Woodburner back in action

First of all, it appears that woodburner is not actually a words.  I digress.

Last night , I decided to fire up the woodburning stove.  I noted the outside temperature was supposed to drop to below freezing once again (hard to believe that it was 83 degrees 10 days ago).  I thought it would be wise to burn a little wood.  I have noticed that the wood stove tends to work really well in moderately cold weather.  We can heat the lower level of our house into the mid 70s without a great effort.  When the temperature stays in the teens and twenties, that becomes a much greater challenge.
So I set about starting the fire and it worked great.  I first piled in a bunch of newspaper to heat the flue and establish a good updraft.  I then selected one larger, short piece to put into the furnace.  Next to it, I piled in newspaper and built a small “half tee pee” out of a few really dry, small sticks.  With both the lower air regulator and the upper damper open, I was able to get the wood to ignite rather quickly.  I proceeded to add larger and larger logs until the burn indicator demonstrated that the fire was in the ideal burn zone.  Both the blower and a box fans were turned on and the damper closed.
Within an hour the thermostat on the floor above the basement displayed 71 degrees.  I awoke this morning to a stove that was still warm and heat could be felt coming up the stairway.

 

I can feel a difference with the heat that is produced from the wood burning stove versus that of the propane furnace.  I rather like the feel of the warm air coming up the basement steps.

Related articles

• Burning wood (part I) (heritagebreedfarms.wordpress.com)
• Burning Wood (part 2) (heritagebreedfarms.wordpress.com)
• Burning Wood (Part 3) (heritagebreedfarms.wordpress.com)

Spring cleanup

(Written Friday 3/23/2012)

Spring cleaning is in full swing around our farm.  Today we cut up more of the fence posts that we pulled last year in preparation for the new fence.  We cut the locust posts into 12 to 15 inch sections that will fit nicely into our woodburner next year.  We cut down to the portion of the fence that was underneath the ground. We figured it would add more creosote to the chimney if we burnt the portion that had all or the dirt and water damage. The three foot sections that were underground stacked very nicely for a bonfire. Hopefully that will be happening soon, complete with s’mores.
We mowed the grass yesterday. Can you believe that we are mowing four weeks earlier than normal? We also finished preparing the garden soil and purchased a few more seeds. At the curren

seed saving (Photo credit: kt.ries)

t seed prices, we can definitely see that value to seed saving. We bought grass seed, radishes, green beans, and peas for a total of $22.00. Had we saved our own, that coat would have been closer to $8 for the grass seed and gas additive for the chainsaw.
We took the mowers in to the service shop today to keep them in good working condition.
So that covers the prep work. The rest of the day was spent cleaning indoors and out. We moved metal t posts to the barn, moved some old telephone pole pieces, and cleaned up inside the barn a bit. With the top of the barn cleaned out, the kids now have an additional play area.

Finally, we began trimming and pruning the fruit trees. I was surprised to see the multitude of bees busy at work pollinating the peach tree, which is already in bloom. I usually start pruning the apple trees by removing all of the water sprouts, which are those small branches that go straight up. I also trim out any diseased wood and branches that cross over others. These branches that cross over will cause damage to the bark as they rub against one another. I di fear that we may be too late to apply dormant spray. I need to look more into home remedies/ organic ways to manage fruit trees. It seems like the conventional guys are always out spraying their crops. Ours have been organic for the past 10 years, but we have never gotten fruit. It is probably because organic and natural in this case means neglected. Hopefully this will change this summer. We have already begun looking for recipes for homemade natural dormant oil sprays. It seems most are based with mineral oil.

Burning Wood (Part 3)

In this installment, we will talk about how to get the fire started.  This can be fairly basic in theory, but can provide some challenges practically.  I have found a few things that may come in handy as far as both starting the fire from the start, as well as getting the fire going from a nice hot coal bed.

To begin with I will assume that we are starting the woodburner from a “cold start.”  As a definition, let’s define that as no active coals, stove at room temperature, flu and stack at room temperature and likely a downdraft.  Starting from this point requires a quick flash of heat in order to establish an updraft.  With a downdraft present, the smoke that is initially produced will be forced into the room, which is undesireable to state the least.  I have found that the following strategy is beneficial:

1)  Keep the upper flu damper closed

2)  Keep any air inlets closed as well.

3)  Crumple up a bunch of newsapaper before opening the tinderbox of the wood stove.

4)  Stuff the tinderbox relatively full.  For my tinderbox, this takes about 8 to 10 pieces of newspaper.

5)  OPTIONAL, place a few small pieces of kindling or thinned down wood in order to get the initial fire started, but keep in mind that the desire here is a quick burst of heat.

6)  Light the paper and close the door

7)  Monitor the fire, resisting the temptation to open the door if the fire begins to falter a bit

8)  After about 10 to 15 seconds open the upper flue damper.

9)  I have noticed that a few puffs of smoke will form at the junctions of the piping as the flu heats up.  This does not amount to much smoke in the room, and I often see the smoke being sucked back into the flu as the updraft is established.

10)  Though I can not effectively describe it with words, you will note the sudden increase in the intensity of the fire once the updraft has been established.  At this point I open any air inlet areas all the way open.

Once the paper is mainly consumed, I then build what I will call a secondary fire.  It is best to start with some form of smaller wood.  This is due to the fact that it is easiest to get smaller pieces of wood burning.  At this stage the goal is to get a sustainable fire and to heat up the sides of the wood stove, as well as the firebricks.
I will usually place one shorter piece of wood that has about 4 inches across at its maximum point. I the place smaller sticks, small logs or thinned pieces of wood on an angle between the bottom of the wood burner and the piece of wood. Then I stuff newspapers in the pocket that forms underneath the smaller sticks.
As an aside, I often “shave” thin pieces of wood off the sides of the logs. I do this using my ax, but be careful where you do it as I have hit the concrete before, which both dulls the ax and chips the floor.
Once the basic structure for the fire is established, light the newspaper. As the smaller sticks begin to ignite you are on your way. I leave the door open for a bit for maximum airflow, meaning maximum oxygen. Make sure that the dampers are all open. On our wood stove, the airflow is regulated by a slide out damper that is underneath the coal bed.
Once the fire is heated up all the way, I then check the magnetic temperature guage that is located on the side of the stove. This gusts allows me to keep the fire heated to a level hot enough limit creosote buildup, as well as keep the fire from overheating the tinderbox and causing damage. Once the fire is in the regulated zone, you are on your way. The fire can now be controlled using whatever dampers that are in place. There are two types of dampers that I know of. The first is from below, the second from above.
Now let us assume that the fire has died down and there is a nice warm coal bed in place. The first step that I take is to rake over the tops of the coals. This exposes the hottest coals to oxygen. I can generally get the fire started by just placing logs on top of the coal bed. I have found it useful and necessary to elevate the log gently above the coal bed to allow some air to flow underneath the logs. Otherwise the logs will eventually light after smoldering.
I hope that this article is helpful. I appreciate any comments or tips that can be shared. I am planning on a few more installments.

Alternatives to Wood for production of heat: Corn Cobs

I decided that I would collect corn cobs to try as a heat source.  I am not certain how to calculate btus or anything of that sort, but what I can report is that cobs burn well and get hot very quickly.  If I would come into my house and find that the electric was out and I needed a good way to produce a quick, hot fire…….I would consider corn cobs.

Corn cobs are easy to save. I saved two types from this past year. The first set of corn cobs came from our sweet corn. After we prepared the sweet corn for freezing by boiling, blanching, stripping the kernels from the cob, bagging and then freezing; we fed the cobs to the chickens. The chickens proceeded to strip and eat any remaining particles of corn that were not remove by us during the process. We then place d the cobs in a building allowing them to dry. We feel as though we used the sweet corn to maximum efficiency. First we saved it for us, then fed the chickens and finally burned the cobs. Yet another good reason to have chickens on the farm.

The other type of corn cob that I collected was from a friend who processes a bunch of field corn. He had planted a heirloom filed corn from which he had preserved the seeds. The particular variety that he planted was Blue Hopi corn likely purchased from Fedco seeds. (As a side note….Blue Hopi corn is an heirloom variety that is able to yield a lot of corn for making corn meal. A major advantage of heirloom vegetables versus hybrid vegetables is the ability to save your own seeds from year to year. This serves to both save money and acts as a way to prepare for any shortage) of corn seed supply.

Burning Wood (part 2)

So previously we talked about reasons to consider burning wood as a heat source and reasons not to burn wood.  In this installment, we will talk about the how to of burning wood.  Though I am not a wood burner expert or manufacturer, I do have some experience in this area.  (I also have a slight bent toward burning things in general: garbage, brush piles, bon fires, etc)

So beginning with the basics, fire needs three things in order to work: a spark, fuel, and air (specifically oxygen).  The spark generally comes in the form of a match, but many others ways to start a fire exist.  There are relatively inexpensive “fire sticks,” which are basically cigarette lighters with an elongated portion on the end to keep the flame away from your hand.  Matches can be struck to produce spark.  Then there is the old fashioned flint method to produce a spark.   So that is the easiest portion to cover is spark.

Next a fire needs fuel.  Many fuel sources exist such as propane, fuel oil, coal, paper and wood.  Of curse we are discussing the last two in this segment.  Paper is made from wood or is basically thinned out wood.  Paper aids in getting the fire started.  It is also a rather quick burning source of “flash” to get the flue heated up rapidly ( more on that to follow).  Wood is a inexpensive, renewable form of fuel for fires.  It burns rather slowly and produces a good amount of heat (which is generally measured in Btus).  Wood that is utilized for indoor woodburners should generally be of a hardwood variety.  Examples of hardwood are Oak, Maple, Cherry and Walnut.  Soft woods are generally types of pine.  These soft woods produce a lot of black smoke due to moisture and sap content.  This black smoke contributes heavily to creosote build-up, increasing the risk of chimney fires.  My understanding is that just about anything can be burned in an outdoor woddburner due to the short smoke stack.

Air is the next component needed for a fire.  Air, specifically oxygen, is needed for a fire of any type.  Regulating the flow of air also helps control your rate of burn (or fuel consumption).  A fire that burns faster, generally burns with more intensity and produces greater heat.  A fire with unlimited airflow, will consume fuel at a much higher rate than one that has the air flow controlled.  (I will try to have another post soon about the components of a wood stove and some ideas on how to regulate airflow to the fire itself).  I have found that it is important to have some airflow from underneath the fire.  Therefore, the bottom pieces of wood should be slightly propped up on to a small piece or the ashes cleaned out in order to allow air to flow underneath and around the piece of wood itself.

Hopefully this is helpful as you pursue burning wood as a heat source.  I find that it has helped to supplement our propane bills this winter (which has also been very mild).  The wood burner also serves as an alternative if and when our power goes out.  (We will probably be looking into a backup generator at some point to protect us in the event of a short duration power outage).  For some good information about diesel powered generators, http://tinkererstoolchest.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/diesel-pro-6500-watt-generator-project/