NY Times columnist living off grid

[jharkin]

I believe this one has been discussed here before.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/those-romantic-wood-stoves/

Somebody really needs to give this guy an education...

 

[firefighterjake]

Hoo boy . . . looks like a few folks are attempting to educate him before he ends up starting a wildland fire from dumping his ashes right on to the ground without a stop over in a covered metal can.

Going with an EPA stove would probably help him even out the temps . . . avoid having to start the fire from scratch every morning . . . burn less wood (and save money) . . . and I still cannot figure out how he is getting his hands all covered with soot . . . about the only time this happens is if I reach too far into the firebox without my gloves.

 

[Hogwildz]

What a moron!
Oh well, more folks like that, leaves more wood for me, and less on the bandwagon. Less on the bandwagon, less noticeable for the govn't to put their hands in my pockets to get a pc of the wood burning pie.
Seems like no matter what one may do to cut costs, the govn't loses tax revenue and screws ya 2x as bad somewhere else, thus cancelling out any cost cutting efforts. Living on bare minimal these days, and still no better than 3 or so years ago, just poorer with less.
Hey White House, House & Senate, KMMFA!

 

[BrotherBart]

My favorite from the article's comments section:

"First world problems are so cute..."

 

[PapaDave]

I believe this one has been discussed here before.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/those-romantic-wood-stoves/

Somebody really needs to give this guy an education...

Educated, with a typewriter.
Dangerous combo, with no experience.
Sometimes, even WITH experience and an education, the stupid gene is still alive and well because neither of those will automatically make you smart.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It is junk articles like this that turn lots of people off from burning wood. Just that picture at the start of the article will turn off most folks. Pure classic trashy look.

 

[firefighterjake]

My favorite from the article's comments section:

"First world problems are so cute..."

My favorite comment as well . . . and so true . . . when you realize just how lucky we are to have what we have and the "problems" we have in this country. It's good to not wake up in the morning and have to worry as to if we will eat today or if we will get shot today.

 

[Shari]

While I also do not agree with the author's comments regarding woodburning, wouldn't it be neat if someone from hearth.com connected with him and taught him what he obviously does not know about heating with wood?

 

[PA Fire Bug]

Trying to burn wood in a Riteway boiler similar to the one in the article is what convinced my wife and I to shut off the oil valve and buy any efficient wood stove. Our furnace looks like the one in the article but is twice as wide and wrapped in steel. It has an oil burner and a very large fire box for wood or coal. Talk about inefficient. We had to burn oil or wood for 45 minutes to get the boiler hot enough to circulate. Unhooking it and placing a wood stove in our living room was the best heating decision we ever made.

See the photo below for a picture of the old beast.

 

[firefighterjake]

While I also do not agree with the author's comments regarding woodburning, wouldn't it be neat if someone from hearth.com connected with him and taught him what he obviously does not know about heating with wood?

If only we knew which town he lived in . . .

 

[Shari]

While I also do not agree with the author's comments regarding woodburning, wouldn't it be neat if someone from hearth.com connected with him and taught him what he obviously does not know about heating with wood?

If only we knew which town he lived in . . .

Read through this page for directions on how to contact him:

http://www.nytimes.com/content/help/contact/directory.html

 

[nate379]

He should have sat down and done some math before doing that article. Either his "cabin" has crap for insulation, he can't measure a cord or that stove system is horribly inefficient.

He says it's colder but the cabin is smaller and better insulated, so lets say they are about equal as far as heat load.

If it costs him $1000 a year in nat gas to heat his house in NJ, that would be 72,857,142 BTUs based on $1.40 per CCF (the low end of New Jersery avg cost)

Let's say he is burning decent hardwood, which is what Maine has, avg 25,000,000BTU/cord.

6 cords is 150,000,000 BTUs, or over 2x the BTUs of heating with nat gas.

He would need ~3 cords to make same BTU levels, or a cost to him of $675, a savings of $325 a year.

 

[woodgeek]

Is he really so different from 90% of the newbs that show up here? Um, except for being a reporter at the NYT.

 

[Hogwildz]

We were all newbs at one time. The difference is, most here came here, asked questions, researched, and had a plan prior to burning anything.
He bought an old pc of shite, throws wood in it without knowing the stove, or how to burn it.
I don't believe for one second he was heating his old place for $1,000.00 a year on NG.
Not unless he had the thermo set at 58 and wore lots of clothes while he was going through the winter.

Just got a delivery of oil a last month. $340.00 for 100 gallons.
Only the 3rd time I had any oil put in the tank since 2006. Damn near spent as much on oil in the 3 deliveries(only filled up on year one, last two just a partial delivery) as I have spent on wood in 6 seasons now.

 

[colin.p]

He should have sat down and done some math before doing that article. Either his "cabin" has crap for insulation, he can't measure a cord or that stove system is horribly inefficient.

He says it's colder but the cabin is smaller and better insulated, so lets say they are about equal as far as heat load.

If it costs him $1000 a year in nat gas to heat his house in NJ, that would be 72,857,142 BTUs based on $1.40 per CCF (the low end of New Jersery avg cost)

Let's say he is burning decent hardwood, which is what Maine has, avg 25,000,000BTU/cord.

6 cords is 150,000,000 BTUs, or over 2x the BTUs of heating with nat gas.

He would need ~3 cords to make same BTU levels, or a cost to him of $675, a savings of $325 a year.

Looking at the picture of his wood pile, he mentions one cord gone, as in one row? Maybe he is talking about the cursed "face cord". However, at $225, that would be a pretty expensive face cord. At that price, he should move back to Jersey to heat with gas.

 

[jharkin]

I don't believe for one second he was heating his old place for $1,000.00 a year on NG.

At the prices we are paying now that's about 800 therm... If its a tight well insulated small home its possible.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

He should have sat down and done some math before doing that article. Either his "cabin" has crap for insulation, he can't measure a cord or that stove system is horribly inefficient.

He says it's colder but the cabin is smaller and better insulated, so lets say they are about equal as far as heat load.

If it costs him $1000 a year in nat gas to heat his house in NJ, that would be 72,857,142 BTUs based on $1.40 per CCF (the low end of New Jersery avg cost)

Let's say he is burning decent hardwood, which is what Maine has, avg 25,000,000BTU/cord.

6 cords is 150,000,000 BTUs, or over 2x the BTUs of heating with nat gas.

He would need ~3 cords to make same BTU levels, or a cost to him of $675, a savings of $325 a year.

Good points. Thanks for the math Nate.

 

[bluedogz]

Can I suggest that if I made any such radical lifestyle change with no research or preparation, I'd be just as screwed?

I mean, like if I just decided to become a vegetarian one day, or start weightlifting, or become a journalist, I'd be just as out in the woods (figuratively) as this knucklehead is, and suffer the same consequences.

It's unfortunate this this so-called journalist is using his ignorance to justify generalizing about others' choices.

 

[pen]

Can I suggest that if I made any such radical lifestyle change with no research or preparation, I'd be just as screwed?

I mean, like if I just decided to become a vegetarian one day, or start weightlifting, or become a journalist, I'd be just as out in the woods (figuratively) as this knucklehead is, and suffer the same consequences.

It's unfortunate this this so-called journalist is using his ignorance to justify generalizing about others' choices.

Been thinking the same thing,

Now if the goal is to see how easy/hard it is for someone to make this change w/ no background then it would make sense.

Otherwise, I think this is ridiculous and not worth print.

pen

 

[Gasifier]

Sounds like he needs more experience.