How many burn wood for heating their homes? I have been heating with wood for 50+ years and I was raised in a home with only wood as a source of heat. But now many new homes have been built around my farm there has been a push by the new home owners to stop wood stoves because they do not like the smell of the smoke. So far I have not been sighted for burning but several of my farming friends have. One even uses wood for heating his greenhouses and is taking this issue to court. But I can see my time is coming and I do not want to stop using wood and I do not want to end up in the courtroom. The way courts have been siding with the home owners I think I may be out of luck but I guess I will find out.
- Thread starter Plant Doc
- Start date
I have heated with wood since 76 when I bought and moved into a 16x20 cabin. Since then it has been moved onto a foundation and I have built on several additions. I have some electric baseboard as backup but it hasn't ever been used other than for a test after I installed it. Probably should test it again. I would think you would be "grandfathered" in as far as burning wood. If those people don't like it they shouldn't have built/moved there. That's like the fools you hear about that move next to a farm and then complain about the smell of manure. In my town I have heard of people moving in, being on a dirt road, and then wanting to know when the town is going to pave it.
Been burning wood since 75 when I build by house. Had a Queen Air wood burning fireplace that is piped right into my furnace ducts installed at the time. My area is getting bad about city folks moving to the country and then want the grader ditch smooth enough to mow and still do its job. By the way them city folks know how to blade a road too.
I used to heat with wood but quit some ten years ago. The cost of propane got to where I figured my time using wood was worth more doing other things.
The issue I have with wood heat is many outdoor wood stoves. They have short flues and they really smoke when they are first filled. In some of the small little towns/villages I see guys fill their stove and the blower kicks in an you can't see the neighbor's house because of the smoke pouring out of the stove.
IF one of these was next to my house I would have to complain too. MY wife's health problems also involve breathing issues caused by smoke and dust. So I am all for guys heating with wood as long as they are not smoking their neighbors out.
I was skeptical of the catalytic converters in the new stoves flues. My son bought a new stove last year. It is way more efficient than the same brand it replaced. The designers had to make the stove more efficient to reduce emissions to where the catalytic converter would work. The spin off is thee stove produces more heat on less wood.
The issue I have with wood heat is many outdoor wood stoves. They have short flues and they really smoke when they are first filled. In some of the small little towns/villages I see guys fill their stove and the blower kicks in an you can't see the neighbor's house because of the smoke pouring out of the stove.
IF one of these was next to my house I would have to complain too. MY wife's health problems also involve breathing issues caused by smoke and dust. So I am all for guys heating with wood as long as they are not smoking their neighbors out.
I was skeptical of the catalytic converters in the new stoves flues. My son bought a new stove last year. It is way more efficient than the same brand it replaced. The designers had to make the stove more efficient to reduce emissions to where the catalytic converter would work. The spin off is thee stove produces more heat on less wood.
gene bender
Well-known Member
Linn County in IOWA banned wood burning even in the country
KCTractors
Member
- Location
- Central Wi
I have a neighbor with a Outdoor Burner about 5-6 hundred feet from us. I wanted to put it out with a five gallon pail of water many times. He starts it too early in the fall and keeps it going too late in the spring. We can not open the windows in the house because it smokes us out. He replaced it last year and I thought maybe he would get them new ones that don,t smoke as much,but he replaced it with same one as he had before he couldn't find one one those smokey beast.
I know one guy that replaced his with the new kind, he said he was tried of smoking his neighbor out. Now that's a good neighbor.
I know one guy that replaced his with the new kind, he said he was tried of smoking his neighbor out. Now that's a good neighbor.
Here,there's an ordinance about the height of the stacks on those things. They're supposed to be high enough for the smoke to be above neighboring houses. It was written for the ones in town for the most part. I don't know that it's enforced unless somebody right close by complains.
We built our new house 8 years ago, and at the time, burning wood
was the fad here in the NY Catskills. Not so much now.
The wood fired boiler we bought to heat water for our in-floor heat
never worked very good, and had to be re-loaded about every 4 hours.
Also, we got tired of all the manual labor involved, and then the trees
got bugs, and the price for split wood went out of sight.
We converted to a propane on demand water heater a few years ago
when the price of propane came down, and haven't looked back.
With the propane we don't get the roller-coaster temperature up and
down as we did with the wood heater.
was the fad here in the NY Catskills. Not so much now.
The wood fired boiler we bought to heat water for our in-floor heat
never worked very good, and had to be re-loaded about every 4 hours.
Also, we got tired of all the manual labor involved, and then the trees
got bugs, and the price for split wood went out of sight.
We converted to a propane on demand water heater a few years ago
when the price of propane came down, and haven't looked back.
With the propane we don't get the roller-coaster temperature up and
down as we did with the wood heater.
Have burned wood all my life. Will continue to do so until A, law tells me not to. B, Old age tells me I no longer can. Or C, I run out of free firewood. No way I'm buying wood. That said, I have one neighbor close enough for the smoke to bother. I have a furnace in the basement, not an outdoor burner so the smoke isn't to bad. They haven't complained yet but still I cringe when it doe's blow towards them. They are good neighbors and I try to be also.
Traditional Farmer
Well-known Member
- Location
- Virginia
I'd hate to be the guy in my area that would be in charge of enforcing a wood stove brning ban,so far the Gov't here hasn't gotten THAT stupid.
Richard G.
Well-known Member
I agree. There would be hill folks coming out of the woods in our county if they even talked about it.
Richard
Richard
Traditional Farmer
Well-known Member
- Location
- Virginia
Yea I think by the replies I can pretty much figure out who lives South or North of the Mason Dixon line with the exception of Maryland of course(LOL)
We burn wood for most of our heat , oil boiler backup . There's gas over in town but probably won't ever see it over here , not too populated on this side of the river . I've got an older catalytic stove inside , don't mind it . Kinda nice when the power goes out too. We've got 60 odd acres of woods and all the hedgerows between tillable ground so there's always wood and with a little help from the wife , my son and a couple guys who hunt here it goes pretty quick.
Dave Sherburne, NY
Member
It's also because a lot of people who have outdoor furnaces burn their garbage in them.
Mike(NEOhio)
Well-known Member
- Location
- Newbury, Ohio
Those outdoor furnaces are popular around here, trouble is without the chimney fire danger a lot of people burn unseasoned wood that really stinks. The low chimneys keep the smoke near ground level. I've been using a stove in the basement for nearly 40 years. I'm careful and clean the chimney about every 4 weeks. I had a chimney fire once, SCARY.
I burn wood and have for most of the 12 years I've lived at my house. I'm currently hooking up an indoor wood boiler with 500+ gallons of pressurized storage. I hope to be able to heat all of the radiant floor and domestic hot water with it. The storage and pumping arrangements i have are geared towards a gasification boiler in the future. The boiler I currently have is an older non gasification type.
The person I bought it from said it burned wood like crazy and would barely keep up to his load on even a warm day. When I looked at his piping and pump setup I almost laughed. 3/4 pipe all over the place an long runs to boot. I'm not sure what it was hooked to in the house but in the garage there were baseboard heaters with more of the fins smashed down than were in good shape. He told me good luck and how much wood he was going to save with the new outdoor boiler.
I paid him for the old one and went on my way.
Do some reading. It's just like anything there are good and bad ways to do it all. Outdoor boilers that are a box full of water with a fire inside and a short stack aren't it.
The person I bought it from said it burned wood like crazy and would barely keep up to his load on even a warm day. When I looked at his piping and pump setup I almost laughed. 3/4 pipe all over the place an long runs to boot. I'm not sure what it was hooked to in the house but in the garage there were baseboard heaters with more of the fins smashed down than were in good shape. He told me good luck and how much wood he was going to save with the new outdoor boiler.
I paid him for the old one and went on my way.
Do some reading. It's just like anything there are good and bad ways to do it all. Outdoor boilers that are a box full of water with a fire inside and a short stack aren't it.
db4600
Well-known Member
I grew up with it and still use a wood furnace in the basement backfed through the forced air system. The oldest brother has a similar furnace in the big city with no problem.
The youngest brother and my neighbor have newer style draft control furnaces and have problems with smoldering fireboxrs and dirty chimneys. I don't see that those stoves are creating enough heat for a long time to burn them clean.
The youngest brother and my neighbor have newer style draft control furnaces and have problems with smoldering fireboxrs and dirty chimneys. I don't see that those stoves are creating enough heat for a long time to burn them clean.
Pair-a-dice farm
Well-known Member
I can't remember not burning wood. We had the indoor wood stoves until about 8 years ago and we put in an outdoor boiler. I much prefer the boiler. There are a lot of people that complain about the boilers and some have good reason. If the wood is seasoned at least a year before it's burned there is no more smoke than any other wood stove.
The last couple of years I've burned propane except for the coldest part of winter. Eventually I'll either go to all propane or put in a geothermal heat pump.
The last couple of years I've burned propane except for the coldest part of winter. Eventually I'll either go to all propane or put in a geothermal heat pump.
I grew up burning wood and Iv burned wood for the 16 years iv been in my house, I have a wood boiler in the basement, very little smoke, mostly in the morning when I fire up the overnight coals with a new load of wood, All my neighbors burn wood so no one complains around here. The worst ones I see are the guys burning green wood in an outdoor boiler with a very short chiminy stack, I think NY passed a law about having higher stacks but I'm not 100% sure. I was told the stove I bought in 2011 to replace my smaller boiler can no longer be sold in NY because of EPA standards.
I burn wood in my house, and so does my dad. Solely heat with wood. Seasoned wood, so it burns clean without stinking a lot. A lot of my neighbors burn wood too, so not a big deal. My dad and I also heat our shops with wood as well. He is as half mile off the road with no nearby neighbors, so no problems there either. The problem lies with the guys that live around a lot of other people, that have the mentality that since it will burn it, they'll put it in there. One guy I work with is like that, but luckily has no nearby neighbors. Throws his deer carcasses in there after hunting, and burns green trash wood, like willow and boxelder, with a little bit of ash or something so it won't completely smolder out. His coat stinks so bad from loading it before work, nobody wants to set next to him before we get our daily orders.
Goose
Well-known Member
Some years ago, we had a wood furnace with propane backup in the house on a different acreage from where we're living now. We could do probably 80% of our heating with wood.
I finally analyzed the whole situation and found that when I cut the wood we burned I was working for around $3 per hour. I decided if I wanted to make an extra $3 per hour, there were a lot more pleasant ways of doing it than cutting firewood and feeding a furnace.
When we moved elsewhere and sold the house, one of the first things the new owner did was take the wood furnace out.
I finally analyzed the whole situation and found that when I cut the wood we burned I was working for around $3 per hour. I decided if I wanted to make an extra $3 per hour, there were a lot more pleasant ways of doing it than cutting firewood and feeding a furnace.
When we moved elsewhere and sold the house, one of the first things the new owner did was take the wood furnace out.
Stephen Newell
Well-known Member
I burn wood to heat both my house and shop. From what I understand the environmental crackpots are pushing for a national ban on burning anything but gas to heat your house. Wouldn't be surprised if the gas companies aren't handing out kickbacks.
notjustair
Well-known Member
We heat with wood. Several years we put a new Vermont Castings stove in big enough to heat the whole house. It came with a ceramic re-burner to cut out on smoke but I took it out. They said if I was going to burn hedge I should as it wasn't made for that hot of a fire. I burn about half hedge. I only load it two times a day. It's very efficient. That comes with a cost of course - it dirties chimneys more than a wasteful stove that heats the flue more. I don't mind cleaning the chimney for the heat we get. This 100 year old five bedroom farmhouse is windy for sure. We still have a window open in the middle of a snowstorm.
Al Baker(pumpman)
Member
My family has been burning wood here on this country road for 5 generations. Thats what we do. This is northern Michigan, hour or more from any large towns or cityits. It would take an act of war to stop this part of the world from burning wood. Most everyone up here uses it for some, if not all of their heat. Al
I went with an outdoor furnace about 8 years ago, and only burn seasoned wood (am guilty of burning trash though). Since closest neighbor is about a mile away, does not cause any issues, and here there are no ordinances or interference from local authorities (yet thankfully). Hopefully someone now will finally rein in the EPA as they are killing us with regulations, and driving up heating costs, which makes people like myself more independent and determined to heat with alternate fuels to avoid the higher electric costs. Time will tell if things turn around.
Paul from MI
Well-known Member
Been heating with wood since 1973. I only know of one house within 1/2 mile in any direction that doesn't heat with wood. No problems with smoke, I used to watch in the morning for smoke from my elderly neighbors chimney. No smoke, I'd check to see if they were OK.
37chief
Well-known Member
- Location
- California
I just put a big chunk of wood in my wood stove. It will stay burning all night. I have been heating my house since the 70's with wood. When I built my house it was all electric heat. Big mistake. The wood of choice here in California where I live is Eucalyptus. It is a very hard wood when seasoned. Just about every house being built here has a fire place, which is about worthless for heating. Stan
Stephen Newell
Well-known Member
All they have to do is have the media sell it and it'll happen. People buy anything.
We burn wood almost exclusively. One room in the back of the house has a propane heater.
Every year there's a post like this that tears me. On the one hand I see rural people responding and noting that they have the trees and lack of neighbors that make wood burning a non-issue. OTOH, you have the townies complaining about the smell of smoke or their neighbors smoke bothering them, the work, the mess, etc. Far as I'm concerned, if you want to burn wood do it. I'm about done with the townies and cidiots making rules for the rural people. The cidiots move from their urban location to the sticks and first thing they do is start trying to make there 2.3 acre "estate" into the same hole they just left. The townies with their next door neighbors bathroom window 15 feet from their bathroom window try to make laws for their benefit without considering what it does to the people that can't even see their neighbors house. What we have is a rural/urban disconnect!
Russ from MN
Well-known Member
- Location
- Bemidji MN
We burn wood almost exclusively when we are home, when we are gone the nat. gas takes care of it. We have a 8 year old Jotul, very efficient, no smoke once it's up to temperature. A few years ago the city of Bemidji was talking about banning outdoor wood stoves because the smoke so bad, but then they decided we are up north in MN and wood smoke is acceptable! One of our neighbors complimented me once on how nice the smoke smelled!
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