We’ve just about made it successfully through our first winter with our wood stove. We were lucky that this was a very mild winter, since the learning curve for heating with wood was steeper that we expected. I’m not saying that it’s terribly difficult, just that we had a lot to learn along the way. One thing was how much wood we went through – more than two cords, and that was with warmer than average temps most of the time. Another was how finicky wood can be. Some of the wood we least expected burned the hottest and most efficiently, and much of the wood we had good expectations for ended up not being so hot (pun intended).
One of the reasons we chose to get a wood stove over a pellet stove was self-sufficiency. Pellet stoves run on electricity so if you lose power and don’t have a back-up generator, you’re still without heat. We lost power once this winter – and only for about an hour – just after I had gotten out of bed to get ready for work on a weekend. The boys and my husband were still asleep, and I had just entered the kitchen when we lost power. I took advantage of the situation to try making breakfast on our stove. One hot cup of tea and warm, yummy bowl of oatmeal later, I was feeling pretty happy with our decision to go with wood over pellet – you can’t cook on a pellet stove, period. It was weird to cook in the living room, though…
One benefit that I didn’t foresee was how quickly our stove helps us air-dry our clothes. We set up a wooden clothes-drying rack in our living room on the weekends, and presto! – warm, dry clothes in about the same time it takes them to line-dry outside on a reasonably warm day.
Have you made any sustainable or self-sufficient changes to your home or lifestyle recently? Have they had any added benefits that you didn’t expect?
Whenever we build/buy our next house I totally want a wood stove!
You will love it!!
Sustainable…gosh..I just realized that I don’t do anything like that. With my health issues, I need the right humidity, clean air for the CPAP ..We considered getting a gas generator because there are frequent power outages that can take a toll on my health…man..I am the canary in the coal mine and that would be a bird with only a few feathers and a bad cough…
But we did start to make a real effort in lowering our trash, not using batteries except as really necessary and those are rechargable..recycling..using cloth shopping bags.. it really has been a mind change and we are still learning..I hope.. I really admire what you are doing especially with young children….
Thanks Michelle! It sounds like you’re making good strides in your house as well. It’s just as important to be sustainable in a way that is sustainable for YOU! There’s no point trying to be green in a way that could be detrimental to your health – you’ll find your middle ground, and knowing you, I have no doubt that you’re trying your hardest!
Nice to find a positive blog about wood heating. Hard woods are always better. Pine is rubbish. With you all the way! Education is what people need with their wood heating habits. Atmospheric issues on the flue is a serious issue that I’m involved in over here in New Zealand. My dad invented an intriguing cowl to counter the issue. I agree with some of the asthmatic environmental health extremists out there, that those who cannot manage to heat without smogging their whole neighbourhood out should be slapped, but I disagree on most of their extremist, EPA and Lung Association ideas. They don’t produce any scientific evidence with their claims. Just bogus statistical data modelling that once in a blue moon might actually hold it’s own in court. Nope – wood heating is environmentally sensible, self sufficient, and energy efficient. There’s a bunch of academics and their sponsors out there still to convince.
Hi Jeremy! I agree that wood heating needs to be done properly. We were careful to go with a high-quality stove, even though we bought it used. It’s more efficient and cleaner than some other brands out there, which we really liked. We removed the flue in our fireplace in order to get the stove pipe down the chimney, so rely on our stove’s damper to control air flow (along with two smaller vents).
We definitely only use hardwood in the stove, but welcome any other advice for being as efficient and clean as possible. Thanks for stopping by!