Firewood...

[Algonquin]

Just had a load of wood delivered and was curious if many other Fretters here have fireplaces in their homes. I had a high effieciency wood insert installed in my masonry fireplace about 6 or 7 years ago and absolutely love it. Firewood is anything but cheap these days, but so is the cost of natural gas and a fire helps to heat the house so some of the cost is recouped somewhat. Nothing wrong with gas fireplaces, but I still love splitting and stacking wood. :

[Tone2TheBone]

I burn wood every winter. It's sorta supplementary to our forced air heating but wood heat is far superior than any other kind of heat. Kinda makes things tribal ya know? We have a freestanding steel woodstove with a glass window. I plan to burn more wood this year only because we paid way too much for natural gas last winter. Here in NM we burn Cedar, Juniper, Pinon, Oak and a variety of Pine and some Cottonwood. I have a mixture of it all. Helps to be a firebug too hehe.

[Robert****]

Reading the title, I thought you got mad at your guitar....

We don't have a fireplace, but I certainly would love to have one.

[Andy]

we have a freestanding also , it looks like a pot belly stove.

It puts out alot of heat so we use it mostly on really chilly days, weekends ..

[sunvalleylaw]

We have a gas fireplace inside, and when we want real fire, use a moveable firepit on the patio for roasting marshmallows and such. We always had real ones growing up, but there in Puget Sound, there are now burn bans often due to air quality. The air quality here is very good, but since we are in a mountain valley, I decided against installing a wood burning fire place as a regular heat source. Plus, it is really nice on cool mornings to "make" a fire by flipping the switch. It is furnace rated and can heat the house if the power is out also. :

[Glacies]

I have 2 functional fireplaces in my house that have been pumbled for NG. Since I have several acres of woods in the backyard, sometimes I pull out the gas logs and build a woodfire inside. Nothing like the crackle of a wood fire on a sunday morning.

I also have a chimanea (sp?) outside on my deck that is usually running year round, although in the winter it sees more action. Mainly because I smoke a cigar or two a month and I'm not allowed to smoke inside, and it gets freakin cold out there.

[Algonquin]

I don't believe any of the newly built homes in my area have wood burning fireplaces... only gas. This is one of the reason's I'd like to stay put, or if I do end up moving I'd still like to find a house with a wood burning fireplace.

I've had a few people tell me that I'm polluting the enviroment with a fireplace, I'll admit that there is some level of pollution but it can be minimized. Our insert is EPA reated, an EPA certified appliance complies with strict emissions and efficiency regulations designed to reduce pollution. Burning wood that isn't properly seasoned (dried) will produce smoke, and that will contriubute to poor air quality. Buying seasoned wood is a bit misleading in my opinion, as some sellers consider three months enough time when it really needs longer that that. The wood I just purschased will get stacked and covered (top only) and won't get used until next winter... dry wood makes a huge difference in controlling pollutants.

Open masonry fireplaces are nice, but they tend to suck out more heat from your house than they contribute, so you loose heat from your house when you use them. Stove and inserts actually provide heat to your home... but as noted, they can make rooms pretty darn warm.

I'm not sure if it's the romantic, or the firebug in me that attracts me... but I find something comforting about a fire on a cold or cool day.

Here's a good link about firewood... http://www.woodheat.org/

Oh ya, forgot to mention that Maple is my favourite wood to burn! Muhahaha

[Bloozcat]

Well, there aren't too many days down here where a fireplace or wood burning heater would be useful. Some people have fireplaces in their homes, but they don't get much use.

We had a house in the mountains of northern Georgia for several years though, that had a fireplace in the living room and a whole house wood burning (or coal) furnace in the basement. I used to enjoy going out with my chainsaw and cutting up downed oak trees for firewood. There were several logging roads into the forrest nearby where I could always find enough oak for my needs. There's just something enjoyable about splitting logs on a crisp, clear late fall morning.

The whole house furnace was so efficient that it could easily overheat the house if not set right. After a little trial and error, I learned how manipulate the vents to keep the house at about any temperature I wanted. One load of wood in the furnace before bedtime would last all night. In the morning, all I had to do was load it up again and the hot coals would do the rest. The coldest morning I remember was 10 degrees F, and it performed wonderfully.

[Plank_Spanker]

I have a free standing wood and coal burning stove. I used it exclusively to heat the house for about four years. I love the crackle and hiss of wood burning in it.