Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Warm Winter Wishes


We've been saving our pennies for some time now. We wished to ensure that we could be warm all winter - no matter what. And today, we made it happen! We had installed a high efficiency wood stove. Now, winters are very, very cold here in Manitoba. We are outside of the city of Brandon and during storms, power can be a little unreliable here. We could, literally, freeze to death in some freaky, wild blizzard, worst-case-scenario. Did I mention that it can get really, really, really cold here?

There was a wood stove in the house when we took it over. It could not, however, be insured because it wasn't up to current code. It was big, had no windows, was leaking and wasn't very efficient. We may still have to increase the hearth around the new one a bit, but we will be able to insure it. And is this little stove ever beautiful: full glass door so you can see your fire, cook top so that we won't starve to death in our freaky scenario, awesome little ash drawer! It stands up on a pedestal so the fire is at eye-level when we're seated. We can supply a fair amount of our own firewood from our shelter belt: natural dead fall and some pruning of the willow and maple, mostly. We can purchase some oak and other woods quite readily. Of course, we could get into a whole, interesting discussion about burning wood and the environment, but our alternative here is existing electric base boards. Expensive to run and absolutely no good for anything during a power failure! What our little stove means to us: a little wintertime peace of mind!

9 comments:

  1. Oh how we miss our old wood stove. In a former residence we had a 'Jurtle' (I think that's how it's spelled) wood stove and it was genius. That stove warmed the entire house and we had plenty of power outages where it was a necessity. You're going to love your stove I'm sure!

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  2. And we're so excited that ours has a cook top! Two burners for a tea kettle and a stew! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow1

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  3. Good on ya! I love the look of those stoves and have sure had them on my mind as we have "NO" backup here in the countryside north of Saskatoon. My enthusiasm for cutting wood is pretty low though and it does not seem like a good idea to burn scraps as some of the lumber scraps are just not good inside. My thought has been to go to a gas stove similar to this with a 12 volt fan so that it would still work on a battery pack or even from the car/truck if the power went out. I think this would need to be a modified unit since I have not looked around but I am sure a person could do this. I have also wondered about a 12 volt pack which you could run from a vehicle or small generator for the main furnace. We are way too dependent on those outside services!! Looks very cozy.

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  4. Yay! I'm so glad that you, Farmer Man and the little bears etc. etc. will be warm this winter. You'll have to do some hot chocolate on the cook top and then sip while enjoying the fire -- how romantic!

    Kelt

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  5. During it's 'maiden voyage' last night, we found we could use less wood and still get as much heat! And it kept coals going all night, so it was very easy for Farmer Man to get it going this morning. Clayton, it's awesome - you'd love it! And Keltie; hopefully there's a chilly night when you're here next in the summer so we can fire it up!

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  6. Pros and cons environmentally burning wood, but your shelter belt probably turns into wood as much CO2 as you're making, if not more! A grand circle of life. Feel virtuous and enjoy the warm glow. I'm sure the 'girls' will be jealous.
    Dave & Cathy

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  7. now we won't have 2 worry our dear norah & jess are always warm & cozy-just like they're big hearts!! love from motty & georgie!

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  8. @Aagaard's .....

    Congratulations on returning to heating your home with wood. I have attached a couple of great wood heat links including a solid essay on the environmental impact of heating with wood.

    http://www.woodheat.org/environment/environment.htm

    The next link is to a great online resource for wood heat users. It has been invaluable for me to learn from, even after a lifetime of heating with wood.
    www.hearth.com

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  9. Thanks, Mike; great links for anybody using wood stoves!

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