Any baby boomers still heat with wood?

[mountainguyed67]

I missed being a boomer by two years, ha! Four of my siblings are boomers, none burn wood.

 

[Cricket]

I heat a 165 year old house from October to March, sometime April. Our boiler also supplies heat to our greenhouse and our domestic hot water supply. I use oil only from April thru September for domestic hot water. This old house is built with 4" walls and 3 added spaces over the years. Early insulation was non-existent so everything that could be reached to insulate was done after the builds. To fully insulate this house would require a major demo of half of the house, not happening. Boiler gets filled 3 times a day in mid winter time but only twice a day in the fall and spring. The boiler has paid for itself many times over. I buy oil only once a year at the end of the heating season and it lasts about a year. Cutting, splitting and stacking wood is my exercise time at my outdoors gym.

Mine is a mini version of that. I insulated one wall, which involved pulling off 160 year old 3/4" by 10" planks and their square nails - and running Tyvek up and over all the studs and across the spaces between.

That was sufficient to convince me that having to cut a little more wood was easier.

 

[Cricket]

I'm 66, been heating with wood in this house (off and on, in prior ones) for sixteen years. I may go wussy next winter and put in a furnace for back-up (I have a decent kerosene heater, but they're a pain and not a fan of the smell, so it's get used when the pipes in the far corner of the basement are in danger, which is when it gets into single digit temps). I also have an army fuel oil tent heater, but haven't got it set up again here.

So basically - I heat entirely with wood, barring keeping the occasional pipe thawed out in truly evil weather.

 

[3000 FPS]

I am 71 and still burn wood exclusivly for heating my home. Last year I went to the mountains for myself and inlaws and felled 36 trees. It is more than being independent it is also like a hobby.
There is nothing like having a fire going in the stove and feeling the heat and seeing the fire when it is 10* outside and 76* inside. You got to love it.

 

[9050LX]

Yup. Jotul wood stove discounted by Obama.Wife says not allowed to run heat pump,wood only.Only Florida, but it did get to the 20's 2 nights ago.

 

[3000 FPS]

Yup. Jotul wood stove discounted by Obama.Wife says not allowed to run heat pump,wood only.Only Florida, but it did get to the 20's 2 nights ago.

I bet that does not happen very often. Pretty cold for Florida.

 

[9050LX]

Cold damn near killed all my Sea Hibiscus (Mahoe), lol. All the leaves are dead.Grew them as a promise to my mother.They can die all the way to the ground but come back with a vengeance.

 

[Fellin Feller]

Still use my wood stove and cut it all myself.

 

[SweetMK]

Born in 1950,,
Bought this stove in 1980,,

I turned my wood lot into more $$$ than my entire home and property cost,,

Now, I run my chainsaw for exercise, and give the wood to a neighbor who only has wood as a heat source,,

 

[Maple78]

Born in 1950,,
Bought this stove in 1980,,

I turned my wood lot into more $$$ than my entire home and property cost,,

Now, I run my chainsaw for exercise, and give the wood to a neighbor who only has wood as a heat source,,

 

[Maple78]

Been burning wood since 1971 in a wood stove. Jotul 118 since 1993. Heats the house if it is above zero. If below zero gas boiler also runs some.

 

[hkstwn7]

Still heat my shop with an all nighter. I cut storm damaged and dangerous trees only. I'm 72 and enjoy the work.

 

[gggGary]

Came alive in 55
about 30 years of wood heat under my belt. Pretty much wood only since 2000. 5ish cords a year
I get by with a little help from my wife.


PNW cat stove in 3/4 ton of masonry with designed air flow through it.

Pass through wood box next to it.


This one is now the basement stove.

Both stoves were found cheap on Craigslist from; SHE won't allow wood burning in HER house, removals.

 

[Tim in NY]

A recent new thread asking about millenials heating with wood got me to wondering.

Yep - still at it. Love to get out in the woods with the tractor and saws. Getting harder all the time though - new hip a year ago, and have two bad knees. But gonna try to keep going as long as I can. Before we insulated the upstairs of the old house, we used 5 or 6 full cord a year through our fireplace and Hearthstone II. Nowadays about 8 face cord, and 600 gallons of propane in the fireplace insert. 1958.

Tim

 

[Tim in NY]

Came alive in 55
about 30 years of wood heat under my belt. Pretty much wood only since 2000. 5ish cords a year
I get by with a little help from my wife.
View attachment 961812

PNW cat stove in 3/4 ton of masonry with designed air flow through it.
View attachment 961816
Pass through wood box next to it.
View attachment 961815 View attachment 961817 View attachment 961818

This one is now the basement stove.
View attachment 961814
Both stoves were found cheap on Craigslist from; SHE won't allow wood burning in HER house, removals.

Is that a VC Resolute?

 

[gggGary]

Is that a VC Resolute?

Yes Resolute, this is the small, single front door and top load door, 6" flue model. Dates back to the 80's, one of the "original design" stoves. I've been running it for 20 years. Just like this one for cheap on fleabay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1819691820...=5338817822&toolid=10049&customid=102_256_285

 

[Cliff R]

Will turn 63 in April and have been heating with wood since I my early teens. I wouldn't have it any other way and love running the saws, splitting with a maul, and the exercise I get from it (*** the gym).

I went to an outdoor boiler 5 years ago and love it. No more dragging wood into my walk out basement to geed the whole house wood stove that's tied into the duct work. It's still in place and functional but would only be used in an extreme emergency.

The boiler holds enough wood to EASILY go 12-15 hours in the coldest weather, 24 hours if it's around 30-50 degrees outside. My house is 3500 sq ft, 5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and high ceilings in the kitchen and living room.

A BIG key to success here is how well you insulate when you build. Mine is sealed up too tight and didn't "breath" well at first. Now that a few of the outer doors leak at the seals it's a good thing as I get a nice exchange of air in the Winter months. Still doesn't take much wood and I also use a plate exchanger for hot water.........

 

[Tim in NY]

Yes Resolute, this is the small, single front door and top load door, 6" flue model. Dates back to the 80's, one of the "original design" stoves. I've been running it for 20 years. Just like this one for cheap on fleabay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1819691820...=5338817822&toolid=10049&customid=102_256_285

Nice! 1985, right after college I worked for a stove store that sold Vermont Casting and Hearthstone, as well as a few other, less common brands. They were top of the line in those days. I have an Intrepid in the garage, the next size down and smallest of the line. Never got around to putting in a chimney to use it though. The bigger ones, Vigilant, and Defiant were real monsters, if you had a big enough area to heat. Will last forever if they are not abused.

 

[Mad Professor]

Since I was a baby. Grandparents had a Glenwood cook stove and an Ashley for heating. Parents had woodstove. I got to use the chainsaws when I was 12 and learned to freehand file chains. Sold hardwood cordwood $35/cord delivered.

I'm using an old Warner stove now, takes 26" chunks. Has a blower too but never really need to use it unless fire has been out and I need to reheat whole house.

It's hooked up in the fireplace with a complete insulated SS T-connecter/flue liner/cap. UL listed, lifetime warranty from Rockford. Hearth was extended with fire board under 2" granite slabs. Aluminum heat deflector mounted on mantle using fence post ceramic insulators as spacers.

Burns real clean, only have to brush the flue once a year and get ~1/2 gallon of stuff from the cleanout-T. Screen on the cap collects more gunk than the flue.

I also use the stove to cook and heat hot water on. The flat you can put cookware on or I use a dutchoven. I keep a 7-gal SS pot full of water on top using a trivet base. Always have hot water for cooking or doing dishes. The water also acts as a heat sink of the heat.

 

[rms61moparman]

Born in 1961.
Wood has been the only primary heat source since I left the protection of my parent's home in the early 1980's.


Mike