you to all the people who have put their comments in also, keep it real my wood burning peeps y'all's skills will definitely be helping you in the near future. God bless🙏
I find it to be very gratifying to know that I am able to directly and tangibly meet the needs of my family! Thank you for the encouraging comment, I needed that today! Please hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already! Numbers 6:24-26
Years ago when I first started with my stove I had the same sort of things but as far as getting it started more quickly and throttling it you’ll get better at it
Hi there all the way from Aberdeen Scotland. I have heated my complete house with wood since 2006 and do the full procedure and the secret is being organised and streamlined with your system. For someone who uses a lot of wood you don’t need an axe nor a wood splitter you need a wood processor where you handle the 10ft log once on to the machine and the cut logs go up a conveyor and in to my trailer where I then put them in my log sheds no stacking and leave them to dry. Check out the Farmi 36 this is what works for me ,forget the Chinese clones and cheapos they are crap and a waste of money . Working with wood is a journey of enlightenment and soothes the soul and has a personal satisfaction element and achievement. Best of luck.
We had a wood burning stove. Cut hauled and split wood with a wood splitter which was a god send. However it got to be too much as finding seasoned wood was a chore, and decided to go with a pellet stove. I love my pellet stove. It's automatic you can control the air flow and restocking is a breeze, just pour the bag of pellets into the hopper. No opening and closing the door 10 times a day, controlled heat and It shuts itself down if things go astray as well.
In my experience, too much ash in the garden throws off the ph of the soil. Hence, lots of moss. And when burning wood just for the house, I figure on a cord of wood a month, +/-. You can’t beat wood heat. And it’s awesome exercise. Etc., etc.👍🇺🇸❤️
This is our second year burning wood,(secondary location) still learning things. (Got a Blaze King) Getting the ash out without causing "drift" is still a little challenging, but getting better and I don't know where to put the ash, b/c the garden doesn't need much. Also I don't really waste wood, just because we have plenty doesn't mean that we crank it up to the point we need to open up the windows. lol It is a lot more work than you think, but it is somewhat mindless and enjoyable.
My stove has an automatic damper & the stove itself has a damper at the top to control the heat/air, etc from going out the top. I can damper this thing way down to where it burns for quite a while. I never have a legitimate flame going for very long. Maybe once a week I crank it up to burn off any creosote buildup from what amounts to smoldering wood. I also put in ductwork with an inline fan that runs off of a line voltage thermostat to pull the heat out & move it to a cooler part of the house. It’s an a/c thermostat so when the temp rises the fan kicks on. I also come by free firewood from those who don’t want the trees or have no use for them. Just some time spent collecting & splitting is all it has cost me
Try to handle the ash after its cooled somewhat. The hotter it is it's likely to get airborne. Keep a lid on the ash can as you handle it. Allow the ash to accumulate minimizing the number of times you handle it. Dust and the mess associated with firewood are the biggest drawbacks of woodburning , but worth it!
@@markkaminski2416 that is a good tip on trying not to handle it when it is hot. I have noticed that when it is hot it tends to float up more and get in the air more! Thanks for the tip, please hit that subscribe button!
I find that splitting the wood smaller, maybe 3" x 4" or even a small as 2"x 4" and good seasoning along with keeping a rack full by the stove to dry more before the next filling allows a more efficient burn with more BTU's therefore burning less wood over a longer period of time and creates almost no ash. I clean the fire box about once every 3 weeks. My Drolet HT-2000 also has the damper on top so a top-down fire also helps and is recommended in the user manual.
All very valid points! Great job explaining! I’m in the process of setting everything up, and let me tell you, my primary reason is because the WEF and their evil new world counterparts say they wanna ban wood burning stoves! So here I am, getting rid of the convenience of my pellet stove that I’ve ran for years in exchange for a proper wood burning stove, heating everything with that, including water etc.. Great video
It’s a learning curve and I think your on the right track. More expensive stoves like Lopi are more controllable and efficient. The result of that is you don’t have to shut down because it’s too hot. The efficiency also uses less wood which in turn produces less ash. I would suggest when you can to upgrade your house appliance to a model that will better fit what your expectations are. Good luck on your homesteading!
Those of us who use woodstoves made long before they knew how to spell "air-tight" aren't helpless victims. We simply use our skills of knowing what wood-types and sizes produce an even burn. Daytime fire stoking is quite different from stoking an overnight fire. Technology is fun, but never necessary.
The amount ash depends on the fuel. In my 40 years of heating with a wood stove, the least amount of ash is from pine and fir. The most is from elm, oak, ash and some cottonwoods. What helps with cutting ash is mixing types of wood to be burned. A stick of pine or fir with anything really helps cut the amount of ash.
@@Michelle-bk6up I believe properly dried pine is suppose to have the least amount of ash. There are people in the mountains that heat with only pine because that is all they have access to and it works for them!
Maple,, is good to start fire Cherry or any fruitwood gets hot, makes lots of ash Oak is best all around Spruce lights easy, burns fast, lots of ash Pine is no go for most pine, cause creosotes Too much ashes = wrong wood. Use oak or hardwood and you can go a week without emptying ashes. My wood stove has catalytic converter. It’s not beginner friendly. But it uses less wood. A wood stove without catalytic, your damper is your best friend.
I learned a lesson about mixing woods when you use a cookstove: I never burn the mid range woods (ash, birch, etc.) by themselves, rather use one or two pieces only with hard wood as a 'nurse.' Otherwise you can set the whole damn kitchen on fire. I did it once, accidentally, and looked back on my way to bed to see the entire top of the cookstove glowing like a piece of coal. I wasn't concerned at that point about a chimney fire, it was too early in the year for that, but there must have been a heck of a blaze in there, judging from the whooshing sound. Then I realized I was pairing ash with birch, and messing with the top of my cookstove. Too much intense heat will warp it all out of shape. People sometimes will brag to me about how they got their entire stove glowing, and then the next year you see them buying a new stove...
I liked heating with wood. I had a couple of winters where I had no choice. If you have a situation where you have easy access to wood and the means to process and store enough to burn dry wood, it's great. It's a fulltime job some parts of the year. The burning and being warm part is great. What people don't realize is the other part is huge.
@@portercreek yeah, I found out in Dec that the propane company wouldn't deliver any more. It's much easier if you have several cords stacked and dry. It's pretty crazy if you don't. But that old wonderwood circulator saved the day.
I just got a wood stove too, have lot of prep work to do before I can actually set it up and use it but I can't wait. Yeah it's more work, but the money saved is well worth it. It's almost like you're being paid for the work, and you can do it at your own pace.
There is that sense of gratification that you are less dependent on someone else when you have your own source of heat! Thanks for the comment! Please don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!
I’m 34 grew up with one of those in my home I remember cleaning it starting the fires and stacking wood seemed pretty easy as a kid growing up never knew how important it was until now!
One of the main challenges I think you are running in to is how EPA stoves are designed to operate - that is you can't shut them down well enough to hold a fire overnight or run in a lower heat output mode so as not to blow you out of the house. The goal with these new stoves is zero smoke, not necessarily what works well for the homeowner who is serious about relying on woodheat. You may want to shop around for a used stove that pre-dates the new rules. You may have to check your chimney a little more often and sweep it maybe twice a year instead of once, but you might find that the other issues you've had go away. Something to think about.
I have thought about getting an older style stove that isn’t energy efficient but the downside is they also require quite a bit more wood. The more I use it and get familiar with it the more I have been able to figure out how to control it. As far as getting it to burn through the night, on a zero degree night I stoke it at midnight and by 8:00am the house has dropped 3-4 degrees and there are only embers. I am burning ash, which is up there on the Btu ratings. I don’t see how anyone can get a 15 hr burn out of i loading. Thanks for commenting! Please don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!
@@portercreek Thanks for your reply. Having used both styles of stove I actually found that with the EPA stove the amount of wood I thought I would save owing to efficiency was not as advertised. I often felt a lot energy was sacrificed warming up all the brick in the stove and to maintain the reburn of the smoke. With the older stove I could shut it down so when I didn't need much heat if I was gone or at night that it burned very little on the low setting. As you noted there is a learning curve to every stove and sounds like it is working better for you. Thanks again for the video.
@@rockymountainfirewood3873 I would love to get a blaze king but starting out I just couldn’t swing the big price tag that goes with them. Someday when/if I get a cabin up north this wood stove will likely go up there and I will get something a little more hands off like the blaze king!
I purchased one of those newer units a few years ago that had the afterburners in the top. You are right it’s not easy to burn them low it will run you out in a hurry. You must look at how it is made add choke it down it’s airflow you can do it simply I used magnet what’s nice about it when it turns cold you could simply slide your magnet back opening it back up and allowing it to roar like a beast. Only thing that’s not good about doing that is creosol when you choke it back and don’t allowed to burn you will get Creosote . This has worked for me for many years well worth having an indoor wood burner may have to clean my chimney little more often than normal but you are comfortable fire is always going.
I've always considered a wood burning stove as only an addition to my whole house furnace. Of course, it's good to have in case of an emergency as it's a godsend if everything else is down. The problem with having only a wood stove for heat is your dealing with really old technology! Of course, you're going to have to feed it wood throughout the day. It's going to be more labor intensive than a modern furnace. We have a fireplace in our living room, and we also have a wood burning stove in our den. This way, we are covered in the event of a power outage, etc....
I'm glad to see that you've posted more videos about your wood stove. I just saw this video pop up in my feed, and as I'm watching it, I'm thinking "as time goes on, this guy is gonna get so much more efficient at this". Not to say that anything you're doing is wrong, but like with anything, the kinks that you have to work through on the third month are pretty well smoothed over by the third year of doing almost anything. You'll figure out how to more efficiently split the wood, transport your wood, how to keep your living areas neater, how to burn it more efficiently, and how to recognize seasonal trends concerning your burning. Granted, weather throws a lot of curve balls and we're constantly having to readjust how we prep and deal with seasonal changes, but it will all get better with time. Glad to see your on your way!
I bought the exact same stove for my 30X40 shop. Very inefficient! For the shop I opted for a double barrel heater modified with steel pipes welded into the top barrel. For our 2,400 square foot house we installed a small true cast iron stove. Expensive but well worth it. Luckily we have not run our furnace in over 18 years. Cast iron is the way to go!
I have found that they are very fussy on the wood moisture. If the wood isn’t around or below 20% they do not put out very well. Thanks for the comment! Please don’t forget to click that subscribe button!
I was thinking that with the amount of wood he said he was burning, as well as the amount of ash left behind which seems like maybe inefficient burning?
I’m 72 and we heat with just wood. Cutting and splitting wood, by hand, is my gym time. This time of year my stove is burning 24/7. I get about 2 gal of ash a month. We have a fairly high ambient humidity so our wood is never really dry, I have found that if you have a good bed of coals, throw in a wet piece of wood if you want it to get really hot. The heat from the coals will crack the hydrogen/oxygen bond and the water will burn, really hot. This is an old concept, most famous being the WWII Spitfire. They need extra power to outclimb the German planes so they put in a water injector. Could only be used in an emergency for about 30 seconds or the motor would burn up. The nice logs I get I hand mill into lumber. My wood floats by in the ocean.
We milk all the nice logs too! I have enough logs sitting in yard to make tens of thousands of board feet of lumber! I need to get busy sawing! Thanks for commenting, please hit that subscribe button!
Totally agree .I've had 4 stoves in the past 7 year(not in the same house)and despite following the same general guidelines all stoves have their own characteristics and peculiarities which take time to understand.Time and practice works wonders.
That's why I bought an automated wood pellet boiler after my first nightmare winter trying to heat my house with a log burning furnace. All the problems you listed were my problems. It was a nightmare. The automated wood pellet boiler has a substantial amount of storage capacity and automatically cycles on and off as demanded by either the domestic hot water tank or radio wireless thermostat I have positioned in the living room of my house. Basically I just have to fill up the pellet storage every 3 to 4 days or so. The bags are 15 kilograms each (~33 pounds) and relatively easy to move although there is still some leg work involved obviously. Mostly in summer when I have them delivered I store them in the garage then move them by hand one at a time to the boiler room.
The only complaint I have with heating with wood is no matter how careful you are you always have that super fine ash dust everywhere. Can’t beat the “warmth” of a wood fire. Edit: problem in our area everyone is trying alternate (wood ) heating the cost per cord has sky rocketed and the hassle of finding decent insurance it’s fast becoming almost negative saving.
The insurance was killer, $375 per year for the one in the house and only $20 for the one in the wood shop that with the stuff in it is worth more than the house…. Figure that one out… Nothing like being outside freezing to come in and warm up by the stove! Thanks for commenting, please don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!
Insurance? Gee! That topic was never brought up with my home insurance company for the 8+ years I heated my home with a fireplace insert. But, possibly a fireplace insert was not on the same level with regards to insurance as a wood stove?
When I lived in Ireland I had a woodburner with a boiler to run the radiators. What I didn't realise was that you can't run it in the event of a power cut. I now have just a standard woodburner which was a lifesaver during and after Storm Arwen when both the electric and the water were both off. I leave the doors in the house so the heat can waft through the rest of the house and if necessary I can boil water on the stove top. I wouldn't be without it
You don't let a woodstove burn out, open a window to regulate house temp. use hard woods as you should only be stoking 3 times a day, morning , evening and before bed. Guess you should have gotten the self cleaning model. When the power or gas goes out you will still have heat and a way to cook and get hot water
It has been nice to have, I am hoping when it gets colder that it will be big enough to heat the whole house which is around 3000 sqft. I just got a gas bill and it was only $36 for last month which is nice! I am working on a side arm water heater that I built to heat the water in our water heater so the gas bill will be almost nothing! I am hoping to do a video on that next week as long as everything goes as planned! Thanks for watching! Please don’t forget to subscribe!
@@portercreek that will be a nice video because I was wondering if I could heat water or how to if it was possible but I have a electric water heater , I probably went to big because I only have about 1,500 + the basement and the car port has been closed in .
@@WhiteOak09 it was actually pretty easy to add it to the stove. I am hoping to make my final changes tomorrow. After a few days of testing I’ll make a video and let you know when the video is live.
Other aspects when heating the house with wood: Problems with rodent infestation in the wood pile. Keeping the stacked wood away from the house to minimize the threat of termites to the domicile. Having a means to keeping the firewood covered from inclement weather. Using a cautionary means with storing ash until it has cooled down. I've known houses that burnt down due to the users handling the ash as if it was common household trash. If you are fussy with having a dust-free house, then a wood stove may not be to your liking, as there will be some airborne ash when emptying out the firebox.
After heating with a pellet stove for about 20 years, I’m pulling it out and going back to wood. Got a 34-ton kinetic splitter on the way and 100 cords down for 2 years, ready to split. The price of pellets has continued to climb to $240 per ton and I’m typically burning 3-4 tons per year, plus when it gets much below 35 degrees I’ve had to use my oil fired hot water boiler which uses heating oil which has skyrocketed to $1000 for 300 gallons. I have also planned a copper coil from the boiler around the horizontal pipe of the wood stove. When I installed my hot water system I wired the pump separately so I can operate it independently from the boiler’s burner.
@@portercreek it's a lifestyle... My father has every modern appliance in his kitchen and still prefers his outdoor kitchen with his Benjamin wood stove to cook on .
I’m 67 y/o. I have been heating with solid fuel burning for over 40. Started with wood, as most of us did, but wood is messy, has a short burn time, and therefore requires constant attention. I burned anthracite coal for about 8 years. Much more consistent heat. I could tend the stove in the morning, go off to work, and tend it again in the evening. Still messy, but much less labor involved. The best fuel that I’ve found is wood pellets. Lots of people can’t seem to make them work, but I’ve been hugely successful for the last 15 years. The keys are, get a smaller stove and run it hard, and buy top tier premium pellets. The best grade of pellets (typically softwood) have much less ash than the cheap ones. I can run my small stove for 2 weeks between cleanings here in Vermont, because there is so little ash. The ash you do get is non-toxic, same as firewood. There is no ash mess. I use an ash vac to clean the stove, and dump it outside. Pellet prices are down this year, as are oil prices. But pellets are still far cheaper than fuel oil. YMMV
We have been heating our home via wood stove for 33 years. It's great exercise being outside cutting, splitting, hauling & stacking firewood. (I don't have to join an indoor gym for exercise or strength training). It's therapeutic doing the work & then sitting by a nice wood fire during the cold weather. One thing I would recommend is to cut the wood to different lengths & thicknesses. It allows you to have better control over heat output. During fall & spring start the stove at sunset with small pieces & burn a fire to carry you through the night. In the dead of winter use larger pieces to burn round the clock if necessary. Also, stay 2 years ahead so you're only burning dry seasoned wood. Keep the top of the wood pile covered with the tarp hanging down the sides by about 12 to 20 inches. Drill holes in the wood where the gromets are & use eyehooks to hold the tarp on. I just turned 65 & bought a hydraulic log splitter so I don't have to do it all by hand.
Thanks for the advice! It’s definitely a learning curve! I am finding that I will need about 6-8 chords of wood to heat both my shop and house in the winter which is a little more than I had hoped. Getting 2 years ahead on split firewood is definitely going to take some time but in Jan and February is a really slow time of year for us for work so it will be a great time to get caught up!
Good advice and observations. I'm "in the same boat" burning wood for 33/34 years. Only thing I changed is making more and more room in my old basement so I can stack a year's worth of firewood down there. Right now it is snowing and blowing outside and I am so very thankful I don't have to go out there for wood. You are right, learning to stoke a fire for even burning means you can use those great old stoves/furnaces that aren't "air-tight" with no problems. So what if it gets a bit hotter than you expected sometimes- enjoy that beautiful extra heat.
A couple of things I learnt as a novice. Keep as much wood as possible in the house, cut wood absorbs moisture from the air and even though bought wood may be advertised as dry, it will pick up moisture outside. You will get spiders in the house though lol. Get top grade wood stoves like a Blaze King or equal. You will not have to get up every five hours to restoke, you'll have coals in the morning but you may need to be cleaning the flue regularly or keeping your windows open when burning hot enough to burn creosote. We loved wood heat, nothing warmer on those cold cold winter nights. Those are my thoughts, hope you find them helpful.
My dad got our 1st woodstove in 1973 . We got 2 more by 1976 . I've always loved them . The work keeps me fit at 59 ! Peace , from Cass County MICHIGAN ! Wolverine State ! Seawolf SSN575 , Torpedoman ! Maranatha !
@@portercreek......I cleaned my new woodstove glass . I clean with paper towel and water with a few drops of vinegar . I repeated several time . I was left with a white hazy opaque residue . MY Volgelzang instructions said to use steel wool . What do you think ? I have never had this problem . Since 1973 . Peace from Cass County Michigan !
I live in the UK and I burn wood every winter to keep my house warm, even though I don’t need to. I don’t split my own wood. Instead, I pick it up ready to go, then put it in my store. It works out considerably cheaper than using the gas boiler. It’s a built up community so having smoke bellowing out of my flue is not an option. The complaints would fly in. All I get from my chimney is gas. I do a top down fire then get it up to temp as quick as possible. Once everything is roasting I can limit the air going in, then when I get a nice bed of bed coals I can chuck one log in every hour or so to keep it clean and hot, with no smoke. Dry wood, is very important! Love it.
Top down fires are so important to obtaining a clean start. The bigger fuel doesn't get involved until the fire has developed enough heat to properly use the larger wood.
Had a woodstove for over 25 years at our previous home. Moved 2 years ago to another home 600 miles away. Had forced air heat, which was nice...until the power went out at -10. I told my husband, we're getting a woodstove again! Yes, the lifestyle and wood heat are nice, but what I appreciate most is knowing I have a simple heat and cooking source backup any time it's needed.
Had a wood burning stove in our former place, and I miss it truth be told. I never went through as much wood as you say you are going through, and I always kept about 2 week's worth of ash in it to keep the heat well insulated. Also, get some nice big rocks and put them on the top surface, and as the fire burns out late at night, the heat from the hot rocks will continue to radiate heat in the overnight hours. 3 pieces of dried wood lasted about 4 hours, so it was easy to keep about 2.5 - 3 cords of wood ready for the season and keep the house warm all Winter.
@@portercreek Apologies this is much later than your original post, but one thing to remember is that layer of ash is both an insulator AND a source of ignition for new dried pieces of lumber you add into the bottom of your stove. If you stir them ashes up a bit you will find some glowing embers, just expose as many as you can before you throw those last 2 logs in before bedtime, and they should fire up in time for you to lower the temp and get some sleep. Hope you are loving your wood burning stove, I know we miss our old one!
A friend of mine was having trouble heating his small home with a wood stove, even though the house was well insulated, and he had caulked every joint/crack. I suggested that he install an air inlet pipe to provide combustion air. He did so, and the situation improved markedly. A wood stove draws combustion air from within the house unless there is a source of outside air. This reduces the air pressure inside the house, causing air to infiltrate from every opening possible at the perimeter. By providing an air source to the firebox this is eliminated. His wood consumption went down and comfort went up. Good luck!
As I'm restoring an old stone farmers cottage (circa 100y.o.) here on the west coast of Ireland, I am concentrating on super-insulating it with 8" ridgid foil-backed insulation in the ceilings and 6" in the external walls ... as you say, autumn doesn't need a lot of heat so I have a few bottle-gas heaters strategically placed around the house and 15 mins on low setting is enough to take the chill out of the rooms... My woodstove with boiler for hot water and wet radiators is not big either at 12Kwatts feeding 7 aluminium ( more efficient than steel) radiators but I reckon it'll be plenty, we don't have temps much below -3°c here even in the coldest months (Feb/Mar) so heat requirements aren't as high... Also, my woodstove has a seperate air-intake pipe which, with a buried pipe under the sitting room floor going to an external wall and outside, is supposed to be much more efficient because the cold air is more dense with more oxygen than the warm air in the house, you are also not burning the warm air that has already taken fuel to heat it already !... But as I said at the start, money spent on insulating the buildings is the best bang for your buck and as fuel gets ever more spendy, it becomes an even better investment as time goes by... 😎👍☘️🍻
Wood ash is so great for the garden, yard, fruit trees, bushes. My goodness, count your blessings! We always pick up blow down limbs & keep them for kindling. Plus you can cook on that wood stove too!
I bought one very much like yours, to put coffee pot or dutch oven on top, but only bought it for when ,you know, grid down, but had a fireplace, so love cutting, splitting by hand, and know how much will last a month. It's adding 10 years by exercise.
I live in Montana and almost completely heat my home with wood. I recently put in a split pump heating system in 2 rooms, but it won't do it especially when it is minus 20 (I am actually pretty disappointed in that system). The biggest thing about wood is how dirty it is, and cleaning the flue is a complete drag. But you can't beat the heat, and the price if you don't mind the work and mess.
Never had near that amount of ash. I use primarily very dry Madrone, Tan Oak, Cedar, Black Oak, and some Fir that grows on our property. Use pallets to keep your split wood off the ground and dry. Tarp it during the winter months so air can circulate. After your wood seasons for a year or two, move it into a roofed wood shed, well off the gropund with lots of air circulation. Once you get your fire started, throttle down the air intake. Their should be enough coals to get the late afternoon fire started for the evening. Another log at bedtime, and their should be coals in the morning. Good dry seasoned wood should produce very little ash. I only clean out my ashes about three times in a year. Maybe a total of 6 gallons. Dry cedar is the best for kindling.
I'm 75.Been burning wood for 45 years. Cut, split, the whole shebang. First rule is, quit counting the 10 to 12 times you handle every gulldag piece of wood. And two, it's not about the money, it's about the life. 😊
Amen! Our main motivation was the self sustainability aspect! Awesome to hear at 75 you are still active active and able to buck the wood! I hope that when I am 75 I will be active and still able to split wood!
When my grandkids come over they stick their cold butts by the fireplace.
My wife enjoys the wood heat and I do too. It's so damned right that I don't mind all the work I do to keep it going. Being able to heat the house up where it's cozy warm is nice.
Tip: use a Mapp torch to light fires. Time saver.
My sons split wood with me and their grandpa they share his secrets today that my dad shared with me and I’m reminded that our way of life continues. I split wood with my grandfather also.
Wood heat is definitely a way of life more so than a money thing. And if you have to buy the wood then you may as well pay the utility company and save a lot of work. I figure handling 4-5 times (If you're cutting straight from the tree + splitting) is about right, just gotta avoid the excess handlings as much as possible.
The first rule is you do not talk about wood stoves.
Wood is the most efficient heat source. It heats you up 4 times.
1)When you cut it.
2)When you split it.
3)When you stack it.
4)When you burn it.
Maybe a couple more times also if you lack efficiency (for whatever reason) along the fell/buck/split/stack/transport process.😉
True, lol!
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Still cutting, splitting, stacking, best exercise, been at for42 yr's and going
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(4) When you carry the wood and put it in the stove.
5) When you shovel out the ashes.
(6) When you clean the dust and ash from the room.
(7) When give the chimney/pipe its annual cleaning.
I grew up heating with wood. Now I'm 65 and still heating with wood. I clean the ash once a month if it needs it or not. I don't count how many pieces I burn a day, and never have. I just keep the fire going 24-7 in the winter. Last winter got down to -30 and average temp inside was 70-75 degrees. If I get carried away, sometimes it will reach 80. Then I'm opening a window or two. You can't beat the heat a wood stove puts out. It makes my house a home.
Thanks for sharing!
Do you have to keep the bedroom doors open to get the heat distributed if your main heating source is the wood stove? I currently use propane for my home and is interested in going with wood stove for heating.
@@MyDeere3320If you already have a vented heating system like a furnace you can just pump the air through your house plenty of options
Yes. When spring comes and the last fire dies away it feels like my friend has left me.
@@MyDeere3320 We're also installing some small vents above the woodstove with a forced air fan to blow the rising heated air into the bedrooms and baths.
61yrs old. Been cutting, hauling, splitting 5-7 cords a year for 30 years. It's a huge commitment but it really is about "the life." Hank is right.
It is definitely about the lifestyle!
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We bought 7 acres in SW Washington with Alder, Maple, Hemlock, fir, and cedar. Alder grows fast, is heavy with water when first cut, burns good when dry, but leaves a lot of ash in the firebox. I would burn hemlock/fir at night to bank the fire and make an easy start in the morning. It also cleaned out some of the ashes, but we used the ashes in the garden to good effect. Good logs, including maple and alder, I would take down to the local mill and sell. But, mostly, we burned the wood for 17 years and loved it! Wood stove with a brick surround, heated the whole house.
Splitting logs is great exercise. Don't discount this fact. Not everyone needs a gym.
@@mcgavin098 that is very true!
How much time does this take? Per cord say? If you add up the time you could be making money is it worth it ?
With over 25 yrs. of wood burning, here's my take on the situation. Before I retired, I bought a wood splitter. I knew that there would come a day when an axe and a maul would be a little more than I could handle. On the two "homesteads" I have lived during that time, I was always on the lookout for trees blown down by bad weather or died in place. Those were always targeted for firewood. I probably haven't bought over 4 cords of firewood since I started burning wood. The rest always came off my own land or, occasionally, off the land of others living in my area. When it comes to starting a fire, it takes me lass than 2 minutes. When splitting the firewood, I save all splinters and bark that I get when splitting the logs. That is my kindling and there's always plenty of it. Toss it in the stove, hit it with a hand held propane torch, and add logs...that's it. However, I must admit, I only use the wood stove once the temps have reached the point that they are consistently below 45 degrees in the day time.
Righto... the handheld propane torch w/ a dash of charcoal starting fluid and you're off to the races
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I'm a 79 yr. old widow lady. Been using an Ashley wood stove for 40 + years. When my husband was alive, he cut all our wood for the winter from our own land. He would cut a year in advance, beginning in the spring of each previous year. It was my job to load the truck, then to stack into ricks. I still burn wood when the temps. stays continuously in the 30 range. I myself, haul the wood into the house, load stove 2 -3 times daily, empty ashes as needed, rain, snow, sleet, or hail. Young fell, I'm surprised by your video, and the complaining. With all respect, us old folks just don't whine when it comes to staying warm with just a little work. Just be grateful. 🇺🇸 p.s. Oh yes, when I purchase the wood from the Feed store, I also unload and stack the wood myself. It may take 2 days, but I don't ask for help. Have a Blessed day.
@@Coyotes-galore You go girl. ^5
@@Coyotes-galore I think you may have missed the point of the video. I knew it was going to be work heating with wood. I had never burned with wood as a primary heat source before and some things were a little more work than I expected. The video was for those considering wood heat and to help them understand it’s not just simply light a fire and your done.
I only heated a cabin in Vermont with a wood stove, for a week, on vacation, but realized that watching a burning fire at night is a more wholesome, primal comfort and entertainment than watching TV could ever be.
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The colors are amazing!!!
Yeah it's romantic when it's only a week😝
But not RUclips!
I can’t wait for woodstove season to start each year. I love splitting and stacking in the summer, I love naps in front of the fire, I love a cup of tea and a good book in front of the fire! There is no downside to a woodstove.
Sounds great!
Stop it, I'm getting jealous.
same. worth it. ☕🔥
nothing like getting the stove roaring on a cold night and picking the guitar......a little townes van zandt.
Unless YOU'RE the one cleaning out the creosote that collects inside the stack...
1st year with my wood stove and i LOVE it . the life style,,,the labor/work of cutting/splitting,, and seeing my electric bill go from 350$/month to 70$/month is a huuuge bonus !
Right on!
What brand did you buy and where did you purchase it? Just considering one…. Thanks
My first husband (deceased) introduced me to heating with wood stoves. I fell in love. I've never regretted a moment of helping load, stack, drive, deliver loads with him and stack up our own abundant supply. The warmth of wood heat over any other heat source is no contest. It is physically and emotionally warming, and it is mentally rewarding, knowing that in the Midwest, whatever kind of storms or other events might knock out the electricity, I didn't have to worry about pipes or family members freezing. We had to leave our house and stay with family one time due to no electricity and no running water for 3 days, crazy low temps, and little ones in the house. My husband stayed at the house and kept the wood stove going and we had no frozen pipes and no other damage. Couldn't say the same for others in the community. Second husband and I will be moving back to the Midwest to retire soon, and we've already planned the wood stove install for the retirement home that we bought. It seems like insanity to me to have a home in a 4 Season region of the country without a wood stove for back up and for the unbeatable comfy warmth. As for the energy expenditure of keeping up with it, I'm a believer in use it or lose it. I want to keep a wood stove for the same reason some people get a dog. Walk the dog daily or maintain wood supply and tend the stove. Another plus is the ash for the growing things!
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Yes us it or lose it.
Keep exercising, keep active and it keeps you healthy!
Once our power went out for a few days and we had an infant. It was terrifying. Never again. We got a stove up and running so we would always be warm.
We live in North Idaho where we can easily get winter storms. I absolutely can’t imagine living without a stove. We can use for heat and cooking when electricity is out. Saves us Bunch of $. That being said I’m blessed with a strong husband who can bring in heavy logs from the state property near us. My 2 sons are helping him split and stock. I love to help with any of that prep and split too. But my retired parents live in Suburbs of Seattle and I don’t see how they can be able to have a wood stove at all! No yard for keeping it even if someone else did all the chopping. In their case electricity will cost less than paying someone else to maintain their wood supply/stove. So it really is a way of life!
ash for growing things❤ U just nail it love .... getta stove let it grove. and remember wood makes you good😊 danelove❤
Definitely love the woodstove. I am in my 6th year of heating my home only with wood. I always think about the time and energy expenditure it takes. But the amount I would pay to heat my home the modern, normie way, exceeds what I would make at a part time job. I spend maybe on average throughout the year 20 hours a month gathering, cutting, splitting, stacking, and bringing the wood indoors. The time spent tending the stove is relaxing and not counted as worked hours. Get yourself a chair and a small table to set up by each stove, have a snack, breakfast, quick lunch or a coffee or beer while starting it. It will feel like no time at all. It gives me some down time especially after work.
It’s gratifying work so it makes it totally worth it! Plus I get my kids to help me, it’s a good learning lesson for them!
I like the way you add your daily routine into the process. Perfect!
I’ve always enjoyed putting up wood and would rather do that than work more at a job away from home and paying half my check to the corrupt government!!!!
And the warm is so much warmer 🥰
@@rnupnorthbrrrsm6123 there is nothing like getting the chill out of your bones sitting next to the wood stove! My motto is to get as close to net zero on the money going out that I can, weather it’s eliminating my gas bill, electric bill and grocery bills!
@T Mac it’s been especially nice this past week with the highs below zero, standing next to it after being outside quickly takes the chill out of the bones!!!
Hello. Your problem with ash buildup is simple. Your wood is not properly seasoned. IF you use 💯 dry wood with moisture content less than 10%, you will have VERY little ash. We heat 💯 with wood (northern MN) and can run 3-4 woodboxes of wood (2 weeks) with less ash than you pull from yours. We do not use ash drop from stove... we hand scoop. There are NO pieces left unburnt... white fine ash, nothing else.
Get a bucket with lid. You will release far less impurities into your indoor air space. Scoop... immediately lid it or you are inhaling fine particles of ash.
We ran into your problem until we got our wood from 15% moisture content to less than 10%. Tiny difference... big change.
Happy trails and good hunting!
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The species of wood also contributes to the amount of ash buildup. Here seasoned red oak seems to be the winner with the least buildup.
And leave some ash in it
We burn continuously in the winter and we’ve only emptied ash once this year since it got cold. Red fir is what we burn
@@kbittorf335 Locust, Oak, Elm, and Mulberry also burn hot with little ash.
Once you're more experienced at using the damper and controlling the fire it'll get easier. Also, you can cut shorter wood and build a smaller fire, keep it damped down to smolder all day and you should get a lower heat for the day. Then, still have a bed of coals to fire up in the evening. The wood doesn't have to match the length of the fire box in the stove! We used chubby little logs in spring & fall and bigger lengths on those cold winter nights! Having smaller fires in the fire box will also create less ash and your wood pile will last longer.
Thanks for the tip!
Yeah, stuff the neighbours health, Smolder that wood.
Create max pollution, way to go!
Cut half length so you can stack it easily even though making small fires assuming you can cut off the oxygen supply in your fireboxes. If you can't cut the oxygen supply down to zero or near zero... throw out those stoves and get something else. @@portercreek
We have heated with wood for 25 years now. We keep a metal container of water on the stove to put some humidity back into the air.
I guess most places in winter this is 100% true. I live in the webfoot coast(Pacific Northwest which should Actually be the Pacific North East... yet the idiots call it the PNW...) as we need dry all the time and not more humidity. @@wowens1218
Ive manufactured woodstoves for 25 years. Ive never met anyone who is passionate about the lifestyle that their propane heater or their diesel fired boiler offers them.
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Hi do you have a brand or two that you recommend for a home living room please ? Thanks
@@lovejoypeace9424 what country are you in? Im from tiny New Zealand
@@t.h.o.r. thanks for the reply. I’m in Texas for a time and thought my son in law should consider purchasing a wood stove.
I have been burning for 9 years mostly when it gets really cold for the house and all winter long in my shop. I started as an emergency backup for heat since we have young children.
Few things I've learned... Save your ash and use it for your garden. If the glass is dirty wait until the stove is cold and dip newspaper into water, then into some ash, and wipe the window and the soot will come off easily. If you are getting a lot of soot your fires aren't hot enough. Reasons could be because chimney isn't high enough and not drawing enough air, wood is too wet, has too much sap, etc.
I just heard about the ash truck to clean the window! I’ll have to give that a try!
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I'm 53 yes old and I've been burning wood, either for a fireplace then moved to a woodstove to heat my entire home. Yes, there are a few things that require your attention when you commit to this, but it's a learning experience that rewards you with the confidence gained from knowing you can be a little more independent/self- reliant. Anything worth doing requires effort and commitment.
That is very true!
Well said.
If you want less ash…
when your fire burns down and you have mostly coals, rake them towards the front, throw a piece of pine or locust in and open the air up all the way.
Any hot/fast burning wood should work. Hope this helps.
Hi there all the way from Aberdeen Scotland.I run my house heating and hot water entirely on wood since 2006. You will find that to run your house and buildings on wood you need to be organised, I can’t help but notice that some people make it very labour intensive , it does not need to be. Your amount of ash is dependant on the type of wood you burn as not all wood creates the same amount of ash. I use Larch which leaves very little. The secret is dry wood with 20% moisture content or less.
Organization is very helpful! This is my first year heating with wood and the wood I split late winter/early spring so my wood is a little wetter than it should be but next year I will be a little more prepared!
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I'm in Edinburgh I started gathering wood a year before I got my stove a wise decision as now I think and hope I have enough cut firewood to last two winters and I'm still gathering wood
You are absolutely correct about being organised.Relying on woodburners needs advanced planning ,sometimes up to two years depending on your supply of logs.Ive had multifuel burners for 7 years and could not imagine life without it.Personally I think the human race has softened to a point that even pushing a switch is laborious.
@@stuartbrixton6260 Hi Stuart one of the secrets to not being a slave to your wood burner is not to use a log splitter but use a wood processor. Something like a Mastersplit 36 takes all the effort and heavy lifting out of the task and very fast . Check them out on RUclips. I started with an axe then splitter then a bigger splitter then a processor then a bigger processor,just bite the bullet and it will not be a chore but therapy and you won’t need to go to the gym. Keep your hardwoods for burning when the winter really bites.I have all my sheds full and buy in 25 tons of Larch from the forestry and use it between me and my son who has the same set up as me. A boiler stove is a must for me with 2 solar thermal panels on the roof for hot water in the summer when you are not using the wood burner, The hot water tank is called a thermal store and is brilliant supplying hot water for the 20 radiators, hot water for the house . I have tried quite a lot of different ideas over the years and reckon I have got it pretty good,my latest being rather than waste all the sawdust that is generated make a briquette machine with a 15 ton ram on it . First snow of the winter in Aberdeen yesterday so burning birch today. I could probably get off cutting all the wood I need in 3 to 4 weeks of the year cutting it in the summer as pre being organised cutting it up to my knees in snow. Have made wood sheds so the wind blows straight through the cut logs ,on the uncut 3 m logs cover the top only not the sides and let the air through. Enjoy your journey there is a satisfaction in being self sufficient and unlike most central heated homes my whole house is heated what a bonus.
@@stuartbrixton6260 I agree! I was just talking to a friend last night about heating with wood and how we have all become softened and used to the ease of pushing a button to get the perfect temp.
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My dad used wood heat in his house my entire life. When he got older and couldn't do the wood anymore he converted to a pellet stove. That worked out really well for him.
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My older brother in MN also used wood stove all of his life. As he's gotten older, he decided to buy a wood pellet stove and he's been happy with that choice and having consistent heat throughout the day that his house is warm when comes home from work in the evenings.
Coal miners daughter here. My father used to light the fire before going to work every morning, it took time. I have an open fire that takes smokeless coal and it’s not the easiest thing in the world to get going even for me who is used to doing it!! My fire has saved us through this last winter because the electric prices have gone through the roof here in Britain to the extent that the government is covering some costs for low income families. I feel blessed that I have my open fire, especially this year although my coal jumped up a whole £10 more a bag. Yes you can flick a switch and put the central heating on but an open fire draws all family members to it when it’s on, creating a great social gathering 😂. 👍❤️
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I'm 61 and have been lighting wood fires for over 45 years. I have a fire going right now. As Hank mentioned, it's a lifestyle, you get warmed up preparing the wood for burning. I'm a big fan of rocket stoves, they make a lot of sense to me.
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Rocket stoves/heaters are great way to use less wood and get more heat with less work, and save the air from polluting while burning.
Speaking from personal experience, heating up 56m2 with 1m3 of wood at most, even less than that. Second year of heating with wood in my life, and happy that I started straight away with rocket heater. Mine is made from metal only, with heating insulation inside the burning pipe. I put one ceiling fan above the heater, and thats it. Very cheap heating, here in Serbia, 25€ per month, buying leftovers from the palletes fabric, ideal size for it, not much extra work needed. Almost perfect 😊
Did you bild your rocketstove yourself or did you buy one ? Is it possible to buy a rocketstove ?Thanks.
I agree with Hank. I'm only 70 and I still look forward every spring to stacking my 3 cords for the winter heating season. And usually I don't even get through that even though I typically keep the stove stoked all day long. Could be your stove is too big for the space Andy. I use a medium size air-tight stove (ca. 35K btu) for a 1-1/2 story 90 yr old house that's about 1000 sqft or so, and burn from late Oct right into May most years (Nova Scotia). Flame on!
I have a 3000 sqft house and when it is single digits I have been having a hard time getting them temp above 70 in the house so I don’t think I am oversized.
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I lived in bayfield antigonish county for 7 years. Heated with wood entirely. Now I'm above 5,000 ft in southern California. Still heating with wood
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@@portercreek We have just over 3,000 sqft and use a single wood stove that serves that well, but we use a slow burn and have a furnace fan that sends the heat more evenly around the house. Every now and then the gas furnace turns on to supplement, but only when the temps are going below freezing. Letting the fire go out and having to relight each day must be a pain! As for wood ash, we used to make a lot more when burning and open wood fire but even then we only needed a 5 gallon container's worth once a winter. We have a buck stove and it creates so little ash but burns 2 cords through the winter. We do burn thicker logs that most people appear to use and I think that makes a big difference for a long, slow burn!
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I love my woodstove which I've had for 13 yrs, got it to replace a crappy pellet stove.. It weights over 600lbs, it's a cast iron monster, slower to warm up than your plate metal stove, but the thermal mass can't be beat. I can cook on it (wonderful for stews), it's warm and I can watch the flames. Of course I take care of it in the off-season, when I'm busy bucking up 16 ft log lengths, then I stack the wood to dry, split it, stack it again, and yeah I also take out any unused wood from the woodshed, put it aside and - yep! - stack the wood I've just split. As others have mentioned, I save the splinters and bark for tinder too. I fill the woodshed, new stuff in the further reached, the driest stuff from last year closest to the door. A lot of work for an ol broad in her mid-50s, but hey, it's a great workout and pays off. So it means some mess inside. Big whoop.
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I grew up with my folks using wood to heat at different times, as well as in my adult life. Personally when I get a place of my own (no longer renting) I would want wood heat as a back up. It is nice to be able to keep the house at a regular base temp with a central HVAC system, and then know that when the power goes out you have a way to keep yourself warm and fix a hot meal. As you said the price of other fuel has gone crazy. Fuel oil and propane fluctuate so much that if you can not budget a minimum amount every month, year round, and get in to a pre buy program with your supplier then you are at mercy of the grid or tolerance to freezing temps. One time my brother complained that I stank. I told him, "do you remember what it was like to take a cold bath, in a cold house in the middle of winter?". He instantly had that remembrance of nights spent under two or three blankets and quilts while wearing long johns under pajamas with a pair of socks on your feet and the dread of needing to get up in the middle of the night to answer "nature's call".
Your story’s with your brother sounds like times up north at deer camp trying to stay warm with no grid to tie into! I like knowing that in the event there is a crisis, my family will be able to keep warm in the winter and all our canned goods won’t freeze up!
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We have been heating by wood stove for 4 years now. I get a cord of kiln dried and mix it with my seasoned wood. The kiln dried burns hotter, burns easier & you can almost close the flue all the way with kiln dried. I find it has helped us use less seasoned wood and and has given us better heat, the majority of my neighbors have wood stoves as well so we all help each other split and stack since all of us need to do it
Thanks for the tip, I just stuck 2-3 chords in my kiln now that it was empty so we will give that a try! Thanks for commenting, please hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already!
These friggin' things put out SO much HEAT! Definitely keeps the family warm no matter how cold it is outside!
Truth!
My grandfather had tree companies dump wood at his ranch for free. He split and sold about 50 cords of wood a year. He kept the scrap pieces and anything too gnarly to stack. He kept his house heated with an outdoor stove for decades doing this. He finally stopped in his early 80's.
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As a HVAC mechanic for 35 years I purchased a wood stove about 12 years ago and had to go through all the mother earth news fanboy club garbage. Let me go through a few tips. Square footage means nothing, heat load is everything. Have a professional heat load done by an HVAC contractor that is capable. I do heat loads every day and I can tell you they can easily vary up to 300%. My home is 1800sq. ft with a heat load of 36000 btu on a 0 degree day. If you dont know your heat load there is no use even talking about wood usage. 1. Outdoor chimney should be the same size as your vent connector, usually 6 inch. It should be well insulated as to protect the already low stack temperature from condensing as it makes its way out. By sizing the chimney to the vent connector you will maximize the velocity of the exhaust gases giving them less time to condensate. If your chimney is existing and is larger than your vent connector, drop a ss liner and insulate with vermiculite. 2.Out side air. There are several fallacies that permeate the "wood burning" clan. My favorite is "Wood burning is a very dry heat" There is no such thing as dry heat only dry air and if you are pulling your humidified air that you already spent time heating from inside your house to use for combustion that air is going to be replaced with cold dry air coming through every nook and cranny in your house. Turn on your bathroom exhaust fan, dryer or kitchen stove vent and you can find out the chimney can work in both directions. Like all modern heating systems the wood stove should draw outside air for combustion. If you need a little warm air to start the draft, open the firestove door. 3. Don't stack your wood, pile it up. You will get much better airflow through the pile. I purchased a 2 car carport and split it in half. This years pile and next years pile. I see people stack it and blue tarp it and just shake my head. Throw some skids down under the piles to stop rotting and increase airflow through the pile. Seasoned wood mean exactly that, wood that has dried for one season, That is not long enough. 1 year under a rainproof carport and you can light your wood with a match and your 8 inch unsplit logs will burn beautifully. If you are buying your wood, buy enough for 2 years to start the proper drying time. Stay away from CAT stoves. Pacific energy has a good paper on why. search Pacific energy woodstoves to read it. Any questions feel free to ask.
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Please pardon my ignorance, what is the difference between stacking and piling your wood? I am a newbie, and am waiting for the install date on my new to me 2016 Lopi Endeavor. I am having 2 guys come out to give me an estimate on installing. I don't currently have a fireplace or woodstove so I am starting from scratch. Thank you!
Stacking firewood is usually done by laying the pieces tightly together as to save space. Piling your wood just means to throw it in a pile. Stacking your wood saves very little space and you can watch several videos on youtube where they do it both ways to show how little room it actually saves.
@@carinrichardson
My biggest question is with #2. Outside air. What is the difference between pulling fresh air from nooks and crannies, vs pulling from a fresh air intake in another room like a utility room, down the hall maybe 15 feet from the stove. If its -15 out it will be pulling freezing air in to give air for the fire? I have a really small, tight home. 600 sq ft upstairs n down so total 1200. I need fresh air and i cant figure it out to make sense with the stove. Currently no duct work. Need help figuring it out before i install stove. Should a 6” fresh air intake be good enough for the house and the stove? Will the stove heat be enough to warm the cold fresh air its pulling in?
@@Hefword you pull combustion air from the outside. If you pull it from anywhere inside the structure it is going to be replaced with cold, dry air. Most stoves will come with a 3 inch outside air connection. I have found that a 10 foot stainless chimney liner extension works well for this. Connect and finish the outside with a screen covered inlet. These are easily obtained at any HVAC supplier.
I use propane torch to lite my fire wood, its take less than 2mins and im on the same 400g tank since almost 2 years..
Just a tip. Don't let it burn out. You don't have to burn a large fire. Throw in a log, just to keep embers going. You heat up the bones of your home. When you get your home warm, the framing, the I sukation, the flooring, the roof, then you keep warm air in the house, by keeping a log going, you do two things. You keep the heat in the materials of your house. It won't lose that heat to the air. It will hold it. So when Temps drop, you are already a step ahead of it. You don't have to reheat it. And, because you kept the fire going, you just have to throw a log on, and not have to restart it. And because the bones of your house held its heat, you do not have to burn a huge fire to get the air to a warm temp. I hope this is making sense. I hope I am conveying the information. By doing it this way, you save yourself time, and actually end up burning less wood. Because you retained the heat from the previous fires. Where as, if you let the temp drop too much, the heat in the bones of the house, will work its way out. Because that's just what heat does. And then, when you fire it back up at night, you have to start all over.
Yeah, I try not to let the house drop below 69, it seems like when we get to to single digits it takes significantly more to keep the house warm and when it is in the 40s it is super easy to over heat. With time we are learning tricks with it as it is a little more complicated to maintain house temps with the high efficiency stoves than the old style stoves.
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Yes the brickwork and all fabric of the house heats a good time even without a fire. Once the fire place and chimney breast is warm the fire does not need to be on high. Rather than keep it going too low though when it's quite warm enough, I'm happy to let it go out and re light several hours later. You might thing that's more work, but keeping it going low when you don't need it is a false economy. You do use more wood, and you are doing more work. You also are probably having a dirty burn on low too, which is wasting wood gasses as smoke rather than heat and not so good for the environment.
@@MartinA-kp8xg at first I was keeping it going really low and found I was going through quite bit more wood, now when I have a fire I make sure my temps are in the “optimal temp range”
@@portercreek yes big wood burning slowly puts a lot of its energy up the chimney as unburned gasses that could have been flame. If you have it going hot with small often applied pieces you get more heat for your wood. . If you have an after burner and not one bit of smoke comes out of the chimney your not wasting gasses. There are so many variables though, different types of wood at different seasoning levels etc. Different dailt temperatures, there is more draw on our chimney when the wind is in the west too. But they tick the primal box too cave men lit fires 😂. I tell the kids to move if I can't see the flames.
learn to bank a fire. u bury coals with ash basically
Bought an Ideal Steel Hybrid by Woodstock Stove Company and this stove is a game changer. I’m 62 and have burned wood my entire life so I feel I have a pretty good grasp on wood heat. With this stove I am heating 2400 sq ft in northern Pa. And use about a wheelbarrow load every three days when the temps are the teens at night and 20s to 30s during the day. Wood must be less than 15 %
The key with these energy efficient stoves is to have really dry wood!
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@Russell Tomlinson I am also thinking about that stove! How long have you been burning with it? Any thing you would order differently?
@@MattBell_USA been burning for 2 months now. Wouldn’t change a thing! I have the soapstone in both the fire box and the outside panels love this stove. So far I have burned less than a 1/2 cord of mixed oak ash cherry maple and hickory!
@@russelltomlinson2353 I was going to order the Progress Hybrid, but the side load doesn't work for our space. Did you get the ash pan? What colors?
@@MattBell_USA went plain old school and everything is black! Yes we did get the ash pan which I highly recommend! I live in northern Pa and picked mine up when it was ready then visited my brother in Vt.
Great timing. I just pulled my catalytic combustor and cleaned the flue and chimney cap. -Will be cleaning out the stove in a few minutes. It's the start of Fall here in Maryland and I'm getting ready for winter.
Summer is still holding on here in MN!
I'd been using a wood stove for almost 25 years before I tried these nifty heavy canvas wood bags for suppling wood to the wood stove. these really help to minimize debris falling everywhere. I use 2 of these bags for convenience, that way you can knock the chill off your wood before sending it to the fire. Another recommendation would be to not completely empty your stove of ash. By using a child's toy steel tined garden rake to rake your hot embers to the back of one side corner of your stove, then shovel about 80% of your ash out. By leaving about 20% of ash it will help your fire burn more efficiently due to it's insulating values. Learn how to bank a fire in order to restart it later, too. There is a lot to learn. I'm still learning!
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I've been using those canvas carriers for 20+ yrs. now. Also, I have my wood storage area outside under cover (holds 4+ cords). I have a 3 foot rack under roof on my porch, and a 2 ft. rack in the house (sets inside the bottom part of a large plastic box to catch debris) The rack on the porch holds about 6 days worth. The one inside holds about 3 days worth. I never burn anything that has not been split and stacked (seasoned) for at least 8 months and usually 12 months.
I used to have one of those canvas carriers. And I was thinking about getting a new one, but lately I just have been using 5 gallon buckets. Now I'm used to them.
@@jimcassar I don't think I could get over 2 pieces of my firewood in a 5 gal. bucket. I can get 6 to 8 pieces in the canvas carrier.
@@reb1050 We cut the sides out of two 5 gal buckets, works great for carrying firewood. Cut the sides out all the way to the bottom, leave the sides where the handles are attached.
Im 65, cut. Split ,burned and sold many a cord.(arborist for 47 yrs) wood has ambient heat like no other heat source. I tell my customers " no one bellys up to the oil furnace and says, man that feels good, warms your bones "
👍🏻
That's it, isn't it. No one gets passionate about an oil burner, it's hidden in the cellar somewhere, and becomes almost invisible except on the day they come to fill the tank. But there is, as you say, nothing like woodstoves. You come in from shoveling the roof off and there it is, all nice and warm. And there is also that sense that well, dayum, I split and stacked every damn piece of wood that goes into this...
73; been using wood my entire life. Learn the BTU values of each type of wood . Stack different woods separately and use accordingly. Grew up in Northern Maine ,15 cords per winter to cut-haul-buck-split- and stack. My jobs starting when I turned 8. 1100 sq ft home. Now I live in S Central Ks . 514 sq ft. 2.5 cords a year. I can sharpen a chain or axe in my sleep. Love it. I keep a full 4 year supply on hand at all times. That goes for my groceries as well.
Thanks for sharing!
Life will become alot easier when you learn to size your fire. Stuffing logs in the stove will most likely overheat the place and then you're wasting wood. Splitting it into various sizes allows you to judge the length of burn and the amount of btu's it puts out. Heat your domain accordingly. Another tip is to be aware of the temperature forecasts for the day, night and the week; this way you'll know how big of a burn you'll need. As you progress you'll become more accustomed to "tending" the fire to keep you comfortable and save time, money and energy. It comes with awareness and practice.
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I grew up with woodstoves for heat. Finally getting one installed next month and I cant wait. Being out in the bush cutting is relaxing and keeps me off the couch
It will definitely keep one active! Thanks for commenting!
Good video! experienced some of those things myself as my wife and I enter our 3rd year of heating solely with wood. We did find that the amount of ash is much higher when burning softwoods like grand fir, pine, or aspen. Harder woods (like maple, western larch) produce much less ash (and more heat, naturally).
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If you are burning soft, sappy wood like fir and pine, you will have to beware of the inflamable residue that builds up in the pipes.
@@briankleinschmidt3664 if it's properly seasoned, modern stoves should take care of this with secondary/tertiary combustion. Almost all my wood is fir/pine and I get very little soot buildup. I I've used both catalytic and none catalytic stoves. Noncatalytic will get more buildup but you can burn that off with a hot morning fire for 20 minutes each day.
A neighbor gifted me a big old willow tree they were taking down. That darned wood was almost impossible to split, took forever to dry, burned up fast [like cardboard], and produced 4 times the ash than any other wood I've burned. Sometimes there's a "catch" to taking the free stuff.
@@pouglwaw5932 There's a reason willow grows next to water. Spongy and bogged down, a lot like cottonwood
I love having a full wood shed going into winter, and a full freezer, a barn full of hay, full root cellar, it's not just about the money I'm saving, it's the fact I won't have to go anywhere for anything all winter. 😊😊😊
Amen to that!
That's an extended downtime vacation in comfort!!! Bravo!
Live in North Wales, UK. A cold wet area. Have been using a wood stove for 20 years. It's heat is brilliant. It is much cheaper than electric and oil, both of which I have. These are crazy prices in the UK. I'm in my seventies so the work involved getting the wood ready for burning gives me a bit of exercise. Love it.
Thanks for sharing
Years ago we had a coal/ wood stove with a hot water jacket. Coal burns through the night with the dampers turned down a bit. The hot water jacket provides free heating for the water in the Winter.In the spring we switched the water back to run through the water heater.
I made an air exchanger for the side of my stove and I am using thermal siphoning to heat my domestic hot water
I moved to the mountains (6840') a couple years ago. I'm completely off-grid and I have two wood stoves to heat my house and nothing else. I have cut and split more wood in the last couple years than my entire life before moving up here.
I would love to be completely off grid! My goal is to get as close to off grid as I can in the next 5 years!
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1st winter in our home in 91, got my 1st propane bill, furnace hasn’t ran since that tank was empty!
Nice!
It’s a lot of work, but we love heating with firewood in our wood stove. We’ve done a couple videos about it. From what I’ve experienced, these indoor wood burners like you have there (and we use in our videos), burn less wood to heat an area than the big outdoor burners. Great video! -Chad
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After having a wood stove for the last 17 years, due to an illness, last year was the first time I had to buy split and seasoned firewood. After all those years of gathering with my cars, cutting, splitting and stacking and hauling it in the house when needed, it was a nice break to not have to do all that work. I do miss it though but would not trade a wood stove and all the work it takes to keep my home and family nice and warm for anything else. A wood stove is a lifestyle.
We have been really frowning to like our wood stove! It is definitely a learning curve as well as a lifestyle!
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My trick is to put the last piece of wood in crooked, sometimes when the fire dies, you find a nice charred piece standing or wedged across the walls. Makes starting the next fire quick
Thanks for sharing!
When I’m out camping I take apart my campfire with leather gloves at night before bed so it will go out. It leaves the charred pieces ready to go in the morning to re-stack back into the fire pit. Just the tiniest piece of paper and you have a fire again. No more splitting kindling now for years. Lord knows I did a lot of that when I was a kid, not that I didn’t enjoy it.
We have a pellet stove (which has its own pros and cons) and would like to switch to a wood stove insert at some point in the future. My in-laws have a wood stove and I learned firsthand the amount of work needed to source, cut, split, store and cure the firewood-not to mention loading the stove and getting a fire to reliably start! It’s not easy, but it’ll keep you busy on the weekends for sure.
Also, I wouldn’t recommend getting a wood stove unless you have a pickup truck. The vast majority of wood you’ll burn likely won’t be from your property but from fallen trees you’ll find in your neighborhood or around town. Remember, the idea here is to heat your home with FREE wood, not to pay for it. Without a pickup or similar vehicle, there’s simply no way to get that wood to your property for processing.
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I have yet to understand how 🤔 how one would turn a tree 🌳 into pellets for the pelletstove. I tried with my chainsaw - no no avail. Lol 😆
Well renting a U Haul pickup for a day or two works not too expensive also. Of course living in Northern AZ there are plenty of downed trees to get so one day is a big haul!
Been burning wood as a supplemental & emergency heat source for decades. First I was using a Fisker splitting maul, then as I'm getting older with a not so great ticker I bought a 25 ton splitter. For at least the past decade my woods been free from either storm damage of land clearing for construction. If I cut it & split it, I let it sit & dry out for the next season. Last week bought 4 cords (1st time buying since about 2008).
Are you using cured hardwood? I find I have much less ash to dump. I use a typical hand dolly to bring the wood in & a full dolly is good for 3 days of burning. I use a ratchet strap to keep wood tight on the dolly, it stays where I want it even going down stairs. About an hour before bed I load it up nice & open the air valves to get the fire going well, then I close the air valves to almost nothing & close the chimney flue to 1\4 open. Always wake up to a good deal of embers, open the flue 100% load up the stove, & open the air valves to get it flaming good again, then adjust air in to about 1\4 open & chimney flue to 1\2 open. Hope I've always got the option of burning wood. Love the smell. Good luck to you. Cheers.
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Ive burnt wood most my adult life and it keeps ya in good shape to I just turned 65 and going strong
I look forward to doing it for many years, forces you to get out of bed at a decent time every morning in the winter!
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Try sprinkling ash on your fire bro. It slows the burn down and you can just chuck more wood on when you want it to roar up again. You’ll have to experiment with how much ash you put on the fire to calm it down and drag the burn out. Hope this helps 👍🏴
Thanks for sharing the tip! I will have to give it a try!
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Awesome, thank you for taking the time to share your findings, much appreciate the information. Every continued success to you and yours.
Thanks, you too!
I heated our 1917 farmhouse with wood for 16 years. I lived pretty much in the geographical middle of Texas and we had some severe winters in the 80's. Never got cold in the house one time. I used seasoned mesquite and oak. Our stove was an air tight Old Timer and it did a fantastic job in our 1400 sq.ft. home. After we had central heat and air installed in the mid 90's we burned maybe 3 fires for the rest of our time in that house. I saved a ton of money by heating with wood for all those years and enjoyed cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking. I'm over 70 now and would be hard pressed go the wood stove route again, however, you never know what is going to happen and we may need to put an insert in our fireplace and do it all over again. Fortunately we have a wood source and plenty of trees to harvest.
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You just gave all the reasons that people abandoned wood stoves and fireplaces as their main source of heat. I've reinvented the wheel a few times myself and found that to not be a productive undertaking. Best, Doc.
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Hint= get a sweep brush and rod and clean your own stack.
I clean twice a season. My split dougfirr is 2 year seasoned. My oak and madrona is 1 year seasond. My property is very dense forest in south Oregon.
All free
I use ceiling fans to circulate the heat. I don't let it go out but I open windows when it gets to warm, evan when its snowing.
Oh the fresh crispe clean air.
Can't wait.
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I think the secret is to have as small a space for home and shop as you can.
I use an electric thermostat radiator heater on low all the time. Large windows south facing. Good insulation with zero gaps.
I only need the wood stove when temps are below 45’F.
Use a small stove surrounded by clay bricks. Always a kettle of water on top.
Works great for me but it is a small space.
I enjoy the hauling, cutting and splitting. There’s a definite satisfaction in being self sufficient and a job well done. Don’t think life should be too physically easy.
All the best
It is very satisfying! Thanks for the feedback, please don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!
I love those little radiator heaters, I used them for years. I think you're right about the smaller space I am looking into a smaller space now in my older years.
Dad heated the house with a barrel woodstove for 12 years. We also had nat gas forced air furnace but we would see how low we could set it. I think the best way to do it is to have multiple heating options. If you have electricity, supplement your wood stove with a pellet stove. Vice versa. Also, homes built 120 years ago were smaller and wood stoves work great in one level. But when you have to move heat around walls, comes the challenge.
That is true, smaller house back then made it much easier to heat!
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The survivor's saying is "two is one and one is none". This means that if you have only one way to do something (heat, cook, etc) and it goes out (power failure, equipment failure, etc) you have none. But with a back up plan it's like having a spare tire and an extra gas can on a trip.
@@Rebekahdavignon Very true! Thanks for commenting, please hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already!
One thought I had with getting a wood burning stove would be to put it in my living room somewhere around the air intake for my existing hvac system. That way I could just kick the fan on to circulate the heat through the house every so often.
@@nova31337 it is a great idea, I wouldn’t put a lot hope in it distributing very well. Mine is in the basement next to the furnace and I opened up the return a lot and plugged all the other returns and it helps but with the equivalent to about 3 returns open on the furnace it is still 4-5 degrees warmer in the basement. Before I opened up the returns more on the furnace and plugged the upstairs ones and only had the one return open on the furnace, it was about a 8-10degree difference
This is good information for people who never burned wood. I've been using wood for thirty years and it requires a fair amount of work.
Truth!
My wife and I are building a Timber Frame cabin in the mountains with our own hands from lumber I milled myself after renting for 40 years. I put 10" of spray foam insulation in the roof and the walls have 6 " of fiberglass insulation. The roof has R48, walls are about R21. The foam guy said "You'll probably be able to heat this place with a candle." I was warned not to skimp on the insulation by a knowledgeable friend of mine. We 're getting close to finishing. Main heat is a Jotul wood burning stove. Property is loaded with Junipers. Insulation is the key to maximizing heat retention. A wood stove is a bit of work but allows you to be independent of the power grid and there's nothing like sitting in front of the fire with a good book and your best friends beside you.
Very true!
The Bible says we are not to be prideful but there is a since of pride I get from working hard to cut, split, haul, stack, and burn wood to keep my family and friends warm. Plus a wood stove is great for arthritis, it pulls the pain right out. Thank you for this video and thank you to all the people who have put their comments in also, keep it real my wood burning peeps y'all's skills will definitely be helping you in the near future. God bless🙏
I find it to be very gratifying to know that I am able to directly and tangibly meet the needs of my family! Thank you for the encouraging comment, I needed that today! Please hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already! Numbers 6:24-26
There is nothing egotistical about gathering firewood! I'm sure God doesn't mind...
Years ago when I first started with my stove I had the same sort of things but as far as getting it started more quickly and throttling it you’ll get better at it
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Hi there all the way from Aberdeen Scotland. I have heated my complete house with wood since 2006 and do the full procedure and the secret is being organised and streamlined with your system. For someone who uses a lot of wood you don’t need an axe nor a wood splitter you need a wood processor where you handle the 10ft log once on to the machine and the cut logs go up a conveyor and in to my trailer where I then put them in my log sheds no stacking and leave them to dry. Check out the Farmi 36 this is what works for me ,forget the Chinese clones and cheapos they are crap and a waste of money . Working with wood is a journey of enlightenment and soothes the soul and has a personal satisfaction element and achievement. Best of luck.
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We had a wood burning stove. Cut hauled and split wood with a wood splitter which was a god send. However it got to be too much as finding seasoned wood was a chore, and decided to go with a pellet stove. I love my pellet stove. It's automatic you can control the air flow and restocking is a breeze, just pour the bag of pellets into the hopper. No opening and closing the door 10 times a day, controlled heat and It shuts itself down if things go astray as well.
In my experience, too much ash in the garden throws off the ph of the soil. Hence, lots of moss. And when burning wood just for the house, I figure on a cord of wood a month, +/-. You can’t beat wood heat. And it’s awesome exercise. Etc., etc.👍🇺🇸❤️
Thanks for sharing!
This is our second year burning wood,(secondary location) still learning things. (Got a Blaze King) Getting the ash out without causing "drift" is still a little challenging, but getting better and I don't know where to put the ash, b/c the garden doesn't need much. Also I don't really waste wood, just because we have plenty doesn't mean that we crank it up to the point we need to open up the windows. lol It is a lot more work than you think, but it is somewhat mindless and enjoyable.
It is very gratifying! I think a blaze king may be an upgrade in my future…
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My stove has an automatic damper & the stove itself has a damper at the top to control the heat/air, etc from going out the top. I can damper this thing way down to where it burns for quite a while. I never have a legitimate flame going for very long. Maybe once a week I crank it up to burn off any creosote buildup from what amounts to smoldering wood. I also put in ductwork with an inline fan that runs off of a line voltage thermostat to pull the heat out & move it to a cooler part of the house. It’s an a/c thermostat so when the temp rises the fan kicks on. I also come by free firewood from those who don’t want the trees or have no use for them. Just some time spent collecting & splitting is all it has cost me
Try to handle the ash after its cooled somewhat. The hotter it is it's likely to get airborne. Keep a lid on the ash can as you handle it. Allow the ash to accumulate minimizing the number of times you handle it. Dust and the mess associated with firewood are the biggest drawbacks of woodburning , but worth it!
@@markkaminski2416 that is a good tip on trying not to handle it when it is hot. I have noticed that when it is hot it tends to float up more and get in the air more!
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@@johnkaspar462 brand and model?
I tried wood heat for a year or so. I found I was either sweating or freezing.😝
I find that splitting the wood smaller, maybe 3" x 4" or even a small as 2"x 4" and good seasoning along with keeping a rack full by the stove to dry more before the next filling allows a more efficient burn with more BTU's therefore burning less wood over a longer period of time and creates almost no ash. I clean the fire box about once every 3 weeks. My Drolet HT-2000 also has the damper on top so a top-down fire also helps and is recommended in the user manual.
I definitely agree with you on the smaller pieces! Easier to work with too!
All very valid points! Great job explaining!
I’m in the process of setting everything up, and let me tell you, my primary reason is because the WEF and their evil new world counterparts say they wanna ban wood burning stoves! So here I am, getting rid of the convenience of my pellet stove that I’ve ran for years in exchange for a proper wood burning stove, heating everything with that, including water etc..
Great video
Thanks! Good luck to you on your wood burning adventure!
My dad only bought soap stone wood stoves from Vermont... Heats evenly and looks pretty like a piece of furniture .. And you only need a little one 😊
It’s a learning curve and I think your on the right track. More expensive stoves like Lopi are more controllable and efficient. The result of that is you don’t have to shut down because it’s too hot. The efficiency also uses less wood which in turn produces less ash. I would suggest when you can to upgrade your house appliance to a model that will better fit what your expectations are. Good luck on your homesteading!
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Love my Lopi!!)
@@bobsmithers I have heard great things about lopi!
Those of us who use woodstoves made long before they knew how to spell "air-tight" aren't helpless victims. We simply use our skills of knowing what wood-types and sizes produce an even burn. Daytime fire stoking is quite different from stoking an overnight fire. Technology is fun, but never necessary.
The amount ash depends on the fuel. In my 40 years of heating with a wood stove, the least amount of ash is from pine and fir. The most is from elm, oak, ash and some cottonwoods. What helps with cutting ash is mixing types of wood to be burned. A stick of pine or fir with anything really helps cut the amount of ash.
Thanks for the tip!
Isn't pine to full of residue and "pitch". I've heard it's the worst wood to burn, and will ruin your stove.
@@Michelle-bk6up I believe properly dried pine is suppose to have the least amount of ash. There are people in the mountains that heat with only pine because that is all they have access to and it works for them!
Maple,, is good to start fire
Cherry or any fruitwood gets hot, makes lots of ash
Oak is best all around
Spruce lights easy, burns fast, lots of ash
Pine is no go for most pine, cause creosotes
Too much ashes = wrong wood. Use oak or hardwood and you can go a week without emptying ashes.
My wood stove has catalytic converter. It’s not beginner friendly. But it uses less wood. A wood stove without catalytic, your damper is your best friend.
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I learned a lesson about mixing woods when you use a cookstove: I never burn the mid range woods (ash, birch, etc.) by themselves, rather use one or two pieces only with hard wood as a 'nurse.' Otherwise you can set the whole damn kitchen on fire. I did it once, accidentally, and looked back on my way to bed to see the entire top of the cookstove glowing like a piece of coal. I wasn't concerned at that point about a chimney fire, it was too early in the year for that, but there must have been a heck of a blaze in there, judging from the whooshing sound. Then I realized I was pairing ash with birch, and messing with the top of my cookstove. Too much intense heat will warp it all out of shape. People sometimes will brag to me about how they got their entire stove glowing, and then the next year you see them buying a new stove...
I liked heating with wood. I had a couple of winters where I had no choice. If you have a situation where you have easy access to wood and the means to process and store enough to burn dry wood, it's great.
It's a fulltime job some parts of the year. The burning and being warm part is great. What people don't realize is the other part is huge.
It is a lot of work to prep for it but it is rewarding!
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@@portercreek yeah, I found out in Dec that the propane company wouldn't deliver any more. It's much easier if you have several cords stacked and dry. It's pretty crazy if you don't. But that old wonderwood circulator saved the day.
I just got a wood stove too, have lot of prep work to do before I can actually set it up and use it but I can't wait. Yeah it's more work, but the money saved is well worth it. It's almost like you're being paid for the work, and you can do it at your own pace.
There is that sense of gratification that you are less dependent on someone else when you have your own source of heat!
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I’m 34 grew up with one of those in my home I remember cleaning it starting the fires and stacking wood seemed pretty easy as a kid growing up never knew how important it was until now!
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One of the main challenges I think you are running in to is how EPA stoves are designed to operate - that is you can't shut them down well enough to hold a fire overnight or run in a lower heat output mode so as not to blow you out of the house. The goal with these new stoves is zero smoke, not necessarily what works well for the homeowner who is serious about relying on woodheat. You may want to shop around for a used stove that pre-dates the new rules. You may have to check your chimney a little more often and sweep it maybe twice a year instead of once, but you might find that the other issues you've had go away. Something to think about.
I have thought about getting an older style stove that isn’t energy efficient but the downside is they also require quite a bit more wood. The more I use it and get familiar with it the more I have been able to figure out how to control it. As far as getting it to burn through the night, on a zero degree night I stoke it at midnight and by 8:00am the house has dropped 3-4 degrees and there are only embers. I am burning ash, which is up there on the Btu ratings. I don’t see how anyone can get a 15 hr burn out of i loading.
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@@portercreek Thanks for your reply. Having used both styles of stove I actually found that with the EPA stove the amount of wood I thought I would save owing to efficiency was not as advertised. I often felt a lot energy was sacrificed warming up all the brick in the stove and to maintain the reburn of the smoke. With the older stove I could shut it down so when I didn't need much heat if I was gone or at night that it burned very little on the low setting. As you noted there is a learning curve to every stove and sounds like it is working better for you. Thanks again for the video.
I had the same issue but switched to a Blazeking and have no problem going overnight. It's more consistent heat but will not get scorching red hot.
@@rockymountainfirewood3873 I would love to get a blaze king but starting out I just couldn’t swing the big price tag that goes with them. Someday when/if I get a cabin up north this wood stove will likely go up there and I will get something a little more hands off like the blaze king!
I purchased one of those newer units a few years ago that had the afterburners in the top. You are right it’s not easy to burn them low it will run you out in a hurry. You must look at how it is made add choke it down it’s airflow you can do it simply I used magnet what’s nice about it when it turns cold you could simply slide your magnet back opening it back up and allowing it to roar like a beast. Only thing that’s not good about doing that is creosol when you choke it back and don’t allowed to burn you will get Creosote . This has worked for me for many years well worth having an indoor wood burner may have to clean my chimney little more often than normal but you are comfortable fire is always going.
I've always considered a wood burning stove as only an addition to my whole house furnace. Of course, it's good to have in case of an emergency as it's a godsend if everything else is down. The problem with having only a wood stove for heat is your dealing with really old technology! Of course, you're going to have to feed it wood throughout the day. It's going to be more labor intensive than a modern furnace. We have a fireplace in our living room, and we also have a wood burning stove in our den. This way, we are covered in the event of a power outage, etc....
Having definitely ads a level of security!
I'm glad to see that you've posted more videos about your wood stove. I just saw this video pop up in my feed, and as I'm watching it, I'm thinking "as time goes on, this guy is gonna get so much more efficient at this". Not to say that anything you're doing is wrong, but like with anything, the kinks that you have to work through on the third month are pretty well smoothed over by the third year of doing almost anything. You'll figure out how to more efficiently split the wood, transport your wood, how to keep your living areas neater, how to burn it more efficiently, and how to recognize seasonal trends concerning your burning. Granted, weather throws a lot of curve balls and we're constantly having to readjust how we prep and deal with seasonal changes, but it will all get better with time. Glad to see your on your way!
Thanks!
I bought the exact same stove for my 30X40 shop. Very inefficient! For the shop I opted for a double barrel heater modified with steel pipes welded into the top barrel. For our 2,400 square foot house we installed a small true cast iron stove. Expensive but well worth it. Luckily we have not run our furnace in over 18 years. Cast iron is the way to go!
I have found that they are very fussy on the wood moisture. If the wood isn’t around or below 20% they do not put out very well.
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I was thinking that with the amount of wood he said he was burning, as well as the amount of ash left behind which seems like maybe inefficient burning?
I’m 72 and we heat with just wood. Cutting and splitting wood, by hand, is my gym time. This time of year my stove is burning 24/7. I get about 2 gal of ash a month. We have a fairly high ambient humidity so our wood is never really dry, I have found that if you have a good bed of coals, throw in a wet piece of wood if you want it to get really hot. The heat from the coals will crack the hydrogen/oxygen bond and the water will burn, really hot. This is an old concept, most famous being the WWII Spitfire. They need extra power to outclimb the German planes so they put in a water injector. Could only be used in an emergency for about 30 seconds or the motor would burn up. The nice logs I get I hand mill into lumber. My wood floats by in the ocean.
We milk all the nice logs too! I have enough logs sitting in yard to make tens of thousands of board feet of lumber! I need to get busy sawing!
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You will learn how to use your stoves. We heat our place TOTALLY on wood, and yes it took a couple of years to get it right.
Yeah, it is a learning curve and I am sure every stove has its own curve!
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Totally agree .I've had 4 stoves in the past 7 year(not in the same house)and despite following the same general guidelines all stoves have their own characteristics and peculiarities which take time to understand.Time and practice works wonders.
That's why I bought an automated wood pellet boiler after my first nightmare winter trying to heat my house with a log burning furnace. All the problems you listed were my problems. It was a nightmare. The automated wood pellet boiler has a substantial amount of storage capacity and automatically cycles on and off as demanded by either the domestic hot water tank or radio wireless thermostat I have positioned in the living room of my house. Basically I just have to fill up the pellet storage every 3 to 4 days or so. The bags are 15 kilograms each (~33 pounds) and relatively easy to move although there is still some leg work involved obviously. Mostly in summer when I have them delivered I store them in the garage then move them by hand one at a time to the boiler room.
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The only complaint I have with heating with wood is no matter how careful you are you always have that super fine ash dust everywhere. Can’t beat the “warmth” of a wood fire.
Edit: problem in our area everyone is trying alternate (wood ) heating the cost per cord has sky rocketed and the hassle of finding decent insurance it’s fast becoming almost negative saving.
The insurance was killer, $375 per year for the one in the house and only $20 for the one in the wood shop that with the stuff in it is worth more than the house…. Figure that one out… Nothing like being outside freezing to come in and warm up by the stove!
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Im in TN and just installed a wood stove. Homeowners insurance went up $25 a year. No hassles. I ❤ TN.
@@justlynda59 ours went up 375 for the house and 25 for the shop!
Insurance? Gee! That topic was never brought up with my home insurance company for the 8+ years I heated my home with a fireplace insert. But, possibly a fireplace insert was not on the same level with regards to insurance as a wood stove?
When I lived in Ireland I had a woodburner with a boiler to run the radiators. What I didn't realise was that you can't run it in the event of a power cut. I now have just a standard woodburner which was a lifesaver during and after Storm Arwen when both the electric and the water were both off. I leave the doors in the house so the heat can waft through the rest of the house and if necessary I can boil water on the stove top. I wouldn't be without it
It is really comforting knowing that in the event of a power outage we will have heat!
You don't let a woodstove burn out, open a window to regulate house temp. use hard woods as you should only be stoking 3 times a day, morning , evening and before bed. Guess you should have gotten the self cleaning model. When the power or gas goes out you will still have heat and a way to cook and get hot water
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I have a vogelzang 3200xl ordered now , it sounds like you're liking yours .
It has been nice to have, I am hoping when it gets colder that it will be big enough to heat the whole house which is around 3000 sqft. I just got a gas bill and it was only $36 for last month which is nice! I am working on a side arm water heater that I built to heat the water in our water heater so the gas bill will be almost nothing! I am hoping to do a video on that next week as long as everything goes as planned!
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@@portercreek that will be a nice video because I was wondering if I could heat water or how to if it was possible but I have a electric water heater , I probably went to big because I only have about 1,500 + the basement and the car port has been closed in .
@@WhiteOak09 it was actually pretty easy to add it to the stove. I am hoping to make my final changes tomorrow. After a few days of testing I’ll make a video and let you know when the video is live.
@@portercreek awesome, good deal
Other aspects when heating the house with wood:
Problems with rodent infestation in the wood pile.
Keeping the stacked wood away from the house to minimize the threat of termites to the domicile.
Having a means to keeping the firewood covered from inclement weather.
Using a cautionary means with storing ash until it has cooled down. I've known houses that burnt down due to the users handling the ash as if it was common household trash.
If you are fussy with having a dust-free house, then a wood stove may not be to your liking, as there will be some airborne ash when emptying out the firebox.
Very true!
After heating with a pellet stove for about 20 years, I’m pulling it out and going back to wood. Got a 34-ton kinetic splitter on the way and 100 cords down for 2 years, ready to split. The price of pellets has continued to climb to $240 per ton and I’m typically burning 3-4 tons per year, plus when it gets much below 35 degrees I’ve had to use my oil fired hot water boiler which uses heating oil which has skyrocketed to $1000 for 300 gallons. I have also planned a copper coil from the boiler around the horizontal pipe of the wood stove. When I installed my hot water system I wired the pump separately so I can operate it independently from the boiler’s burner.
Thanks for sharing!
A month isn't long enough to become good at burning wood. 3-5 yrs from now you'll have the ash and heat amounts figured out.
@@markbarber7839 👍🏻
Your kidding right???
My 86 year old father keeps the wood heater going all winter ,,, by himself
I never suggested that I couldn’t keep it going by myself
@@portercreek it's a lifestyle...
My father has every modern appliance in his kitchen and still prefers his outdoor kitchen with his Benjamin wood stove to cook on .
@@vinny143 ABSOLUTELY love it! Me too.
I’m 67 y/o. I have been heating with solid fuel burning for over 40. Started with wood, as most of us did, but wood is messy, has a short burn time, and therefore requires constant attention.
I burned anthracite coal for about 8 years. Much more consistent heat. I could tend the stove in the morning, go off to work, and tend it again in the evening. Still messy, but much less labor involved.
The best fuel that I’ve found is wood pellets. Lots of people can’t seem to make them work, but I’ve been hugely successful for the last 15 years. The keys are, get a smaller stove and run it hard, and buy top tier premium pellets. The best grade of pellets (typically softwood) have much less ash than the cheap ones. I can run my small stove for 2 weeks between cleanings here in Vermont, because there is so little ash. The ash you do get is non-toxic, same as firewood. There is no ash mess. I use an ash vac to clean the stove, and dump it outside.
Pellet prices are down this year, as are oil prices. But pellets are still far cheaper than fuel oil. YMMV
@@1wheeldrive751 👍🏻
We have been heating our home via wood stove for 33 years. It's great exercise being outside cutting, splitting, hauling & stacking firewood. (I don't have to join an indoor gym for exercise or strength training). It's therapeutic doing the work & then sitting by a nice wood fire during the cold weather. One thing I would recommend is to cut the wood to different lengths & thicknesses. It allows you to have better control over heat output. During fall & spring start the stove at sunset with small pieces & burn a fire to carry you through the night. In the dead of winter use larger pieces to burn round the clock if necessary. Also, stay 2 years ahead so you're only burning dry seasoned wood. Keep the top of the wood pile covered with the tarp hanging down the sides by about 12 to 20 inches. Drill holes in the wood where the gromets are & use eyehooks to hold the tarp on. I just turned 65 & bought a hydraulic log splitter so I don't have to do it all by hand.
Thanks for the advice! It’s definitely a learning curve! I am finding that I will need about 6-8 chords of wood to heat both my shop and house in the winter which is a little more than I had hoped. Getting 2 years ahead on split firewood is definitely going to take some time but in Jan and February is a really slow time of year for us for work so it will be a great time to get caught up!
Good advice and observations. I'm "in the same boat" burning wood for 33/34 years. Only thing I changed is making more and more room in my old basement so I can stack a year's worth of firewood down there. Right now it is snowing and blowing outside and I am so very thankful I don't have to go out there for wood. You are right, learning to stoke a fire for even burning means you can use those great old stoves/furnaces that aren't "air-tight" with no problems. So what if it gets a bit hotter than you expected sometimes- enjoy that beautiful extra heat.
@@pouglwaw5932 Just be careful not to bring uninvited guests into your home. (Termites, carpenter ants, spiders, stink bugs, ect.) Happy Heating.
A couple of things I learnt as a novice. Keep as much wood as possible in the house, cut wood absorbs moisture from the air and even though bought wood may be advertised as dry, it will pick up moisture outside. You will get spiders in the house though lol.
Get top grade wood stoves like a Blaze King or equal. You will not have to get up every five hours to restoke, you'll have coals in the morning but you may need to be cleaning the flue regularly or keeping your windows open when burning hot enough to burn creosote.
We loved wood heat, nothing warmer on those cold cold winter nights. Those are my thoughts, hope you find them helpful.
My dad got our 1st woodstove in 1973 . We got 2 more by 1976 . I've always loved them . The work keeps me fit at 59 ! Peace , from Cass County MICHIGAN ! Wolverine State ! Seawolf SSN575 , Torpedoman ! Maranatha !
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@@portercreek......I cleaned my new woodstove glass . I clean with paper towel and water with a few drops of vinegar . I repeated several time . I was left with a white hazy opaque residue . MY Volgelzang instructions said to use steel wool . What do you think ? I have never had this problem . Since 1973 . Peace from Cass County Michigan !
I live in the UK and I burn wood every winter to keep my house warm, even though I don’t need to. I don’t split my own wood. Instead, I pick it up ready to go, then put it in my store. It works out considerably cheaper than using the gas boiler.
It’s a built up community so having smoke bellowing out of my flue is not an option. The complaints would fly in.
All I get from my chimney is gas.
I do a top down fire then get it up to temp as quick as possible. Once everything is roasting I can limit the air going in, then when I get a nice bed of bed coals I can chuck one log in every hour or so to keep it clean and hot, with no smoke.
Dry wood, is very important!
Love it.
@@gdfggggg 👍🏻
Top down fires are so important to obtaining a clean start. The bigger fuel doesn't get involved until the fire has developed enough heat to properly use the larger wood.
@@beltrams true!
Had a woodstove for over 25 years at our previous home. Moved 2 years ago to another home 600 miles away. Had forced air heat, which was nice...until the power went out at -10. I told my husband, we're getting a woodstove again! Yes, the lifestyle and wood heat are nice, but what I appreciate most is knowing I have a simple heat and cooking source backup any time it's needed.
@@westcoastislander6699 👍🏻
Had a wood burning stove in our former place, and I miss it truth be told. I never went through as much wood as you say you are going through, and I always kept about 2 week's worth of ash in it to keep the heat well insulated. Also, get some nice big rocks and put them on the top surface, and as the fire burns out late at night, the heat from the hot rocks will continue to radiate heat in the overnight hours. 3 pieces of dried wood lasted about 4 hours, so it was easy to keep about 2.5 - 3 cords of wood ready for the season and keep the house warm all Winter.
Thanks for sharing!
@@portercreek Apologies this is much later than your original post, but one thing to remember is that layer of ash is both an insulator AND a source of ignition for new dried pieces of lumber you add into the bottom of your stove. If you stir them ashes up a bit you will find some glowing embers, just expose as many as you can before you throw those last 2 logs in before bedtime, and they should fire up in time for you to lower the temp and get some sleep. Hope you are loving your wood burning stove, I know we miss our old one!
A friend of mine was having trouble heating his small home with a wood stove, even though the house was well insulated, and he had caulked every joint/crack. I suggested that he install an air inlet pipe to provide combustion air. He did so, and the situation improved markedly. A wood stove draws combustion air from within the house unless there is a source of outside air. This reduces the air pressure inside the house, causing air to infiltrate from every opening possible at the perimeter. By providing an air source to the firebox this is eliminated. His wood consumption went down and comfort went up. Good luck!
Thanks for sharing!
As I'm restoring an old stone farmers cottage (circa 100y.o.) here on the west coast of Ireland, I am concentrating on super-insulating it with 8" ridgid foil-backed insulation in the ceilings and 6" in the external walls ... as you say, autumn doesn't need a lot of heat so I have a few bottle-gas heaters strategically placed around the house and 15 mins on low setting is enough to take the chill out of the rooms...
My woodstove with boiler for hot water and wet radiators is not big either at 12Kwatts feeding 7 aluminium ( more efficient than steel) radiators but I reckon it'll be plenty, we don't have temps much below -3°c here even in the coldest months (Feb/Mar) so heat requirements aren't as high...
Also, my woodstove has a seperate air-intake pipe which, with a buried pipe under the sitting room floor going to an external wall and outside, is supposed to be much more efficient because the cold air is more dense with more oxygen than the warm air in the house, you are also not burning the warm air that has already taken fuel to heat it already !...
But as I said at the start, money spent on insulating the buildings is the best bang for your buck and as fuel gets ever more spendy, it becomes an even better investment as time goes by...
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@@peterfitzpatrick7032 👍🏻
Wood ash is so great for the garden, yard, fruit trees, bushes. My goodness, count your blessings! We always pick up blow down limbs & keep them for kindling. Plus you can cook on that wood stove too!
@@chanchan5349 👍🏻
I bought one very much like yours, to put coffee pot or dutch oven on top, but only bought it for when ,you know, grid down, but had a fireplace, so love cutting, splitting by hand, and know how much will last a month. It's adding 10 years by exercise.
Thanks for sharing!
I live in Montana and almost completely heat my home with wood. I recently put in a split pump heating system in 2 rooms, but it won't do it especially when it is minus 20 (I am actually pretty disappointed in that system). The biggest thing about wood is how dirty it is, and cleaning the flue is a complete drag. But you can't beat the heat, and the price if you don't mind the work and mess.
Truth!
Never had near that amount of ash.
I use primarily very dry Madrone, Tan Oak, Cedar, Black Oak, and some Fir that grows on our property.
Use pallets to keep your split wood off the ground and dry. Tarp it during the winter months so air can circulate.
After your wood seasons for a year or two, move it into a roofed wood shed, well off the gropund with lots of air circulation.
Once you get your fire started, throttle down the air intake. Their should be enough coals to get the late afternoon fire started for the evening. Another log at bedtime, and their should be coals in the morning.
Good dry seasoned wood should produce very little ash. I only clean out my ashes about three times in a year. Maybe a total of 6 gallons. Dry cedar is the best for kindling.
Thanks for sharing!