Posted on 12/27/2006 4:12:16 PM PST by AnalogReigns
"Now, that's a fire!"- Eddie Murphy
I agree, there's no sense in having a fireplace unless you can poke at the log now and then.
I did however see an episode of Myth Busters where they proved that the draft from a fireplace actually lowers the temperature in outlying rooms.
I wonder if this method would cause a different outcome.
Do you know how to tell how bad the winter is gonna be?
By the size of the woodpiles in the yards.
Ah for the relief! After 53 years of cutting 20 cords of wood per year to survive a brutal gas bill, I am relieved of all that by my move to NW AZ.
BAD BAD BAD! You really want a good inch-2 inch layer of ash. My dad would bring in charcoal grill ashes for the first fire of the year.
Actually thats not true.
http://www.pyromasse.com/infoe.html
What the hells that got to do with a fireplace?
Thats a masonary furnace. Matter of fact, I know of a couple of old farm houses in WI that had the smoke house/room in the basment and the owners converted them over to heat the house. Same thing...but they aint fireplaces the people on here are relating to.
A fireplace is a fireplace, when you put and insert into them they become a woodstove at the end of the house-sometimes in the middle which is better.
It burns wood and some versions are made to burn wood all the time rather then just once or twice a day.
I guess it takes experience to know these things.
/Salute
PING for later
heat ducks
quack, quack.
Bind them together with duct tape.
"I would wager 90% in the lower 48, particularly in the
South, really do not know how to build a good fire"
Ah, those folks in the Ozarks would say you're wrong. Everyone there just about has a woodstove and acres of free firewood (if they own the land, that is, and many do).
They stay warm up in those mountains.
Also, some people in most Southern rural communities have woodstoves. I had my first woodstove years ago when I rented a house in southern MS. It was great, heated the entire house just for the cost of firewood! I was happy indeed.
Of course, in those Southern parts one doesn't need to build as many fires as the Northerners do. And the Southern city folks usually do just turn up the thermostat on their central heat. But the country folks still know how to make a good fire.
Good technique. I've dispensed with kindling, though, and started using Starter Loggs [sic] instead.
I generally like to leave a lot of ash in the fireplace, not just a bed, but I usually push it up to the sides of the fireplace, and really only scoop out enough to let about 2" airspace under the grate. If the coals block it, there is less air so the fire slows and produces less coals. That way it is self regulating.
You might want to try these folks for old-fashioned, hard to find items. They're an Amish company and still have sources for some of that kind of stuff.
Lehman's Non Electric
http://www.lehmans.com/?gclid=CPSE38e3tIkCFSoIFQodchSjUg
ping
A log home is our dream, too. I've had the floor plans since I was 20 years old. I like where we live, so I'm tempted to tear down "This Old Dump" and build it right here. :)
Ya Ya .....
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