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The US DOE designed the most efficient wood stoves during Jimmy Carter's presidency (he was an engineer by training). Those are the same ones we use today. Th
by FunnyBadger 4y ago
The US DOE designed the most efficient wood stoves during Jimmy Carter's presidency (he was an engineer by training). Those are the same ones we use today. This isn't a recent thing. This includes cat converter wood stoves.
Strictly wood is NOT a carbon footprint because it's part of a short-term carbon cycle (in <100 years it's already back into trees).
Until recently I lived in the boonies and ONLY used wood for heating.
The biggest problem with wood: you have to constantly manage/regulate the fueling and heating - even the best stoves need to be refilled in 4-6 hours when the temperature is below 10C. Further, you only get this if you've aged (dried) the wood for 2 years first. Newly cut wood is 20-30% water and the heat of vaporization to steam radically reduces the heating value of the burned wood.
- nkurz 4y agoI downvoted this because I think you are wrong about some crucial details. Woodstoves have in fact improved considerably since the late 70's: higher efficiency, longer reload times, and lower emissions. Modern woodstoves do not need to be refilled every 4-6 hours. I'm in a good position to assert this, since we live in Vermont (a place with cold winters) and heat almost exclusively with wood. We recently upgraded from what was a state-of-the-art 1980's stove to a start-of-the-art 2020's stove. Doing so reduced our fuel consumption by about 30%, and improved our reload time from the 4-6 hours you mention to 8-10 hours. After upgrading, I no longer have to get up in the night to feed the fire. And this is in a 100 year old house with overnight outside temperatures frequently in the -20C to -10C range (-5F to 15F). I do agree with you though on the necessity of properly drying wood and on the carbon cycle.