jharkin said:
pen said:
however, the electric oven is 100% efficient whereas the heat pump is not.
pen
Not an apples to apple comparison. Heat pumps deliver more BTU per watt consumed than electric resistance heaters. Heat pumps dont have an efficiency rating that can be compared to electric or fuel burning heating systems because unlike those, they dont convert energy directly to heat, rather they use energy to
move heat.
Every electric resistance heater will driveler exactly 3413 BTU per KWh consumed.
A heat pump rated at SEER 12 will deliver
12,000 BTU for that same 1 KWh.
We could do the math but I'm pretty much positive its costing you more to dry the wood in the oven than you are saving on electricity burning it.
I know nothing about heat pumps. However, if this comment is correct, then it would seem pretty correct to assume you'd spend less heating with the pumps. But, I'm assuming the OP knows how much $ is going into drying these splits in the oven as oppesed to heating with the heat pump.
If you can get some of the wood inside somewhere and can get a fan blowing into it... This could help getting some of the moisture out of the wood without using the oven.
I also second the comment about the bio bricks. Get yourself a pallet of these or even half a pallet and add some of the unseasoned wood with it. Wait longer to damper down. Thermal shock is harmfull to the cat due to adding wet wood into a hot firebox. So don't have the smoke go through the cat until the wood is hot and dry after loading the stove. This could take 1/2 hour or more with unseasoned wood.