# Heating with stoves and fire places



## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

I was raised using coal and wood for heat. I been poking in the fire for over 40 years and I see 
a lot of the same meiths over and over but don't say anything because even the people that sell
the stoves will usually disagree. Unless you come to an area where people heat exclusivity
with wood and coal and then it's a different story. They agree. meiths> how do you spell that?

BARRELS BURN OUT in a few years.-Nope I have been using the same one me and my Dad built in 85.
Barrels don't burn out they rust out. Water comes down the pipe and into the barrel and it rusts.
Have you ever seen a barrel burn out on the top? Well that's where the heat goes. That's why 
a cars exhaust rust out and not burn out. The hottest part of a cars exhaust is in the front and it
hardly never needs replaced. 

Note: If you put coal in a Barrel stove yes it will burn out. Coal gets so hot it will
melt steel. 

Helpful tip: when you install the pipe through the wall tilt it slightly so the outside 
is a little lower (keep the water out. 

A coal stove is made of cast iron. You can burn wood in a coal stove but you can't burn coal
in a wood stove made of steel. 

GREEN WOOD PULGS UP THE PIPES WITH SUET. NOPE 
Now before you jump on the band wagon and say I'm full of chit stop and think about this:
Suet builds up on the walls of the stove pipe until it causes a problem. Fire or blockage.
When you burn green (wet) wood you must have a the dampers fully open to get any heat
the wet wood requires a lot of oxygen to burn well enough to give off any heat. 
And therefore the exhaust from the wood is really moving as it goes up the pipe.
If you have wood that is seasoned and dried out good you need to keep the dampers 
pretty much shut down or it will get so hot it will run you out of the house. The smoke from the
dry wood of lingers in the pipe as it slowly exits. And it has time to collect on the walls of the pipe.

Helpful tip:
We have a separate stack of wood every year it's wood that we didn't cut until very late fall.
It's still green. That's what we put in the stove at night. It lays there and simmers all night
and we still have a fire in the morning. --It's chilly sometimes but we still have a fire. 
( If you ain't burning wood you ain't making no heat) 

Tip ,, Toss a pop can in stove now and then keeps the pipes clean or buy the stuff from
tractor supply that's made to keep the pipes clean and toss it in. It's aluminum dust. 

Tip ,, Put a pan of water on the stove and boil it off it will keep everything from drying 
out and help keep the babies from crying at night.

We have two stoves one down stairs and one up stairs we have heated with wood for years
No converters, No electronics, No fire brick, Just comfortable heat.
I have a fuel oil furnace that I use if I need to leave for a few days so the place doesn't
freeze up. OK shoot me down


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## Dubyagee (Nov 9, 2012)

Good hands on info. 


Btw. Its soot and myth.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Good post.
And a mix of hard wood and soft faster burning wood in you stock pile. The softer wood gets the fire going faster


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## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

Creosote is the issue with green wood and some soft woods like pine. Risk of chimney fires. Nothing more nothing less.


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## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

Creosote is the issue with green wood and some soft woods like pine. Risk of chimney fires. Nothing more nothing less.

Soft wood- less btu's. Gets punky. Hence gopher wood.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Very informative. I would add one thing to the causes of the buildup of soot or creosote.

The buildup of soot comes from incomplete combustion of wood. The hotter the fire, the less buildup occurs. So "green wood" may be a potential cause of creosote buildup in the chimney but most likely the burning of items other than a good seasoned hardwood cause problems. 

When I'm a bit lazy, I'll use what we refer as "lighter wood" to help start my fires. Lighter Wood are small pieces of kindling from the heartwood of the Southern Pine tree or a pine knot heavy in resin. A few pieces will get the job done but beware the smoky resin will cause buildup over time. Some people also call it Fatwood,

Ash, red oak, white oak, beech, birch, hickory, hard maple all produce a high heat, are easy to burn and don't produce heavy smoke. All factors that cut down on the accumulation of soot.


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## sparkyprep (Jul 5, 2013)

I am a big proponent and stockpiles of lighter knot.


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Great post. Can I add a couple things? 
If you burn dry wood, like me, you have to open up the stove and let her "burn" out every so often. Depending on usage. I will usually do this once or twice a week. Fill the stove full and open all the vents and let it burn hot. This will help burn off any build up before it gets to be a problem.

Barrel stoves are fine and have heated my house since the early 70's. Same barrel, although mine is stainless. Just clean out the ashes once a week while in use. CLEAN it when done in the spring. I actually will even vacuum mine clean so moisture doesn't sit in the bottom left over ash over the summer. 

The biggest problem I've seen is not using grates in the bottom of the barrel. You can't just make the fire on the bottom of the barrel. Yes it will burn/melt through if you do this. Grates are cheap and keeps the red hot coals from resting directly on the barrel bottom. Especially once you have a little ash build up.

I totally disagree with burning "green" wood. All the moisture given off condensates someplace along the chimney. Which mixes with the creosote running down into areas that you don't want it to burn. Which causes the house fires we all see. This is just my theory based on 40 years of running my stove. I had to burn some green wood last year and could tell how dirty my chimney was. First time I "HAD" to clean it out in 4-5 years of burning dry wood. 

Plan ahead a little bit and cut your wood so it has time to dry out. Plus you have it if you "need" it. This years wood is in the hut I built to keep the snow and rain off. Which I refill in the spring so it can dry all summer. Pictures are of next years wood 2015/16 and for the next couple after that. I like to be prepared for winter here in WI.


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

I use to burn wood, and will again in the future. In the stove I had the cold air would settle in the stove pipe, if I tried to start a fire without first warming the stove pipe the cold air pushed the smoke out into the room or it settled in the stove and snuffed out the fire.

I used a small propane torch, the kind that screws onto a Coleman bottle to start my fire. I would log cabin my kindling and hit it with the flame from the torch. By the time the kindling caught well enough to burn on it's own the stove pipe was heated enough to reverse the flow of air up instead of down. A Colman bottle usually lasted me a couple of years, so it was not a great expense and I skipped (cheating?) the whole tinder newspaper thing when building a fire.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

Just getting in burning wood in a woodstove. Last year was my first year. I got a ton of advice that proved to be worthless.

People told me not to burn pallet wood, and not to burn slab wood, and burning pine was going to start a chimney fire from all the creosote.

Well, I spent the whole year burn nothing but crappy pallet wood and creosote ridden wood, and when I cleaned my system in the spring, I got less than half a tennis ball of crud out of my chinmey.

My secret? It isn't a secret. I have one of the newer EPA stoves, I made sure the fire was burning at a hot enough temperature as indicated by the secondary burn coming off the top of my catalyctic converter. Besides, that secondary burn causes beautiful swirls of flame. I love the way it looks, i personally like it as much as a traditional fireplace fire, but maybe that is just me.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Long time back I got tired of standard stove pipe and went to SS insulated. It was well worth the cost . The SS pipe is wrapped with 4 inches of insulation then a SS cover. The stuff last a life time and fire is not much of an issue anymore. Clean is very easy.


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## alterego (Jan 27, 2013)

We have a 
he Cadillac of furnaces!*

The Caddy furnace comes with the same dimensions and basic features as its cousin, the PSG 3000. But its highly advanced combustion technology sets it apart from all others. The Caddy is specifically designed to meet the highest combustion standards in North America today, those of the Environmental Protection Agency.


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## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

tinkerhell said:


> Just getting in burning wood in a woodstove. Last year was my first year. I got a ton of advice that proved to be worthless.
> 
> People told me not to burn pallet wood, and not to burn slab wood, and burning pine was going to start a chimney fire from all the creosote.
> 
> ...


A lot of pallet wood is made from oak.


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## azrancher (Dec 14, 2014)

hawgrider said:


> Creosote is the issue with green wood and some soft woods like pine. Risk of chimney fires. Nothing more nothing less.


Never had a chimney fire, never cleaned the chimney. Wouldn't a chimney fire just burn the creosote out, or am I missing something. Been burning wood for 50 years.

*Rancher*


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## MrsInor (Apr 15, 2013)

Welcome azrancher.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

Seneca said:


> I use to burn wood, and will again in the future. In the stove I had the cold air would settle in the stove pipe, if I tried to start a fire without first warming the stove pipe the cold air pushed the smoke out into the room or it settled in the stove and snuffed out the fire.
> 
> I used a small propane torch, the kind that screws onto a Coleman bottle to start my fire. I would log cabin my kindling and hit it with the flame from the torch. By the time the kindling caught well enough to burn on it's own the stove pipe was heated enough to reverse the flow of air up instead of down. A Colman bottle usually lasted me a couple of years, so it was not a great expense and I skipped (cheating?) the whole tinder newspaper thing when building a fire.


Three things come to mind that may have caused your problem.

Wrong size flue/pipe for the stove.

Chimney exhaust not high enough above the roofline for proper drafts

Piping which run down at some point rather than level or upwards


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## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

azrancher said:


> Never had a chimney fire, never cleaned the chimney. Wouldn't a chimney fire just burn the creosote out, or am I missing something. Been burning wood for 50 years.
> 
> *Rancher*


Me either. 25 years in this house with the Franklin. Never cleaned the stack. But every year I have a controlled chimney fire by have a rip roaring hot fire. When the stack starts roaring I damper in down till it burns out. Disclaimer do not try this at home I do not recommend this procedure. In fact your crazy if you do


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

The end of last winter, I was having problems getting the fire to go.. I climbed up onto the roof and sure enough.. the metal mesh cover was clogged... 1. The screen was too small 2. who needs a screen for a wood stove...even if a bat gets in he is not getting out


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Maine-Marine said:


> The end of last winter, I was having problems getting the fire to go.. I climbed up onto the roof and sure enough.. the metal mesh cover was clogged... 1. The screen was too small 2. who needs a screen for a wood stove...even if a bat gets in he is not getting out


 Not uncommon each year when we get ready for winter to find a bird or two the flew in and could not get out


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## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

Smitty901 said:


> Not uncommon each year when we get ready for winter to find a bird or two the flew in and could not get out


 I an owl come out of my fireplace once in the summer.


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## Stick (Sep 29, 2014)

A stray cat I'd been feeding cheese came down the chimney once. Good cat. It was American thin slices.


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