Wood Heat: The Heating Device 1

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Heating with wood has both advantages and disadvantages.   Whether it is possible to conveniently maintain a wood heat source depends on a number of factors:  life-style, fuel source and type of heating device. 

Camp Fire

  Your basic campfire isn’t really a very good heat source.  The heat is thrown in multiple directions; there is no wall around it to retain the heat.  People trying to get warm in front of it will toast on one side and freeze on the other.  It can be improved by putting a large log or stack of logs at one side of the fire to reflect the warmth and erecting a rain fly or lean-to behind the people trying to get warm.

Bonfire

See Campfire above.  Lots of heat is generated, and this is a massive waste of fuel, besides being a potential fire hazard.

Fire Pit

Whether this is dug into the ground or a modern free-standing device, this improves the containment of the fire.  The free-standing variety has the added benefit of not baking the earth where it is used, and removing the necessity of disturbing the soil with digging.   It has a lot of the same problems as Camp Fire.

Fireplace

Fireplaces come in a variety of types.  Probably the earliest types were simply a fire pit enclosed by four walls and a roof with a hole for the smoke to escape.  Later, chimneys were constructed to guide the smoke out of the room.   Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, a German physicist specializing in thermodynamics designed the “Rumford Fireplace”, featuring a slanted back and narrow throat for smoke exhaust.  There is the kiva style fireplace, which combines practicality and beauty.   The shepherd’s hearth of the old southwest, featured a sturdy mantel wide enough for a human to sleep there.  Modern fireplaces may have insets that circulate air or water, increasing the efficiency of this age-old heating device.

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Pot Belly Stove & Other Heating Stoves

At some juncture, it was noted that placing the fire in a container made it more portable than building a fireplace.  As stoves developed, it was discovered that they were safer heat sources because they contained the sparks and embers from the fire.  They also distributed the heat more evenly than traditional fireplaces.  Potbelly stoves took up a moderate amount of floor space while having a generous amount of heatable surface.

Warm Morning Heaters were really nice stoves.   They had an enameled metal jacket with grate-like slots for helping distribute the heat while placing a barrier between family members and hot metal.  Some of them had electric blowers to help move the air around; others depended on natural convection.  While they were monsters to get fired up, they held heat for a long time.  ( I owned one at one time.  Very nice stove, but it took quite a fire to get all that metal warmed up.)

 Barrel Stove:  This was a home-made stove, much touted in the mid to late seventies.  For a time, you could buy kits which included a door, hinges and legs.  The construction of one of these babies required a steel barrel and the ability to weld.  I had a kit for a while, but never managed to get it put together.

Swedish Ceramic Stove:    I’ve always wanted one of these.  They are quite pricey, but they are touted to be very reliable and to be an excellent way to create a very cozy home.   They are frequently pictured with small children sitting on or near them, and they have lovely tile designs.  I’m afraid my experience with them is limited to looking at pictures and reading about them.

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Wood Cooking Range:    I grew up with one of these, and when I was doing my back-to-the-land bit, it was the main heat source for our home, as well as the primary cooking device.   They aren’t a good room heater; and they will about drive you out of the house in summer.  (Point of fact, as soon as spring rolled around, we moved most of our cooking out-of-doors, and when real summer hit we used a camp stove.)   On the other hand, dry beans can be cooked to perfection only on a wood stove.  Bread baked in a wood-heated oven has a flavor that cannot be reproduced by gas or electric appliances.  Dish water stays warm on a stove top.   And a mid-morning cup of tea stays hot long enough to read a couple of chapters of your favorite novel with your feet propped up on the ash drawer to toast your toes if you set it on the open oven door.   

Airtight Heaters:    These are a more modern item, and, like the ceramic stove, one which I have looked at but never used.  They are purported to hold a fire better than their precursors, burn with a more steady heat, and many have fire brick or soap stone linings in the bottom of the firebox to hold heat after the fire itself is burned out.  They come in several attractive designs, and as room heaters go, are not exceptionally expensive.

Wood Furnace—Inside:  Wood furnaces are traditionally located in basements.  The oldest models did not have blowers, relying on the heated air to rise naturally through heating vents.  The historical Greeks had similar devices, as did the Chinese.  Because a furnace has a larger firebox than a heater or fireplace (usually), larger wood may be used.  The fire will, therefore, last longer keeping the home at a more even temperature for a greater amount of  time.   A fair amount of fuel can be stored in the basement, as well, diminishing the chore of carrying in wood to feed the fire.

Wood Furnace—Outside:  A fairly recent development in wood heat is the free-standing furnace locate outside the home.   These are a variety of air-tight burners, and are designed to be loaded with wood twice daily.  Correctly installed, the function much the same way as the furnace in the basement, with the added advantage of keeping all the mess of ash, and wood bits out-of-doors.

A wood fire can be enjoyable.  Correctly managed, it can heat water, cook food, and toast your tootsies all at the same time.  Badly set up or badly maintained, it will bake you on one side, and let you freeze on the other.  Improperly tended, it can burn your house down, leaving you homeless.   It requires more work than gas or electric.   The old saying goes that wood is the heat that warms you twice; once when you are working to cut it and carry it into the house, and once when you actually burn it.  I miss drowsing in front of the kitchen stove with my book and cup of tea; but I don’t miss the mess or the perpetual chill down the middle of my back.

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