Wood Heat

Author: Andrew Jones
Publisher: Firefly Books
ISBN: 9781770852990
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Using the latest technologies to stay warm safely, cleanly and efficiently. Wood Heat is a comprehensive and practical homeowner's guide to using wood as a reliable source of heat with the latest wood stoves and traditional fireplaces. The book explores the efficiency of wood compared to other fuels, the environmental impacts of various fuel types as well as sustainability issues that have led to so many adopting a wood-burning lifestyle. Heating with wood does more than keep a house warm. Though it can be a hands-on expression of self-reliance, it does bring us closer to the land by using fuel that is renewable and sustainably harvested, and renews our wonder in the cycle of the seasons. And the biggest benefit is that wood heat saves money in the long run. There are four ways that wood can be used to heat a home or cottage: wood stoves (the most popular), fireplace inserts, pellet stoves and masonry heaters. Wood Heat explains the pros and cons of each. The book provides all of the information and advice needed to convert to a wood-heated life. How-to topics include step by step directions. They include: The comparative advantages of heating with wood Buying, cutting, splitting, stacking, storing and moving firewood Building the perfect woodpile Varieties of wood and their burning characteristics The latest technology for burning wood efficiently and cleanly Energy content of wood varieties per air-dried cord (BTUs) Catalytic and non-catalytic stoves Cooking with a wood stove How to make a good fire Essential hearth and fireplace tools Sizing wood-burning appliances A chimney maintenance checklist. Currently, over 10 million U.S. households use wood as their main heating fuel or to supplement other forms of heating. Unstable, increasing fuel costs and the desire of many people to move toward self-sufficiency will only increase the numbers of those choosing to burn wood for heat. Wood Heat is the ideal guide for all.

A Guide to Residential Wood Heating

Author: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dwellings
Languages : en
Pages : 68

Book Description
This publication is intended to help plan a successful installation of a wood-burning heating system and to use the system in the most safe and effective way. Topics covered include: low-emission wood burning technology; wood heating options, including space heaters, wood stoves, conventional and high-efficiency fireplaces, pellet stoves, high thermal mass masonry heaters, and central heating; planning a space heater installation; installation safety; installation of wood stoves and flue pipes; chimneys; avoiding wood smoke spillage; efficient wood combustion; purchasing and preparing the wood supply; calculating costs of heating; and heating system maintenance.

The Woodburner's Companion

Author: Dirk Thomas
Publisher: Alan C Hood
ISBN: 9780911469240
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
As natural gas and oil prices rise, Americans are returning once again to the comfort and security of wood heat. Thousands have benefited from reading The Woodburner_s Companion, first published in 2000. Now the author has added new material and updated technical information where necessary. You can stay warm without going broke, and, as an added benefit, you can weather a mid-winter power outage in style! Dirk Thomas, experienced woodburner and chimney sweep, is the perfect guide to the ins and outs of the many ways available to burn wood for heat. Throughout, the emphasis is on woodburning safety. Even knowledgeable woodburners will gain from his detailed descriptions of woodburning installations, which are based on the latest codes and recommendations from the U.S. and Canada

Heating with Wood and Coal

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 80

Book Description
This is the 2003 revision of the 1985 book Burning Wood and Coal. It includes updated information on building codes, newer heating systems and components, installation and safety issues, cutting wood with a chainsaw, and much more.

The Resource File

Author: JRB Associates
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Energy conservation
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Book Description

The Rocket Mass Heater Builder's Guide

Author: Erica Wisner
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1550926160
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 299

Book Description
Home heating that's safe, clean, efficient, and uses 70 to 90 percent less fuel than a typical woodstove A rocket mass heater is an earthen masonry heating system which provides clean, safe and efficient warmth for your home, all while using 70-90% less fuel than a traditional woodstove. These unique and beautiful installations provide luxurious comfort year-round. In cold weather a few hours of clean, hot burning can provide 20 or more hours of steady warmth, while the unit's large thermal mass acts as a heat sink, cooling your home on sizzling summer days. Packed with hard-to-find information, The Rocket Mass Heater Builder's Guide includes: Comprehensive design, construction and installation instructions combined with detailed maintenance and troubleshooting advice Brick-by-brick layouts, diagrams, and architectural plans augmented with detailed parts drawings and photographs for clarity Relevant and up-to-date code information and standards to help you navigate the approval process with local building departments. Earthen masonry heating systems are well-suited for natural and conventional builders alike. A super-efficient, wood-burning, rocket mass heater can help you dramatically reduce your energy costs while enhancing the beauty, value and comfort of your home.

Norwegian Wood

Author: Lars Mytting
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1613128207
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 283

Book Description
“A surprise best-seller which, apparently, has the power to turn even the most feeble of us into axe-wielding lumberjacks.” —Independent The latest Scandinavian publishing phenomenon is not a Stieg Larsson-like thriller; it’s a book about chopping, stacking, and burning wood that has sold more than 200,000 copies in Norway and Sweden and has been a fixture on the bestseller lists there for more than a year. Norwegian Wood provides useful advice on the rustic hows and whys of taking care of your heating needs, but it’s also a thoughtful attempt to understand man’s age-old predilection for stacking wood and passion for open fires. An intriguing window into the exoticism of Scandinavian culture, the book also features enough inherently interesting facts and anecdotes and inspired prose to make it universally appealing. The U.S. edition is a fully updated version of the Norwegian original, and includes an appendix of U.S.-based resources and contacts. “A how-to guide as well as a celebration of wood—its scent, its variability, and the way it can connect modern life to simpler times . . . You don’t need to have a wood-burning stove or fireplace to be captivated by the craft and lore surrounding a Stone Age method of creating heat.” —The Boston Globe “The book has spread like wildfire.” —Daily Mail “A how-to book with poetry at its heart.” —The Times Literary Supplement

The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy

Author: Dan Chiras
Publisher: New Society Publisher
ISBN: 1550924796
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 443

Book Description
From the author of Power from the Sun, the complete guide to switching to clean, affordable, renewable energy resources. Energy bills have skyrocketed in the United States, and traditional energy sources can be as damaging to the environment as they are to your pocketbook. The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy will show you how to slash your home energy costs while dramatically reducing your carbon footprint. Completely revised and updated, this new edition describes the most practical and affordable methods for significantly improving in-home energy efficiency and tapping into clean, affordable, renewable energy resources. If implemented, these measures will save the average homeowner tens of thousands of dollars over the coming decades. Focusing on the latest technological advances in residential renewable energy, this guide examines each alternative energy option available including: · Solar hot water and solar hot air systems · Passive and active solar retrofits for heating and cooling · Electricity from solar, wind, and microhydro · Hydrogen, fuel cells, methane digesters, and biodiesel This well-illustrated and accessible guide is an essential resource for those wanting to enter the renewable energy field. Packed with practical tips and guidelines, it gives readers sufficient knowledge to hire and communicate effectively with contractors and is a must-read for anyone interested in saving money and achieving energy independence. “If you’re thinking about investing in a renewable energy system for your home . . . The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Resources helps clarify the decision-making process . . . . Dan guides you through everything you need to choose which renewable options to integrate into your lifestyle. A great addition to my bookshelf!” —Mick Sagrillo, Sagrillo Power & Light

Masonry Heaters

Author: Ken Matesz
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603583114
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Book Description
Masonry Heaters is a complete guide to designing and living with one of the oldest, and yet one of the newest, heating devices. A masonry heater’s design, placement in the home, and luxurious radiant heat redefine the hearth for the modern era, turning it into a piece of the sun right inside the home. Like the feeling one gets from the sun on a spring day, the environment around a masonry heater feels fresh. The radiant heat feels better on the skin. It warms the home both gently and efficiently. In fact, the value of a masonry heater lies in its durability, quality, serviceability, dependability, and health-supporting features. And it is an investment in self-sufficiency and freedom from fossil fuels. The book discusses different masonry heater designs, including variations extant in Europe, and explains the growth of their popularity in the United States beginning in the late 1970s. For the reader who may be familiar only with open fireplaces and metal woodstoves, Masonry Heaters will bring a new understanding and appreciation of massive heat storage and gentle-but-persistent radiant heat. Masonry heaters offer a unique comfort that is superior to that from convection heat from forced-air systems, and more personal than that offered by “radiant” floors. As Matesz demonstrates, the heat from the sun or from a masonry heater is genuine heat instead of just insulation against the loss of heat. Those who are looking to build, add onto, or remodel a house will find comprehensive and practical advice for designing and installing a masonry heater, including detailed discussion of materials, code considerations, and many photos and illustrations. While this is not a do-it-yourself guide for building a masonry heater, it provides facts every heater builder should know. Professional contractors will find this a useful tool to consult, and homeowners considering a new method of home heating will find all they need to know about masonry heaters within these pages.

Hydronic Radiant Heating

Author: Dan Holohan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780974396057
Category : Hot-water heating
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Book Description
I wrote this book for people who prefer plain-English explanations of how things work. You won't find much math in this book. No formulas. No mumbo-jumbo. What you will find are simple words of ordinary conversation, and a lot of very easy-to-follow drawings relating to hydronic radiant heating. There are also stories - lots of them I like to tell stories about the things I've seen as I've traveled around the US, Canada and Europe, looking at hydronic radiant installations. I've seen installers do things the right way and the wrong way, and I learned from them all. I dug into old books as well as the current literature to write this one, and I did my very best to boil down the engineering into understandable terms. This book contains 215 pages of practical, common sense information that you can use right away. I've made lots of analogies to things you already know. Hydronic radiant heating doesn't have to be complicated or spooky. There are rules of thumb that work, and installers are using them with great success every day. There are simple ways to install and control these systems. I'll show you how. All in all, you're going to find straight answers to direct questions in this book. I've done my best to present a subject that I love in a way that I think you will find both informative and very enjoyable.