Brrr need firewood

[cyndezu]

I'd like some firewood delivered, not sure where to buy or what to pay.

[NellieBly]

I called a number I found in the Tulsa World Services directory in the classified ads. They delivered a rick(?) of cured pecan for 85 dollars. On a Sunday.

[Conan71]

Firewood?!?  What a global warming/carbon footprint disaster waiting to happen!  You are cold and heartless.  I'm going to sic Algore on you.

[}:)]

Nellie, if you have some decent chips/chunks of Pecan left over next spring, it's a better smoking wood than Hickory for flavor.  Fortunately for me, my best friend has a farm with a whole grove of Pecan on it.

[cyndezu]

ashes are good for the environment...
not a$$es []

[Steve]

My opinions on home wood/burning fireplaces:

I live in a 50+ year older home with a wood burning fireplace, and rarely use it, only on cool days when the outside temperature is above 50 degrees.  I only use it now once or twice a year for ambience when company is over.

I had a roaring fire going about a month ago, and just happened to walk down the bedroom hallway where my gas central furnace closet is.  The fire was drawing all its combustion air from outside the house, down the gas furnace air intake pipe, and out the crack below the door to the furnace closet and into my home.  There was actually a cold wind coming into my house from the furnace closet.  That was the last time I have used my fireplace and really illustrated to me what an energy waster a fireplace can be.  What I should do is install sealed glass doors on my fireplace inside (and I can't believe how expensive these can be) and then open the ash dump door inside the fireplace to draw combustion air from the outside, not from inside the house.  Even if I were to do that, 80% or more of the heat would go straight up the chimney, not into my home.  In any event, my fireplace is good only for ambience/looks at best, not as an efficient heating source.

If you live in a newer home with a fireplace that has a dedicated outside combustion air supply line, then good.  But for me, the fireplace is a giant money waster, just drawing heated home air up the chimney.

[Conan71]

I learned my lesson about wood burning fireplaces with my first house.  Built late 1920's, crawl space, orginal windows with marginal storm windows.  I lit a fire one night and we froze our asses off from draft coming in everywhere.  That was the last time I did that.  I had a woodburner in my next house which was built in the '60's and that was actually pretty good.  Reality is, unless you've got some sort of fan system or radiant heat device coming off your fireplace, they are pretty much for ambiance, not practicality, unless you enjoy sitting 4 ft. in front of your fireplace.

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

I learned my lesson about wood burning fireplaces with my first house.  Built late 1920's, crawl space, orginal windows with marginal storm windows.  I lit a fire one night and we froze our asses off from draft coming in everywhere.  That was the last time I did that.  I had a woodburner in my next house which was built in the '60's and that was actually pretty good.  Reality is, unless you've got some sort of fan system or radiant heat device coming off your fireplace, they are pretty much for ambiance, not practicality, unless you enjoy sitting 4 ft. in front of your fireplace.

You are right.  A fireplace has to have some source of combustion air and 9 times out of 10, it will draw the air from inside your house, the air you have already paid to heat via the furnace.  It will suck in air from every crack and crevice in the structure of your house.  I found that out as you did.

My house was built in 1954, but my fireplace was added in the late 1960's in a garage conversion project.  It is on an outside south wall.  Fortunately, they built in an ash dump into the floor, with access to the outside, so I could use that as a combustion air source and seal the front with glass doors.  In any case, I would never use my fireplace as a major heat source.  It is just a nice novelty to have on mildly cool nights for company and ambience.

[T Badd]

One of the things I miss the most here in Tulsa is the smell of wood-burning fireplaces. Back in the early '80s, my entire neighborhood would start up fires as soon as it got cold and the aromas of those logs would waft around throughout the Winter. Now most people have converted their fireplaces to gas-only, or simply don't use it anymore due to the heat waste. Even worse is walking outside and catching a strong whiff of your neighbor's DuraFlame log burning...YUK!!

This discussion makes me really miss the sounds/sights/smells of a "real" fire. I think I'll buy a 1/2 rick of some good hardwood this weekend and throw those damn gas logs out in the garage. I probably don't use my fireplace but 4-5 times year anyway...so it's not like it will affect my heating bill THAT much. I might as well enjoy it when I do decide to light one.

[cannon_fodder]

I burn the hell out my fireplace this time of year.  

My house was built in 1989 and has a gas/wood vented fireplace.  It has an intact from outside that it draws ~50% of its air from it the doors are open (closed its obviously 100% but without the vent open it is not enough to sustain a decent fire).  It keeps our living room & dining room areas warm without noticeable draft cooling to the rest of the house (my furnace and water heater doors seal).

No, it is not the most efficient means of heating a home.  If you run your furnace at the same time and have an older/drafty home it could very well be a net loss.  But it sure is nice to sit next to a nice fire on a cold Oklahoma night.
- - -

If you are interesting in getting heat get a wood burning stove that has a 4" pipe coming from outside and a flu (flew?) that bends on its way out (so as to expose the heat from the flu).  My family owns a cabin in Ontario and 2 of those keep a 1200 Sq' foot nearly uninsulated cabin (actually a 800 sq ft cabin and a 400 sq ft enclosed porch thing) warm during a Canadian winter.  Very often if its just ~30F outside we'll have to crack a window when some drunkard stokes that thing up.

Fireplaces never were efficient sources of heat.

[breitee]

Flue.

[cannon_fodder]

Damn English language, all having 3 words that mean the same thing and being spelled different.

[Conan71]

All this talk of combustion air, venting, etc. sounds just like my work. []

[RecycleMichael]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

Damn English language, all having 3 words that mean the same thing and being spelled different.

A flea and a fly flew into a flue. Said the flea, "let us fly." Said the fly, "let us flee." So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

[jiminy]

Suddenly I can think of a good reason to have a fireplace...

[Breadburner]

Thank god...For ONG...Gas Logs...And a 150 watt power inverter....O yeah I'm glad I'm not a squirrel....heh...Shut up Conan....