Wood Stove Maintenance

Since we use our Kozi wood stove almost 24/7 during the winter, it needs maintenance and cleaning about every two months. We've been good about going on the porch roof and cleaning out the outer section of the pipe, but I'm embarrassed to say that we haven't cleaned the inside section since the beginning of the fire season last fall.

The first hint that creosote is building up in the chimney pipe is smoke coming out of the fire box door when it is opened. So when this happened again last week, we picked a fair day to let the fire die out to do the deed. As you can see in the first picture, tapping the pipe dislodged so much creosote that it filled the smoke shelf and pipe connector.

First we took down the inside pipe and removed the creosote adhering to the inside walls. A little newspaper on the floor helped keep the mess contained. When everything was done, here is what I saw. It seemed like quite a bit, but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised after so much use over the winter and early spring.

Last time we cleaned the pipe we noticed a small amount of smoke coming out through a joint in the pipe near the ceiling. We decided to seal the problematic junction with some Rutland "Seal it Right" to provide a better draft up and out of the chimney. If you would like more information on this subject, I found a good article by The Gas Man at Epinions.com. So far it has remained sealed with no further problems.

Chimney cleaning involves some disassembly both indoors and out, but it doesn't take long and the results provide for safer and more enjoyable fires. Play the video clip below to take a look at ours.

And yes, that is the USC Band playing Tusk (a personal favourite for Wayne) in the background. -- Margy

Woodstove Smoke Blow Back Solution

November is very windy here in Coastal BC. Storms tune up in the Gulf of Alaska and march down the coast with very little respite in between. One blustery evening, Wayne and I were talking about improvements to our float cabin that have increased our quality of life. Little surprise, the top two relate to storms. One is the shock absorber system John invented for our anchor cables. The other is our wood stove chimney cap.

Last December, I shared a solution to our wood stove smoke blow back and downdraft problems. Our friend John found a wind protection chimney cap at RONA. As long as the wind was less than 15 kph (9 mph), our wood stove worked fine. But if a stiff breeze came up, especially a southeast wind, smoke was forced back down the chimney and into the cabin. It sometimes got so bad we had to stop using the stove (hard to do if there was wood burning) and start up our Big Buddy propane heater.

The solution was a GW Metal (Item #90142) 6" Revolving Weather Cap. GW Metal is a Canadian company and the Rona shelf name is Cap B Vent High Wind. The cost is $51.99 CAD plus taxes. Check your local home hardware store for a similar version.

Last week we had strong 24 kt (47 kph/29 mph) winds during a passing weather system. The result was much different than our previous chimney cap. After about six hours of strong, gusty winds, there was only one small blow back of smoke through the wood stove door. Here's a video of our new chimney cap in action.



The only problem we've encountered is some smoke escaping from the stove while lighting a fire during light breezes. Sometimes we use a long pole to manually move the cap to point into the wind. If it's a very light breeze, burning a twisted piece of newspaper under the smoke shelf before lighting the kindling is enough to start a draw up the chimney pipe. That usually does the trick.

So, if you are looking for a solution to a smokey wood stove, try a new Revolving Weather Cap. -- Margy

Running Wire

We are in the process of installing a brand new electrical generator at our float cabin on Powell Lake. So far we have several solar panels working alone and on two separate battery bank systems. We also have an AirX wind generator, but that only works when we have a storm system moving through. So our new thermoelectric generator system by TEGPower.com that works with our wood stove seems to be a perfect solution.

The first step to get ready for the system was to run electrical cable from the front of the cabin where the wood stove is located to the back of the cabin where the electrical panel and battery bank are located. Because we don't know much about electricity, our good friend John came over to give us a hand. Fortunately the weather isn't freezing yet.

We had some heavy duty cable left over from our wind generator installation, so that was perfect for the job. We don't have a basement, but there is a crawl space under the float deck that serves a similar purpose. After running the wire underneath, John prepared the two ends for connections. He also tied the cable up under the deck flooring for additional protection from the elements.

In the cabin, we had to drill a hole in the floor. Once the installation is complete, we'll seal the hole to keep out our resident mice. I'm sure they would love to come in where it's nice and warm. Now all we need is to get the rest of the generator components and get in installed. Stay tuned. -- Margy

Light My Fire

This time of year we couldn't enjoy living in our float cabin without our Kozi wood stove. We get a blazing fire going inside and it gets us toasty warm really quick. For more information about wood stoves see:

• The Heart of our Little Cabin
• Wood Stove Safety
• Wood Stove Chimney Sweep
• Wood Stove Maintenance
• Wood Stove Sock Puppet
• Wood for Winter Heating
• Wood Stove Blow Back Solution

So, come snuggle up while I "Light My Fire." -- Margy

Cooking Wood

The "winter" season has started and our Kozi wood stove is working most of the time. Throughout the summer we've gathered wood and stored it away in our floating wood shed. Smaller wood and kindling is stored in large plastic tubs under the front porch and up in the onshore storage shed.

Recently, we acquired some damp lumber trimmings from our good friend John. He's building a new cabin and gives us his leftover wood scraps. It's good for him. He doesn't have to find a way to discard them. And it's good for us, we get a constant supply of easy to burn chunks.

But you don't want to burn wet wood. It is less efficient (decreased heat output) and increases creosote buildup (and potential chimney fires). So on sunny days, you'll find us "cooking" our wet wood. We spread it out on the deck and flip it like pancakes several times throughout the day. When the sun goes down, in comes our wood. After several days of cooking and air drying under the porch it is ready for the wood stove.

Stay tuned! Our Kozi wood stove is soon to have a new purpose. We are picking up our new TEGPower.com thermoelectric generator this weekend. By next week it will be installed and helping us to charge our cabin battery bank. This winter we'll have more electricity than ever before. What an exciting prospect! Have you ever used a thermoelectric generator? I would love to hear about your experiences. - Margy

Stuffing the Woodshed

Winter on Powell Lake can be cold, especially when a storm blows in on a strong southeaster. Because our cabin floats on the water, it also gets damp. Starting in early fall, our Kozi wood stove becomes the heart of our little cabin. Consequently, a large supply of firewood is needed for winter heating.

Powell Lake provides for our energy needs. Chunks of firewood are carried right to our doorstep. A morning chore in summer is to walk around the deck and retrieve floating wood. It comes in all sizes from kindling up. We collect the kindling in large plastic tubs with holes drilled in the bottoms to allow water to drain. Friends on the lake also donate wood from deck and cabin construction projects. For example, thanks to Peter's old fir decking we had lots of hot fires last winter.

A few tubs of kindling are stored in the cabin for easy use. A few more are under the front porch and the remaining ones are stored in our tool shed on shore. Extra firewood is placed in a recycled dinghy. As one tub is emptied, it is refilled with the waiting wood. We've learned to be careful with tubs from the shed. Occasionally, a mouse has taken up residence. Transferring the wood to an empty tub before bringing it into the cabin has solved this "little" problem.

We are selective when it comes to the larger chunks of wood. First, they must be lifted out of the water for cutting. This limits the size to ones Wayne and I can haul aboard. We like skinny chunks that do not need splitting, but do get fatter ones if there are only a few knots. I hate holding the axe while Wayne wields the sledge hammer and it resounds off a knot.

We store wood on a separate wood storage float. This keeps weight off the cabin deck which would cause the float structure to sink lower into the lake. The float has a roof that keeps our wood dry. The open sides let in the sunshine and fresh air, which also helps to keep the wood dry in our moist climate. By cutting and loading the wood before the end of summer, it's dry, ready to burn and stays that way.

We use a shelf I constructed for wood storage inside the cabin. It handily holds about five days worth of wood near the fire. If you want more information about how to make the shelf click here.

Thanks to our end-of-summer wood work, we'll stay warm this winter. -- Margy

Wood Stove Sock Puppet

They say, "Necessity is the mother of invention." I've written frequently about the wood stove that is the heart of our cabin, especially in winter. Over the years, we've learned a lot about living with a wood stove. Not all of those lessons have been easy. One of the most difficult was smoke blowing back into the cabin, especially during windy storms. One solution was the installation of a revolving weather chimney cap.

The cap works well, but only if creosote is cleaned from it's underside and the chimney pipe. Because we use our stove almost 24/7 during the winter, we find that we need to do that cleaning once a month. We pick a fairly warm day and let the fire die. First we disconnect the interior pipe and manually clean it's interior, paying special attention to the 90 degree turn through the cabin's wall.

Next, Wayne goes up on the roof to clean the chimney cap and exterior pipe. When our good friend John installed our new cap, he also installed a new section of outdoor pipe with a T-joint and a built in clean-out hatch. This really works well for cleaning the vertical pipe, but it actually makes it harder to clean out the exterior portion of the 90 degree turn as the pipe goes through the cabin wall.

Here's where my invention comes in. I call it my wood stove sock puppet. We needed a device that was flexible enough to feed through the bottom of the pipe and up into the 90 degree bend to scoop out the creosote. A bent wire coat hanger, an old sock and some twisties from bulk food bags were recycled into the perfect tool. Now our chimney pipe can be clean from top to bottom.

If you need to more information about troubleshooting wood stove issues and problems, try some of these websites. -- Margy

• www. Chimneys.com -- Woodstoves and Woodstove Problems
• BC Ministry of Environment -- Reducing Wood Stove Smoke
  
• The Wood Heat Organization -- especially All About Chimneys
  
• Famco -- not our new cap, but similar
• Volko Supply Online -- describes downdrafts and wind loading

Easy Comfort Food

I just had a wonderful, quiet week at my float cabin on Powell Lake in Coastal BC. It may sound like an expensive thing to do, but actually, it's a very economical way to live. Because the cabin is off-the-grid, there are few ongoing costs. But we have a few enhancements to make our life more comfortable. One of those is our wood stove.

Our stove kept me comfortably warm each day. The light from it's perpetual flame brightened the dark nights. An added benefit was cooking one of my favourite comfort foods - baked potatoes. It's simple, but oh, so satisfying.

All of my home grown potatoes are gone, so I bought a few Russets. Wash, dry and rub the skin with a little margarine. That's all except for double wrapping it in aluminum foil, carefully sealing the edges so that none of the margarine leaks out onto the stove.
I placed the foil wrapped potato on the shelf at the front of the fire box. Turn it once and in half an hour it's ready to eat.

I love my baked potato loaded. I planned ahead and had the toppings ready to go. Yum - just the right thing to warm up my tummy on a cold winter night in front of the fire.

Want to check out some of the other things I've cooked on or in my wood stove? Take a look at these:

Pouch Potatoes
Wood Stove Sourdough Wheat Bread
Baking Powder Biscuits
Dutch Oven Rustic Apple Pie
Dutch Oven Apple Crisp
Easy Chili
Dutch Oven Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Cabin Carrot Cake
Cornbread

Do you do any wood stove or stovetop baking? I'd love to hear your recipes. - Margy

New Wood Stove Chimney Cap

Our Kozi wood stove is the heart of our float cabin, especially now that the temperatures are below freezing. Without it, we couldn't live here year-round. Our stove works great except when storm winds blow, especially from the southeast. On those occasions, we've had problems with smoke blowing back down the chimney pipe and into the cabin. It sometimes gets so bad we have to stop using the wood stove and bring in our portable propane heater from the boat.

Our good friend John did some research and found a new stove pipe chimney cap that should do the trick. To me, it looks like a helmet. The fin sticking up vanes with the wind, moving the protective portion of the cap into the wind, thus protecting the pipe from its force. We haven't had a strong wind yet, but I'm sure it will work. I'll keep you posted.

If you need to more information about troubleshooting wood stove issues and problems, try some of these websites:

• www. Chimneys.com -- Woodstoves and Woodstove Problems
• BC Ministry of Environment -- Reducing Wood Stove Smoke
  
• The Wood Heat Organization -- especially All About Chimneys
  
• Famco -- not our new cap, but similar
• Volko Supply Online -- describes downdrafts and wind loading

Do you use a wood stove for heating? I'd like to hear about your solutions to smoke problems. -- Margy

Stocking Up the Woodpile

Living off the grid has a lot of joys. It makes our environmental footprint is less, we live a simple lifestyle, and it challenges us to do things differently. The cold months will soon be here, and our heat is 100% from wood. Our Kozi woodstove does a great job, but it needs lots of wood.

Throughout the summer and fall we gather wood. Most of it comes right up to our cabin begging to be captured. Our first choice is chunks of wood that are already woodstove size. Our second choice is larger pieces that need splitting. Because we see lots of wood pass our cabin on its way down the lake, we can afford to be choosy. We've also received a large load of old 2X8s from Peter who redid his deck.

Our new cedar log float is instrumental in our wood gathering and processing process. We can tow it to a location to pick up wood (like Peter's cabin), let the wood remain on the float until cutting, and it even serves as a cutting platform that can be placed directly across from our wood storage float.

The key component of our wood storage system is our separate wood storage float. Without it, we would have to store our wood on shore and climb the steep hill to reach it. The storage float keeps the weight off our cabin's float and also keeps the wood in a handy location for restocking our small indoor wood storage shelf. Now we need to find two more to saw into lengths to dry. That should fill the float to the brim and keep us Kozi warm for months to come.

Do you like to connect with others living off the grid? I just found a website and forum specifically for that purpose. Check it out. -- Margy

Off Grid Living
Off Grid Living Forum

Wood Work

Last winter we took our wood pile down to the last stick. That happened for a variety of reasons. We started the season with a good load of wood in our floating woodshed. Our what, you say? Yes, we have a floating woodshed. Wood is very heavy, so we don't want to store it on our floating cabin's deck. So, back to what happened this year. First, we got to spend more time at our cabin last winter (that's a good thing). Next, Wayne injured his foot in January and didn't feel up to mid-season wood work (that's a bad thing). And then there was a spring that was colder than most (that's Mother Nature). Bottom line, we used up all the wood.

It's time to start wood gathering for the upcoming winter. To help out, we got a skookum (strong) float. We can load it with wood, tow it to our cabin and then leave the wood stored safely on it's sturdy surface until we cut and stack it in on our covered wood storage float. The first time we used it, the float towed like a charm. The logs used to build the float are large and provide a steady platform for Wayne to walk and work on.

Our wood storage float has a good start. But we still need to find a few larger chunks of wood. Those are what I call "going to bed" logs. A few of those keep our Kozi wood burning stove cooking for most of the night. Then Wayne and I can sleep without going downstairs to stoke the fire too often. -- Margy