Winter

[S.A. Boggs]

Have learned much so far and much is needed to correct. Turns out burned more wood than expected and supplier was out of stock. Had to resort to fuel blocks and pellets which is a pain. Also, stoves not up to heating at the temps we experienced. One morning was a -18 and brother that is cold. Stoves in the bedroom did great, so just have to upgrade the other two stoves with a more efficient model. After research going to a Blaze King for the Great Room and a wood cook stove in my toy room. The stove I have in mind will do three things and we can save money. A] provide adequate heat, B] cook our food saving propane, C] with an added coil in the firebox and connected to our house system can provide hot water, saving energy. My Amish buddy does this and he reports all the hot water his family needs.
Sam

[Allen]

I've never experienced the temps you have and don't want to but I have experienced many events where no cooling/heating/water/power/gas/gasoline was available during storm outages. You may need to resort to basically live in one room during the roughest days. Conserve what wood you can muster up to just one or two heaters. Sleep, eat, TV in the same room kinda like camping. Your dogs will adjust to it too.

[S.A. Boggs]

I've never experienced the temps you have and don't want to but I have experienced many events where no cooling/heating/water/power/gas/gasoline was available during storm outages. You may need to resort to basically live in one room during the roughest days. Conserve what wood you can muster up to just one or two heaters. Sleep, eat, TV in the same room kinda like camping. Your dogs will adjust to it too.

We have adapted and overcome our situation. Split the wood into smaller section and burning is a great help, as is the compressed wood block. I use a kindling cracker that is imported from Australia to split the wood. The small stove in the bedroom does a fantastic job as I kept our bedroom between 75-80 with a small amount of wood each day. Anything below 75 and my back rebels in disgust. Going to add more insulation wherever possible and again, more efficient heaters. Come April I am having a large woodshed built that can hold 20 cords of wood.
Sam

[Allen]

Come April I am having a large woodshed built that can hold 20 cords of wood.
Sam

There ya go. The few here that use wood burning fireplaces cut wood year round and stock it for cold weather. There's always someone who has a fallen limb in their yard that's glad to give it away to someone who will cut it up and take it away. Once cold weather gets here everyone wants wood as you know.

[S.A. Boggs]

My dealer said that he has sold more firewood than he normally does and everybody wanted it yesterday! He has a tree trimming service as well as a yard work business, so he and his crew stays quite busy. What I like is that his prices are quite reasonable for my area of Ohio.
Sam