How We Heat Our Off Grid Cabin In Winter

[@TheDoomWizard]

So calmly spoken

[@mmwaashumslowww7167]

A very relaxed chat on the Joy's of free heat. The chats about heat in the UK are stressed out, not knowing if it's going to be heat or eat. A smart and very wise move on your part, at just the right time.

[@ash.pollard]

I can only imagine how tough it is there now and I feel for anyone who is having to make those decisions.

[@fortague]

Two burners mate ! Join the club !! My house here in France is the same, you can't beat the heat that you get out of burning wood, my windows never steam up, my house is always warm, the heat flows through every room, yes I buy my oak logs for just 340 euro's a year but I never ever get cold, plus it keeps me fit, splitting, stacking and walking between the two burners once an hour to check on progress ! I do have a diesel heater in my van and it's brilliant and I run it on heating oil I got for free 👍 23 Deg at the moment in my house !!

[@HoagesMoto]

I know you love a project Ash, be cool to see you have a crack at a steam turbine runnning off either of your fires as a means of electricity generation. More of a long term project when you start playing with water/radiator circuits but probably very achievable for you with some research and a couple of staged home made/modified turbines to support your electricty consumption when solar insn't an option (winter)

[@susanlambert8164]

Looks lovely and cosy Ash. You have done amazing with your home.

[@ash.pollard]

Thank you Susan 😊

[@Allan9966]

What a beautiful workshop! Thanks for the video.

[@ash.pollard]

Thank you! 😊

[@carlworrall]

The two of you should be proud of what you are creating out there,been watching you for years and glad you have found your slice of heaven you can do what you like when you like

[@ash.pollard]

Thank you Carl 🙏 it's nice to be able to slow down and focus on what we enjoy 👌

[@bleak100]

Such a beautiful intro, I could watch that for 30 minutes. Nice colorgrading and quality of video you make, I will definitely subscribe. And what a lovely calming vibe you give off, I actually got relaxed watching this haha.

[@johnsavage248]

Definitely hook up a thermal store to the stove, you won't regret it. Get one with electric immersions and you can then divert any excess solar to the thermal store in the summer using an iBoost. We have solid fuel heated water in the winter and solar heated water in the summer. Wouldn't be without a stove, but just watch them try and ban them

[@BS.-.-]

My last heating oil delivery was 3yrs ago and we havent turned our heater on in 1yr. We heat with wood in NY. All cut and split on site.

[@ash.pollard]

Nice! 👍

[@kamnapavon4638]

Hello England... From the States...

[@jyrianttila4394]

I live in Finland and there is no way I would live anywhere without a wood stove, it's good that you have such well insulated house and a fire. Have you considered building some heat retaining mass for your stove. Like a chimney element that you can just stack on top of each other. Like i.e a Finnish product "Watti harkkopiippu" or a similar product. Love your videos.

[@ash.pollard]

I would like to put in some kind of heat retention as these steel stoves do cool down quite fast. I will check out that product thanks!

[@Martin-vb1to]

I recommend you to look into soapstone heat storing fire places. Those are very popular in Nordics and for example "Tulikivi" brand has fireplaces that you can combine with the water heating.

[@ash.pollard]

It was very expensive for a proper stove with in built water etc so that's why I plan to make that myself. I would like to get some soapstone around it though to hold some more heat in

[@espenbenneche7097]

Great video as always !😊

[@ash.pollard]

Thank you 😊👍

[@re33ce]

Ash You Made My Day 🔥🔥❤I was Waiting For This One 💯 Love The Industrial Look Suits The Barn Perfect 💯Have A look At Soap Stone, When You're Doing The Rads, The Disel Heaters Done The job, But The Fire Is Definitely The Heart❤Of The Home 💯💯🔥

[@ash.pollard]

Glad you enjoyed it 😊 definitely want to try and get some soap stone around the fires to hold the heat at night when they die out.

[@dreadedscotslass]

Nice one Ash 👍😊❤ x

[@ash.pollard]

Thank you 😊

[@Riiseli]

Nice set up downstairs. I like wood heating, but I personally enjoy cooking and baking in a masonry oven too much to go with simple stoves only.

[@ash.pollard]

Ah yea that would be awesome 👌 maybe in the future we could make some upgrades 😊

[@Riiseli]

@@ash.pollard I actually had to go and look up the video on the old house to see, if that possibly had a masonry oven, but no such luck. The wood stove is a good piece of equipment. The living room probably had a round masonry heater originally.

[@ChrisandHeathervanlife]

Ash, we visited friends in France over Christmas and on their log burners he had two elbows stuck to the top that air conditioning ducting was connected to. These fed along the ceiling into two other rooms and they say that they are very effective. I took a few pictures but Patreon wont let me message them to you.

[@ash.pollard]

Ooo sounds interesting! If you have Instagram fire me a message on there 😊

[@ChrisandHeathervanlife]

@@ash.pollard Just sent you an insta message.

[@FreeBirdUKVanLife]

Nice one.

[@ash.pollard]

Thanks 😊

[@OllyJelleyWildlife]

Nice one! Have you read the book "Norwegian Wood" ? Got some lovely stuff in it about acreage and land management for sustaining a firewood crop etc!

[@ash.pollard]

Cheers Olly👍 I haven't but i shall have a look!

[@jamesoncross7494]

Do you have outside wood boilers in Sweeden? They keep the mess outside and really crank the heat inside and all the hot water you'll ever need.

[@ash.pollard]

I haven't seen any outside ones so far but a lot of houses have them in the basement

[@dozukime]

Hi Ash,been following you a few years now. You have given me good ideas & I like your views on stuff. Just subed on this channel.Talking about wood heating, how do you deal with mornings. Cold start or do you let it smoulder all-night?

[@ash.pollard]

Welcome 😊👍 With the fires generally when it's cold out, say below -20, we stock both fires up before bed and choke the air right down so they burn for hours. Normally in the morning there's still a few embers left and the casing is still warm so just scoop the ash out and make a new fire with kindling I made sure was prepared the night before. Within about 5 minutes they are roaring again. When it's warmer out we are more relaxed as the house retains the heat pretty well.

[@brizol]

Hi Ash, Came for lost in europe, stayed for your journey :) Just a thought with your final comment. No power in the winter due to no sun, what about a wind turbine on the roof? the LIE vid i just watch it was blowing a hoolie... Appologies if you have already addressed it, catching up on the black log 🙃

[@ash.pollard]

Awesome 😊👍 yea it's a tricky one with the wind. Sure there is pretty strong wind when we have a blizzard but to be honest it's quite rare. Most of the winter it's completely still, which is lovely but not great for generating power!

[@IrenESorius]

👍‍‍👍‍‍

[@anfieldroadlayoutintheloft5204]

good vid ash on h the channel thanks lee

[@ash.pollard]

Cheers Lee 😊👍

[@spiritwolf7]

Heat the house with wood is the cheapest..still many swedes that dont understand it yet..even if the wood is outrageously expensive now it's still the best choice..you heat your water,got warmth in your house,and if you have a older husqvarna stove you even can cook your meal on it

[@ash.pollard]

Great point! A properly integrated wood stove with water etc is definitely the best way in my opinion. Especially if it doesn't require electricity to run

[@simonmcowan6874]

I often wonder what could be done with all that heat going out of the chimney, how to recirculate it through water for example, (to be stored in an insulated tank) untill the exhaust gasses are cold.... Just musings that's all.

[@ash.pollard]

Good question! I'm sure there's so much that could be done with it. There's quite a lot of rules that go with installing a fire here so I didn't want to get too creative with the initial install as it has to be inspected. Hoping to make more use of the heat going forward though 👌

[@stewmoyse7310]

good to ser yambolist buddy

[@ash.pollard]

I'll never be selling that 😊

[@stewmoyse7310]

@@ash.pollard i watched you bulid it kept me sane during lock down

[@jayleigh7285]

Ash how did you get all your stuff over from uk to Sweden

[@ash.pollard]

Using an extremely overpriced courier service 🤣😫

[@andrewhough8757]

Are you buying in your wood or harvesting your own ? Great vids by the way..

[@ash.pollard]

Cheers Andrew. Up to now we have bought in the raw trees and processed ourselves. But going forward I may have a way to get them for free, I just have to cut them down and then in the future we will be buying our own forest

[@andrewhough8757]

@@ash.pollard Sound's perfect, self sufficiency has got to be the way forward. Unplug and crack on👍

[@davidrogers1262]

what do you cook on?

[@ash.pollard]

Currently use a gas hob but going to look at induction soon

[@davidrogers1262]

@@ash.pollard that’s the way to go

[@baggiecamper]

I'd be interested to know what you are doing for hot water currently and your plans for future hot water. I was thinking a gravity system (to avoid electric pumps) but I guess your frugal with water because of having to fetch it from the well. Maybe a log burning water boiler in the future?

[@ash.pollard]

Right now we just boil the kettle when we need hot water 😊 I'd like to try and figure something out in the future though when we plumb the well into the house (plan for the summer)

[@stevekirk6399]

checkout "Using a excavator to mow, hammer, and load wood" his editing and camera work is similar to yours. also Thermoelectric Stoves can charge your batteries. you could set it up where the fire powers a steam generator? when I was a kid we had a back boiler my dad was a joiner free off cuts and are heat and hot water was free.

[@ash.pollard]

I'll have a look cheers 👍 ah man so many options to play with here now! The thermoelectric units didn't seem to output that much power for the cost but then again we don't need a lot so could be interesting. I'd love to get power from the heat somehow though 👌

[@stevekirk6399]

@@ash.pollard there's a 3.5 hp Briggs & Stratton Engine conversion you can do which is perfect for you. then again a direct small tesla turbine is good. loads of options but not many you can buy and fit off the shelf. maybe you be the first, i'm sure there is a market out there.

[@DUB-sential]

I dread to think how much people scammed into leccy boilers are paying now to use them. Nout greener than trees mate lmao 🤣. Not sure why but a lot with gas heating are using diesel heaters thinking it's saving money, don't deny they are good heaters but yeah the maths doesn't work there, guess ya can see how much you are using. Next winter when prices haven't come down I wonder what the excuse will be .

[@ash.pollard]

Yea with the cost of diesel now I can't see much of a saving if switching from conventional heating to diesel really. Only if you are using red or other fuels.