Ingeborg Foco on mon 4 sep 00
Carrie,
We have a passive solar house and one part is heated by the sun only and
when there is no sun-----no heat. For back up there is a big wood stove
that works very well in heating this area. However, we have to buy our wood
and it isn't all that inexpensive. Inevitably, you bring in bugs of all
kinds....not too appealing. Stacking it, carrying it, stoking it, is not all
that romantic. (I've been doing it for 20 years and I'm kind of jaded I
guess) On the plus side, you get wood ash for glazing.
Someone suggested you buy a particular stove that will burn all night on one
piece of wood. I would tend to disagree with that statement. A lot of wood
stoves are sold with the idea that you can keep a fire going all night and
just add more wood in the morning. If you do that, you really aren't
burning that log. It is smoldering creating a lot of smoke and soot in you
pipe. It is the fastest way to build up creosote in your pipe which can
cause chimney fires ---something you definitely want to avoid. In my
opinion, you need at least two logs to burn a decent fire and three works
the best. One lone log smoldering all night is not a fire.
I always come back to the measure of a calorie. A piece of wood when burned
will give off so many calories of heat. You can torch it and burn the
entire piece in say one hour and you will get x number of calories. If you
take that same piece of wood and burn it thru the night it will still only
give you the same number of calories. A calorie is a calorie any way you
look at it!
In the Pacific Northwest many new regulations have been imposed in regards
to wood burning units. Having a catalytic converter is one of them.
Because of these regulations and I think because of the time and energy it
takes to make and maintain a wood fire, all of the new houses have gas fire
places. They are not nearly as romantic as a wood burning one but are
clean, fast and relatively inexpensive to buy, install, and operate.
If we would not be moving, I believe we would convert both of our wood
burning units to gas. If you don't have natural gas, propane is an option.
Propane dealers also have propane space heaters. I would suspect
electricity is relatively expensive in Maine. Why don't you call your
propane company and ask about space heaters.
I sound like an advertisement for natural gas and propane companies. I
don't own any stock in either ----darn!
Ingeborg
----- Original Message -----
From: Carrie or Peter Jacobson
To:
Sent: Monday, September 04, 2000 4:54 AM
Subject: What do you listen to?
> In the studio, I prefer to listen to NPR, the news/talk side of it. Red
Sox
> baseball is good, too.
>
> I find I am too distracted by melody, if I listen to music. The voices, I
> can hear as background, sort of white noise, and can tune in and out at
> will.
>
> And here is a question: I have taken a small back porch area, enclosed,
with
> windows and all, for my studio. It's a nice space, but is not heated. It's
> about 8 feet by 10 feet. I am contemplating heating with wood. Any ideas,
> pro or con, or better thoughts? We live in Maine. It's cold here in the
> winter. Hell, it's cold here now.
>
> Carrie Jacobson
> Bolster's Mills, Maine
>
>
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