We just had our new (used) stove installed)! The saga of that, and my questions and all the helpful answers are here: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/please-help-us-pick-a-used-stove.182077/
Neither my husband nor I ever had a wood stove before, but I am now preparing to order our first wood.
In the above-linked thread, pkennyp2339 and brazilbl gave helpful suggestions on buying wood, and I will copy them here:
brazilbl :
"The experts are right, dry wood is key.
Look into pressed wood logs (North Idaho Energy Logs) for this first year as you get situated on your wood pile. They are wonderful, putting out a lot of heat per log. Buy a pallet which will contain 240 logs.
I had the wet wood situation and someone recommended pressed logs. There are other brands, but these logs come highly recommended. "
pkennyp2339 :
"If your really gun hoe on installing a woodstove for this season, please allocate at least $500.00 into compressed wood blocks for burning, one of the things you can do right away is buy (1) ton of bricks which equal approx 1.2 cords of wood, then on black friday or cyber monday take advantage of the sales and buy another 2 or 3 tons, (tractor supply) runs a pretty nice black friday sale on redstone fuel bricks, but there also might be deals at homedepot / lowes (they're still relatively new to carrying those products and personally I think the mark up is quite high for them) lumber yards, outdoor supply companies, and stove shops also carry different brands of these, you just got to call around and see whats available.
Redstone bricks from tractor supply are pretty middle of the road in quality, there are worse, and there are better products, some have geographic restrictions due to shipping costs. Since you have a smaller home, I would think you would prob burn about 3.5 cords a full season in a newer epa style stove, also if you do have semi dry wood you can mix the blocks with the wood, but I think its highly unlikely that you'll get enough dry cord wood to mix with compressed wood blocks, so figure 3 pallets worth for your first season.
Start cutting, splitting and stacking now for next year, generally oak takes a minimum of 2 years to hit prime moisture content of 18% around our parts, so try to find more maple, birch, ash and cherry. A cord of wood measures 4ft wide x 4ft high x 8ft long of 128cu ft. "
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I plan to get a combination of 1) bricks or pressed wood that they mention as well as 2) some allegedly seasoned local firewood. If there is anything I should look for in looking up local firewood (I plan to look at FB Marketplace and Craigslist)*, please tell me.
We are completing final stages of our shed build, a small shed with an upstairs which is mostly empty. One side of that upper room will be for our granddaughters to sit at a simple counter we made by windows and make art (we'll see if the space heater keeps it warm for their occasional play days here) but most of that small room is empty, and I wonder if we could store pressed wood there? The balloon construction shed is open to the workshop/storage below, and I do not want bug problems in either place, but perhaps it would good for the pressed log storage?
As to other wood, I was looking at internet ideas for easy wood storage contraptions. My husband is handy, but we want to keep it simple for this winter.
I need to act fast. I start a temporary position a teacher ready to ahve a baby any day now, then I will be so busy it will be difficult to put thought and action into this. I will be out this afternoon taking care of other things.
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Additional question! can anyone recommend a chimney sweep kit for our 6" chimney liner pipe? I hope maybe amazon or someplace that will mail it out just as quick. I am not trusting waiting too long in case of another or a worse covid shutdown, that is why the hurry).
*I tried the firewood guy our chimney guy referred to me but he didn't answer my text, though I will try calling this time.
Neither my husband nor I ever had a wood stove before, but I am now preparing to order our first wood.
In the above-linked thread, pkennyp2339 and brazilbl gave helpful suggestions on buying wood, and I will copy them here:
brazilbl :
"The experts are right, dry wood is key.
Look into pressed wood logs (North Idaho Energy Logs) for this first year as you get situated on your wood pile. They are wonderful, putting out a lot of heat per log. Buy a pallet which will contain 240 logs.
I had the wet wood situation and someone recommended pressed logs. There are other brands, but these logs come highly recommended. "
pkennyp2339 :
"If your really gun hoe on installing a woodstove for this season, please allocate at least $500.00 into compressed wood blocks for burning, one of the things you can do right away is buy (1) ton of bricks which equal approx 1.2 cords of wood, then on black friday or cyber monday take advantage of the sales and buy another 2 or 3 tons, (tractor supply) runs a pretty nice black friday sale on redstone fuel bricks, but there also might be deals at homedepot / lowes (they're still relatively new to carrying those products and personally I think the mark up is quite high for them) lumber yards, outdoor supply companies, and stove shops also carry different brands of these, you just got to call around and see whats available.
Redstone bricks from tractor supply are pretty middle of the road in quality, there are worse, and there are better products, some have geographic restrictions due to shipping costs. Since you have a smaller home, I would think you would prob burn about 3.5 cords a full season in a newer epa style stove, also if you do have semi dry wood you can mix the blocks with the wood, but I think its highly unlikely that you'll get enough dry cord wood to mix with compressed wood blocks, so figure 3 pallets worth for your first season.
Start cutting, splitting and stacking now for next year, generally oak takes a minimum of 2 years to hit prime moisture content of 18% around our parts, so try to find more maple, birch, ash and cherry. A cord of wood measures 4ft wide x 4ft high x 8ft long of 128cu ft. "
_______________________________________________________
I plan to get a combination of 1) bricks or pressed wood that they mention as well as 2) some allegedly seasoned local firewood. If there is anything I should look for in looking up local firewood (I plan to look at FB Marketplace and Craigslist)*, please tell me.
We are completing final stages of our shed build, a small shed with an upstairs which is mostly empty. One side of that upper room will be for our granddaughters to sit at a simple counter we made by windows and make art (we'll see if the space heater keeps it warm for their occasional play days here) but most of that small room is empty, and I wonder if we could store pressed wood there? The balloon construction shed is open to the workshop/storage below, and I do not want bug problems in either place, but perhaps it would good for the pressed log storage?
As to other wood, I was looking at internet ideas for easy wood storage contraptions. My husband is handy, but we want to keep it simple for this winter.
I need to act fast. I start a temporary position a teacher ready to ahve a baby any day now, then I will be so busy it will be difficult to put thought and action into this. I will be out this afternoon taking care of other things.
____________________
Additional question! can anyone recommend a chimney sweep kit for our 6" chimney liner pipe? I hope maybe amazon or someplace that will mail it out just as quick. I am not trusting waiting too long in case of another or a worse covid shutdown, that is why the hurry).
*I tried the firewood guy our chimney guy referred to me but he didn't answer my text, though I will try calling this time.
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