Another happy newbie

[HJsimpson]

Good morning everyone.

First thing first i would like to thank everyone here for all of the great information that i have reieved from reading all of the post.

This was my first winter burning wood in my own home and i forgot how nice and warm it is. My parents have been burning since the early seventys
but i finally have a chance to heat my home now with wood. i remeber hating to get up at 6AM every weekend to cut wood when i was young and at
home but now i cant wait to get in the woods and fire up the saws.
First year was a little tough scrounging wood (just moved to house and area in Sept 2010) and buying when i couldnt find any. I will be in better
shape next year. So far i have about 3 to 4 cords of dead and down mulberry,cherry and lots of elm c/s/s. Also another 3+ cords of black and honey locust,cherry and ash that was c/s/s in Dec 2010. I am no where done cutting yet but it feels better already to see it all stacked up.
I heated all winter long with a 25 year old Thermopride wood furnace and yes not very efficent but WOW did it throw out the heat and hard to keep house under 85 degrees. Really used a lot of wood and not much more then 4 hours per load but will be replaced with a Yukon BJ90 and new stainless liner in the next couple of months. Wasnt to sure what my wife was going to think about burning wood but needless to say she is all for the upgrade now since she enjoyed the heat this year.
Im heading out now to rebuild theCarb on my 028AV super (my first attempt at a Carb rebuild) so ill let everyone know how that goes.

Thanks again everyone and i plan on posting a lot more and maybe ill have some advice one day that someone can use (hopefully).

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum H.J.

A new stove will be really good for you as 4 hours is not so good. You might be as lucky as some others who see from 30% to 50% reduction in the amount of wood you burn Good luck.

 

[Fsappo]

The savage is right. When we swap out an old wood furnace with an EPA job, lots less wood gets burned and much cleaner chimneys. So as much as you love cuttin wood, you wont have to cut as much now. Good luck rebuildin the carb. With digital technology, take some photos when takin it apart in case you cant remember how to put it back together. Split that wood asap. I know with the Caddy furnaces they like it cut, split and stacked for at least a full year. EPA burners dont chew thru the wood as easy as the old timey furnaces.

 

[certified106]

Welcome, There is a lot of information to be learned around here so it looks like your in the right place. Glad to hear you enjoyed heating with wood. A new EPA approved stove would help reduce the amount of wood that you are consuming for sure but either way it sounds like you are on the right track getting your wood put up early.

 

[HJsimpson]

Right now im cutting and splitting a lot of standing dead or down elm which should be ready by next winter 2011/2012. I would like to leave the green wood C/S/S in Dec 2010 until 2012/2013. Elm is very easy to come by here and it seems to be decent wood just hard to split. I have my green wood stored in a lean to off the barn with 3 1/2 sides open so it may take a little longer to season. Plenty of wind but not much direct sunlight. Also the elm is only a 1/4 down the road.

 

[certified106]

Right now im cutting and splitting a lot of standing dead or down elm which should be ready by next winter 2011/2012. I would like to leave the green wood C/S/S in Dec 2010 until 2012/2013. Elm is very easy to come by here and it seems to be decent wood just hard to split. I have my green wood stored in a lean to off the barn with 3 1/2 sides open so it may take a little longer to season. Plenty of wind but not much direct sunlight. Also the elm is only a 1/4 down the road.

Allright now I'm jealous. Looks great

 

[firefighterjake]

Welcome to the forum.

Funny how our opinion of processing firewood changes from when we had to do it as kids to when we do it because we want to as adults . . . I suspect the fact that as adults we have to pay for our heat may have something to do with that change in our thought process.

 

[HJsimpson]

After having propane tank filled up at a cost of $850.00 it makes cutting wood a little more enjoyable. We used about 75 gallons over the winter and that was from running furnace for the last month. We tried burning wood but unless its below 40 degrees with our current set up cant keep house below 88. This with a old 2 story leaky farm house but we had the windows open alot over the winter. With more insulation , new windows and new stove next year should be a little more comfortable.

 

[laynes69]

2 seasons ago, we had our old woodfurnace. We had bad temperature swings and too much heat. Our burn times weren't that good and things were difficult to maintain. Last season we replaced our woodfurnace with a EPA model then we airsealed and tightened up the home. This spring we insulated our attic also. Now we can control our temperatures in our home. I would say we dropped 3 cords from our wood usage. I underestimated our usage with the old furnace. This year we burned a little over 6 cords which is great considering we had about 3" of attic insulation. Now we burn in the shoulder season without issues and with 3 large splits it takes us overnight when it's in the 30's with enough coals for the morning. It's a night and day difference. For you even though the Yukon isn't EPA certified, you should see a difference. Looking back I wished I replaced ours a long time ago as we wasted alot of wood, but we did stay warm.

 

[PapaDave]

HJ, welcome to the Hearth.
You've come to the right place. Sounds like you're on the right track with pretty much everything. Looking forward to pics of the carb rebuild and the new furnace install.

 

[wkpoor]

I hear the Yukon is a real good furnace. That guy advertises alot over on Arboristsite. I wouldn't give 2 hoots about the EPA cert. As long as it does the job and you like it then good to go. Good Luck! BTW nice wood stack.

 

[cptoneleg]

Welcome simp; hope you enjoy I was reading your post and was going to tell you how much we enjoy pictures, and low and behold you posted one good job.

Only have 2 things to say; which you probably already know- standing dead-does not mean its seasoned; wood in that shed will not season like out in the open.

LOL

 

[woodchip]

A warm welcome to the forum.

Having gone from an open log fire burning 4 cords in a winter and being cold, to a woodstove which burned less than 2 cords whilst keeping me warm and cosy, I know you'll be happy with a new stove

 

[woodchip]

And forgot to mention, liked your picture of your woodstore, we like pictures round here

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Right now im cutting and splitting a lot of standing dead or down elm which should be ready by next winter 2011/2012. I would like to leave the green wood C/S/S in Dec 2010 until 2012/2013. Elm is very easy to come by here and it seems to be decent wood just hard to split. I have my green wood stored in a lean to off the barn with 3 1/2 sides open so it may take a little longer to season. Plenty of wind but not much direct sunlight. Also the elm is only a 1/4 down the road.

Just a little hint HJ. We burn elm here but we wait until the tree is dead and all or most of the bark has fallen from the tree. The top part of the tree could be burned right away but the bottom usually still has plenty of moisture but it dries fast. But the biggest benefit of waiting on the elm is that when it gets to that point of no bark left, it splits much, much easier....usually. Naturally some of the really twisted stuff will still split hard but we don't have that because all our elm is in the woods rather than out in the open where wind will have a big effect on how it grows.

btw, wind is much more important than sun for drying wood. Sun is good for sure, but we've stacked where little or no sun hit and it came out good because it was in the wind.

 

[HJsimpson]

As i expected im getting even more great information.
Put carb kit in saw today but ended up being the fuel tank vent line was plugged up. Got it all done ran for about 5 minutes then would die again. Took gas cap off and heard a good hiss and realized it wasnt venting. Replaced vent line and now runs great again. So my first Carb rebuild went great and only cost me $20
The first pic of woodstack was before i removed the old siding so now its open on all 3 sides and a roof over it. I know it would be better outside but the snow was 4 feet deep at the time and thought ill move it out later LOL. Im hopeing to let it set at least 2 years.
The pics are of my mulberry and elm. Not much bark and was already down. They have large cracks running through them so they kinda split better.
This elm looks differant then the other that ive been cutting which is white and a lot harder to split. seems to be in better shape then the white also even though they have been down for a while. Any idea? I have about 20 more trees like it to cut.
Thanks again everyone.

 

[oldspark]

It looks like red elm which is slippery elm I believe.

 

[cptoneleg]

If those last photos are of your standing dead, they may be real close to standing seasoned.

good luck

 

[HJsimpson]

I dont have a moisture meter but it appears to be very dry. I planned on splitting and putting up in the woodshed out of weather now so i didnt have to move later. I burned a little of the red this winter and it seemed better then the white, lasted longer and hotter. I have seen on here that the mulberry is pretty good wood also which i got about 3 truck loads of it. Kinda hard to tell on some wood with no bark or leaves.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Those elm will dry out fast because there is not a lot of moisture in them now but there is still moisture in them at least at the bottom of the tree. That elm in the picture looks exactly like the elm we cut and many times, if need be, those can be split with a maul. They should split a lot easier than when the tree is cut green.

 

[firefighterjake]

As i expected im getting even more great information.
Put carb kit in saw today but ended up being the fuel tank vent line was plugged up. Got it all done ran for about 5 minutes then would die again. Took gas cap off and heard a good hiss and realized it wasnt venting. Replaced vent line and now runs great again. So my first Carb rebuild went great and only cost me $20
The first pic of woodstack was before i removed the old siding so now its open on all 3 sides and a roof over it. I know it would be better outside but the snow was 4 feet deep at the time and thought ill move it out later LOL. Im hopeing to let it set at least 2 years.
The pics are of my mulberry and elm. Not much bark and was already down. They have large cracks running through them so they kinda split better.
This elm looks differant then the other that ive been cutting which is white and a lot harder to split. seems to be in better shape then the white also even though they have been down for a while. Any idea? I have about 20 more trees like it to cut.
Thanks again everyone.

This wood looks promising . . . but I would still split it up sooner rather than later . . . just to make sure the wood is dryer . . . it's rare to find anyone on the site here complaining about their wood being too dry . . . much more common to find folks complaining about their wood not being seasoned enough . . . and while this wood looks promising there is a good chance there will still be some moisture in those rounds -- especially the larger ones.

 

[HJsimpson]

Well it looks like its going to rain all week so im going to get started on splitting this weekend. I agree with there still being moisture in the larger rounds but i was trying to get as much in before the rain started. I was able to split some with the maul but the rest just laughed at me. Ill set those to the side and when i get enough ill rent the splitter and tackle those.

 

[blel]

028 Super = Great saw