I think all fires should be clean burning fires, whether you're using the fire to heat your home, incinerate trash, clear weeds or whatever. There isn't anything pleasant about smoke. Focus on making fire because that's what does the work. When we minimize smoke, we maximize work accomplished. Smokey fires are unpleasant to be around, they are especially offensive to those with sensitivities … [Read more...]

Wood smoke will always be an undesirable part of heating with wood. It can't be avoided, no matter how clean your wood stove burns - it's always there. As a wood stove enthusiast, my job is to make certain that my stoves burn as cleanly as they can. A clean burning stove is an efficient stove. With all the time and effort associated with having a pile of firewood for home heating, there is … [Read more...]

Just the sound of "ground source heating" can hit you in an odd manner. How can we get heat from the ground? It's there, we just need to extract it. About 6 feet underground, all year long, the temperatures hover around 50 degrees. Sometimes a little higher, and sometimes a little lower. Ground heat extracting technology uses a heat pump to extract heat from the soil and "concentrate it" … [Read more...]