LIVING OFF GRID

This blog is about our travels in our solar powered "Airstream" and living off grid, in our passive solar home, near Bancroft, Ontario, Canada.

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Thursday 27 September 2012

JAMIE'S FIRE METHOD

Mary came home and said we needed to make some changes in our wood stove. Since our firewood is free we want to utilize the stove as much as possible this winter and are on a learning curve to do it properly. Jamie had some sound ideas.


First task was to clean out the old ash. More about that job in another post.




Jamie's suggestion, which I liked, was to elevate our fire logs with some type of steel grate. I had these strips of rebar left over from construction, so used them. This will allow the air to flow freely around and under the wood giving a cleaner faster burn.





Next he helped Mary with selecting two items. The propane torch seen above makes lighting the fire so much easier.....................




................ and the wood pellets will act as an excellent fire starter. Jamie is a big fan of wood pellets and would have a pellet stove in a minute.




This is a small sample of our stash of firewood for the winter. We have about 6 cords that have been drying for two years so we hope we have enough.






So there you have it and the final results can be seen above ............ one cozy, crackling fire to sit beside. Thanks for all your help Jamie.



5 comments:

  1. Hi Art and Mary: We are enjoying watching the progress of your house and are amazed at the wonderful help your have. Mike and I are at the Top of Georgia (TOP) Airstream Park. It is a beautiful park in North Georgia. Full hook ups with cable and wi-fi for 6 dollars a night. We will be here until the 1st of November or so. We have reconnected with a lot of old friends and the weather is beautiful. Tony is doing great with his truck driving. We told him that you have asked about him of your blog a few times and I am sure you will be hearing from him soon. Keep up the good work. Connie and Mike

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  2. Hi Connie and Mike;

    Sounds like you have found a perfect campsite. Great to reconnect with old friends and at $6.00/night a real bargain. We will check it out next time we are going through there.

    Have work to do in the attic today before the spray foam goes in on Wednesday. Also my workshop shed will be arriving any time now as the delivery guy just called.

    Chat later.Always good to hear from you

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  3. my dad has (and uses all winter) a wood stove I'll pass that grate tip onto him!

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  4. ha ha ha, no pun intended (grate, great)!!

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  5. Love your fire post cuz you know how much I love a good fire but I'm still anxiously waiting for your BBQ post. I know your using it as I see the beautiful fish and potatoes.

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