I love my firewood system. Trust me, I've thought a lot about ways to make the actual loading easier, but building anything mechanical do it automatically would be very complicated, failure prone, expensive, and time consuming. The best I can come up with is a rolling cart at waist level that would allow me to move all the logs from the shed to the boiler at one time without all the walking back and forth. I may try that at some point, but it doesn't really seem like it would help all that much. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome as always! Have a great weekend everybody!
your system looks good. i have long said the end boss of wood burning is wood chip burning, it's what all commercial or councils use here in europe (sweden). it can be automated to a completely different degree. only thing you could improve is a huge water storage, so the incinerator can run att full blast until it's out of fuel, you lose a lot on the smoldering.
The gasifier, aka secondary air combustion, is a game changer in wood stoves and boilers. People always think the quality of wood is key and they don't realize that wood does not ignite, it evaporates and the gasses ignite. If the rising heat carries away the unburnt gasses into the air, they lose that fuel source. Burning the smoke completely and using every bit of that fuel is many times more efficient than the non-gasifier or non-secondary systems.
Exactly. Gasifier provides maximum possible energy out of wood. And combining gasifier with auger, filling burner with pellets / crushed wood from small diy build mini silo, provides possibility to easily automate whole heating of a house. You can make system which needs human interaction once per month of heating... in European Union, gasifier stoves are only wood burning technology allowed, because of cleanliness of output gases. They can be in multitudes of shapes and sizes.
I type this with a broad SMILE on my face I'll be building my last (retired) home to die in. Roughly 1,000 sq feet on 100 acres of hardwood trees. I became so excited watching a TH-camr explaining his high efficient outdoor boiler. He heats roughly 3000 sq feet - his home and his workshop with 4 cords! WOW! That's for me, until I heard the price tag. Roughly $25 to 30K installed (HeatMaster). That's not for me or most of us.. Maybe my home is too small for something like this. Please, don't get me wrong, it's a terrific idea but todays "efficient things" including todays state-of-the-art building techniques; 2 to 6 inches exterior foam, monopoly framing, European triple pane windows, IFC foundations, etc. etc. takes a $350K home and turns it into $5 to 700k home. Most of us cannot afford or fathom the savings. IMHO. Best regards, Pete
@@L46C3 That is why i love gasifier stoves, they are easy to build even DIY, and are most efficient, they are build in europe for hundreds of years. Try to search for russian, swedish, finnish masonry heaters, maybe it will help you and other to heat house with considerably less then 4 cords, lol.
@@L46C3I’m 100% in agreement with your comment. Nobody has the stomach or stones to address the fact that the economy has been intentionally destroyed yet technology continues to innovate the world. The problem is being able to afford it.
Not that I’m proud of this but life being what it etc I realized one day that I had not been up on the roof to clean the flue etc for SEVEN (7) Years! (I pull pipe from stove 2x a year) Anyway when I got up there and looked expecting to see a death trap of clogged up flue. What u found was whistle clean flue after 35 cords of primarily mixed hardwood in various states of being dry. The gasifier / type 2 EPA firebox design is a game changer.
Hi John, The magnetic lifter can be very dangerous and the warnings and instructions must be followed to prevent an accident. I investigated an incident in Darwin Australia involving one of these devices when a crew was moving quarter inch sheet metal to position it on a floor. They were tilting one end up so that the sheet could be laid against two other sheets to get a good fit. They had been using the lifter this way for a couple of days when all at once it let go and the high end struck one of the men on his shins (he was positioning the sheet) and scraped them to the bone. Needless to say, it was a terrible accident. The reason the magnet released was that the angle became too steep. The instructions on the device listed the maximum angle and evidently during the placement of this one sheet it was exceeded. Something to be very aware of. This type of device can be quick and easy to use but like most tools has to be used correctly.
It's not so much that the magnet releases at an angle, it's that metal to metal contact has a very low coefficient of friction. When the load gets at an angle, it can start to slide. The magnet is still exerting the same force perpendicular to it, it just doesn't provide much lateral force at all. As the object slides, the weight balance will change and the angle becomes steeper, making the problem worse. The object will slide right off the magnet. You can go from fairly stable to completely letting go very quickly (less than a second or two). We lift with cranes often at our job and, while we have these devices, we only use them as a last resort. They just aren't as safe as typical lifting tackle. They are much faster to use, but not worth it IMO.
Jon, I worked in a manufacturing plant and this warning about following the directions is absolutely correct, also be careful when lifting round stock as this cuts the lifting strength way down, we used these to lift barstock and to be very careful, lifting with these will also magnetize the iron or steel, never place any part of your body under any item you are lifting and be careful when lifting your load over items that would be damaged if the lift let's go. Thanks for your video and we all learn something when viewing these. Stay safe.
Love the splitter! If you didn't have the excavator wood you put that splitter on yer skid steer? Do you use a little generator to run the stove during power outage?
We had wood heat when I was growing up and my mom still uses it today. My main chore once I was about 12 was splitting wood with a 13lb monster maul to keep the family warm and almost 40 years later I still have the shoulders to prove it :) There's nothing like wood heat but it can be a lot of work. Your setup is very nice! Cheers from Missouri
I grew up on a two-by-twice dairy farm, in a house innocent of insulation. We heated and cooked on a cast iron cookstove, using wood we cut from our wood lot. And yes, we piled on the blankets in the winter to keep from freezing. Oh, and there was no running water, either- we hauled it in from the well. There was running water in the cow barn, though. This was back in the 50s.
@roberthousedorfli1743 But of course. Nah, our woodshed was only about 30 feet from the kitchen door. However, in the winter, we did walk 5 miles to school through 3 feet of snow, barefoot, and uphill both ways, naturally. In reality, we only had to walk about a half-mile to catch the school bus, but in winter we often were walking through a foot or more of snow, as we followed a lightly-used railroad branch line that crossed our property. Living out in the country in those days wasn't for the faint of heart.
sounds like Pinhook. Papaw's palace. greatest place to ever grow and learn from, while telling lies playing cards at the kitchen with a fireplace you could throw a whole tree in. WOULDN'T HESITATE TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN. BATHTUB ON BACK PORCH WITH THE TOILET OUT BY THE CHICKEN COOP.
I had a 13kw wood burning fire/boiler for 35 years. I moved the wood 4 times. The woodburner was overkill for the size of house; but I only had to cut the logs to 22” long to fit in the fire. I agree with all your comments 100%. My Dad used to say “you get two lots of heat from wood. Once when you cut and split it, and again when you burn it”. Keep up the interesting videos 👍👍
The appreciation of using home grown wood and feeling good about your natural heating method struck a cord with me. Call it the pride of self sufficiency. Thanks Dr G
Great video. While a downer of a contingency, the only thing I would suggest is the wood storage should be large enough for a small emergency load of smaller cut firewood. That way if you do something like hurt yourself or get sick or are out of town, it can be loaded by your wife/daughters. Your labor is the only weak link in the process and should be planned for. Enough to hold over until you can arrange to get someone else to help.
Yeah, I wondered about that, too, but I believe he mentioned that they have a heat pump system intended for AC, but which can also heat the house. Heating with a heat pump is surprisingly efficient (to me, at least).
I was wondering about contingencies for machine failures. It would be equally disruptive to have to suddenly process wood with more conventional means. John could and has done it, but now your available labor capacity is used processing wood vs other needed chores on the farm. He does have the heat pumps, too though.
Fuel shortage could be another issue. Can't cut, move, split without processed diesel (tractor/splitter) or gas for the chainsaw. Farms usually keep a decent stock, but shortages are possible.
@@miltonthecat2240Heat pumps are efficient ,but , a trap and well , when the power goes out.Look at the millions of people that go without power ,when a freek.stirm goes through.Heat pumps depend on generators,that need refueling .
Dear John In my opinion, your way of heating is very efficient and one of the best because you use renewable energy. In my old home country of Switzerland, fully automatic wood-burning stoves have been in operation for many years for industrial buildings, schools, etc., but also for private homes. Their wood is produced by a special machine by chopping different types of wood directly in the forest. A silo truck transports the wood to a storage room, from where the stove is automatically supplied. Perhaps one day, when you are much older(!), you will also convert to a wood chip stove. I've been living in South East Asia for more than 10 years now and I'm glad that I no longer have to heat here. Nevertheless, I am always fascinated to watch your videos. Thank you very much for your efforts. Stay healthy!
We switched to chipped wood with an automated furnace that grabs the chips from the storage pile more than 20 years ago. Very nice when you can just load up entire massive trees into the big wood chipper with the crane, drive the chips home with the tipper trailer and basically never lift/move anything with your body. We replaced the old furnace for a more modern and efficient one recently. Would never go back to another wood heating system tho.
We called it Hog fuel, we had to purchase millions of tons as a commercial source. On most units they used water grates, eventually I had an opportunity to work on live bed system (lime melted into active flowing/circulating).
Wait....how much does an entire.tree suze.chipper cost? A Crain? So this is only a good idea if you own a tree company then? Three do you dry the Chips? You need lots of space for that. Humm...i don't think this is feasible for the average joe.
@@yxcvmk You don't need to specially dry the wood chips, just keep them out of the rain. I use a large, 2MW wood chip burner on the farm and sometimes there is even snow and ice among the low quality wood chips and the burner never flame out due to moisture.
Hi John, I’m somewhat of a TH-cam junkie and your Chanel is in my top three or four (CEE, Sampson Boat and Marty T). Love your varying content from fixing machinery to general farm work. Your content is one that I always watch from start to finish without fast forwarding. Love the fact that you don’t edit out your mistakes. Would love to see a video on how you manage and handle your cattle. Keep the content coming. Cheers
Been a wood burner for over 25 years. Wood furnace (Newmac) and changed to outside boiler (Portage & Main) 10 years ago. Agree with your comments about paying for wood, I have my own supply and people call to drop off logs. Use a Haverston processer and only touch the wood to stack & fill the boiler. Split wood falls onto a 36" high table 8'X8'X2' sides (back saver) which holds a bush cord as we say up north (1/2hr of processing, 1hr stacking). Wish someone would invent a stacker then I would only need to handle it once. Also built an inverted splitter for my skidsteer for the 24"+ blocks that don't fit the processer. I run my water temp @ 185F which keeps the oxygen content of the water to a minium which reduces the corrosion of the boiler.
Jon, you described our process for heating with wood perfectly with one exception, division of labor. I do all the processing, the wife helps with moving and stacking. I am responsible for keeping the wood box on the porch full, she is responsible to bring it in and stack the days supply. She feeds the stove during the day and I feed it at night. We have been doing it this way for 30 plus years. We discussed a outdoor boiler but she was opposed because she really likes cozying up to the stove plus we can cook on it if the power is out. Sure would be nice to fill it and forget it for 24 hours, I'd get a full nights sleep.
We live on 60 wooded acres in northern Idaho. We also have a wood fired boiler and sawmill. I love that the boiler can be used to "clean up" all the off cuts from making lumber. It's definitely smaller wood than I'd prefer this way but it's great that I can use the boiler to get heat out of sawmill scraps that I'd otherwise be trying to find a way to dispose of. Today it's -4F outside and 74F inside. Another plus, we both like it warmer and don't have to make the decision of a much higher heating bill to be comfortable. I also really like that the boiler can be used to burn wood that would be junk wood for a fireplace, bugs and rot as you mentioned. You can also burn wood that you wouldn't burn in the house due to the smell. Our area lost power last winter for over 30 hours. I just hooked up the solar trailers (batteries/inverter) to the boiler and had plenty of energy to keep it running. We were perfectly comfortable while everyone else is fretting about freezing pipes. I love this system but will definitely have a "low tech" backup solution (regular wood stove) in the house we're building. A downside to these is if something goes wrong they stop working whereas a wood stove doesn't break. You light a fire and a wood stove just does it's thing. Right now it's very cold out and our control board went out (company is sending another) so it won't open the damper. I'm having to monitor the system (through an app which is handy) then go out and prop the damper open when it goes into demand. Then I have to take the prop out when it's done or it will get too hot. Having to do this about 4 times a day until the replacement part gets here. They are awesome but that awesome comes with some complexity.
@@vidard9863 I'm not sure if that's a serious question but.... The forests in northern Idaho are extremely dense. Ours is mostly cedar and douglas fir with smatterings of western larch (tamarac), grand fir, and western hemlock. About 15 acres is south facing and is almost all white pine. Almost all are good and very good lumber trees. Logging in this area was all but shut down in the '80's and the forests haven't been managed since. The forests that are adjacent to our land (US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management) are very overgrown as is our land. They are natural, but not healthy. We recently had a forestry specialist come out and learned we really have our work cut our for us. There are way way too many trees. They are all in competition for resources and suffering from it. Many smaller trees have died because some of the larger trees haven't been harvested and we don't let forest fires burn to take them out. We have trees that are 8" in diameter and are over 60 years old. They should be much bigger. We will be thinning and cleaning until we die. Basically when we get done with the first acre we started it will be time to do it again when we get to the last acre. We have to take out and thin trees of all sizes, leaving trees of every "age" so it is continually growing with new trees needing harvested every year. What that means for us is basically free lumber, which given the price of lumber is a huge win. The sawmill paid for itself the first year as we're building on our property. Just clearing and cutting in the almost half mile drive and clearing for the building site got us about 100 millable logs. Since we're building we put a 5th wheel on the property and I milled all the wood to build a 24x44 building over it (winters are pretty severe here). This included all the wood for the framing, rafters, and board on board live edge siding around the entire building. I ended up with about $2k in the building (fasteners, doors, 5 windows, metal roofing) which is unheard of these days. We're building a earth contact home. They're called earth ships. But if you look them up, think earth ship without the hippy vibe (I'm not an artistic type). We using wood for all the framing/formwork then the form gets shotcrete'd. It will be a house/garage, shop, and storage building. It's a barrel vault shape (think Quonset hut) that is 48' across and 160' long all together. So far the shop and storage building have been formed and shotcrete'd. It is tons and tons of wood for the bracing to hold up the concrete. We'd be 10's of thousands of dollars into wood for formwork that would later just be trashed. I couldn't begin to consider this build if I had to buy the wood. With the density of the forest here I'll never not have trees ready to mill. We'll likely have to sell some to local sawmills (real sawmills) just to maintain the health of the forest. But, having a sawmill is awesome. It let's you build things without having to justify the expense of wood. Last winter I built a wood drying and storage rack so my lumber can air dry, is organized and not tarped and buried under 3 feet of snow in the winter. It had 20 4x4x16 uprights. Those are about $25 each and that's not all the wood I used. But, just the uprights is $500 right there I didn't have to spend. To be honest, if I'd had to buy the lumber I couldn't have justified the expense just to organize my lumber. So, for us it's a huge win. And, I'm a builder so having free (other than my labor) lumber is huge. I can consider projects that I just wouldn't do if I had to buy the lumber. I think it all depends on the thickness of your forest, what you want to do with lumber (I wouldn't mill lumber to sell, it's just not that lucrative for the time invested unless you have a $30k sawmill), etc. And, if I'm honest, there's something immensely satisfying for me to take something from a raw resource to something structural that I've built. We also have a very high clay content in our soil here. I'm dying to get the clay out and build a kiln to fire bricks. No idea what I need brick for but the idea of making your own bricks from your own dirt just won't let go :)
@@markbrown9765 very serious question, and I definitely appreciate your response. I'd like to start a more self sufficient life, but I would need a viable income stream and wasn't sure if small scale lumber mills are a thing in regards to income. Certainly I can see how it makes economic sense just for building, certainly sounds like you have a great project going on there!
Jon I really appreciate your considerations in educating us, and letting us know what works best for people in similar situations, it's a big help and I for one really appreciate these informative videos on farm life and how to best make the most of everything, thanks again....Javi G.
john building that splitter was one of the best things you could have done, you are a lot more efficient then you were and saving wear and tear on your body. we are not youngins any more .
Brilliant demonstration of your system, love your work. I gotta share this story. My brother had a wood pellet feeder into his wood stove in the house. The wood pellet feeder pellets got hung up and the dust from the feeder grinding pellets went stoic and blew the door off the wood stove into the house. He was lucky the house didn't burn down. Your wood boiler out back is much safer!
Great video...as always. The point you made about burning less fuel if you are more efficient applies to labor costs in factories as well. Workers worry that they cannot compete with low-paid workers in Asia or Mexico but they certainly can if they are lucky enough to be working in a factory where better machines exist or the operation is better-managed so that output per labor dollar is less, then you very well can compete.
I heated my modest home for ab12 years with a small indoor wood stove. Very dirty and a pain to carry the wood inside. But nothing beats that radiant heat. Now my homeboy Larry has an older wood boiler I would like to buy. We now have a nice hybrid gas/heat pump setup that is sweet but I still want wood heat for unlimited warmth. I have access to as much wood as I want and chainsaws and loaders, etc. I like chainsaws.
In my experience I find a small engine knocking its pan out will use more fuel and increase running costs through breakdowns and maintenance than a big engine not knowing its working. The biggest reason to use the excavator is mechanical advantage and not busting you back up. Great work John love the channel mate.
Dear Jon, what's happening with the John Deere? Point of Information : Diesel engines burn about 5 gallons of fuel per 100 hp output So a 200hp Diesel running at full power will require about 10 gallons an hour. Your 27 hp Diesel tractor running continuously at full power will use less then 1 1/2 gallons an hour. Rarely if ever do you run it at full power for any length of time. A 100hp gasoline engine uses about 8 gallons an hour at full power. I can back up these numbers. I work around pleasure boats and I'm very aware of what they consume.
Yes, that log splitter is awesome. Well done you are a surgeon with that thing you have a sharp mind, sir a mechanic welder my whole life. I know when something’s good.
I grew up on a farm cutting firewood starting at age 10 for pot belly stove... I vowed nevermore always smelling like wood smoke at school, getting up at 6am to cut it, and all the reasons you highlighted for with the outside boiler. Now I have geothermal heat-pumps and solar (at 80% electric power offset), no dealing with wood at all
i am thinking of having a hybrid system. solar water heater and owb. after realizing everyone here in alaska smells of wood smoke, it doesnt bother you anymore. this lady making my coffe one time, said she lives by herself and heats with wood. she was about 22
Here in NC I have a central boiler edge 750 and its a beast at heating my 3500' house and 2000' garage. The house is hydronic under the floor and the garage had pipes installed originally in the concrete, but they didn't insulate under the slab so I use a liquid/air forced air heat exchanger that works well. We typically only use the Buck 91 setup as a freestanding stove in our fireplace, and only start the OWB when it gets below 15 degrees. The OWB uses much more wood than our wood stove, but you cant beat that warm bathroom floor when its below zero outside.
My outdoor boiler just gave up after 23 years of year round use. A small hole developed in the fire box sending a steady stream of water. I could have fixed it, but waited an entire day for the stream to end. I finally couldn't wait any longer and kept telling myself to not touch the drain cap. Seriously all day. DON'T TOUCH IT. Well, I touched it. I barely put any pressure on the wrench and the entire back of the stove broke out. My heating bill went from zero to $500 a month in propane just like that.
I can’t even tell you how much I luvd watching this vid, don’t even know why it caught my attention either, but it’s nice to see a clever, smart, regular, imperfect guy that is ok with people seeing it. What a lovely man.
The more I see you use that old mahindra the more I'm impressed. Our '20 NH workmaster 65 wouldnt handle that! On another note, it is a good idea to have some wood put up sized for your wife or kids in case you get hurt or can't load just a thought. Take care buddy.
Wow, man. Watching you operate that splitter on the little excavator was very impressive. I kept thinking: "there is no way he's gonna be able to split the vertical logs" and you just up and did it. First video I've seen from this channel and I'm a fan.
Your Frankensplitter is fantastic! Oh and watching Wes Work, and Cutting Edge, you need to put a forklift on your Christmas list, super useful, given the projects you do. Go on, you know you want one! 😁
Despite it is very entertaining to see you are struggling, it is always much more joyful and pleasing to see you are enjoying the fruits of your hard labor! Thank you, John!
John, I always heard the air distortion above the exhaust stack is referred ti as 'heat monkeys'. You are correct about the heat pump on heat cycle. You get both the input from the AC power and heat from the environment outside. These new inverter drive units are amazing as they can remain efficient well down in the 10 to 20 F range. Running in cooling mode there is no bonus. However, again these inverter designs allow for better humidity control which makes the cooling effect seem more comfortable. I would think the number one benefit of your furnace should be the humidity levels are not as dry as burning the wood in the structure.
I agree with your view and I always said it's a free workout. I used a non-gasifier but double pass Taylor for 10 years- I bought it used and was happy with the performance. Burnt all dead fall. I saved my best oak and locust for the really cold days in Pennsylvania.
Great system. An observation: On your splitter, getting the log aligned takes a bit of skill. If you had two fingers on the far side that allowed you to drag the log towards you, the log would align to the splitter more reliably.
Thanks John! I will definitely rewatch this with my 84 year old mother who heats up her house 90 % on firewood. She doesn't drive a tractor but uses a toboggan to bring the logs to the house during wintertime. There's a resistive heater in her boiler as well but she likes this cheap energy.
We have a wood stove at our cottage in Northern Michigan. You are right about the work, and mess bringing wood into the house, plus the mess of taking out the ashes, then try to clean the chimney without making another mess! Even with all that l love it.. watching the fire through the glass in the door, you know when the glass doesn’t need cleaning! Also the radiant heat is very nice. Yet another thoughtful video! ❤🎉
Very informative and useful video John, as usual! I'm curious to see what the heater units look like inside the house. With the dual water pumps, would the system function if one pump burns out, and would you even know it?
If one pump were to fail, the amount of water flow would drop enough that the home heat wouldn't be able to keep up on cold days. But it would continue to function somewhat. I always keep a couple spare pumps on hand. Cheers.
There is no question in my mind that the way you are doing it is handling it as minimal as possible. And when you can split wood sitting in an excavator that’s a win-win !! Anyone who is trying to tell you this and tell you that either don’t know the business or a little jealous of you !! Job well done 💯💥
Hey John.. seems like a very efficient way to process wood. Question: when splitting the wood, would if be effective to split over the wood rack so you don’t have to move the wood very much during the stacking process?
@@wingman358 He has to stack it in a balanced manner, especially the end pieces. While he could split and dump onto the pallet, it wouldn't be able to hold as much and he'd likely have to pull most of it off to restack anyway. Maybe if he caged the pallet and gated one side it would work, but again, he wouldn't be able to get as much wood on it.
Glad this popped up, I heat with a wood stove we bought 2 years ago and it's a new, fancy one with a secondary combustion tube and a catalytic converter and it does very well heating our 2 story home. Its going to take quite a few years to pay it back but we love burning wood wether out back in a pit or this wood stove. I also sell fire wood and enjoy cutting/splitting so to me it's a labor of love. Where we are the winters can get down into negatives often and the "burning season" usually starts in mid October til mid April and we've been averaging right around 3.5 full cords a season but with these new stoves, once its going we only need to throw an average 3-5" piece on every hour so they are pretty efficient.
I have two points I think you missed, wood contains moisture which needs to take away energy to boil off before you get heat energy that you can use, big blocks don't dry out as easy as smaller blocks. I noticed you tend to have bigger flat slabs which do allow the moisture to migrate out to the surface before it gets to the stove. Number two, when you have an indoor stove every bit of the volume of air leaving your chimney has to be replaced by cold air entering through small cracks in you house. This explains cold corners and cold near windows that you don't get pumping hot water into the house.
Glad to see someone besides me burning less than perfect firewood. This fall was so dry in my area that I was able to get into places in my woods that are not normally accessible. Some of the wood I brought in in the summer had moss growing in places. Six months in the woodshed transformed what normally would have been wasted. Keep burning.
i have a suggestion for the wood splitter. what about moving the knife to the cylinder and putting the support on the left side. I see the machine turning and moving from the splitting. it would be more comfortable to operate, less jerking, and less time to reset the position from rotation of the machine to reset for a new split. anyway nice video as always
It is so interesting about wood. In my country we build houses and make furniture from pine, and oak is very expensive but also used for furniture or floors. Also, oak is like a national tree, and in most cases, it is forbidden to cut down. As firewood, we're using burch and other bushes. 😊
Excellent, informative and interesting video. I, too, love my firewood system. Now retired, and though every situation is different, after 36 years of heating with wood there are some indisputable facts: Well seasoned wood is the most important component of any wood burning system. Wood used for energy is not a renewable resource. Wood heat is in no way free heat. Wood is the dirtiest energy you can heat with. And, last but not least, well seasoned wood is the most important component of any wood burning system.
enjoyed that, i grew up 60's and 70's cutting, hauling, splitting, stacking, and burning wood, and i have a fire going in my stove right now. i also have 2 geothermal furnaces in my house. but i really enjoy wood heat during cold days.
I have a outdoor wood boiler and I love it! Its a Central Boiler CL 6048 classic and it burns whatever I put into it! No EPA nonsense! Its deff more work but give a consisten heat through all rooms and DM hot water plus a floor grid! Love every second of wood heat! Regardless of boilers model/make they are awesome! As far as "system" to load wood I havent figured that out either lol I handle mine from forest, wood rack, to boiler. I dont have a wood shed directly next to the boiler but I use a modified wheel barrow to move logs around.
Thank you. I appreciate the detail, simplicity and honesty of your video. I am just about to move into a house with an inside wood furnace and have been thinking about putting it outside. I grew up on a farm and 60 years ago I was the young schmuck cutting, splitting carrying and stacking the wood for a heater an a wood cook-stove....no thanks, give me a tractor any day! Cheers !
This is a soothing video. I am nearly a year from buying my homestead. Thanks for the instructional advice. Wood heat is part of my triple redundancy plan. I don't want my entire house to be totaled or die because electric power went out. Everything freezes, and infustructure fails. Like what happened in Texas...
hi there with you in almost every thing , been making wood boxes for over 20 years , , i made my boiler over 25 years ago big door , but find now just use smaller wood , at 72 cant lift them anymore , splitter to box and done , box to boiler . and a/freeze filled . good show , john
I pick logs up with tractor forks and cut at waist high. I scoop bucked wood with tractor and put in dump trailer. I Push splits up into a pile with tractor. big pieces I push up to splitter with tractor forks. I try to only lift wood to put into furnace. if you put sides on a more substantial carrier, you could use tractor to load bucked logs. blessings and stay safe!
I have a Hardy H-4 stainless steel out door unit. Here in Ohio in a bad year I burn 14 cord, heating 6,000 sq feet. On a milder winter 6 cord. We love the heat. Set the thermostat on 73, you never see the house 74 or 72. Very uniform. But, if I did have free fire wood - it would be a no-go deal. Up hear firewood goes for anywhere between $200 and $400 a cord. Great video and very informative. When people ask, I always say, "Unless your wood is free - RUN from an outdoor heater!" Thanks Jon! Lee Yep, I got that far!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love the efficiency! We just use heat pumps in a 1600 sq ft house that is hyper insulated. Have wood stove for backup if power goes off. Appreciate the gassifyer explainer. I have a charcoal retort that uses the wood gas to finish the pyrolysis. Love your splitter!!
01/18/24. When I first viewed this log splitter in action, I missed the fact that it was splitting over the 2nd pile, but then got in closer and saw it was splitting in half over the 2nd pile. Now that is quite efficient especially using a mechanical device the move the cut logs, a WHOLE lot less effort to use. I’ve never used a log splitter but have watched a LOT of You Tube videos on a variety of them and your system beats them all so far. Good job.
Awesome. Gives me lots to think about as I set up my 120 acre forest homestead in the cascade foothills. Not sure if I want a wood boiler or not but its one thing to consider. Been thinking about setting my outdoor walkways up with pipe for radiant ice/snow management and only running that when needed.
Fall the trees, use two trunks to elevate the others like on a crude water raft construction. Cut the trunks with the chainsaw ,bring the wood pallets and load them with the excavator (not manually) Split the rest OVER wood pallet to reduce processing steps and handling. (you can enclose them to fill in bulk and open one side to empty them) You can also rotate your wood shed on entrance gate rails/casters so it's facing or be 90° to the boiler for loading.(it would reduce handling.) You can also use a jib crane pivoting exactly between the shed and boiler and small log graple to only move the wood from the storage to the boiler (a small collapsable rest chute under the boiler door would only get you to push the log in. You would need to slide the wood shed roof on a side or open it with counter weights arms on its rear. Pulling your trailered excavator with the tractor would let you do the job even quicker in 1 shot without moving machines separately. Look at a "Transport Sleipner" solution or simply your trailer or a low profile trailer.
I use a splitter attached to a skid steer, very similar to your excavator. I have found after bucking the log, turn the log on end (like a seat) and split across the diameter. These machines have plenty of power and it's easier to "grab" the log.
Well Done! I came up with pretty much the same idea and system for moving my wood. I've fired wood kilns most of my life and as you say minimizing the amount of time spent processing and moving wood gives the best ROI! I do have a little splitter envy though. Been processing 10 -25 chords a year most of my life. Believe it or not I'm currently hand splitting my wood to keep me in shape through the winter at 63 years old. Just got my first tractor this year and hope to have my oversized wood pallets built for next year. Just got a forest/farm to take care of last year, so I'll have other stuff to keep me moving in the winter. Great video... I will subscribe and look forward to seeing what other content you have to offer!
Excellent video. Im with you, than the most efficient wood operation is one that you can manage and not become a huge burden. I have been heating 3200 square feet in climate zone 7 with 100% wood for 15 years. We routinely see -30F and have to heat for 6 months a year. 3 cord, which includes all domestic hot water. Indoor gasification boiler (Tarm). Im in Northern Maine.
love your log splitter and im a 57 yr old who has split hundreds of cords . i understand the value of splitting those heavy rounds and dumping in a pile all in one step . very economical and fast
I came to your channel via ADS when they restored your injectors from your cool old JD track loader. That log splitter you have for your track hoe is amazing. I too split wood for many years by hand when we lived in Fairbanks Alaska. Good exercise when you are young. I finally broke down and bought an electric splitter. I should have done it way sooner. Young and dumb.😂 We no longer reside in Alaska as of 2013. Moved to a semi warmer climate, northern Idaho. I am looking forward to your next video on the dozer. Just watched this video about your wood boiler and saw all of the engine parts displayed on your work table. Curtis said in his video that he sent you a set of new rings. I can’t remember if he set you up with new bearings too. Thanks for your great content. Take care and stay safe.
John, I used to heat with wood when I was younger, it beat me up pretty well. Then I went to coal and the dust was terrible. Now at 65 I just turn up the thermostat and let the oil heat my house and garage. I think it's cheaper in the long run. I miss burning all my trash and Amazon boxes. I don't miss the bugs. That wood splitter is faster than those expensive wood processors, great idea.
Love the splitter! You move and split in 1 semi-fluid motion, and that speeds up the operation a lot. Speaking of speed, there's no substitute for pump GPM, no waiting for it to split. Crunch! Done!
The farmer I used to work for in the 70's and 80's had a similar system to yours. The main difference was instead of neatly hand staked pallets of wood, he had a bunch of larger pallets with a door that he bought at an auction. He would load them directly with his loader and later his grapple and his tractor's front mounted log splitter. Randomly piled up wood was about 4000 lbs, which was about his tractors maximum lift. By hooking on a couple of short chains he could tip the pallets and unload right into his top loading boiler. Eventually though, (as he got older) he decided wood was just too much work and he took advantage of a natural spring behind his house to feed a water loop heat pump.
Really enjoyed your video. We had a Central Boiler outdoor furnace that we used for just over 23 years until the firebox finally rusted through. I wasn't as diligent as you with keeping up the anti-rust solution in my water and I guess it finally caught up with me. I considered rebuilding the furnace but decided against it as my wood processing was not as efficient as yours and the major fact that I'm getting up in age and the wood seems to be getting heavier every year. I handled the wood quite a few more times than you. Not to mention that even though I had 23 acres of wooded land I chose to purchase my wood from local loggers upping the cost of my heating bill. We've since switched to propane and find it much easier in comparison as well as cheaper in the long run, at least at today's prices. I just subscribed, looking forward to seeing the completion of your John Deere 1010 project. I happen to be a big John Deere fan. Thanks again.
Well, so much for that idea. I didn't think of sparks jumping across the gap. Glad you had the same idea though. I know you said you don't mind the exercise, but... Years ago I saw a farm show on tv where a farm in Alberta had a log deck feeding the stove. Go back to the burny layout but further apart allowing for the spark factor and span the gap with an elevated conveyer on go cart tires with an overhang that fits the through the burner door. Lower at the shed side then rising up through the wood door should get your wood shoulder height in the stove. I'm thinking grain conveyer.
I have a Vogelzang High eff. what you put in one load heats my house for a week. I use so little it is amazing. I have been burning wood for 40 years. I think the outdoor wood boilers are the least eff.
If you had the trailer hitch on your backfill blade with a box trailer you can just fill up that trailer anywhere on your property you wanted to go without having to take those tractors. And having that trailer connected to your excavators is great for hauling materials and supplies around your property while using the excavator to do most of the other work.
Nice setup! Over here in eastern Europe, I also use a gasifier wood burner brand is ATMOS (smaller in size, mine is about 45l and 20kW), and in addition to it a buffer of water, basically a tank (1000l) were the heated water is stored. This is good for running the gasifier at full "throttle" and getting as much energy out of the wood as possible. Smoldering for long periods of time is less efficient and creates a lot of tar deposits. The disadvantage of that is that you need to make another fire every 24h or so. Major difference is that what burners you can find around this part of the world are designed to be used inside a building, usually having an additional room to the house where the burner is set. I like the idea of an outdoor one, seems less risky, fire wise. How do you prevent heat loss trough the pipes for such a long distance? What insulation do you use?
We like using our land also for heating our home, by installing solar panels and use the excess power to run our heat pump. I can say that we used a wood boiler with fan control from an old oil boiler that we built into our ground level basement in NY, and it worked. ( used two pumps with one being battery powered from any one of our vehicles during any power failure ) However we found out over the years that it was more cost effective to sell the wood and just use gas to heat our home and that worked for a while. Now we live down in North Carolina and mostly burn wood from our acres of woods on our land for fun, exercise, and beauty of watching the fire in our living room with duct work embedded in the fireplace and chimney to extract the warm air . Like mentioned earlier, our main source of heat is now heat pump and also our hot water tank is a heat pump since we get free power from the paid off solar panels on our land. I see what your doing and if we were neighbors, I would join you just for the fun of it, but sooner or later I believe you will figure it out that it is costing you to burn wood. Yes your video was interesting to me, I used to do just what you are doing and it was in many ways fun, too old now to do this like I use to, still have my diesel tractor though and still running on all cylinders/ LOL Be safe out there in that wood lot.
I kind of build my own wood boiler system. I have a wood stove in my workshop which is attached to my house. I basically put a copper coil under the wood great in the stove and have a 50 gallon barrel of water sitting next to it. Put a check valve on the inlet side and it just sits there percolating water through and heating it up. Then I pump the hot water into the house through an old radiator out of a car with a 12-volt fan on it. I do also only live in about 600 sq ft small house so that does a pretty good job of keeping it warm in there. I also live in the Pacific Northwest where there's plenty of trees so there's never a shortage of down or dead trees that need to be taken out.
Jon, came back and watch this video again to show my wife how a wood boiler works. I have 286 acres of land with tons of trees falling every year. So, this is the way to go for us and heat. I really like yours and wonder if there is a way to use propane should you go on vacation at some point and can't be there to toss wood in. You know just run it at a low temperature to keep the pipes in the house from freezing.
Hey Danny. There’s no easy way to do that with propane that I’ve ever seen. I just use the heat pump in that instance and shut the boiler down. Unless you’ll be back in a couple days the boiler can usually handle that.
i got into rocket stoves years ago learned about gasafication .wood smoke like you proved in the video is very flameable.when you opend that door.i have seen people run autos on wood smoke . very cool.i love your videos john allways interesting.
It has been years since I burned fire wood primarily. I like you have your system down effectively as possible. I have to give credit that the splitter on the mini awesome use of work smarter not harder.
Interesting and inciteful. When we had a firebox indoors, we'd use about as much wood as you have on a pallet in a season. The scale is just so different. Ofcourse here in Melbourne the lowest temperature we will see is just a tad under 0cC in mid Winter so we only have to raise the house temperature by 20oC, where you are, you have to raise the house temperature by 50oC above ambient. Thats a big difference and when one considers the losses (due to temperature differences), its no wonder you burn wood at such a rate.
That was an amazing video! So much information and so much innovation. You're a smart man. This one causes me to consider this methodology for heating my upcoming house in the woods. Thanks, brother.
Excellent information. I’m particularly satisfied that you informed viewers upfront that purchasing firewood negates any cost benefit of wood heating. The old adage “you can save more money at the kitchen table with a pencil, paper and math”, than you ever could by running out spending money cost saving. It’s interesting to think about the costs of cooling a building, indoor air quality. Keeping a building at a comfortable temperature and humidity is very difficult. The cost of cooling is significant in many areas, and not easily solved. Spot heating hot water, making use of passive heating and cooling, high efficiency heat pumps might be a better alternative for many situations. One size doesn’t fit all.
I like your operation from the pallets to the shed, ya the shed a little bigger to fit your loaded pallets in would be nice. I really like the wood splitter on the excavator. If you had your pallet in place you could almost split the logs into the pallet with you operating skills. Very nice operation, im impressed. Thanks for sharing
You can be even more efficient by laying all the wood you cut in a row so the log splitter can pick up easier and the pieces will be flat on the ground for support. I love the log splitter you built.
I love my firewood system. Trust me, I've thought a lot about ways to make the actual loading easier, but building anything mechanical do it automatically would be very complicated, failure prone, expensive, and time consuming. The best I can come up with is a rolling cart at waist level that would allow me to move all the logs from the shed to the boiler at one time without all the walking back and forth. I may try that at some point, but it doesn't really seem like it would help all that much. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome as always! Have a great weekend everybody!
If you're concerned about the space taken up by pallets you could build them to nest.
The cart will require you to pick up the wood 1 additional time right?
your system looks good. i have long said the end boss of wood burning is wood chip burning, it's what all commercial or councils use here in europe (sweden). it can be automated to a completely different degree.
only thing you could improve is a huge water storage, so the incinerator can run att full blast until it's out of fuel, you lose a lot on the smoldering.
That magnet will have a harder time picking up sheet steel. Not as much density under the magnet. Be careful trying it out!
Build another same size woodshed on the other side of the wood boiler.
The gasifier, aka secondary air combustion, is a game changer in wood stoves and boilers. People always think the quality of wood is key and they don't realize that wood does not ignite, it evaporates and the gasses ignite. If the rising heat carries away the unburnt gasses into the air, they lose that fuel source. Burning the smoke completely and using every bit of that fuel is many times more efficient than the non-gasifier or non-secondary systems.
Exactly. Gasifier provides maximum possible energy out of wood. And combining gasifier with auger, filling burner with pellets / crushed wood from small diy build mini silo, provides possibility to easily automate whole heating of a house. You can make system which needs human interaction once per month of heating... in European Union, gasifier stoves are only wood burning technology allowed, because of cleanliness of output gases. They can be in multitudes of shapes and sizes.
I type this with a broad SMILE on my face
I'll be building my last (retired) home to die in. Roughly 1,000 sq feet on 100 acres of hardwood trees. I became so excited watching a TH-camr explaining his high efficient outdoor boiler. He heats roughly 3000 sq feet - his home and his workshop with 4 cords! WOW! That's for me, until I heard the price tag. Roughly $25 to 30K installed (HeatMaster). That's not for me or most of us.. Maybe my home is too small for something like this. Please, don't get me wrong, it's a terrific idea but todays "efficient things" including todays state-of-the-art building techniques; 2 to 6 inches exterior foam, monopoly framing, European triple pane windows, IFC foundations, etc. etc. takes a $350K home and turns it into $5 to 700k home. Most of us cannot afford or fathom the savings. IMHO.
Best regards,
Pete
@@L46C3 That is why i love gasifier stoves, they are easy to build even DIY, and are most efficient, they are build in europe for hundreds of years. Try to search for russian, swedish, finnish masonry heaters, maybe it will help you and other to heat house with considerably less then 4 cords, lol.
@@L46C3I’m 100% in agreement with your comment. Nobody has the stomach or stones to address the fact that the economy has been intentionally destroyed yet technology continues to innovate the world. The problem is being able to afford it.
Not that I’m proud of this but life being what it etc I realized one day that I had not been up on the roof to clean the flue etc for SEVEN (7) Years! (I pull pipe from stove 2x a year)
Anyway when I got up there and looked expecting to see a death trap of clogged up flue. What u found was whistle clean flue after 35 cords of primarily mixed hardwood in various states of being dry.
The gasifier / type 2 EPA firebox design is a game changer.
Hi John, The magnetic lifter can be very dangerous and the warnings and instructions must be followed to prevent an accident. I investigated an incident in Darwin Australia involving one of these devices when a crew was moving quarter inch sheet metal to position it on a floor. They were tilting one end up so that the sheet could be laid against two other sheets to get a good fit. They had been using the lifter this way for a couple of days when all at once it let go and the high end struck one of the men on his shins (he was positioning the sheet) and scraped them to the bone. Needless to say, it was a terrible accident. The reason the magnet released was that the angle became too steep. The instructions on the device listed the maximum angle and evidently during the placement of this one sheet it was exceeded. Something to be very aware of. This type of device can be quick and easy to use but like most tools has to be used correctly.
It's not so much that the magnet releases at an angle, it's that metal to metal contact has a very low coefficient of friction. When the load gets at an angle, it can start to slide. The magnet is still exerting the same force perpendicular to it, it just doesn't provide much lateral force at all. As the object slides, the weight balance will change and the angle becomes steeper, making the problem worse. The object will slide right off the magnet. You can go from fairly stable to completely letting go very quickly (less than a second or two). We lift with cranes often at our job and, while we have these devices, we only use them as a last resort. They just aren't as safe as typical lifting tackle. They are much faster to use, but not worth it IMO.
Jon, I worked in a manufacturing plant and this warning about following the directions is absolutely correct, also be careful when lifting round stock as this cuts the lifting strength way down, we used these to lift barstock and to be very careful, lifting with these will also magnetize the iron or steel, never place any part of your body under any item you are lifting and be careful when lifting your load over items that would be damaged if the lift let's go. Thanks for your video and we all learn something when viewing these. Stay safe.
Love the splitter! If you didn't have the excavator wood you put that splitter on yer skid steer? Do you use a little generator to run the stove during power outage?
Who asked you?
@@Iz0pen I did! I wanted to know that magnetic lifters can be dangerous if used improperly, so allen8180 kindly gave some infirmation!
We had wood heat when I was growing up and my mom still uses it today. My main chore once I was about 12 was splitting wood with a 13lb monster maul to keep the family warm and almost 40 years later I still have the shoulders to prove it :) There's nothing like wood heat but it can be a lot of work. Your setup is very nice! Cheers from Missouri
John you and Cutting Edge videos on a Friday sets up my weekend perfectly. You have become one of my top ten channels.
I grew up on a two-by-twice dairy farm, in a house innocent of insulation. We heated and cooked on a cast iron cookstove, using wood we cut from our wood lot. And yes, we piled on the blankets in the winter to keep from freezing. Oh, and there was no running water, either- we hauled it in from the well. There was running water in the cow barn, though. This was back in the 50s.
And just like me, you carried wood, uphill, both ways, for over 1000 feet? jk
@roberthousedorfli1743
But of course. Nah, our woodshed was only about 30 feet from the kitchen door. However, in the winter, we did walk 5 miles to school through 3 feet of snow, barefoot, and uphill both ways, naturally. In reality, we only had to walk about a half-mile to catch the school bus, but in winter we often were walking through a foot or more of snow, as we followed a lightly-used railroad branch line that crossed our property. Living out in the country in those days wasn't for the faint of heart.
sounds like Pinhook. Papaw's palace. greatest place to ever grow and learn from, while telling lies playing cards at the kitchen with a fireplace you could throw a whole tree in. WOULDN'T HESITATE TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN. BATHTUB ON BACK PORCH WITH THE TOILET OUT BY THE CHICKEN COOP.
And I complain if it isn't exactly 70 degrees in every room 😂
@@maynardcarmer3148 Man I miss the snow. I know it's hard for people with arthritis but it's still sad to see it go.
Even having seen the making video, I'm blown away by how good that log splitter is from such humble beginnings.
A great invention and truly Yankee ingenuity!
That log splitter is utter genious!
I had a 13kw wood burning fire/boiler for 35 years. I moved the wood 4 times. The woodburner was overkill for the size of house; but I only had to cut the logs to 22” long to fit in the fire. I agree with all your comments 100%. My Dad used to say “you get two lots of heat from wood. Once when you cut and split it, and again when you burn it”. Keep up the interesting videos 👍👍
Overkill power is good if you add a big water buffer.
The appreciation of using home grown wood and feeling good about your natural heating method struck a cord with me. Call it the pride of self sufficiency. Thanks Dr G
Struck a chord?? Haha
Great video. While a downer of a contingency, the only thing I would suggest is the wood storage should be large enough for a small emergency load of smaller cut firewood. That way if you do something like hurt yourself or get sick or are out of town, it can be loaded by your wife/daughters. Your labor is the only weak link in the process and should be planned for. Enough to hold over until you can arrange to get someone else to help.
Yeah, I wondered about that, too, but I believe he mentioned that they have a heat pump system intended for AC, but which can also heat the house. Heating with a heat pump is surprisingly efficient (to me, at least).
I was wondering about contingencies for machine failures. It would be equally disruptive to have to suddenly process wood with more conventional means. John could and has done it, but now your available labor capacity is used processing wood vs other needed chores on the farm. He does have the heat pumps, too though.
Fuel shortage could be another issue. Can't cut, move, split without processed diesel (tractor/splitter) or gas for the chainsaw. Farms usually keep a decent stock, but shortages are possible.
@@mitchdengler7115 have 4 winters worth under cover here ...........
@@miltonthecat2240Heat pumps are efficient ,but , a trap and well , when the power goes out.Look at the millions of people that go without power ,when a freek.stirm goes through.Heat pumps depend on generators,that need refueling .
Dear John
In my opinion, your way of heating is very efficient and one of the best because you use renewable energy.
In my old home country of Switzerland, fully automatic wood-burning stoves have been in operation for many years for industrial buildings, schools, etc., but also for private homes. Their wood is produced by a special machine by chopping different types of wood directly in the forest. A silo truck transports the wood to a storage room, from where the stove is automatically supplied. Perhaps one day, when you are much older(!), you will also convert to a wood chip stove.
I've been living in South East Asia for more than 10 years now and I'm glad that I no longer have to heat here.
Nevertheless, I am always fascinated to watch your videos. Thank you very much for your efforts. Stay healthy!
We switched to chipped wood with an automated furnace that grabs the chips from the storage pile more than 20 years ago. Very nice when you can just load up entire massive trees into the big wood chipper with the crane, drive the chips home with the tipper trailer and basically never lift/move anything with your body. We replaced the old furnace for a more modern and efficient one recently. Would never go back to another wood heating system tho.
We called it Hog fuel, we had to purchase millions of tons as a commercial source. On most units they used water grates, eventually I had an opportunity to work on live bed system (lime melted into active flowing/circulating).
Wait....how much does an entire.tree suze.chipper cost? A Crain?
So this is only a good idea if you own a tree company then?
Three do you dry the Chips? You need lots of space for that.
Humm...i don't think this is feasible for the average joe.
Curious to know what happens after chipping, assuming the chips need to be dried before they can be stored?
@@yxcvmk You don't need to specially dry the wood chips, just keep them out of the rain. I use a large, 2MW wood chip burner on the farm and sometimes there is even snow and ice among the low quality wood chips and the burner never flame out due to moisture.
Hi John, I’m somewhat of a TH-cam junkie and your Chanel is in my top three or four (CEE, Sampson Boat and Marty T). Love your varying content from fixing machinery to general farm work. Your content is one that I always watch from start to finish without fast forwarding. Love the fact that you don’t edit out your mistakes. Would love to see a video on how you manage and handle your cattle. Keep the content coming. Cheers
Marty T - what a bright guy! Boy, they sure have a lot of abandoned stuff over there! HA Ha
He does edit... notice the cow glitches around 1:13
Been a wood burner for over 25 years. Wood furnace (Newmac) and changed to outside boiler (Portage & Main) 10 years ago. Agree with your comments about paying for wood, I have my own supply and people call to drop off logs. Use a Haverston processer and only touch the wood to stack & fill the boiler. Split wood falls onto a 36" high table 8'X8'X2' sides (back saver) which holds a bush cord as we say up north (1/2hr of processing, 1hr stacking). Wish someone would invent a stacker then I would only need to handle it once. Also built an inverted splitter for my skidsteer for the 24"+ blocks that don't fit the processer. I run my water temp @ 185F which keeps the oxygen content of the water to a minium which reduces the corrosion of the boiler.
Hard to believe it's been close to 6 years since your woodshed fire video... Time flies when you watch great content :)
John …..you are a certified genius with that logic splitter you made ….. excellent job!
Jon, you described our process for heating with wood perfectly with one exception, division of labor. I do all the processing, the wife helps with moving and stacking. I am responsible for keeping the wood box on the porch full, she is responsible to bring it in and stack the days supply. She feeds the stove during the day and I feed it at night. We have been doing it this way for 30 plus years. We discussed a outdoor boiler but she was opposed because she really likes cozying up to the stove plus we can cook on it if the power is out. Sure would be nice to fill it and forget it for 24 hours, I'd get a full nights sleep.
Nothin wrong with your setup. Burns less wood plus it works when the power is out.
We live on 60 wooded acres in northern Idaho. We also have a wood fired boiler and sawmill. I love that the boiler can be used to "clean up" all the off cuts from making lumber. It's definitely smaller wood than I'd prefer this way but it's great that I can use the boiler to get heat out of sawmill scraps that I'd otherwise be trying to find a way to dispose of. Today it's -4F outside and 74F inside. Another plus, we both like it warmer and don't have to make the decision of a much higher heating bill to be comfortable. I also really like that the boiler can be used to burn wood that would be junk wood for a fireplace, bugs and rot as you mentioned. You can also burn wood that you wouldn't burn in the house due to the smell.
Our area lost power last winter for over 30 hours. I just hooked up the solar trailers (batteries/inverter) to the boiler and had plenty of energy to keep it running. We were perfectly comfortable while everyone else is fretting about freezing pipes.
I love this system but will definitely have a "low tech" backup solution (regular wood stove) in the house we're building. A downside to these is if something goes wrong they stop working whereas a wood stove doesn't break. You light a fire and a wood stove just does it's thing. Right now it's very cold out and our control board went out (company is sending another) so it won't open the damper. I'm having to monitor the system (through an app which is handy) then go out and prop the damper open when it goes into demand. Then I have to take the prop out when it's done or it will get too hot. Having to do this about 4 times a day until the replacement part gets here. They are awesome but that awesome comes with some complexity.
What are the economics of having a sawmill on such a small parcel?
@@vidard9863 I'm not sure if that's a serious question but.... The forests in northern Idaho are extremely dense. Ours is mostly cedar and douglas fir with smatterings of western larch (tamarac), grand fir, and western hemlock. About 15 acres is south facing and is almost all white pine. Almost all are good and very good lumber trees. Logging in this area was all but shut down in the '80's and the forests haven't been managed since. The forests that are adjacent to our land (US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management) are very overgrown as is our land. They are natural, but not healthy. We recently had a forestry specialist come out and learned we really have our work cut our for us. There are way way too many trees. They are all in competition for resources and suffering from it. Many smaller trees have died because some of the larger trees haven't been harvested and we don't let forest fires burn to take them out. We have trees that are 8" in diameter and are over 60 years old. They should be much bigger. We will be thinning and cleaning until we die. Basically when we get done with the first acre we started it will be time to do it again when we get to the last acre. We have to take out and thin trees of all sizes, leaving trees of every "age" so it is continually growing with new trees needing harvested every year.
What that means for us is basically free lumber, which given the price of lumber is a huge win. The sawmill paid for itself the first year as we're building on our property. Just clearing and cutting in the almost half mile drive and clearing for the building site got us about 100 millable logs. Since we're building we put a 5th wheel on the property and I milled all the wood to build a 24x44 building over it (winters are pretty severe here). This included all the wood for the framing, rafters, and board on board live edge siding around the entire building. I ended up with about $2k in the building (fasteners, doors, 5 windows, metal roofing) which is unheard of these days. We're building a earth contact home. They're called earth ships. But if you look them up, think earth ship without the hippy vibe (I'm not an artistic type). We using wood for all the framing/formwork then the form gets shotcrete'd. It will be a house/garage, shop, and storage building. It's a barrel vault shape (think Quonset hut) that is 48' across and 160' long all together. So far the shop and storage building have been formed and shotcrete'd. It is tons and tons of wood for the bracing to hold up the concrete. We'd be 10's of thousands of dollars into wood for formwork that would later just be trashed. I couldn't begin to consider this build if I had to buy the wood. With the density of the forest here I'll never not have trees ready to mill. We'll likely have to sell some to local sawmills (real sawmills) just to maintain the health of the forest. But, having a sawmill is awesome. It let's you build things without having to justify the expense of wood. Last winter I built a wood drying and storage rack so my lumber can air dry, is organized and not tarped and buried under 3 feet of snow in the winter. It had 20 4x4x16 uprights. Those are about $25 each and that's not all the wood I used. But, just the uprights is $500 right there I didn't have to spend. To be honest, if I'd had to buy the lumber I couldn't have justified the expense just to organize my lumber. So, for us it's a huge win. And, I'm a builder so having free (other than my labor) lumber is huge. I can consider projects that I just wouldn't do if I had to buy the lumber.
I think it all depends on the thickness of your forest, what you want to do with lumber (I wouldn't mill lumber to sell, it's just not that lucrative for the time invested unless you have a $30k sawmill), etc. And, if I'm honest, there's something immensely satisfying for me to take something from a raw resource to something structural that I've built. We also have a very high clay content in our soil here. I'm dying to get the clay out and build a kiln to fire bricks. No idea what I need brick for but the idea of making your own bricks from your own dirt just won't let go :)
@@markbrown9765 very serious question, and I definitely appreciate your response. I'd like to start a more self sufficient life, but I would need a viable income stream and wasn't sure if small scale lumber mills are a thing in regards to income. Certainly I can see how it makes economic sense just for building, certainly sounds like you have a great project going on there!
@@vidard9863 That's what we're doing in retirement. Should have started earlier. Wish I knew then what I know now :) Best of luck.
It's just amazing how you've optimized whole process. I'm really enjoying this video. Please continue materials like this.
You've got it down to a science John. Impressive!
Jon I really appreciate your considerations in educating us, and letting us know what works best for people in similar situations, it's a big help and I for one really appreciate these informative videos on farm life and how to best make the most of everything, thanks again....Javi G.
john building that splitter was one of the best things you could have done, you are a lot more efficient then you were and saving wear and tear on your body. we are not youngins any more .
Brilliant demonstration of your system, love your work.
I gotta share this story.
My brother had a wood pellet feeder into his wood stove in the house. The wood pellet feeder pellets got hung up and the dust from the feeder grinding pellets went stoic and blew the door off the wood stove into the house. He was lucky the house didn't burn down.
Your wood boiler out back is much safer!
Great video...as always. The point you made about burning less fuel if you are more efficient applies to labor costs in factories as well. Workers worry that they cannot compete with low-paid workers in Asia or Mexico but they certainly can if they are lucky enough to be working in a factory where better machines exist or the operation is better-managed so that output per labor dollar is less, then you very well can compete.
That usually equates to one quarter the amount of people needed though. The more efficient the production machines, the less people needed.
I heated my modest home for ab12 years with a small indoor wood stove. Very dirty and a pain to carry the wood inside. But nothing beats that radiant heat. Now my homeboy Larry has an older wood boiler I would like to buy. We now have a nice hybrid gas/heat pump setup that is sweet but I still want wood heat for unlimited warmth. I have access to as much wood as I want and chainsaws and loaders, etc. I like chainsaws.
In my experience I find a small engine knocking its pan out will use more fuel and increase running costs through breakdowns and maintenance than a big engine not knowing its working. The biggest reason to use the excavator is mechanical advantage and not busting you back up.
Great work John love the channel mate.
Dear Jon, what's happening with the John Deere?
Point of Information : Diesel engines burn about 5 gallons of fuel per 100 hp output So a 200hp Diesel running at full power will require about 10 gallons
an hour. Your 27 hp Diesel tractor running continuously at full power will use less then 1 1/2 gallons an hour. Rarely if ever do you run it at full power for any length of time.
A 100hp gasoline engine uses about 8 gallons an hour at full power. I can back up these numbers. I work around pleasure boats and I'm very aware of what they consume.
John most secondary burn stoves I've looked at burn at the top . That's the fire one I've seen that forces air down. Really neat . 👌🏻
Yes, that log splitter is awesome. Well done you are a surgeon with that thing you have a sharp mind, sir a mechanic welder my whole life. I know when something’s good.
Hi John you have obviously had a lot of work with your home made splitter you are very adapt at using it now a pleasure to watch.
I grew up on a farm cutting firewood starting at age 10 for pot belly stove... I vowed nevermore always smelling like wood smoke at school, getting up at 6am to cut it, and all the reasons you highlighted for with the outside boiler.
Now I have geothermal heat-pumps and solar (at 80% electric power offset), no dealing with wood at all
Sounds great but with all that fuel around its nice to have backups.
i am thinking of having a hybrid system. solar water heater and owb. after realizing everyone here in alaska smells of wood smoke, it doesnt bother you anymore.
this lady making my coffe one time, said she lives by herself and heats with wood. she was about 22
Damn, John!! 3600+ views in 23 minutes! You've actually got a real live fan-base out here! 😀
Here in NC I have a central boiler edge 750 and its a beast at heating my 3500' house and 2000' garage. The house is hydronic under the floor and the garage had pipes installed originally in the concrete, but they didn't insulate under the slab so I use a liquid/air forced air heat exchanger that works well. We typically only use the Buck 91 setup as a freestanding stove in our fireplace, and only start the OWB when it gets below 15 degrees. The OWB uses much more wood than our wood stove, but you cant beat that warm bathroom floor when its below zero outside.
My outdoor boiler just gave up after 23 years of year round use. A small hole developed in the fire box sending a steady stream of water. I could have fixed it, but waited an entire day for the stream to end. I finally couldn't wait any longer and kept telling myself to not touch the drain cap. Seriously all day. DON'T TOUCH IT. Well, I touched it. I barely put any pressure on the wrench and the entire back of the stove broke out. My heating bill went from zero to $500 a month in propane just like that.
I can’t even tell you how much I luvd watching this vid, don’t even know why it caught my attention either, but it’s nice to see a clever, smart, regular, imperfect guy that is ok with people seeing it. What a lovely man.
The more I see you use that old mahindra the more I'm impressed. Our '20 NH workmaster 65 wouldnt handle that! On another note, it is a good idea to have some wood put up sized for your wife or kids in case you get hurt or can't load just a thought. Take care buddy.
My wife and I are regular viewers and really enjoy your post. Some of your solutions are a bit sketchy but interesting, entertaining and helpful.
Don’t think you can make the wood and boiler set up any better than you have it , great work 👍
Wow, man. Watching you operate that splitter on the little excavator was very impressive. I kept thinking: "there is no way he's gonna be able to split the vertical logs" and you just up and did it. First video I've seen from this channel and I'm a fan.
Your Frankensplitter is fantastic! Oh and watching Wes Work, and Cutting Edge, you need to put a forklift on your Christmas list, super useful, given the projects you do. Go on, you know you want one! 😁
Despite it is very entertaining to see you are struggling, it is always much more joyful and pleasing to see you are enjoying the fruits of your hard labor! Thank you, John!
John, I always heard the air distortion above the exhaust stack is referred ti as 'heat monkeys'. You are correct about the heat pump on heat cycle. You get both the input from the AC power and heat from the environment outside. These new inverter drive units are amazing as they can remain efficient well down in the 10 to 20 F range. Running in cooling mode there is no bonus. However, again these inverter designs allow for better humidity control which makes the cooling effect seem more comfortable. I would think the number one benefit of your furnace should be the humidity levels are not as dry as burning the wood in the structure.
I agree with your view and I always said it's a free workout. I used a non-gasifier but double pass Taylor for 10 years- I bought it used and was happy with the performance. Burnt all dead fall. I saved my best oak and locust for the really cold days in Pennsylvania.
Great system. An observation: On your splitter, getting the log aligned takes a bit of skill. If you had two fingers on the far side that allowed you to drag the log towards you, the log would align to the splitter more reliably.
You got my vote sir, self sufficient is the name of the game, production is paramount, work smarter not harder
Good job 👍 👏👏
Thanks John! I will definitely rewatch this with my 84 year old mother who heats up her house 90 % on firewood. She doesn't drive a tractor but uses a toboggan to bring the logs to the house during wintertime. There's a resistive heater in her boiler as well but she likes this cheap energy.
We have a wood stove at our cottage in Northern Michigan. You are right about the work, and mess bringing wood into the house, plus the mess of taking out the ashes, then try to clean the chimney without making another mess! Even with all that l love it.. watching the fire through the glass in the door, you know when the glass doesn’t need cleaning! Also the radiant heat is very nice. Yet another thoughtful video! ❤🎉
Very informative and useful video John, as usual! I'm curious to see what the heater units look like inside the house. With the dual water pumps, would the system function if one pump burns out, and would you even know it?
If one pump were to fail, the amount of water flow would drop enough that the home heat wouldn't be able to keep up on cold days. But it would continue to function somewhat. I always keep a couple spare pumps on hand. Cheers.
@@FarmCraft101
Do you also cut up and burn the smaller branches from the trees? Or do you just leave them on the ground to rot away?
@@FarmCraft101
Do you also cut up and burn the smaller branches from the trees? Or do you just leave them on the ground to rot away?
There is no question in my mind that the way you are doing it is handling it as minimal as possible. And when you can split wood sitting in an excavator that’s a win-win !! Anyone who is trying to tell you this and tell you that either don’t know the business or a little jealous of you !! Job well done 💯💥
Hey John.. seems like a very efficient way to process wood. Question: when splitting the wood, would if be effective to split over the wood rack so you don’t have to move the wood very much during the stacking process?
I was thinking the same thing. If it was split directly onto the pallet that would save a touch
@@wingman358 He has to stack it in a balanced manner, especially the end pieces. While he could split and dump onto the pallet, it wouldn't be able to hold as much and he'd likely have to pull most of it off to restack anyway. Maybe if he caged the pallet and gated one side it would work, but again, he wouldn't be able to get as much wood on it.
Glad this popped up, I heat with a wood stove we bought 2 years ago and it's a new, fancy one with a secondary combustion tube and a catalytic converter and it does very well heating our 2 story home. Its going to take quite a few years to pay it back but we love burning wood wether out back in a pit or this wood stove. I also sell fire wood and enjoy cutting/splitting so to me it's a labor of love. Where we are the winters can get down into negatives often and the "burning season" usually starts in mid October til mid April and we've been averaging right around 3.5 full cords a season but with these new stoves, once its going we only need to throw an average 3-5" piece on every hour so they are pretty efficient.
I have two points I think you missed, wood contains moisture which needs to take away energy to boil off before you get heat energy that you can use, big blocks don't dry out as easy as smaller blocks. I noticed you tend to have bigger flat slabs which do allow the moisture to migrate out to the surface before it gets to the stove. Number two, when you have an indoor stove every bit of the volume of air leaving your chimney has to be replaced by cold air entering through small cracks in you house. This explains cold corners and cold near windows that you don't get pumping hot water into the house.
I leave our front door cracked for fresh air, it's close to our stove. I live in a tiny cabin.
@@denverbasshead
You could also have the cold air intake use air from outside via a pipe.
@@Well_I_am_just_saying I didn't feel like cutting out the wall
Glad to see someone besides me burning less than perfect firewood. This fall was so dry in my area that I was able to get into places in my woods that are not normally accessible. Some of the wood I brought in in the summer had moss growing in places. Six months in the woodshed transformed what normally would have been wasted. Keep burning.
i have a suggestion for the wood splitter. what about moving the knife to the cylinder and putting the support on the left side. I see the machine turning and moving from the splitting. it would be more comfortable to operate, less jerking, and less time to reset the position from rotation of the machine to reset for a new split. anyway nice video as always
It is so interesting about wood. In my country we build houses and make furniture from pine, and oak is very expensive but also used for furniture or floors. Also, oak is like a national tree, and in most cases, it is forbidden to cut down. As firewood, we're using burch and other bushes. 😊
How am I supposed to eat my friday lunch with no video?
I was waiting all day bro😢
me too i need my friday fix
We only had a wood stove for the winter.... really puts things in perspective and teaches a kid to split wood
Excellent, informative and interesting video. I, too, love my firewood system. Now retired, and though every situation is different, after 36 years of heating with wood there are some indisputable facts: Well seasoned wood is the most important component of any wood burning system. Wood used for energy is not a renewable resource. Wood heat is in no way free heat. Wood is the dirtiest energy you can heat with. And, last but not least, well seasoned wood is the most important component of any wood burning system.
enjoyed that, i grew up 60's and 70's cutting, hauling, splitting, stacking, and burning wood, and i have a fire going in my stove right now. i also have 2 geothermal furnaces in my house. but i really enjoy wood heat during cold days.
I have a outdoor wood boiler and I love it! Its a Central Boiler CL 6048 classic and it burns whatever I put into it! No EPA nonsense! Its deff more work but give a consisten heat through all rooms and DM hot water plus a floor grid! Love every second of wood heat! Regardless of boilers model/make they are awesome! As far as "system" to load wood I havent figured that out either lol I handle mine from forest, wood rack, to boiler. I dont have a wood shed directly next to the boiler but I use a modified wheel barrow to move logs around.
Thank you. I appreciate the detail, simplicity and honesty of your video. I am just about to move into a house with an inside wood furnace and have been thinking about putting it outside. I grew up on a farm and 60 years ago I was the young schmuck cutting, splitting carrying and stacking the wood for a heater an a wood cook-stove....no thanks, give me a tractor any day!
Cheers
!
This is a soothing video. I am nearly a year from buying my homestead. Thanks for the instructional advice. Wood heat is part of my triple redundancy plan. I don't want my entire house to be totaled or die because electric power went out. Everything freezes, and infustructure fails. Like what happened in Texas...
hi there with you in almost every thing , been making wood boxes for over 20 years , , i made my boiler over 25 years ago big door , but find now just use smaller wood , at 72 cant lift them anymore , splitter to box and done , box to boiler . and a/freeze filled . good show , john
I pick logs up with tractor forks and cut at waist high. I scoop bucked wood with tractor and put in dump trailer. I Push splits up into a pile with tractor. big pieces I push up to splitter with tractor forks. I try to only lift wood to put into furnace. if you put sides on a more substantial carrier, you could use tractor to load bucked logs. blessings and stay safe!
When you covered the chamber with glass, pausing the video & slowing to .25 speed, gave an awsome view of that burn!
I have a Hardy H-4 stainless steel out door unit. Here in Ohio in a bad year I burn 14 cord, heating 6,000 sq feet. On a milder winter 6 cord. We love the heat. Set the thermostat on 73, you never see the house 74 or 72. Very uniform. But, if I did have free fire wood - it would be a no-go deal. Up hear firewood goes for anywhere between $200 and $400 a cord. Great video and very informative. When people ask, I always say, "Unless your wood is free - RUN from an outdoor heater!" Thanks Jon! Lee Yep, I got that far!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love the efficiency! We just use heat pumps in a 1600 sq ft house that is hyper insulated. Have wood stove for backup if power goes off. Appreciate the gassifyer explainer. I have a charcoal retort that uses the wood gas to finish the pyrolysis. Love your splitter!!
01/18/24. When I first viewed this log splitter in action, I missed the fact that it was splitting over the 2nd pile, but then got in closer and saw it was splitting in half over the 2nd pile. Now that is quite efficient especially using a mechanical device the move the cut logs, a WHOLE lot less effort to use. I’ve never used a log splitter but have watched a LOT of You Tube videos on a variety of them and your system beats them all so far. Good job.
Awesome. Gives me lots to think about as I set up my 120 acre forest homestead in the cascade foothills. Not sure if I want a wood boiler or not but its one thing to consider. Been thinking about setting my outdoor walkways up with pipe for radiant ice/snow management and only running that when needed.
Fall the trees, use two trunks to elevate the others like on a crude water raft construction.
Cut the trunks with the chainsaw ,bring the wood pallets and load them with the excavator (not manually)
Split the rest OVER wood pallet to reduce processing steps and handling. (you can enclose them to fill in bulk and open one side to empty them)
You can also rotate your wood shed on entrance gate rails/casters so it's facing or be 90° to the boiler for loading.(it would reduce handling.)
You can also use a jib crane pivoting exactly between the shed and boiler and small log graple to only move the wood from the storage to the boiler (a small collapsable rest chute under the boiler door would only get you to push the log in.
You would need to slide the wood shed roof on a side or open it with counter weights arms on its rear.
Pulling your trailered excavator with the tractor would let you do the job even quicker in 1 shot without moving machines separately.
Look at a "Transport Sleipner" solution or simply your trailer or a low profile trailer.
I use a splitter attached to a skid steer, very similar to your excavator. I have found after bucking the log, turn the log on end (like a seat) and split across the diameter. These machines have plenty of power and it's easier to "grab" the log.
Well Done! I came up with pretty much the same idea and system for moving my wood. I've fired wood kilns most of my life and as you say minimizing the amount of time spent processing and moving wood gives the best ROI! I do have a little splitter envy though. Been processing 10 -25 chords a year most of my life. Believe it or not I'm currently hand splitting my wood to keep me in shape through the winter at 63 years old. Just got my first tractor this year and hope to have my oversized wood pallets built for next year. Just got a forest/farm to take care of last year, so I'll have other stuff to keep me moving in the winter. Great video... I will subscribe and look forward to seeing what other content you have to offer!
Excellent video. Im with you, than the most efficient wood operation is one that you can manage and not become a huge burden.
I have been heating 3200 square feet in climate zone 7 with 100% wood for 15 years. We routinely see -30F and have to heat for 6 months a year. 3 cord, which includes all domestic hot water. Indoor gasification boiler (Tarm). Im in Northern Maine.
love your log splitter and im a 57 yr old who has split hundreds of cords . i understand the value of splitting those heavy rounds and dumping in a pile all in one step . very economical and fast
Long time viewer, first time commenter: Thanks so much for the metric measurements! Us Aussies appreciate it!
I came to your channel via ADS when they restored your injectors from your cool old JD track loader. That log splitter you have for your track hoe is amazing. I too split wood for many years by hand when we lived in Fairbanks Alaska. Good exercise when you are young. I finally broke down and bought an electric splitter. I should have done it way sooner. Young and dumb.😂 We no longer reside in Alaska as of 2013. Moved to a semi warmer climate, northern Idaho. I am looking forward to your next video on the dozer. Just watched this video about your wood boiler and saw all of the engine parts displayed on your work table. Curtis said in his video that he sent you a set of new rings. I can’t remember if he set you up with new bearings too. Thanks for your great content. Take care and stay safe.
John, I used to heat with wood when I was younger, it beat me up pretty well. Then I went to coal and the dust was terrible. Now at 65 I just turn up the thermostat and let the oil heat my house and garage. I think it's cheaper in the long run. I miss burning all my trash and Amazon boxes. I don't miss the bugs. That wood splitter is faster than those expensive wood processors, great idea.
Splitting wood while sitting down in a machine is such a luxury. Excellent work!
Love the splitter! You move and split in 1 semi-fluid motion, and that speeds up the operation a lot. Speaking of speed, there's no substitute for pump GPM, no waiting for it to split. Crunch! Done!
The farmer I used to work for in the 70's and 80's had a similar system to yours.
The main difference was instead of neatly hand staked pallets of wood, he had a bunch of larger pallets with a door that he bought at an auction.
He would load them directly with his loader and later his grapple and his tractor's front mounted log splitter.
Randomly piled up wood was about 4000 lbs, which was about his tractors maximum lift.
By hooking on a couple of short chains he could tip the pallets and unload right into his top loading boiler.
Eventually though, (as he got older) he decided wood was just too much work and he took advantage of a natural spring behind his house to feed a water loop heat pump.
Really enjoyed your video. We had a Central Boiler outdoor furnace that we used for just over 23 years until the firebox finally rusted through. I wasn't as diligent as you with keeping up the anti-rust solution in my water and I guess it finally caught up with me. I considered rebuilding the furnace but decided against it as my wood processing was not as efficient as yours and the major fact that I'm getting up in age and the wood seems to be getting heavier every year. I handled the wood quite a few more times than you. Not to mention that even though I had 23 acres of wooded land I chose to purchase my wood from local loggers upping the cost of my heating bill. We've since switched to propane and find it much easier in comparison as well as cheaper in the long run, at least at today's prices. I just subscribed, looking forward to seeing the completion of your John Deere 1010 project. I happen to be a big John Deere fan. Thanks again.
Well, so much for that idea. I didn't think of sparks jumping across the gap. Glad you had the same idea though. I know you said you don't mind the exercise, but...
Years ago I saw a farm show on tv where a farm in Alberta had a log deck feeding the stove. Go back to the burny layout but further apart allowing for the spark factor and span the gap with an elevated conveyer on go cart tires with an overhang that fits the through the burner door. Lower at the shed side then rising up through the wood door should get your wood shoulder height in the stove. I'm thinking grain conveyer.
I have a Vogelzang High eff. what you put in one load heats my house for a week. I use so little it is amazing. I have been burning wood for 40 years. I think the outdoor wood boilers are the least eff.
If you had the trailer hitch on your backfill blade with a box trailer you can just fill up that trailer anywhere on your property you wanted to go without having to take those tractors.
And having that trailer connected to your excavators is great for hauling materials and supplies around your property while using the excavator to do most of the other work.
Extremely informative...didn’t realize they even made gasifier wood. Boiler - definetly the way to go!!!
Nice setup! Over here in eastern Europe, I also use a gasifier wood burner brand is ATMOS (smaller in size, mine is about 45l and 20kW), and in addition to it a buffer of water, basically a tank (1000l) were the heated water is stored. This is good for running the gasifier at full "throttle" and getting as much energy out of the wood as possible. Smoldering for long periods of time is less efficient and creates a lot of tar deposits. The disadvantage of that is that you need to make another fire every 24h or so. Major difference is that what burners you can find around this part of the world are designed to be used inside a building, usually having an additional room to the house where the burner is set. I like the idea of an outdoor one, seems less risky, fire wise. How do you prevent heat loss trough the pipes for such a long distance? What insulation do you use?
We like using our land also for heating our home, by installing solar panels and use the excess power to run our heat pump. I can say that we used a wood boiler with fan control from an old oil boiler that we built into our ground level basement in NY, and it worked. ( used two pumps with one being battery powered from any one of our vehicles during any power failure ) However we found out over the years that it was more cost effective to sell the wood and just use gas to heat our home and that worked for a while. Now we live down in North Carolina and mostly burn wood from our acres of woods on our land for fun, exercise, and beauty of watching the fire in our living room with duct work embedded in the fireplace and chimney to extract the warm air . Like mentioned earlier, our main source of heat is now heat pump and also our hot water tank is a heat pump since we get free power from the paid off solar panels on our land. I see what your doing and if we were neighbors, I would join you just for the fun of it, but sooner or later I believe you will figure it out that it is costing you to burn wood. Yes your video was interesting to me, I used to do just what you are doing and it was in many ways fun, too old now to do this like I use to, still have my diesel tractor though and still running on all cylinders/ LOL Be safe out there in that wood lot.
THANKS FARMCRAFT, REALLY ENJOY YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND VIDS, AND YOU SHARING WITH US! OUR BEST TO YOU!
I kind of build my own wood boiler system. I have a wood stove in my workshop which is attached to my house. I basically put a copper coil under the wood great in the stove and have a 50 gallon barrel of water sitting next to it. Put a check valve on the inlet side and it just sits there percolating water through and heating it up. Then I pump the hot water into the house through an old radiator out of a car with a 12-volt fan on it. I do also only live in about 600 sq ft small house so that does a pretty good job of keeping it warm in there. I also live in the Pacific Northwest where there's plenty of trees so there's never a shortage of down or dead trees that need to be taken out.
Jon, came back and watch this video again to show my wife how a wood boiler works. I have 286 acres of land with tons of trees falling every year. So, this is the way to go for us and heat. I really like yours and wonder if there is a way to use propane should you go on vacation at some point and can't be there to toss wood in. You know just run it at a low temperature to keep the pipes in the house from freezing.
Hey Danny. There’s no easy way to do that with propane that I’ve ever seen. I just use the heat pump in that instance and shut the boiler down. Unless you’ll be back in a couple days the boiler can usually handle that.
i got into rocket stoves years ago learned about gasafication .wood smoke like you proved in the video is very flameable.when you opend that door.i have seen people run autos on wood smoke . very cool.i love your videos john allways interesting.
It has been years since I burned fire wood primarily. I like you have your system down effectively as possible. I have to give credit that the splitter on the mini awesome use of work smarter not harder.
Interesting and inciteful.
When we had a firebox indoors, we'd use about as much wood as you have on a pallet in a season. The scale is just so different. Ofcourse here in Melbourne the lowest temperature we will see is just a tad under 0cC in mid Winter so we only have to raise the house temperature by 20oC, where you are, you have to raise the house temperature by 50oC above ambient. Thats a big difference and when one considers the losses (due to temperature differences), its no wonder you burn wood at such a rate.
I was wondering when you would finally get to the wood boiler since you hinted at it a few episodes back… Great job as usual!
Thanks for showing us!
That was an amazing video! So much information and so much innovation. You're a smart man. This one causes me to consider this methodology for heating my upcoming house in the woods. Thanks, brother.
John love what your life is about. Brings back many memories for me.
Excellent information. I’m particularly satisfied that you informed viewers upfront that purchasing firewood negates any cost benefit of wood heating. The old adage “you can save more money at the kitchen table with a pencil, paper and math”, than you ever could by running out spending money cost saving.
It’s interesting to think about the costs of cooling a building, indoor air quality. Keeping a building at a comfortable temperature and humidity is very difficult. The cost of cooling is significant in many areas, and not easily solved.
Spot heating hot water, making use of passive heating and cooling, high efficiency heat pumps might be a better alternative for many situations. One size doesn’t fit all.
I like your operation from the pallets to the shed, ya the shed a little bigger to fit your loaded pallets in would be nice. I really like the wood splitter on the excavator. If you had your pallet in place you could almost split the logs into the pallet with you operating skills. Very nice operation, im impressed. Thanks for sharing
You can be even more efficient by laying all the wood you cut in a row so the log splitter can pick up easier and the pieces will be flat on the ground for support. I love the log splitter you built.
I agree, It's very rewarding to use the resources that you have on your property.😊