After much consideration, we have decided to install a woodstove this year. Our oil furnace is an old type and low efficiency. Heating oil is getting more expensive and the furnace does not always start. We have decided to spend about $3000 for the new wood stove, including the Pacific Energy Super27 stove, installation fee and chimney pipes. It is very costly but with firewood, the installation can pay itself in 3 years.
But heating with wood is a lot of work. First you need to buy seasonsed firewood. It is better to buy in spring and season them yourself. Since we did not know this we simply paid a premium for seasonsed firewood. However, most comercial firewood is not splitted small enough for the wood stove so we have to split it further ourselves. This is where technology comes in handy. I bought a small electric log splitter with 4 ton force. And it is fantastic. It slices through the firewood like butter. This sure saves my back. After splittig the firewood to a range of pieces 3″ to 6″ across, we have to stack them properly.
I don’t have a wood shed to store the firewood so I am going to put tarp on them. I laid down a row of pallets (free) and pound some steel rods on the ends. While we stack the firewood about 4 level high, I tied a twine around a piece of firewood about 4′ away from the steel rod. I make a knot on the other end of the twine and tie it to the rod. This will stablize the pile.
The girls are a big help to me and they are having fun stacking and operating the log splitter. Hopefully we can get our wood stove this year.