In a message dated 12/9/2007 9:24:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Ruth,
Do you heat exclusively with wood?  What kind of stove do  you have?


Leland:
 
No, I'm not Ruth.  But I may have something to contribute.
 
Inlaws from NH and MA have heated exclusively with wood.  
 
The one in NH, with a large 1600's house, used 12-15 cords a wood a year,  
plus some coal for when they went somewhere.  No insulation except dead  mouse 
nests and no weather stripping on the windows.  It had two fireplaces  and 3 
cast-iron wood stoves.  They primarily used the wood stoves.   They retired to a 
smaller house (basically 2 rooms) and used 7 cords a  year.  That house was 
essentially super insulated, but they kept it hot and  had a stove that put out 
so much heat it made the insulation a drawback  because they needed to open 
the doors and windows during all except the  coldest days.  It had a "Warm 
Morning" brand of stove and a standard  horizontal cast iron wood stove.  The WM 
stove was about 2 feet sq. by  32 inches high.  It had a water jacket for hot 
water, but that was  never connected.  With 5 paper plates and 10 sheets of 
newspaper that  stove would  bring the retirement house to  75 degrees when it  
was 20 degrees outside.  The cast iron stove, the style that  loads  from the 
top or front and is about 2 feet sq. by 3 feet long, would overheat the  house 
with the doors closed under just about any conditions except 15  below.  Its 
redeeming feature was that it took normal-sized wood, instead  of that tiny 
crap that the WM stove accepted.  I think that there is a big  disconnect between 
having an insulated house and heating with normal-sized  fire wood.
 
The inlaws in MA had gravity hot-water baseboard heat and a wood-fueled  
boiler in the basement.  This boiler is a monster made from 3/8" steel  plate and 
pipe heat exchangers.  I'd would say that it is immobile, except  for the fact 
that it wasn't built in place.  It was pretty efficient  because it only took 
6-7 cords of wood to heat this normal size ranch-style  house.
 
I supplement heat with a wood fireplace that isn't very efficient. Burning  
the wood inside is a  better use for the wood than leaving it rotting on  the 
ground.  

S. J.  Stokowski, Jr.
Stone Products Consultants
1058 Sodom Rd., Bldg.  2
Westport, MA  02790
508-881-6364
www.members.aol.com/crushstone/




**************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest 
products.
(http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001)

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>