We currently use both a corn burner and a wood stove for heat. We are having to now use wood pellets in our corn burner due to prices of corn. However, even those prices have gone up already this season. The wood pellets were selling for $3.58/40 lb. bag, and they are now $3.98/bag. At the end of last season they were almost $5.00/bag.
Just wondering what you use for a natural heat source?
We are lucky to live on 17 wooded acres so we have a built in source of wood for our little wood stove. As we get older, it is harder and harder for us to harvest the wood by ourselves. We will soon be looking for a younger person to cut wood for us. I am sure we will be able to find someone who needs the wood but doesn't have the source. Hoping we can provide the source and they can provide the labor and we will share in the product. Their labor for our wood, our wood for their labor. Maybe you could find someone you could work with like that. Just a thought.
We use a water stove that's like a wood stove, but the mess is outside! Works on the same principle as a car's radiator (forced air over circulated heated water. We've had this for about 8 years. Prior to that it was jsut a wood stove inside that drove my husband crazy. He couldn't stand the smoke.
The water stove heats our water year round and basically uses the hot water heater as a holding tank, and also provides heat via forced air in the winter. So when we are really on the ball, we can turn the hot water heater off. Only drawback to this is if you leave for a few days and want instant hot water when you return.
You can set the aquastat to heat the water to the desired temperature. We like our water HOT, so it's set at 180. When it reaches the house I don't think it's that hot, but you can still get a good scald. We don't have any children in the house to wory about getting burned thank goodness.
This kind of hot water will really spoil you especially if you have been chilled from working outside all day.
alternate sources for heating
Posted - Dec 20 2011 : 06:30:10 AM
