Quick debrief on the Wood Heat program last night.
The program starts with a summary of how we heat our place with wood: "...imagine your central furnace is shut down, thermostats off, it's 12 F out with a typical NW wind @ 15-20 kts and all you have are 2 wood stoves ......"
Most stove users attending had little idea of exactly what they have--cat, non cat, EPA or not--, how to burn cleanly, secondary combustion, flue configuration, etc...
All but one user have central heat set around 65 F. "But it never goes on," they say, though oil ( the primary heating fuel in Maine ) bills were in the mid to high teens per year including water heating.
All but one out of 19 attending, had little interest in harvesting their own fuel. They bought CSD ( now in the low $200's here/cord ). A short part of the program was on basic forestry, diversity, selection, management, ID, sustainability.
All had little concept of EPA stoves. I brought some glossy brochures for Lopi, Jotul, Morso---most had not been to a dealer in the past decade.
The best of the 'why' comments from you guys were eye-opening for many in the group. Good reactions.
Thx!