Winter is Here!!

[Ian Cameron]

Well, outside temp -7.9C at 5am, inside temp at 10.7C. Banked the stove last night at 7pm and put my trust in the Walapini theory. It looks as if it is doing what it should. We will see sunlight for the next few days after almost 6 weeks of continuous rain. That will lighten up on the electricity bill, as well as helping rebuild the energy in the backwall. Going to get down to-15 to -20C the next few nights so will be interesting to see the real effects. I know the wood pile is going to take a beating! Stay warm everyone.

[Michael Osman]

Good luck Ian...I sure hope it works well!

~Michael~

[John Pink]

Hi .what is the Walapini theory please?
:)

[Ian Cameron]

Hi Michael...Me too! Its going to eat wood like crazy, I figure about 6 cords worth,  but better than the alternative of propane or electricity.

[Ian Cameron]

Hi John, the theory as far as I understand it is to use the geothermal properties that exist below the surface of the ground. The idea I believe was implemented by the University of Utah and a project was done down in Bolivia. I read their paper on it and thought, why not here? Basically the ground below 5-6ft maintains a fairly constant temperature of around 52 F.  I read somewhere that one could use these physics like a flywheel ie: energy or heat in and energy or heat out. My walapini is no more than a deep hole dug into a hillside, the low side facing south, and the 12 ft back wall to the north. Energy is soaked up by the back wall and is released during the night. I have a large wood heater installed, and the roof is double poly'd with an inflator fan to maintain dead air space insulation. I do not know if this will work during our -30 weather that is coming, but it's worth the try. What the heck, if it works then I'm ahead of the game, if not it was a great experience anyway, and I will be ahead in knowledge. Win/Win

[Michael Osman]

Wow! 6 cords is what I go threw to heat my home!

Ian Cameron said:

Hi Michael...Me too! Its going to eat wood like crazy, I figure about 6 cords worth,  but better than the alternative of propane or electricity.

[Max Gfx]

I'm just growing in a garage insulated with fiberglass and reflective bubble wrap insulation out here in western Nebraska. My stove (custom made low firing boiler) just runs on wood pellets and waste oil (or diesel, or kerosene, or whatever). I use about one 40lb bag of pellets per month and 5 gallons of liquid fuel. I can maintain temperatures between 69F and 74F on 3 hours of burn time per day and our outside temps are hanging between -5F at night and 15F during the day. I could thank my stove for all of it, but it's actually the thermal mass of the water that's doing most of the work.

[Ian Cameron]

Michael, well 6 cords is an estimate only. The thing is we are likely experiencing that same arctic slug that folks east and south of us are, and given the un-acustomed bright sun for this time of year, my daytime heating requirement has dropped by at least 60%. The temps yesterday and today at 3pm were 30C and 29.7 C respectively. That back wall and all the water mass are soaking up those sun rays like crazy.

[Ian Cameron]

Max Gfx, Yeah, I had thought of a purpose stick built setup to house everything, but I decided to try this as I can get at least 4hrs of usable sunlight/day, and anything that reduces electricity costs helps. Up till now my lights run from 5am - 7:30am then 4pm-7pm. Everything seems to be doing nicely. Besides if I tired to burn waste oil etc. my wife and neighbors would likely create a lynching party. chuckles!

Max Gfx said:

I'm just growing in a garage insulated with fiberglass and reflective bubble wrap insulation out here in western Nebraska. My stove (custom made low firing boiler) just runs on wood pellets and waste oil (or diesel, or kerosene, or whatever). I use about one 40lb bag of pellets per month and 5 gallons of liquid fuel. I can maintain temperatures between 69F and 74F on 3 hours of burn time per day and our outside temps are hanging between -5F at night and 15F during the day. I could thank my stove for all of it, but it's actually the thermal mass of the water that's doing most of the work.

[Max Gfx]

Luckily, my stove gives off zero smoke and not even wood burning odor, so nobody here can tell there's any kind of stove running. Keep the inside of the stove at least 550F degrees and no smoke/gases can escape unburned.

[Michael Osman]

The temp. here in Idaho has went from 65*F down to 0*F in the last 2 days, lots of snow today. I'm building my system in my basement. Not near the heating concerns as you're walapini, but plenty cold down there.

~Michael~

[Ian Cameron]

Max. did you line your stove with fire brick? Kinda curious as to how you maintain that temp. I built an outdoor brick oven a few years ago, and I know that 5-600 deg will eliminate any soot or odour. Used to get that puppy  up to 1300 plus for an hour or so to get the outside side of the brick to 400. Could bake bread up to 6hrs on one firing. I've now got those bricks surrounding my wood stove.

[Max Gfx]

No fire brick, it's just a bare 10" x18" barrel stove with a 1/2" soft copper tube wrapped around it and buried in play sand. The heat doesn't have anywhere to escape, so it's either absorbed by my water/antifreeze mix in the copper tube or in the water jacket around the chimney pipe, or whatever is left over goes out the chimney. Even at the top of the chimney, the exhaust gas is barely 200F degrees, but there is absolutely zero smoke or odor from it. At best, you can see steam from the humidity in my "greenhouse" that's been pulled into the stove and it has to be well below freezing to see that.