We live in Central California. Purchased our home in 1988 and have been heating with wood since then. In 2006 we purchased an efficient insert and it made a world of difference. Burned a lot less wood and stayed much warmer.
We are surrounded by almonds and orchards are always being removed (and replanted). Almond wood is awesome for heating homes. We can stay warm with 3 cords of almond wood per season. The current cost is $220/cord delivered. Since I am a hunter and gatherer of firewood, I end up with what I can find. This year my stockpile consists of Modesto ash and redwood (both low BTU). Three cords wonât take us through the âwinterâ.
My goal is to cut, split, and dry enough wood for heating our home each season. On average I am at the 2/3 mark. Plan to fix that when I stop working for Maggieâs Farm. Nearly there.
I have taken to noting the dates when the birds that winter on the BC coast and predictably congregate in front of our âsummer cabinâ and when they leave for their summer (interior continent) sojourns. They came early again this year, which predictably means early and cold winter east of the rockies.
We live in a 110 year old wood frame house with no wall insulation and 11 foot ceilings. The sunny side is always warmer by at least 5 degrees.
At night we set the thermostat at 55F. Daytime we splurge and shoot for 63F.
- Three helpful things we love :
Living in Ontario Canada, this is definitely a concern. In the summer I bought cold weather sleeping bags and buddy heaters. A couple days ago I came across an unusual looking tent in that it was square and very high. Turned out to be an ice fishing hut on sale 2/3rd off and a better price than the other tentsâŠjust 25 square feet but there is only my son and I and it would be for daytime use. The outside is regular tent material but a little sturdier as it is lined with something else.
Today I purchased 131 cubic feet (3.7 cubic meters) of expanded polystyrene sheet insulation for my building project. Of the sheet insulation options available in my area, it has the lowest R-value per unit thickness (3.9/inch) but also the lowest cost per unit of insulation. Extruded polystyrene sheets are a little better at close to R 5/inch, and much stiffer too.
Which leads me to a practical suggestion: make insulating plugs for your windows out of extruded polystyrene. Even in Europe where the triple-glazed windows are standard, you should not expect much beyond R-5 (U=0.20), and the more typical North American double-glazed window at U=0.27 (R-3.7) is even worse. The easiest thing to do to keep in the heat is to block those holes in the walls at night with some R-10 2-inch polystyrene cut to size. Well, perhaps easiest after youâve blocked any obvious drafts.
Wow, the new normal has settled in fast, sleeping with our pets and wearing gloves in our homes, is this what we have been reduced to? Itâs hard to deny any more that we are at war with group sociopathic, psychopathic oligarchs who have seized control of all the levers of power. I hope as we opt out of the system, we can set our standards higher.
We all need to focus on how to get every nickel and dime out of the system that we can and put it to good use building out an independent alternative. Gloves for now, but letâs hope for a better future.
I have been heating with wood for years, but without passive solar, solar hot water and PVâs, wood alone would be a little onerous. Cutting splitting 2 cords of wood a year is doable, almost easy, not sure I would have held in there if I had to do 10 cords a year. We can live well on less, conservation is definitely the way to good. It is the manifestation of consciousness.
Word of caution about using certain heaters with certain fuels. I had bought a propane lantern earlier this year for power outages and maybe some heat. It came with a big sticker on it warning of carbon monoxide. Not sure what fuels result in carbon monoxide emissions or not. Just be sure to check for whatever fuel/heater youâre considering.
You can get thermal cameras for phones. On a cold dark night look at your house from 100ft away and see where the heat goes.
https://www.amazon.com/Seek-Thermal-Compact-All-Purpose-MicroUSB/dp/B00NYWAHHM/ref=zg_bs_9931455011_6?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=48FYP5YF1S23RFTQSQ0J&th=1
I outlined my journey to this in post #7 on this thread:
https://www.peakprosperity.com/forum-topic/whats-your-blackout-grid-down-plan/#post-679043
This is a less popular option, but our bodies adapt quickly to the cold when they have to. Wim Hof has spent hours submerged in ice water to no ill effect and climbed mountains in only shorts in record time. He teaches a breathing method combined with cold acclimation through daily cold showers.
I enjoy the breathing techniques, but canât find the time most days. I do end my shower every morning with 2 minutes of the coldest water I can get from the tap. Itâs better than a cup of coffee and I am less effected by the cold throughout the day. Iâve seen data that people who take cold showers take 26% fewer sick days, but my guess is that is because people who are willing to endure the cold care more about their health generallyâŠcorrelation doesnât equal causation.
For some reason alot of people dismiss the Wim Hof method. Either they think its too ânew ageyâ âwoo-wooâ or somethingâŠIve even heard quite a few people comment to the effect that the name âWim Hofâ sounds stupid to them so they just dismiss it as silly or fake.
When you look into the method, it makes perfectly logical sense, it is NOT new, and it definitely does work. The breathing techniques are similar to those of free divers [ people who hold their breath for long periods of time under water ]. Those divers have been demonstrated to have larger lung capacity. The hyperventilation followed by timed breath holds exercise and stretch the lungs as well as increasing the bodyâs capacity to use oxygen more efficiently.
The other part of the method involves cold showers followed by cold baths in slowly increasing duration. The logic here seems sound as well. The cold is a shock that causes a stress to the body. Stress forces the body to make an adaptation. As time goes on you become better able to tolerate the cold for longer and longerâŠsomething is changing in your physiology.
If I said that by lifting weights you create a stress that forces an adaptation everybody would agree. Well this is the same principle. Its true for the breath work too, by breathing hard you are strengthening the muscles in your diaphragm, chest and around the lungsâŠyou are stretching and working the lung tissue. By holding your breath you are creating a stress that forces the body to adapt by using oxygen more efficiently, etc.
The fact that I can hold my breath for nearly 3 minutes now, where 4 months ago I struggled to get past 1 minuteâŠproves to me that powerful physiological changes have taken place in my body. The fact that I can sit in an ice cold trough for 5 minutes when I could barely stand it for 2 minutes before tells me something has changed in my chemistry and physiology. Theres actually no question about it.
I like the Wim Hof method, tried it but not hard enough I guess - the cold is really a struggle for me. I have managed to train my âfasting muscleâ and can go 7 days without food - provided I have water - but the cold⊠the cold⊠Texas Snowmaggeddon last year was really tough ! I have invested in gloves and blankets this year, as well as small space heaters.
Hyperthermia might be a problem with one of these jackets. I casually walked around with one during a +15F New England winter and was sweating.
https://www.orosapparel.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hel8o8qYLFI
My partner and I got some experience of this when our heat pump broke down last winter when it was -17C (1 F) outside. We have geothermal heating, as is common here in Sweden, but nevertheless you still need a heat pump to circulate the heat around the house.
Luckily, we have a fireplace in our upper living room, so we just kind of lived there for a couple of weeks. We put big kettles of water (old water bath canners) on top of the fireplace, which kept the heat overnight and kept the entire upstairs warm enough. We avoided the downstairs as much as we could, but kept it somewhat warm with the heat from the kitchen stove and some oil lamps.
Have to agree with earlier tips - dress in layers, in as much wool as you can come by. Keep your feet warm with woolen socks in layers. Sleep under down quilts and an extra blanket.
One thing I havenât seen mentioned here is the good olâ warm water bottle. I have a designated one, made from rubber and covered in some thick fabric, but any soda bottle wrapped in a sock or similar will do. Fill the bottle with hot water and let it keep your bed warm. Always sleep with socks on. A friend of mine used to heat up rocks on her wood stove and use them to heat her bed, similar to the water bottle. Seems a bit less cosy, thoughâŠ
Iâve practiced aspects of the Wim Hof method (and related breathing/meditative/adaptive/autonomic nervous system exercise) for years to tolerate swimming in Lake Superior longer and farther than most people can and it definitely works. The problem is, you canât maintain it for extended periods of time (meaning days on end). Your body will adapt to the cold (as we do up here in the Great North) to a certain extent but there are limits (just as Wim Hof could not complete the marathon he attempted in arctic conditions with only light running apparel).
That being said, psychophysiological training to improve tolerance to cold, hunger, etc. and to overcome fear definitely has a value and I would encourage its practice.
By the way brushhog, I love your posts. Your thoughts are always so well expressed and so spot on. You are blessed with being a thinker of unusual clarity, depth, and discernment. Thank you for all your contributions.
âIf you have a natural gas or propane furnace you can get a small transfer panel for just that circuit to run it off a generator. Bonus if you have a tri-fuel generator to connect to the gas line.
Also a big buddy heater is cheap and super effective.â
This works with oil heat too. The furnaces that run either oil or gas use very little electricity, usually just enough to run the fan or water pump. Our âtransfer switchâ was to change our furnace from hardwired to a dedicated plug. This way if the power goes out we can plug it into the generator. It was a DIY that only cost a couple of dollars. Since our hot water runs on the same furnace, we could plug in the furnace a bit ahead of time, get all the showers done, do dishes, etc., all while warming up the house and then shut down the generator to conserve fuel which is usually difficult to come by during times the grid is down.
Also, love the little buddy heaters although right now itâs hard to find the small propane cylinders it uses. We bought rural land a few years ago and have been building a small cabin, while currently living in town. When weâre at our land we stay in an old travel trailer. Havenât had electricity there until recently so Iâve got lots of off-grid experience. Hereâs a few observations:
If you can afford a quality down comforter, the one we have is so warm itâs uncomfortable when temperatures at night are much above 50 degrees. Ours is 20 years old so the amortized cost is very little. Considering the cost of fuel, this may become an economical investment for those who canât afford to keep their home as warm as theyâre used to.
Own a couple of plastic wash pans. Used for bathing, washing dishes and even some spot laundry if necessary.
Learn and practice how to do a bucket shower. You can heat a big pot of water on the stove, and mix it with cold water in a 5 gallon bucket to your preferred temperature. You donât need all 5 gallons of water, 2 gallons will suffice per âshowerâ, the bucket is just a convenient and commonly owned container. Put some of the warm water in one of those wash pans, stand in your tub or shower and use a washcloth and soap with the water in the wash-pan. When done washing, fill the wash-pan with clean water for rinsing. A plastic cup comes in handy for this. You can be clean and comfortable using a gallon or two of water. This beats the hell out of a cold shower or being dirty and stinky. As a woman with mid-length hair, I tend to keep my hair in a bun and covered with a hat while working to keep it clean. Bucket showers on longer hair isnât my favorite sport.
We do use a propane camping lantern that runs on the same cylinders the buddy heater uses. I hesitate to recommend this because these arenât supposed to be used indoors. We only run ours with windows open (kind of contradicts keeping warm) and for very limited time, usually to accomplish a task like dishwashing.
Something like this?
https://www.motherearthliving.com/uncategorized/build-your-own-interior-shutters/
Every winter in Northern Japan, as soon as it started to get cold, we would cover the outside of all of our windows with a sturdy, clear, sheet of plasticâŠwhich was stapled to the wood sash to hold it upâŠand 3/4 inch wide wood strips would be tacked all around the edges to hold it tight.
The effect is like having a double pane, insulated window, and would seal off the window to all drafts, rain, and dust. Cheap, easy and effective.
love the little buddy heaters although right now itâs hard to find the small propane cylinders it uses
If you have a one pound cylinder, you can purchase a âone pound refill adaptorâ and keep filling it from your larger propane tank. They are available on Amazon for $17 ( twice the price in Canada). I havenât tried it myself but there are youtube videos on technique.
https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-Propane-Refill-Adapter/dp/B000AMC5WO/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=one+pound+tank+refill+adapter&qid=1636821135&sr=8-3