Another full cord of wood

Another full cord of wood
Originally uploaded by turbofan

Well, consider the woodstove a success. SO BIG of a success that we decided to purchase another full cord of wood, and not a minute too soon. The last of the first load had just burned out in the fireplace when the guy pulled up.

I have to say what a huge fan I am of the Jotul 3CB! it's easy to clean, throws a LOT of heat (cut the bills in HALF!) and looks damn cute.

I only wish that it had a blower. Right now we use a 2 fan system to distribute the air around the house. Since the thing is recessed slightly into the original fire box we use a small fan to blow the heat from behind the unit and out into the room. Then we use a larger fan to blow the hot air over the (or under really) the arched opening and upstairs in the evening.

so the deal for next year:

Try out a new fan system. A while back I thought up this plan to install a small fan, maybe a bathroom vent fan (?), into the ash drop space in the basement. The idea would be to blow the cooler air from the basement up and through the trap at the back of the firebox and push the nice hot air out into the house. We'll see how it goes.

I COMPLETELY underestimated the importance of kindling. if you are thinking of doing the heat-with-wood thing start chopping up kindling now. Especially when you burn White Oak like us you NEED to get something going first. It's pathetic, I can be walking to work and find myself picking up sticks to take home! sick... This made my new years resolution 'chop more kindling'.

Vacuum more... this is a dusty affair this heating with wood. We finally got a shop vac, but I dread the spring clean. I'm going to look like a chimney sweep from Mary Poppins. In fact I'm going to start growing the silly mustache right now!


So the whole time we were hauling and stacking this cord of wood the contractors were nailing away at the North gable end. IT LOOKS AWESOME. I plan to post the pic tomorrow when I can see it DONE in full light of day.

G'Night