There are less warm days and more cold days at this point, getting into the freezing temperatures during the night and mornings. Feels like last year this all started a few weeks earlier, but now its late November and its time to turn on the central wood boiler. Gonna start getting my firewood workout on.
It begins with adding some small twigs and branches, along with some packing paper I saved for this. It makes great tinder, and once the fire gets going its time to throw on bigger logs and get the furnace up to temp.
When I turned it on the water was 70F (21C) inside, but I will get it all the way up to 185F (85C). This takes a few hours but eventually the firewood inside the wood furnace will warm up the water jacket that surrounds it. 420 gallons of water needs to be warmed up, so it is not something that instantly happens.
We piled up a nice pile of wood, could have stacked it but did not.. oh well.
Over by the barn where I keep extra firewood there is much to cut up, and many logs in the back ready to be brought over.
Having firewood of all different sizes help, as when building the fire I may need small, medium or just large pieces.. Depending on what it looks like in the furnace at the time. My second year in I am learning about all of this stuff.
I was surprised when I found a mint plant growing over by the wood pile. Not sure if a seed blew over here or maybe my foreman or his wife planted this here. I certainly did not plant it.
All of this wood is well aged now, cut nearly a year ago. It should break up nicely and make for a nice fire.
It is quite the stack, once I get to the bottom it will be time to build another stack. All of this wood comes from scrub trees so its all slender logs and branches.
I see no point to cut up more wood until I go through this. Otherwise the ants and termites will eat it before my wood furnace can burn it.
We keep a pile of what I call "emergency firewood". It is some well aged wood that is split. So in the case the wood furnace is having trouble burning something that is a little too green or damp. I can throw a couple of these pieces in and keep the fire going well. Also if I use up all my firewood we have this to use.
I bring my Kobota UTV over and its time to start loading up wood to bring over to the wood furnace.
Using tools like a sawzall, lobbers and some glasses and gloves is all I need.
Eventually I will go through this entire pile of brush.
We have a collection of bigger logs as well. May need to cut those up as they weigh a good 100 or so pounds each.
Another pile of wood ready to go, this year we are ready. Any time we cut up some trees we brought it over since last winter.
A chair just chilling in the back of the pile. Oh man its quite the mess, but rather have this than no wood at all.
To stack it all I would need to cut them, so I did not do that.. Just piled them up.
About an hour or so of cutting up wood, I have a UTV bed full of firewood ready to go over by the furnace.
I need to bring over a few of these a day when its cold. When its warmer we tend not to use as much.
Loving this UTV, I got a second one on order and should get here by December. Really excited for it, but in the mean time I will use this workhorse.
After cutting for an hour, it barely put a dent in the pile.. Thats a good thing..lol
And the cycle repeats.. Burn firewood > Shovel out ash > Collect more firewood > Start over to step one
I will be doing that until April I am guessing. The more cold it is, the more wood we use, so depending on how cold we get is how long this pile will last. And as soon as its almost up its time to find more firewood. Luckily I am surrounded by forest and there is always massive downed trees caused by storms, the question is how easy is it to get to that wood.
But for now I have a messy pile of wood to go through, but it will not last forever.
Good morning dear friend @solominer
I'm glad you've gained experience on how to prepare for the winter season and how to make better use of the firewood for the boiler.
You have a good amount of firewood stored and excellent heating equipment
Good luck, you're going to have a very warm winter
Yeah it has been quite the learning experience. Glad I got it.
I think so, should be a warm winter here.
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Necesitamos con urgencia una cocina así en Venezuela no hay gas domestico
In fact, you are a systematic farmer. You always have perfect plans.
The great work they do to accumulate firewood to get through the winter season is impressive. The fact that you have all this equipment is a great help to get through a more conditioned winter
Excellent work @solominer
I love cut wood to have when i need start the fire for cook steak
Greetings @solominer ,
Well done! Such an organized methodology.is quite impressive.
Wishing you and your good lady a lovely Sunday.
Bleujay
So your furnace also heats your water, that is so cool. I hope you will not run out of wood.
I saw an old building that you are stacking wood under, is this an old place where people lived many years ago? If you can find where they buried their trash you might find all kinds of old treasures like old bottles, I have been seeing where people are digging up old outhouses and bringing out old bottles. I do not think I would go that far but an old trash pile is different to dig in. That is, when you find yourself with nothing else to do, (insert sarcasm).
When you have a farm, there is always work to be done.
Never-ending works, @solominer! !!!
Especially towards the end of autumn.
Bless your heart !!!
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Having your own wood supply is useful. We have a few trees, but they would not keep us going for long. We just have a bio-ethanol burner in the lounge that provides some extra heat and the rest is mains gas.
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STOPIt's awesome that you kill two birds with one stone and that in providing heat for your warmth with the logs, you also are able to heat up a whopping 420 gallons of water on. It's really so nice.
A lot of wood stacking and I can see you are ready for the Winter cold.
Wow, that is quite the stack of wood. I used to have a friend that used a wood stove in their house. They would get the bug chunks of wood that were cut off ends from a pallet factory and those things would burn all night if you loaded the stove up with them.
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Preparing for the heating season is an annual ritual, as important as Christmas and Easter. You have to take part in it.😊
If I were you, I would split the thick pieces from the trunk in two. They still have moisture in them, so they'll be useful. The stove and chimney will thank you. I opted for a combination of wood gasifier and solar thermal energy. This guarantees reliably heated water above 60 °C (140 °F) all year round (especially in winter). This temperature is important to prevent bacteria from forming in the water pipes. 😎
Winter has arrived in the Himalayas and we are all busy collecting wood these days and it is a very laborious job
It reminds me of how important it is to take care of our environment for the long run, like using renewable resources instead of relying on things that can't be replenished easily.
the endless fire cycle :D
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I remember the days of cutting and hauling wood to heat the house just last year.
All I can say is we are loving Florida right now. :)