HEAT! Who's using (or has/have used) a wood/coal stove?

[Frank]

I gotta tell ya...wood heat RULES!!!

While at Heriot Bay, Doug, an ole hippy, invited me over for dinner.
They heat with wood and I'm here to tell ya.....you "feel" the difference instantly upon stepping below!!! Very warm-very dry heat. "cosy" sums the feeling up best.  Diesel or propane just does not feel the same!!
Doug is 74, he and his wife have lived aboard for over 20yrs...no health issues. He's very active and in great shape!
Propane puts a lot of humidity below as it burns.....
Diesel is fine....but just not that "cosy" feeling...

[Bubba the Pirate]

When I helped move a Westsail 42 from NY to Fl last spring, we installed a Cubic Mini woodstove, made in Ontario. It was a delight. There was some smoke smell, and some smoke as we learned to use it properly.  It I think it would be OK for all but the most sensitive lungs.

It really made a difference, even on some damp but not so cold days in May. The cubic stoves are heavily built and seem to retain heat. We would have froze if it wasn't for for that stove the first couple weeks of April at Stony Point, NY on the Hudson.

[Frank]

tips from a northerner that's heated with wood for years   :o

If the pipe is cold....ya need to get the draft going well at 1st.

Use some paper both below the kindling to start the fire...but above it as well near the flue to get the air moving up the pipe. Then....don't close the door "completely" at 1st....almost, but not tight. Even with the draft "open"...it's important to get the fire going well before shutting it down.
Once there is a bed of coals....it is far more forgiving.
Most "smoke back" is from not getting the chimney "drawing well" at 1st and then not letting the fire really get going before shutting it down...

my 1-1/2 cents.....

pic is my wood shed at home 40x10x8

[Tim]

Impressive woodshed, mine's only 4X5X36.

And I particularly like the lawnmower storage spot ;)

You know it is not safe to operate that kind of equipment after a few rums!

[Frank]

Tim....tooooo funny!! Good eye! Half expected a redneck joke "if" ....if, anyone noticed...

Story goes:  its a rechargable model. The battery would no longer take a charge. New battery was more $$ than a cheap gas mower!!! SOooo, as a joke, I put it on my nieghbors front yard with "for sale: one owner, low miles, dead battery, best offer". It ended up on top of my truck at work with "1st $5 takes it home".....yep......back on HIS truck with "can't get this thing to fire...$2 it's yours".....then ended up on woodshed roof.  Still planning where to put it at his place upon my return   ;D

Yep....that IS a lot. About 20+ full cords.  No matter how much I burn ...between blow downs, dead/dying trees and our darn "ash worm" (lots of ash trees)....I end up with more each year just cleaning up the property.
Made a point t split by hand/axe last year for exercise. Actually faster than a power splitter. I'd just go until I got winded every time I walked by.....
Thoreau wrote "wood warms you twice...once splitting it, then burning it" (or something close)
Again....good eye   ;)

[CaptMac]

Any updates to your wood stove testing, been toying with the same idea.