mandieg4
Lovin' The Homestead
I would really like to get an insert for our fireplace this winter. Our fireplace isn't good for much except decoration. All the heat goes straight up the chimney.
Is there anything better....?
- Thread starter Beekissed
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i_am2bz
Lovin' The Homestead
Had a woodstove in my house in VT...it lost its novelty, but quick. Splitting two cords of wood, stacking it, dragging it into the house leaving a trail of chips, bringing in bugs on the wood, shoveling out the ashes, cleaning up around the hearth, dumping the ashes in the garden...not to mention waking up freezing & having to make a fire & wait for the house to warm up...no thanks!! It can be romantic, but I mostly found it a pain. :/
Wildsky
Femivore
We haven't got cold enough yet 
It was friggin 80 degrees here today!!!!!!!!! 
It was friggin 80 degrees here today!!!!!!!!! I LOVE mine! It's dinky and not as efficient as some models I've drooled over, but it's the time of year when I annoy my kids by having them gather up kindling (we have a forest right behind our backyard). Some of the young men from our church came over this past week and delivered 3 truckloads of free wood!!! Apparently someone's neighbor had a huge pile and wanted to get rid of it, and they were asking around and someone thought of me, and yay, all the wood I could use!
Farmerchick, you said there's "nothing like marshmellows on a stick over an outdoor fire..." Reminds me of one time I was stuck without electricity during a storm, with my 3 kids and 3 foster kids, and they all wanted toasted marshmallows. It was too hot for a fire, so we got silly...toothpicks and mini marshmallows over candles! We all got to giggling so much...great memory!
Farmerchick, you said there's "nothing like marshmellows on a stick over an outdoor fire..." Reminds me of one time I was stuck without electricity during a storm, with my 3 kids and 3 foster kids, and they all wanted toasted marshmallows. It was too hot for a fire, so we got silly...toothpicks and mini marshmallows over candles! We all got to giggling so much...great memory!
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- #15
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
A good wood stove should be able to hold a fire all night. We just "bank" it up with a full load, shut down all dampers and doors and its still got good hot coals in the morning.i_am2bz said:
Depending on the wood quality or bed of coals at bedtime, this sometimes creates a very hot fire and makes my room upstairs too warm. But...we still have a fire in the morning.
To us this is not really a novelty or romantic...its the cheapest and most efficient way to heat this old farm house. So the wood chips, the work, the mess? Its all a great trade off when I don't have to pay $400 a month electric bills.
I wouldn't get caught in the winter without my wood stove....too cheap, too warm and toasty, too versatile.
For all your folks with fireplaces....my stove pipe ells right into the chimney in the middle of my house. Couldn't you just put a regular wood stove in and feed your pipe into the front of your chimney? It would take cutting a hole in the chimney and blocking off your fireplace opening.
Still...it would be worth it.
me&thegals
A Major Squash & Pumpkin Lover
Ditto to all the above! It's messy, and I'm a neat freak, but I'm also frugal and saving 100s and 1000s per year is wonderful! Seriously, I'm not sure where we would be financially right now without ours.
We have a woodstove in the basement, woodstove insert on the main floor. The basement one keeps us toasty unless it hits around zero or below, then we need both going.
Good exercise for hubby and kids to get wood loaded up. While I used to dread late fall and winter, I actually look forward to it now. No matter how dreary and cruddy the weather outside is, a nice fire makes it all better
Course, sometimes it also makes company stay too long when a person wants to go to bed, but oh well
We have a woodstove in the basement, woodstove insert on the main floor. The basement one keeps us toasty unless it hits around zero or below, then we need both going.
Good exercise for hubby and kids to get wood loaded up. While I used to dread late fall and winter, I actually look forward to it now. No matter how dreary and cruddy the weather outside is, a nice fire makes it all better
Course, sometimes it also makes company stay too long when a person wants to go to bed, but oh well
FarmerDenise
Out to pasture
It is still too warm here for a fire in the woodstove. Although SO almost lit one in the fireplace in the porch. We are getting both ready for use. I have been gathering kindling and putting it in crates. We only use the wood stove for heat. No money for the electric bill. It takes no time at all in the morning to get the fire going strong again, when it is properly banked at night with some nice big logs.
FarmerChick
Super Self-Sufficient
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we got a big cold snap
I froze out there feeding goats this evening lol and thought about putting on the propane fireplace tonight....but it only got to 66 last night in the house----and after all this hot heat----it felt good to have a chilly house yesterday morn and besides I am holding off til the very last minute to heat the house. I want a break from all utility payments
I froze out there feeding goats this evening lol and thought about putting on the propane fireplace tonight....but it only got to 66 last night in the house----and after all this hot heat----it felt good to have a chilly house yesterday morn and besides I am holding off til the very last minute to heat the house. I want a break from all utility payments
freemotion
Food Guru
We spent $1200 for oil last winter plus $800 for wood, already split. This year we are getting a very efficient stove, used only three seasons, that should blast us right out of our living room with the heat. It made a neighbor's 900 sq ft home far too hot and they used no other heat source. Our house is 1400 sq ft but we close off three rooms in the winter, using a space heater if we need to work in one of them for a few hours. We are looking forward to just using the $900 in wood we bought (got six cords of green compared to 4 cords of seasoned, got it early). If we can pull this off, the stove will be paid for this winter, and from here on in, we will save a significant amount of money each winter that we use it.
I cooked on my insert a lot, and used it for many ss projects like making salt from seawater, rendering lard, and cooking hard little pumpkins for the animals....those tiny ones that are too hard to cut up and freeze solid before the animals can figure them out. My new stove will fit more pots and I can't wait!
It is not really THAT much work since we don't cut or split our own wood. But when there is a power outage, we are still warm and can cook without it being a big deal, since I use it anyways.
We bring in a wheelbarrow or two of wood each day or two, into the garage, and stack it in two large boxes or the large rubber water tub, not used in the winter. This contains the mess. Then it comes into the house in five gallon pails, which contains more mess. I usually bring in just enough to fill the stove, so that prevents spiders from thawing out and crawling around the living room.
I love my wood stove. There is nothing like coming in all chilly and turning slowly in front of the stove until you've toasted each side of your body like a perfectly browned marshmallow.
And have you cooked a hotdog on a stick in your woodstove in January? To die for!!! My mouth is watering now!
I cooked on my insert a lot, and used it for many ss projects like making salt from seawater, rendering lard, and cooking hard little pumpkins for the animals....those tiny ones that are too hard to cut up and freeze solid before the animals can figure them out. My new stove will fit more pots and I can't wait!
It is not really THAT much work since we don't cut or split our own wood. But when there is a power outage, we are still warm and can cook without it being a big deal, since I use it anyways.
We bring in a wheelbarrow or two of wood each day or two, into the garage, and stack it in two large boxes or the large rubber water tub, not used in the winter. This contains the mess. Then it comes into the house in five gallon pails, which contains more mess. I usually bring in just enough to fill the stove, so that prevents spiders from thawing out and crawling around the living room.
I love my wood stove. There is nothing like coming in all chilly and turning slowly in front of the stove until you've toasted each side of your body like a perfectly browned marshmallow.
And have you cooked a hotdog on a stick in your woodstove in January? To die for!!! My mouth is watering now!
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- #20
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
We stack our wood on the porch swing..the perfect size and shape to contain a stack of wood. We keep a wooden box next to the stove for kindling. It only takes a matter of seconds to brush the bark fragments out the door every day.
We store the wood in our ancient, leaning garage and bring it up on the porch with the help of a wood caddy. Not much work involved really. The ashes are few if you have great wood to burn and the ashes make great dusting places for the chickens...they simply LOVE wood ashes for dusting.
The left over lumps of charred wood make great chewing toys for the sheep and are also a natural dewormer.
Its all good in the neighborhood when we heat with wood!
We store the wood in our ancient, leaning garage and bring it up on the porch with the help of a wood caddy. Not much work involved really. The ashes are few if you have great wood to burn and the ashes make great dusting places for the chickens...they simply LOVE wood ashes for dusting.
The left over lumps of charred wood make great chewing toys for the sheep and are also a natural dewormer.
Its all good in the neighborhood when we heat with wood!
