5 Tips on making your firewood piles last longer - Wood Heat Wednesday

[@LifeinFarmland]

I forgot to mention another tip of closing off areas of your home you don't use. No point heating it if you are not using it. (Just make sure it is not an area that pipes can freeze) We often find many rooms in our basement are great places to conserve heat. If you have topics you would like to see covered in videos don't forget you can submit topics and ideas in the feedback form here: bit.ly/Lif-Feedback . Hope you enjoy this weeks video!

[@chuckwosilis1247]

I had considered closing off one of the rooms i don't use much, but i found that worked out to be counter-productive. Since most inner-walls contain no insulation i found that that room was able to cool off my living room are because of the transfer of the cold thru the wall. I guess some places it works and some it doesn't. So i now keep all the doors open and things are just fine. Great show Love your videos.

Best training site on wood heat I could find. Very much appreciated!

[@CountryViewAcres]

Glad that wood heat Wednesdays are back! Looking forward to more episodes.

[@FreedomandBaconHomestead]

I love Wood Heat Wednesday! Beautiful video, as always!

[@doctorstrangerlove6001]

All I can say is insulate, insulate, insulate. Thanks for all your great vids.

[@safffff1000]

2" closed cell everywhere than seal up with aerobarrier. one exchange of air /hr then, heat exchager for air.

[@johnreinburg859]

Eric, thank you for posting this video.

[@dkgrace6743]

Always well put together and informative. Thank you.

[@mikemorris485]

Hi Eric! Its our first year burning wood and I have enjoyed your videos big time. I wonder is you can do one that talks about creosote as well as having the stove choked down for extended periods.

[@doctorstrangerlove6001]

I burn a lot of Osage Orange... it is hard to cut.....and hard to light......but man does that put out BTU's.......almost like coal. Put a big chuck in before bed, damp it back, and I have all kinds of heat all night and tons of hot coal for easy lighting in the morning.

[@kathleenzimmerman8227]

You're spot on when it comes to seasoning and burning red oak. It almost seems like a sin to burn it, since it has such a beautiful grain. And, if you're patient, stains up ever so beautifully! Every time I stoke the wood burner, I think about what I could have made out of that beautiful wood. :/ However, I do have access to an abundance, so, it just makes sense to burn it. I have a basement, and only keep 2 vents open in the winter ... just enough to keep the pipes from freezing. My washer, dryer & chest freezer is down there, too, and when I go down, I usually have to put a sweater on. I sleep in my mom's room to keep an eye on her, so I close off the heat vents to the other 2 bedrooms. I hang a blanket between the kitchen and the living room when I am not using the oven. When the oven is in use, I pull back the blanket to help heat the living room and hallway. I have small battery operated fans mounted on the top of the entryways to passively circulate heat. When we have a real Michigan winter, with temps reaching 25-30 below, I open the cabinets under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, & trickle the water in all faucets. If worse comes to worse, I open all vents in the basement, and run small electric heaters in front of the cabinets to the kitchen and bathroom. I keep a good stock of disposable hand/foot warmers, although I do have some that are reusable. And, the old standby .... lots of warm blankets. ;)

[@PfeilerFamilyFarm]

I love you Wood Heat Wednesday videos! With the 5 cords of mixed firewood I am able to upgrade the chainsaw....FINALLY! I got an MS 441 with a 28” bar on order. The next purchase will be an insert or wood furnace. The gas furnace in the house was always running this past winter and spring. While the fireplace is nice the efficiency of it sucks. Thanks again brother for sharing great information before we get hit with the colder temps!!

[@mascatrails661]

great tips! I always leave my big brew pot with about 4 gals of water sitting on our stove... not only does it help to put some moisture in the air, but it also stores the heat and keeps radiating it even when the fire dies down.

[@ianlespaul7887]

Eric. Have you read Norwegian Wood, by Lars Mytting? Great read for us wood nerds and lots of tips on cutting storing and drying. It's available on Kindle. Enjoy Wood Wednesday, keep it up!

[@LifeinFarmland]

I own that book and really enjoy it! Great read!

[@mikedaugharty5544]

shades open in sunny days is very good free heat.close in ac season use darkest , less light transfer. good info

[@bulbhorn]

Interesting and informative as always. Thank you.

[@papax4815]

Awesome video, nice job young man. God bless

[@mikeparker5008]

You guys have a lot of good info, and a great philosophy going. I'm also rural like you, and always try to find ways to make things go a bit further. It's great to see people a little younger than I am getting into farm life and all the little details involved, in a real sense. Hats off to you, and best of luck in your endeavors! :)

[@life-longpatriot8258]

Thank you for the links! I bought my Pacific Energy wood stove from "The Chimney Sweep" about 15 years or so ago, and it is still running great. It uses a separate air intake for the firebox, so you don't use air from inside the house for combustion. Other stoves will set up a negative pressure in your house which in turn pulls cold air from outside through cracks in door seals, windows etc.. I highly recommend these types of stoves! But that link showing drying time is a real eye opener--36 months for red oak to season?! Wow! I split a lot of willow oak mid-last year and thought it would be ready to burn this winter. Now I wonder if I'll have enough for the winter if I can't use that oak. I'll have to break out the moisture meter (I also like the General).

[@enby9824]

Getting me excited. We can still leave our windows open at night for a couple more weeks yet. But I can't wait to use our insert.

[@50shadesofgreen]

good day to you Eric & Family !! thanks for sharing your adventures and update on & off the farm 🏡🏗️🛠️

[@guns4funcajanajustin]

Good information and solid channel.

[@tryingtobewise711]

My 1st house I had a fireplace. The ambiance of the fireplace is amazing but, like you said the efficiency was awful. I’m pretty sure burning that fireplace cost me more in gas because the furnace seemed to run more. I’ve had a jotul wood stove installed in my home now and what a difference. In one week the wood stove uses less wood than the fireplace would use in a full day burning. Also, if my calculations are correct this wood stove will pay for itself midway through next winter. I’ve learned how much I hate propane bills after last winter. My property is covered with dead standing Ash so, I’m burning 100% Ash and it lights fast. The majority of my experience previously has been maple and oak. They take a little more to get going.

[@johnsuch5914]

I just found ya a couple weeks ago...Love it and God Bless Brother :)

[@kanecroft5988]

Great video thanks! I do really enjoy your firewood videos.

[@DeepSouthHomestead]

Oak is our no.1 wood in the south. I prefer red oak when i can get it.

[@dkgrace6743]

Me too, but the chart says 3 yr. dry time. Wow that's a long time. I would have wood filling my yard with 3 seasons always drying.

[@mike10668]

Thanks.all the best from Yorkshire

[@Simplelittlelife]

Lots of great tips and info my friend, well done! 👍

[@LifeinFarmland]

Hey Jeremy! I really enjoyed your last video!! I need to get going on trying to build a knife and the last one really got me motivated.

[@CooganBear]

Good video. Thanks for the tips. Trying to make my firewood last longer.

[@HWhite-iu4ec]

Talking about home efficiency what size exterior walls are most homes your way 2x4 or 2x6? We built our house with 2x6 exterior walls (not common here in the south) the extra insulation is really helping out.

[@duncan359]

good information, keep up the good work

[@ifatola9405]

Super super helpful! New subbie!

[@garybenedict3673]

Once again great tips

[@littlewhitedory1]

Really good info! Thanks.

[@almosthomesteading9734]

Great information in that video, Eric. Nicely done !

[@MicroHomesteaders]

Hi guys. Oak Knob Farm sent me. Raining today. Taking a break from cutting wood.

[@lisabooker6405]

You are an absolute wealth of information!! Thank you so much for sharing! God Bless ~Lisa

[@LifeinFarmland]

😀 Thanks for watching Lisa!

[@patrickinottawa27]

Tip # 6 Tell the wife to put a sweater on. But I can get away with saying it, cause I'm not married. Excellent Video and Information Eric...

[@gorgon9786]

Well,..it's Then you can get away with it...:)

[@theolddogfarm4677]

Could you talk about draft settings on a wood stove? Obviously leaving the draft fully open means the wood will burn up in no time. But how far down to you close it for optimum return? I realize every stove is different but it might be interesting to hear a general discussion on the topic.

[@safffff1000]

Nothing better than cat Blaze King stoves, auto damper, burns smoke.

[@treeclimbing7798]

Lb per Lb -All woods have the same BTUs by dry weight. But some hardwood makes better coals to last longer.

[@OakKnobFarm]

I have heard the same. The difference is a cord of pine weighs much, much less than a cord of oak, hence the different output per cord.

[@timgiles9413]

Awesome video :)

[@davevaillancourt350]

So my stove from the 70`s is not as efficient as i though , maybe time for an upgrade !

[@brendafield62]

I burn a mix of hardwood here in the northeast so really noticing the difference in drying times for each and location of my stacks. I just started a new area and it was drying great now the sun has gone behind the hill for the winter in that location. Drying is slowing right down.By the way I got a moisture meter as you suggested hence now I am becoming a bit of a moisture meter nerd.question though.. I find that firewood of 16 to 20 % moisture (even though in the desired range) sizzles.Have you noticed that? Starting to think getting below 15% should be the suggested ideal range??Folks in my neck of the woods tend to dry for a year at the most. Most of that is just tough to get ahead for them,not cause they want it that way.Anyways thanks for the video's

[@life-longpatriot8258]

When testing a log, I always split it first so that I can test the center. I would find that although it's 20% on the outside, it's still over 40% in the center. That's why logs sometimes catch fire pretty quickly in the wood stove but then seem to just turn to a glowing ember once the outer dry wood burns away. Just a suggestion.

[@LifeinFarmland]

I agree with Mark. When you have been taking the reading have you been splitting it first? Can make a big difference in the reading.

[@digbyodell2924]

Hmmm, I couldn't find the standard used in determining drying times with that one chart. Unsplit rounds 8-12 inches in diameter and 16 inches long maybe? Possibly 4 feet long and no more than 6-8 inches in diameter. I'm just going by my experience with red oak equating to 3 years seasoning time.

[@official180degrees]

Have you fired up the stove yet? I'm debating if I should light the boiler. ~ethan

[@LifeinFarmland]

oh yeah, at least one fire a day for the last several weeks. How has the building project been going? Haven't seen a video from you guys in a while. Really interested to see how the H.O.A went. Hope all is well.

[@dougmoore7116]

Thumbs up

[@boboala1]

Are you warm enough!? Or do you need to cut down another 2 acres of trees for next winter?

[@real_mrmime9617]

You warm enough? Or do you need to burn another 2000 gallons of oil to stay warm for 3 months? The great thing about wood is that you can plant trees and grow more. And it’s not leaving the Jupiter sized carbon footprint that you are with literally just your cell phone.

[@Veemack21]

Great vid thank you. I live in Rensselaer in an we plan on doing a insert easy next year the say installed 3k is the a good price?

[@robpotter1355]

Please consider also burning free wood from scrap pallets and packing crates. These are often easy to collect from industry that are surplus to requirements and destined for scrap. Great good clean timber that can go straight on the stove once cut and just take the nails out of the ash the next day. We burn around 25% of this type of wood that is kiln dried to less than 10% moisture and burns hot, lights easy with little ash, you don’t need to store it AND IS FREE,! 😎

[@billbirkholz2669]

Anyone have advice or experience on long burns? I have a new EPA Lopi insert that boasts 8-10 hour burns.... but I cant seem to get burns longer than 2-3 hours. I am one the west coast (WA) and have access to Doug Fir which I get is not Oak but still should not be getting 1/3 the burns (I dont think). Are 8 hour burns just part of the insert literature or do people really get those long burns?

[@lindanwfirefighter4973]

We burn polar. We harvest in early summer and burn it that winter. If it’s too dry (seasoned 1 year) it doesn’t burn good. It burns to fast.

[@timidater4803]

Whats polar?? did you mean poplar??

[@lindanwfirefighter4973]

Timidater yes

[@jouman450]

Calories? Naah, metric system uses Joule, which is also a wattsecond, Ws. More practical when talking about heat energy is kWh, kilowatthour.

[@805gregg]

Move south and never need firewood again, why live with crappy weather?

[@larrykluckoutdoors8227]

Some one has to keep the Canadian out of this country. That's what we do