[Greenbuilding] one more pleasure (or not) of heating with wood

Lynelle Hamilton lynelle at ca.inter.net
Fri Dec 31 07:39:19 CST 2010


I agree with John. My house had to have a "primary" heat source, even 
with R-42 in the walls, R60 in the ceiling, R-34 in the floor, 
Thermotech windows etc. etc. and a /wonderful /masonry heater. Everyone 
who has looked at the house has said that the heater will actually be 
the primary, but it can't be designated as such. Thus, I have a propane 
fired high efficiency tankless heater to drive the radiant and provide 
hot water, and a /lot /of redundancy.

I've had really mixed reviews on using solar for pre heat---what do I do 
with the excess heat in the summer, as I have no pool to heat! Winter 
gain here, southeastern Ontario, is not great, given cloud cover.

Lynelle

On 30/12/2010 23:52, JOHN SALMEN wrote:
>
> If I can make a bad analogy – a woodstove is like a diesel tractor –
> can be abused and keep on running – whereas a ‘heating system’ is for
> a consumer something more like a car that needs to be kept current and
> have all the bells and whistles – something big with a big logo (has
> to have a lot of ‘tonnage’). Not sure which is better but both have a
> degree of stubbornness, and chauvinism attached to them.
>
> That said – wood is no longer technically a primary heating system in
> houses based on insurers requirements and costs for insurance so there
> will always be some other ‘primary’ form of heating in place.
>
> I have a love-hate thing with woodstoves. Based on the love of the
> form and quality of the heat and our rural life we used it for years.
> My hatred stems from the basic pollution of a wood stove and how they
> fail and the consequences of that failure in ‘wood burning
> communities’. I spent the majority of my life in heavily polluted
> cities and where I live now rurally is quite pristine in terms of air
> except in the winter where levels can exceed an urban smog index. This
> is true of a lot of rural communities in the world.
>
> This can be improved upon and a masonry stove is the ultimate (and the
> only option that I have flogged) but that is a major investment and
> generally is only purchased by people that can afford it as a
> secondary major heat investment and decoration. The default for people
> is the basic low cost (approved?) plate steel woodstove which breaks
> down very quickly – loses efficiency and subsequently doesn’t meet any
> of the emissions standards they are supposed to and then goes on being
> used for a decade or so. The classic cast iron stoves work well but
> still need to be maintained on a regular basis to meet emission
> standards and at a certain point need to be totally overhauled.
> Historically in my area the classic loggers woodstove was a 50 gallon
> drum with a door and flue welded on to it. Our community is currently
> offering $500 rebates to ‘anyone’ that will turn in an old stove and
> get something a little cleaner to pull in those 30 yr old stoves.
>
> What got to me personally is that regardless of how well I had planned
> burning we are subject to rapid weather changes – including inversions
> and wind patterns that could quickly create a negative pressure and
> bring that smoke back into our house. That was not the environment I
> had planned for my children despite the romance of the wood fire and
> the easy access I have for wood. We have switched to a hot water
> radiant system that is being converted now to solar – still not ideal
> but I think an improvement in the community and for my household.
>
> John
>
> _JOHN SALMEN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN_
>
> /4465 UPHILL RD//,. DUNCAN, B.C. CANADA, V9L 6M7/
>
> /PH 250 748 7672 FAX 250 748 7612 CELL 250 246 8541/
>
> /terrain at shaw.ca///
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:*greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
> [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] *On Behalf Of
> *Reuben Deumling
> *Sent:* December 30, 2010 5:44 PM
> *To:* Greenbuilding
> *Subject:* [Greenbuilding] one more pleasure of heating with wood
>
> We've had lots of fun on this list lately enumerating these pleasures,
> but one that hasn't been mentioned occurred to me this week.
> I've been helping several folks upgrade their furnaces lately--natural
> gas furnaces, heat pumps, etc. Anyway, in the course of these
> upgrades, I've realized one must trust the experts (of which I am not
> one) to assess the value of upgrading from, say, one 1970s vintage
> heatpump to another, new, 'high efficiency" heatpump. Not for me,
> these kinds of upgrades. Lots of money and the damn thing still runs
> on fossil fuels. But back to the matter at hand: a wood stove lasts.
> This may be my favorite characteristic at least of well made European
> ones (I am not familiar with other styles). There isn't really
> anything or at least not much of anything to wear out--and they have
> nice lines that don't go out of fashion. I've now replaced some cast
> iron baffles and heat shields in several Morso stoves, and recemented
> some of the seams, but other than that, there's not much to be done.
> The stove I'm most familiar with my parents bought new in 1981. It has
> been heating their houses for thirty winters straight. I don't see why
> it wouldn't do another 30 or even 60.
> In this field, where we breathlessly follow the newest most efficient
> wizzle-beep, it is nice every now and then to stop and appreciate the
> stuff that lasts, that was always good, that we aren't likely to
> improve on any time soon.
>
> Reuben Deumling
>
>
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