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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>John<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoAutoSig><u><font size=3 color=green face="Gill Sans MT"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Gill Sans MT";color:green'>JOHN SALMEN
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN<o:p></o:p></span></font></u></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><i><font
size=2 color=black face="Gill Sans MT"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Gill Sans MT";color:black;font-style:italic'>4465 UPHILL RD</span></font></i></st1:address></st1:Street><i><font
size=2 color=black face="Gill Sans MT"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Gill Sans MT";color:black;font-style:italic'>,. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">DUNCAN</st1:place></st1:City>, B.C. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">CANADA</st1:place></st1:country-region>, V9L 6M7<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=2 color=black face="Gill Sans MT"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Gill Sans MT";color:black;font-style:italic'>PH
250 748 7672 FAX 250 748 7612 CELL 250 246 8541<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><i><font size=2 color=black
face="Gill Sans MT"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Gill Sans MT";
color:black;font-style:italic'>terrain@shaw.ca</span></font></i></st1:PersonName><i><font
size=2 color=black face="Gill Sans MT"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Gill Sans MT";color:black;font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Reuben Deumling<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> December 30, 2010 5:44 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Greenbuilding<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [Greenbuilding] one more
pleasure of heating with wood</span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>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. <br>
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.<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Reuben Deumling<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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