Please recommend me a space heater

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

72 is waayyyy too hot. I'd be opening windows at that point. 60-65 is fine for me.

 

[lxskllr]

:shrugs: Works for me, and the only "big" equipment I have is a mid size pickup. I probably have over $10k in gear, but that isn't directly related to firewood. All I need for that is a single saw, and a maul + wedges.

 

[MrSquished]

72 is waayyyy too hot. I'd be opening windows at that point. 60-65 is fine for me.

I have olive oil blood, from the Mediterranean. 64 is way too cold to just hang out in unless I wear more clothes.

72, the HVAC barely goes on, I'm hanging out in a tshirt and jammy pants.

In the summer I keep it the same. 72, sometimes 71. That's when I pay the utility company more depending on the weather.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I haven't used my wood burner yet this year and will probably take it out in the Spring. I've used it for the past 10 years or so and I've just run out of the energy and desire to mess with it.

Find the wood.
Cut the wood.
Haul the wood.
Sort the wood.
Split the wood.
Haul the wood.
Stack the wood.
Haul the wood.
Load the wood.
Check the wood to make sure it's burning well.
Shovel the ash.
Haul the ash.

Who needs heat? You're sweating like a pig in 10 degree weather.


And free? Nope. Costs of saws, splitters, fuels, other tools and machines, maintenance on everything.

That's the nice thing about wood, it heats you a few times before you even have to burn it! The cost is negligible compared to utilities though. One month of utility bill is pretty much going to cover the stuff you need to get enough for the year, accounting for wear and tear. I use an electric saw so don't even need to account for gas. Though if I'm going on a trip strictly to get firewood then I do need to account for the gas for the truck. But most of the time I will try to get wood opportunistically if I'm already out and about.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I can get all the wood I can use, and a whole lot more. Neighbors love to get rid of the many years of deadfalls. No silly wood rules or permits here either.

I just ain't got the gumption no more.

 

[NutBucket]

Muse lives in the Bay Area...so about 400 miles north of LA. That said, I used to live in a part of metro LA that occasionally dipped into the 30's.

 

[Muse]

Don't you live in Socal near the ocean?

How much "colder" than 48f could it even have been outdoors this morning?

Not saying that you need to keep the place at 70f all the time but if indoors is at/near the same temp as outdoors you might as well be living in a tent! (even Cheez has better heat then that lol)

No, not Socal (I know SoCal well, I grew up in L.A. and have lots of family south of there, especially in San Diego). I'm in Berkeley and it's chillier than Socal, one reason I like it here. In SoCal the winters can be not so different from the summers, it's samey. Here there are seasons, not as much as where you are, not by a long shot, but much more contrast than L.A. I've never lived south of L.A. but my impression is that San Diego isn't all that much different. It may actually be a bit cooler, not sure.

 

[Muse]

There might be difficulty finding this wood thing to burn in San Fran.

I have quite a bit of dry wood on hand but if I burned a lot I'd run out. I have it from my two not-dwarf plum trees. I have trimmed them for years (electric chainsaw) and usually save the wood in order to burn in my living room's fire place. I have only done it maybe a couple of times this winter so far. I make small fires, it warms me while I sit in front of it. I have a screen to put in front for when I step away (the danger of sparks starting a house fire is greatly diminished with a fireplace screen, of course). I save the ashes for fertilizer in my back yard where I grow vegetables in the summer growing season. I don't really grow winter vegetables anymore, but I do have cilantro and rosemary growing in pots currently.

 

[Muse]

That's the nice thing about wood, it heats you a few times before you even have to burn it! The cost is negligible compared to utilities though. One month of utility bill is pretty much going to cover the stuff you need to get enough for the year, accounting for wear and tear. I use an electric saw so don't even need to account for gas. Though if I'm going on a trip strictly to get firewood then I do need to account for the gas for the truck. But most of the time I will try to get wood opportunistically if I'm already out and about.

A bright friend of mine (Harvard grad) told me about the dangers of air pollution from burning wood. The particulate matter tossed off by a fireplace (I suppose less so from a wood stove) will presumably shorten your life expectancy. In recent times I've been wearing one of my N95's when I make a fire in my fireplace.

 

[Sukhoi]

If you need an N95 to have a fire in your fireplace your chimney ain't workin' right. Assumin' it's workin' right, you're getting far more dangerous pollution from I-80 to the west that blows all across Berkeley because of the prevailing winds. https://www.latimes.com/local/calif...ution-what-you-can-do-20171230-htmlstory.html

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

That may be among the silliest things I've ever read on any forum.

 

[Muse]

If you need an N95 to have a fire in your fireplace your chimney ain't workin' right. Assumin' it's workin' right, you're getting far more dangerous pollution from I-80 to the west that blows all across Berkeley because of the prevailing winds. https://www.latimes.com/local/calif...ution-what-you-can-do-20171230-htmlstory.html

I just don't know but I can sure smell it after I make a fire ... for a day or so.

 

[Muse]

That may be among the silliest things I've ever read on any forum.

Um, what???

 

[Red Squirrel]

A bright friend of mine (Harvard grad) told me about the dangers of air pollution from burning wood. The particulate matter tossed off by a fireplace (I suppose less so from a wood stove) will presumably shorten your life expectancy. In recent times I've been wearing one of my N95's when I make a fire in my fireplace.

The old style fireplaces were pretty terrible, efficiency and air quality wise. The newer wood stoves with reburner tubes should generate very little particulates though. The catalytic ones are even better but are more picky about the type of wood. You mostly have to burn hard wood with those and since you can't get that locally in the bush you need to buy it at a premium.

I wouldn't go as far as wearing a mask while using the wood stove but might not be a bad idea when cleaning the chimney. Though I'll see how bad when it comes time to do mine for the first time.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I was just standing outside burning a mid-sized brush pile, standing right in the smoke flow.

No tissue under my nose.



I love the smell of smoke in the morning. Or afternoon.