To Reduce Our Winter Burden We Installed A Wood Stove For Heating...

We had this big old stove we reclaimed from a property we sold but when we did the math it would be more expensive (mostly chimney) to use then to replace it with a smaller more efficient unit.

So we purchased and installed a lovely new tiny, efficient, and inexpensive wood-stove. Normally, this size stove would be half the size necessary for our square footage. Since half our area is basement. And the basement is extra heavily insulated. We were convinced we had the BTU power to at least limp along.

Additionally we had what we thought was a fair chunk of firewood with the sawmill waste from the last few years of sawing. But circumstance caught up with us and we found ourselves scrambling. In poor weather. To make our investment pay for itself. Yeah! That meant dragging over frozen ends from the mill. With the tractor. In the freezing wasteland. And then having to buck it with a skill-saw before tossing it into the basement. Where the wood stove is. And dry out for couple of days. Before it would burn properly.

Big Lessons Learned...

It turns out that the firewood we were able to salvage was less then two cords. Way short of what we needed. By January we were freezing and wiling to burn our furnature.

This is where we made yet another mistake. We purchased two cords of firewood bucked and split however we were too 'green' (pun intended) to recognize that it was not suitable for burning yet (to fresh). But we burned it anyway. Or smoldered it I should say. We had to. And it was a totally unsatisfying experience. We were never really warm that first Winter.

Next year we are going to have plan a lot better then this if we are going to succeed.