What kind of wood is this?

[ericjeeper]

Oh the solar

Nice looking trailer and splitter.

Nice solar collectors, too! Do I remember right that you heat your hot water in winter with the boiler and in summer with the collectors?

Did you build those collectors or buy them?

I plan on doing some solar hot water heating this summer.

I do not heat my domestic water.. As of yet. I am tied into my radiant system kind of bassackwards. As I have a heat exchanger from my fuel oil fired water heater to my heating system. I tied my incoming lines from the storage tank in to just the glycol side. and there is no way to back feed the water heater,. To maintain the hot water I would need another heat exchanger. I am trying to keep the system simple enough that if I were to die tomorrow my wife can maintain it.


I bought the solar collectors used out of southwest MO. They will make some serious hot water. They will bring 600 gallons of water up 40-50 degrees on a sunny day.

Unfortunately the boiler coast at temps above what the solar panels can produce.. But I use the solar panels in the early and late parts of the season.

 

[stonykill]

I do not heat my domestic water.. As of yet. I am tied into my radiant system kind of bassackwards. As I have a heat exchanger from my fuel oil fired water heater to my heating system. I tied my incoming lines from the storage tank in to just the glycol side. and there is no way to back feed the water heater,. To maintain the hot water I would need another heat exchanger. I am trying to keep the system simple enough that if I were to die tomorrow my wife can maintain it.


I bought the solar collectors used out of southwest MO. They will make some serious hot water. They will bring 600 gallons of water up 40-50 degrees on a sunny day.

Unfortunately the boiler coast at temps above what the solar panels can produce.. But I use the solar panels in the early and late parts of the season.

I've always thought of heating with solar hot water in the few nice months we have here. I haven't because I generate enough scrap hardwood to run the owb 24/7/365. It's easy to get addicted to endless hot water, all for free cept for a little labor.

Here is a link to what I always thought was the simplest, cheapest, most abundant source of solar hot water.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/DIY/1984-01-01/Build-an-Integral-Passive-Solar-Water-Heater.aspx

Simple, cheap, reliable...a homesteaders life in a nutshell........oops wrong forum

 

[Peacock]

Yep, that's Elm alright. That's elm when it's drier though I believe... When it's wet and green it's quite a bit easier to split bro...

eh?

Yep, when green I split mine with a maul. Hit it in the center of the growth rings and it'll usually pop. I prefer to split any elm over hornbeam or osage orange.

What doesn't pop with the maul gets a date with the 441.

 

[Blazin]

Oh Yeah again! Elm the other stringy arse white meat!

 

[mayor]

I vote Elm!

Sycamore does that also but not that bad!....Elm almost always strings like that.

 

[Bowtie]

Yep, when green I split mine with a maul. Hit it in the center of the growth rings and it'll usually pop. I prefer to split any elm over hornbeam or osage orange.

What doesn't pop with the maul gets a date with the 441.

Amen man, I love rippin rounds with my 441!!!

 

[318firebug49]

Elm's got my vote

Looks like red elm, we call it rock or piss elm down here, pain to split but burns great, but it kinda smells sour. Just got through splitting a couple of face cords of it,found out if you keep it short it doesn't get quite so wooly, took forever to split the 24", I think sodbuster almost quit on me over that one.... finally figured out it was easier to bust it up and then take an axe to the remaining strings to separate the quarters on the long wood.

 

[Bowtie]

Looks like red elm, we call it rock or piss elm down here, pain to split but burns great, but it kinda smells sour. Just got through splitting a couple of face cords of it,found out if you keep it short it doesn't get quite so wooly, took forever to split the 24", I think sodbuster almost quit on me over that one.... finally figured out it was easier to bust it up and then take an axe to the remaining strings to separate the quarters on the long wood.

"Rock Elm" and "Piss Elm" are on opposite ends of the Elm chart for firewood and hardiness. "Piss Elm" is Chinese Elm, and "Rock Elm" is usually Red Elm or sometimes American Elm is called Rock Elm. The pics showed are American Elm.

 

[ericjeeper]

We call it all piss Elm around these parts

It is far from any walnut. heavy green, heavy dry. Walnut is heavy green, very light dry. Plus walnut splits clean as a whistle.