I'm here for advise on switching to wood heat

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sinnian said:
...Not trying to pick on you Rick, but you had the most recommendations.........

I am surprised NO ONE mentioned anything about safety equipment!
~ faceshield (shop around)
~ chainsaw chaps (shop around)
~ Steel toed boots (shop around)
~ and gloves (ehh, optional)


Pick on me all you want, sinnian, but the subject of PPE was already covered in the chainsaw posts of the thread. I was just filling in some of the more mundane requirements. Certainly never hurts to revisit PPE, though. :) Rick
 
Get yerself one of these. Great for safety and bringing your enemies down to size.
 

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fossil said:
sinnian said:
...Not trying to pick on you Rick, but you had the most recommendations.........

I am surprised NO ONE mentioned anything about safety equipment!
~ faceshield (shop around)
~ chainsaw chaps (shop around)
~ Steel toed boots (shop around)
~ and gloves (ehh, optional)


Pick on me all you want, sinnian, but the subject of PPE was already covered in the chainsaw posts of the thread. I was just filling in some of the more mundane requirements. Certainly never hurts to revisit PPE, though. :) Rick

Opps, soooooooo sorry ~ I try to read everything, but somehow missed that. At least I provided examples - lol :red:
 
sinnian said:
...Opps, soooooooo sorry ~ I try to read everything, but somehow missed that. At least I provided examples - lol :red:

sinnian, I can't see where you have anything whatsoever to apologize for...post on! Rick
 
Get your wood now!! It will be mostly softwood anyway. and if you stack it in long rows where the wind and sun can get at it, maybe it will be burnable by Nov. or Dec.? and split it small so it can dry quicker. If you don`t get a head start on that asap, then forget about wood-burning for this winter.

Yep, it for sure means that for this year you are going to have to buy it CSD, at least 4 cords at probably $170 per cord. Then re-spiit it to smaller pieces so it will be ready.
 
Sonny, good advice to get cracking on the wood. However, east of the mtns right now in her area it will be hardwood - fruit trees. Available as posted for about $25 a pickup load.
 
Hi everyone. I got my chainsaw. I ended up getting the 290 Stihl. It's not overly big at all. I got an email response from the apple wood guy, it's still available so I'll be calling him this tomorrow.
 
Giddy-up. Now your cooking. That saw should work great for an all purpose firewood saw. Get your wood all prepared and you should be in decent shape for the cold stuff. As stated above, you might consider splitting the wood a little smaller than normal, just to give it a little better chance at drying in your "short season".
 
I tried out the saw today on some wood I had sitting around. It cuts very easily. Tommorrow I go get my apple wood. I also started closing in my porch. I got my oil tank filled, it cost $2000. I got some tips from the driver on some good places to get wood.
 
WonderingWoman said:
I tried out the saw today on some wood I had sitting around. It cuts very easily. Tommorrow I go get my apple wood. I also started closing in my porch. I got my oil tank filled, it cost $2000. I got some tips from the driver on some good places to get wood.

Congratulations, you are off to a good start. A couple of points about a chain saw (if you don't already know them): 1) religously keep the chain out of the dirt! That dulls it quickly. Even dirty wood will dull it. 2) get the appropriate files and learn to keep it sharp. It will not cut easily for long if you don't keep it sharp. Many touch up their chain every couple of tanks of gas. It's easy not to notice as sharpness degrades (even cutting clean wood) so that you don't realize that it has gotten dull. But it's amazing how much better it cuts when it's been sharpened.

The alternative, of course, is to get a couple of chains and have the shop sharpen them for you. The problem there is that you do a lot of cutting with a semi dull chain before you take it in to be sharpened.


Gee, $2000 worth of fuel oil. I wonder if we are going to be hearing about oil thefts this winter. Someone with several 5 gallon jugs could "save" a lot of money... :(

Last year, hay was in short supply around here and a young man was shot and killed for stealing a bale of hay.

Ken
 
Ken45 said:
Gee, $2000 worth of fuel oil. I wonder if we are going to be hearing about oil thefts this winter. Someone with several 5 gallon jugs could "save" a lot of money... :(

Last year, hay was in short supply around here and a young man was shot and killed for stealing a bale of hay.

Ken

We've already had an apartment fire due to some brilliant renter stashing [quite a bit / rumored several hundred] gallons of gasoline in a closet . Supposedly in milk jugs.
 
billb3 said:
We've already had an apartment fire due to some brilliant renter stashing [quite a bit / rumored several hundred] gallons of gasoline in a closet . Supposedly in milk jugs.

Oh my gosh, that is scary!

I guess his "savings" went up in smoke! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Ken
 
I think I'll put a lock on my fuel oil since the pipe sticks up near the road and is outside the fence. It has a place where you can lock the lid. I have an old underground tank.

I got the fuel oil in order to be prepared, but am going to try not to use it. I put in a small wall electric heater by my computer yesterday, it's really cute. My idea is to not heat the whole house as much, but suppliment with electric space heaters. Actually, it snowed last night, and the house is comfortable with only a couple of electric heaters right now.
 
WonderingWoman said:
I think I'll put a lock on my fuel oil since the pipe sticks up near the road and is outside the fence. It has a place where you can lock the lid. I have an old underground tank.

I got the fuel oil in order to be prepared, but am going to try not to use it. I put in a small wall electric heater by my computer yesterday, it's really cute. My idea is to not heat the whole house as much, but suppliment with electric space heaters. Actually, it snowed last night, and the house is comfortable with only a couple of electric heaters right now.

Well with the tank underground and out of sight you are probably safer than those with above ground tanks. But who knows what goes on in evil minds?

We often use plug in electric heaters in the winter for our computer rooms. I have thought about alternatives, but one can use a lot of kilowatts before the installation costs of alternatives are overcome. I've thought of a little propane heater or a little pellet stove but I really doubt that the cost is justified.

Ken
 
Yes and SO too (sulfur oxide and maybe dioxide...with a little water you have sulfuric acid). I'm familiar with Anthracite or hard coal, not sure about soft coal. Otherwise, little or no creosote and long burn times, I used to burn a ton or two per year in my basement stove to supplement heating. I haven't used any in the last 5 or 6 years.
 
BrotherBart said:


Interesting, from the article:

State law prohibits storing more than a quart of gasoline in a home, including attached garages.

So you can't store your lawn mower with gas in your garage? Chain saw fuel? Do you have to empty the gas tank on your car before you put it in the garage?


The law allows people to store up to a gallon of gasoline in a detached garage or shed at least 50 feet from an inhabited building.

Gee, still barely enough for a small lawn mower and certainly not enough for a riding mower. What are supposed to do, drive the mower down the street to the gas station?

The law also prohibits dispensing gas into anything other than a vehicle or an approved container — water jugs are not legal containers. It was not immediately clear how the couple purchased the gasoline.

I always see these signs, but I've never known what is "approved" although I'm sure milk jugs are not. Has anyone ever seen a one quart approved container?

Ken
 
Sorry about the disjoint reply from me above, I read the last post on the first page an thought it was the last, nope, another 3 pages.

The Ashley Shenandoah style Sears Coal/Wood stove in basement , I have in the basement has a shaker grate for coal, and air feeds from both below for coal, and above for wood. It does a good job on both. It isn't a fancy "charming" stove, it is a low cost no window heater. I think I paid under $300 for it new from Sears about 15 years ago.
 
WonderingWoman said:
So, I got my first load of applewood. They downed 300 trees, so there's plenty more where that came from.

Get more, much more.. there is never enough!!
 
The only problem is that I had to drive an hour. However, I'm doing a 3 month nursing contract at a hospital in that town, so I've been driving there 3 times a week (In my Mini Cooper) It's still worth it for $25 a load. I'm really excited! It's nice, the guy said just drive in, get the wood and leave the money under the mat. Pretty casual.
 
Now tell me again, you're loading wood in your Mini Cooper? How much can it hold? A couple of "bushels"?
 
That'll work :) Happy gathering.
 
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