I always said burning wood warms you up at least three times before you ever put a match to it and usually in the summer.
Mike
Mike
New to me Woodburner
- Thread starter KennyP
- Start date
I used to love the wood cutting and all that went with it. But as the years kept mounting and the energy kept dropping, not so much fun any more. This is the least big load when we burned the fireplace a lot through the winter. That is a 7' X 14' bed and stacked 4' high.
I don't plan on always keeping 24 hour heat going. If there is coals to start another fire, cool!
Warm as it still is, it's the right time o get prepared for the coming winter. It'll be here before we know it. I pumped about 160 gallons of oil from a friend's waste oil tank a couple weeks ago, and will pick up 3 barrels full from the local fire department this coming week. All that plus what's still in my shop heater's tank should get me through the winter as long as I shut it off every night. If I wanted to keep it at 45F, then this amount wouldn't cut it, so I will ration.
I have seen a lot of pro and con numbers on which uses more fuel, keep an area at 45° through the night and not have to try and warm everything in there from freezing or below - - or to keep the heat on but turned down to 45°, give or take. Your in Ky. so don't get the sub 0 temps we get in Iowa so that would make a big difference. Tools etc. at 45° can be used right off to start working on something and let the heater rise the temp from there. Tools at 10° are hard to do anything with except bring on arthritis faster. Just wonder how you figure the comfort against the fuel used.
I think it's more of a matter of how much fuel is available to use.
Daniel, if you were closer, I have a bunch you could use!
I burned nearly 50% more waste oil the winter I kept it at 45F, which is the lowest my thermostat will go. I figure the comfort against fuel used like this: better to be bit chilly for a few minutes each morning than to be with NO heat 2/3 into winter!
BUT, if I do end up with enough oil, I will keep it at 45F round the clock. Unless terribly cold, my shop after having it heated in the day will never get below freezing overnight. But we do sometimes get sub 0 here. Once we got down to -22F, and often dip below 0F.
That's why I keep 40 in the house during the winter. Don't spend near as much time in the recliner. The only down side is you use your microwave a lot more to reheat your food.
I'm not so worried about wrenching, more keeping my sanity by getting out of the house.
Glad you have something to do!