Burning Softwoods

[thistlebloom]

@Pulsegleaner, sounds to me like moving time. Why does everybody put up with that baloney?

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Partly because a lot of them WROTE that baloney or else don't care. I say I'm suburban, but its a very urban suburban. Most of my neighbors are up an coming professional families. If they have kids they might have a small veggie garden for them, but other than that, their yards are the kind of thing they leave to their gardeners and landscapers. Plus, I think we're currently the only house with any significant numbers of trees close enough to anything to cause any damage if they fall. Our neighbors may have 40-50ft oaks like we do, but theirs are all a good 50-60 ft away from their house. They've got lawn, we've got scrub.

Fact is I sort of understand why the tree law is in place. Chopping down multi century old oaks is not something one should be able to do on a whim. We need the shade and cover and there is the matter of keeping your property nice for the next person who gets it (and this isn't the kind of place where houses get handed down generation to generation so "my land, my right to do whatever I damn well please with it, doesn't really work logically." And trees that old deserve respect (I actually conducted funeral rights when I was kid for one of them, since it WAS probably going on 8-900 when it went (how long does it take oaks to develop that "onion bulb" base?) I just wish they'd add a loophole for "emergency" situations. And to be fair I can't seem to recall any case of anyone ACTUALLY bringing suit for a tree fall. Even back when I was a kid and our pine fell on the babysitter's friend's car, I think the car's insurance covered everything. And the rules really only apply to trees tall enough to make a difference in the shading (we could take down those crabapples whenever we wanted since they are shortish. We're just too lazy to get around to calling the tree guy (though we did hack half of the healthier one off when it began to split and endanger one of the power wires)

But it is all academic. Here I am, and here I will probably remain for the future.

 

[Jared77]

Probably some nonsense about the greater good.....keeping up property values nonsense who knows. I've never understood HOAs.

 

[Pinusresinosa]

"Softwoods" like pine and whatnot burn fast at lower temps, and over time they're less efficient (and they burn dirty if they don't get hot enough). They do fine in heaters but you go through the wood faster and it can make for a mess. But, like around here, cut cords of pine are cheaper than hardwoods like oak and maple, and honestly it sort of evens out. So, for us, it's whatever's closest at good prices relative to what the material is. Personally, if you've got an outdoor stove and you don't like being outside a long while getting that thing up to heat and stuff, pine is good because it catches fast and for some reason for me, it's easier to maintain. I just sort of head outside every few hours to check on my animals and mess with the stove, works out well. A LOT of pine around here too!

 

[thistlebloom]

Welcome @Pinusresinosa! It's good to have you here, maybe you could introduce yourself on the "Where am I, Where are you?" thread.
Looking forward to hearing more about your animals and gardens.

I assume you cook on that outdoor stove?

 

[Pinusresinosa]

Heh! No.. we mostly use it to heat the main living areas of our home right now. It's pretty small- makes a good dent in the propane budget though! Last winter's propane prices were rough.

 

[Nyboy]

Weclome Pinusresina !! I live near Pulsegleainer, while you can get a very large fine for cutting down a tree, the developers have no problem clear cuttng. Land is sold by the foot here, when building muli million dollar homes a few thousand in fines are nothing. Behind me are wetlands they where zoned unbuildable. Developer gave town few million zone changed, there now over 20 homes starting at 3 million going up to 6 million

 

[canesisters]

@Nyboy , that just amazes me.... Here in southern VA I paid $200,000 for house, barn, 20acres of wooded hills.
Now.. if I could afford to install one of those outdoor woodburning furnaces to heat the house and water I could get rid of the propane tank and make USE of all those woods.

 

[digitS']

I didn't have an outside furnace when I had several acres of forest. Those trees were mostly lodgepole pine, not the best firewood but not terrible.

I'm not sure if I knew then how simple something like that outside furnace could be. Organic Gardening had an article about a very simple, passive system - I guess quite common in rural Scandinavia and the story had the owner burning straw ..!

It is essentially a stove in a shed. I'd want it fireproof and well insulated. Warm air moves (up) into the house through ducts. I don't believe they even had a fan and just controlled the air by opening and closing the duct. I bet the furnace room is hot throughout the winter.

There are much more sophisticated outside systems on the market.

Steve

 

[Nyboy]

Cane that would get you a studio in a good building here.