Lets think for a second about what can be burned in a
"Burn Everything" wood stove, or in a pinch, a conventional
one:
wood (bark and innards)
leaves
paper (you can roll paper logs too)
furniture
dried grass, weeds, plants
and if your freezing to death and really need fuel:
hair
dry human or animal feces
plastic
So when the SHTF I'm not too worried about heat since i have a woodstove and lots of fuel.
Can you think of anything else?
Patrick
Natural Fuels (Really Natural)
Moderator: Peak Moderation
Natural Fuels (Really Natural)
Failing to plan is planning to fail
Patrick,
Yeah, lots of stuff burns. The problems come when you have lots of people who start burning whatever they can find: 1) Few will be experienced with fires and not everyone will be careful, and 2) where there's a lot of fires there'll be a lot of smoke, leading to both short-term, local air quality problems and long-term, global climate change problems.
The present population returning en-mass to heating/cooking by fire is one of the worst outcomes I see to peak oil, and one of the reasons I'm trying to raise awareness and discussion that will hopefully lead to better solutions.
Yeah, lots of stuff burns. The problems come when you have lots of people who start burning whatever they can find: 1) Few will be experienced with fires and not everyone will be careful, and 2) where there's a lot of fires there'll be a lot of smoke, leading to both short-term, local air quality problems and long-term, global climate change problems.
The present population returning en-mass to heating/cooking by fire is one of the worst outcomes I see to peak oil, and one of the reasons I'm trying to raise awareness and discussion that will hopefully lead to better solutions.
Yes, thats something along the lines of what I was thinking when I wrote this. There will be too many people burning trash, plastic, tires (horrible for the environment) and all kinds of disgusting things. A couple years back my neighbor would burn trash and sometimes tires, It would really stink, not to mention hurt the ozone layer. But they moved away, (they came from the city and tried to be farmers out here in the sticks, hah!) But I digress.jwanders wrote:Patrick,
Yeah, lots of stuff burns. The problems come when you have lots of people who start burning whatever they can find: 1) Few will be experienced with fires and not everyone will be careful, and 2) where there's a lot of fires there'll be a lot of smoke, leading to both short-term, local air quality problems and long-term, global climate change problems.
The present population returning en-mass to heating/cooking by fire is one of the worst outcomes I see to peak oil, and one of the reasons I'm trying to raise awareness and discussion that will hopefully lead to better solutions.
People should know these things!
By the way, I read somewhere that a really good and efficient wood stove wouldn't cause very much air pollution. Is this true? Also, my wood stove only heats the kitchen (the room it's in) and the adjacent living room. The rest of the house is cold. Is it inefficient because it's 15+ years old?
I hope your a stove expert
Thanks,
Pat
Failing to plan is planning to fail
Hi Patrick,
You can buy clean-burning stoves which have a secondary combustion chamber to get rid of particulates in the flue gases, which get rid of a lot of the pollution problem.
Your stove is probably perfectly good, and if it is running on its own without a back boiler, is probably doing quite well to heat a couple of rooms. A lot depends on air circulation in your property, and the water content of the wood you are using (as well as the size of your rooms, of course!)
You can get stoves with back boilers which will run your hot water and radiators too - I have one, and I love it!
You can buy clean-burning stoves which have a secondary combustion chamber to get rid of particulates in the flue gases, which get rid of a lot of the pollution problem.
Your stove is probably perfectly good, and if it is running on its own without a back boiler, is probably doing quite well to heat a couple of rooms. A lot depends on air circulation in your property, and the water content of the wood you are using (as well as the size of your rooms, of course!)
You can get stoves with back boilers which will run your hot water and radiators too - I have one, and I love it!
Andy Hunt
http://greencottage.burysolarclub.net
http://greencottage.burysolarclub.net
Eternal Sunshine wrote: I wouldn't want to worry you with the truth.
Most stove manufacturers make a good clean-burning range. My favourites are the Morso clean-burners - absolutely solid, top-quality, and best of all, they have lovely emblems of animals cast into the sides of the stove, according to the name of each model (mine is a Dove, you can get Squirrels, Owls etc etc)
http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_burn ... toves.html
http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_burn ... toves.html
Andy Hunt
http://greencottage.burysolarclub.net
http://greencottage.burysolarclub.net
Eternal Sunshine wrote: I wouldn't want to worry you with the truth.