Category Archives: Real World

How things really happen, turn out. are caused etc.

Wood is Good 08 – Tiny Little Logs

Hey have you ever seen tiny wood fuel like these?
BagOWood

Just wanted to show you my other firewood. Compressed sawdust = wood fuel pellets.
Here you see the inside of the Hopper.
PelletHopper2

And here’s my other “woodstove”  – my pellet boiler.

PelletBlr

That’s a woodstove?  Well actually a wood pellet boiler.  Look here’s a look at the fire.

PelletFire

Its automatic, lights itself, maintains temperature.  Connected to my central heat and my hot water for showers etc.  Just one disadvantage – i have to put pellets into it.  And i do have to buy the pellets.  The mighty little woodstove uses mostly free firewood.  So the fuel for the pellet stove comes from the store.  But someday i will get myself a pellet mill.  For sure when i do i will share it with you.

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About Your Underarms

Well after my shower today I was preparing my armpits to face the world with me. It occurred to me I should share what I use with u. You may or may not have heard of this product. Crystal deodorant stick. It is works different than ‘regular’ deodorant. No perfume, no anti perspirant. I think it simply kills bacteria and makes your pits chemistry inhospitable for the microbes to grow there. Until you sweat enough to wash it away.
So it works very well, easily lasts until your next shower. But the really cool thing is the economy of this stuff. Look at the stick. Then check the date I started using it. Coming up on a year and it looks the same size as when I bought it. I’m sure it has gotten shorter. But look at the length compared to the case. If I took an extreme guess I could say I’ve used half an inch. My though is it’s more like a quarter inch. But we’re talking about a year people. Let’s say I did use half an inch. Looks like I’ve got six good years ahead of me.
They sell it in like vitamin stores or u can get it online. I bought mine at the grocery store.
DeoStickDeoDate

On the Links

Well heres a few more shots from New Zealand. U might see this sight all over the US. I include it because i asked for pictures of whatever my correspondent was up to, and because this weather were having here is too cold too long. Pretty sure most people would like to be able to visit your local put put if u could.
MiniG_1
MiniG_3
Makes me want to go pro. Can u make it a living off mini golf?

Wood is Good 07 – Care and Feeding of Little Box Stove

Here’s how I bring my stove from cold, back to hot.  The aftermath of the last fire:

Ashes 1Ashes 2

Waste Not Want Not.  In order not to throw out any fuel, and to reduce waste volume, I remove the ashes but keep the charcoal for the next fire.  Large charcoal is removed with the Screen Scoop, then the rest is put onto the ash can screen with the Tin Scoop.

ScoopsAsh_Can

Then with a little shake the remaining charcoal is separated.  The charcoal is laid in the bottom of the stove.

Ash_CoalsCharcoal

The Wood is placed into the stove, usually 3 pieces.

WoodLoad1WoodLoad2

Next some small fire starters are placed underneath.

MatchReadyPineCone

Secret Weapon:  Pine Cones.  I easily picked up a whole box under the pines at my church. Match light easily!

The dampers are all opened.  Cone is lit and the stove front door is closed.  The front ash tray cover is slid mostly into place.  Within about 2 minutes the fire is starting to crackle and roar.  After 5 or 10 minutes its time to close the ash tray cover, prop it up a little for more air and put all the dampers at about 45 degrees.  Then the stove and stove pipe gets hot. REALLY hot.  Usually i turn on the central fan to circulate the heat better.

The pieces shown will burn for about 2 to 4 hours.  More wood can be put into the stove on the glowing coals without repeating this whole process.  Just open the dampers, rake the coals forward, open the stove and load more wood. Close it up and leave the ash tray cover ajar as in the above description.  Once the fire roars, close/prop the ash tray cover, dampers to 45.  Easy Peasy.

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Clear Sky Morning

Here is a shot of the sun coming up i took on my way home:

Sunri_2

Note the clear cloudless sky!  only one thing wrong when u have a clear cloudless sky in winter:

OAT

Stinkin cold!  An end to this I say!!  Lets get spring in here ASAP.

Thanks for listening.

 

Wood is Good 06 – Small stove, big heat

Okay as promised here’s my setup for getting the most heat from my woodstove.

Extended flue with dampers. Have a look.

2Damprs

ReturnFlue

WholeFlue

The three dampers slow down the products of combustion (that’s the technical term for smoke etc.)  The flue gets very hot, probably hotter than the stove itself.  And there is more surface area than the stove.

This whole setup is like having two stoves operating at one time, sort of.  The “second stove” doesn’t use any fuel however.  It just gives off heat.

One more thing of note – in the center picture, see that blue area? that’s the inside of my return air duct. A little crude, i made it from aluminum, part of an old pool.  Anyway when i have a nice hot fire going, i can turn on the fan from my central heat / ac system and circulate the heat to the house evenly.  By the way check the last pic.  that blue tank is my water heater, and look! my oil burner. we try not to use that at all.

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New Zealand Life

Well here’s a few more shots from my roving correspondent. He had some lamb souvlaki from Dimitris food Wagon and said it was tasty.

Dimitris

This is a tram to help you get around Christchurch.

Tram

If you ever get to go there this sculpture is known as the chalice.

Chalice

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/cityleisure/artsculture/artinthecity/chalice/aboutchalice.aspx

And here’s my favorite shot. This is the Avon river. Folks enjoy boat rides, kayaking or simply the view.

Avon_Riv

Thanks roving correspondent!  Carry on!

Wood is Good 05 – Combustion

Ok time for a little science lesson.  Lets talk about what happens when u burn wood (or similar fuel).

Fire is a chemical reaction.  The components are the fuel, (wood = carbon compounds and volatile substances), Oxygen and Heat.  The heat is necessary to start the chain reaction, then the fire provides its own heat and is self sustaining until the fuel runs out.

Water is not part of the reaction.  It is a hindrance.  Before wet wood can burn, the fire must first dry out the wood enough, to raise the temperature enough, for the wood to burn.  In other words, alot of the heat is lost driving the water out of the wet wood.  That’s heat you will never benefit from, never warm your house.  Its wasted energy, it only vaporizes the water, doesn’t raise the heat level.  So DRY your wood and KEEP IT DRY! (more here, and here)

Now the first thing that happens when wood starts to burn is called out-gassing.  The heat of the fire drives the volatile substances out of the wood.  These compounds are combustible and they ignite and are the source of most (or all?) of the flames you see if you watch the fire.  Here’s where the non-airtight stove is a good thing.  The fire can get the oxygen it needs.

Location, Location, Location.  We’re not talking Real Estate here, like a corner lot for your business.  We’re talking about stove location.  If you are serious about heating your home with a woodstove, the stove belongs in the basement.  Couple of reasons – first of all, heat rises, so it is automatically delivered to your home which is above.  But also very important – when the stove gets all the oxygen it needs, as the wood is out-gassing, that sucker gets VERY VERY HOT.  Notice in the previous post where my stove is, it sits on the basement floor (concrete) next to the furnace (metal).  Non combustible  items.  While you can make a safe place for your stove up in the living area, here are a few more reasons to put it in the basement:  Bark, Sawdust, Ashes.  The vicinity of your stove is difficult to keep clean.  If it’s in your living room that means daily clean up.  Basement?  once a month or so, no sweat.  Also don’t forget possible damage to your floors by hot coals.

So next time we talk about good wood heat, i will show you another trick i use to get that VERY VERY HOT stove to give up the heat to my home.

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Wood is Good 04 – stove

Here’s my mighty little woodstove. This heats my house when it’s above, say, 5 deg f. Now, a little about my house. It is around 3000 square feet, basement and upstairs combined. But it is a super insulated building. We’ll go into the construction at another time.

I will say this though, above about 40 deg f, we don’t need very much added heat. If I try to use the stove when it’s 40 or above, the house over heats.

Woodstove1

I love this little cast iron unit. It does a great job and its easy to use. The front opens of course but the top also swings open as well. This makes it cake to fill. As u look at it u may b thinking it looks old, etc. Well it is not new I bought it used. Not sure how old it is really. The design is certainly old. Just a cast iron box. NOT airtight. U may think this is bad, but it’s ideal.

Next post I’ll tell you that all about it.

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