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Nobadays
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2020 11:02am
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IrrigationGuy.... possibly an area thing? Glad you got a policy this year, my neighbor talked to them in July and they told him flat out, they weren't writing policies for cabins anymore. We are in Colorado so might have something to do with the fires/forest health here.
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2020 11:21am - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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Quoting: ICC
No matter how well built a wood stove is, no matter how well the stove will carry a fire overnight, no matter how well the thermostatic air inlet works, none of that does me any good if I want to be absent for a whole day, or longer. That is one of the reasons an insurance company that will let you have a wood stove will still not write a policy unless you have some heat source that will run itself in normal day to day use. It is also why I have never wanted to rely solely on a wood stove
^^^This.^^
Everyone I know near my camp whom is accessible to the volunteer fire department that has wood heat must have electric heat as well. Otherwise they cannot get a homeowners policy. Most of the people I know are older and don’t go out much in the dead of winter which is most of the winter. Most of them test their electric heat at the beginning of the heating season and monthly after that.
My SIL did not have wood heat, just electric. Her heating bills were $600-800 per month. This was quite awhile ago. She moved into a small senior apartment (utilities included) the last few years she was alive. Her rent was a little more per month then the highest heating bills at her house. The few I know that have only electric heat up there owe the hydro company until the middle of summer. That’s how long it takes them to pay their bill in full.
Heating is a big issue up there. Just keeping warm is very time consuming and expensive. Something I never gave much thought to being from the city until we built our cabin. I wish I had put more thought into it prior to the the build.
PS-Every single heating season houses that use wood heat burn down. So many I’ve lost count. It’s sad.
Nobody that I know of has died. The community comes together to help. A old family friend had his house burn down. His family being well known, generations living in the area. The community opened a bank account at the local bank. So many people contributed money, building supplies and building expertise . A house was built on the same site.
Every reason you’ve read about wood stoves comes into play as to why these fires started. My Husbands families centennial farm built by his Great Grandfather (a pioneer) Grandfather and Great Uncle plus The community burned down.
It was sold out of the family and burned down soon after. As well as the barn and his Grandfathers x2 blacksmiths shop. All historical buildings. Arson was suspected. Nothing could be proved. Heartbreaking. I loved all of it. The house had the best root cellar I had ever seen. The barn was amazing. The beams in there. Hand hewn. The blacksmiths shop was the last to burn. We did not know it had burned down. We wanted to open a blacksmiths museum, went to check out the building and found it burned to the ground. We spent hours digging through debris (dangerous work) trying to salvage the tools his Grandfathers had made.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2020 11:35am
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SWLady, your comments are always thoughtful; may I ask what you might have, or could have, really done differently?
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2020 11:49am - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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^^TY^^. Built smaller. No loft. We insulated well. Did not have a choice.
Still would use the same insulation. Spray foam.
Building close to the road so the volunteer fire department could get to us, we could have done that but we wanted to be deep in the bush.
We would have spent more money to widen the road so a propane truck could make it to our cabin.
We already spent so much on that road. The first half of it was a logging trail, the second half solid bush.
We just could not afford to widen the road anymore than we did. It’s one mile.
Now we are trying to widen it ourselves. It should take us quite awhile. Lol.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2020 02:05pm
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The work expands to fill available time 
I think for us 'cabin folk' boredom is an illusion.
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zorro
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2020 05:04pm - Edited by: zorro
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Not sure where you guys are or which insurance company you use, but this here is my only source of heating and it is fully insured for everything - fire, theft, storm..........even my solar panels are insured against storm damage
Fully approved by the Town and the Insurance company in Upstate NY
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2020 07:54pm
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That is a fine looking cabin!
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zorro
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# Posted: 18 Dec 2020 01:37pm - Edited by: zorro
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Thank you
It turned out quite nice - 3 of us over a period of around 6 months, weekends only managed to build it, all to local building codes
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Nate R
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# Posted: 18 Dec 2020 02:28pm - Edited by: Nate R
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Looks great, nice work, zorro!
What brand is the outside chimney? A LOT of what I see is stainless, and black might be preferred for my place.....
Edit: Nevermind, I see you painted it.....interesting! I'll be curious if that holds up fine over the next year.....might do the same thing myself.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 20 Dec 2020 11:42am
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Hmmm
Had a thought last night at home.
Early on I mentioned the cabin is off-grid (and only a small solar-elec system) so I figured no way elec heat.
But, we do have the dandy little Champion 1600/2000w inv/gen. I wonder if it would run my tower quartz heater (1500w?). If so, then running for maybe an hour inside might kick a good amount of chill out. With a little luck it might even top up the battery on the smart charger and run an LED light or two at the same time.
Anybody done this?
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 20 Dec 2020 11:54am
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1500 watts = 5115 BTU. (multiply watts x 3.41)
Personal experience indicates that will only make a noticeable difference in a small space, like a bathroom.
And if the heater is using 1500 watts of the 1600 watts of continuous power from the generator that does not leave much for battery charging. The two items will probably not work together at the same time.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 20 Dec 2020 07:06pm
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Ha! Looks like Id need my 5K gen and a handful of those heaters.....even for just 350ish sq.ft.
There are times that grid power would make life easier.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 21 Dec 2020 03:09pm
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Here we are on the Winter Solstice and a couple of mild Dec days in store....I just might go up to Da-9 tomorrow aft and stay overnight (they are predicting mid to high 30'sF both Tues and Wed then a plummet to teens). I think my set up will keep me warm enough at above freezing but my wife says she will stay home with the 'stat.
Ahhh, just me and the Red Squirrel that lives in the wall..... Ive been hoping to introduce it to Mr. 410 but havent connected yet.
From the extended forecast this may be my last chance for a decent stay-over, Id like to give it a go to know I still can.
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Nate R
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# Posted: 21 Dec 2020 06:41pm
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For reference, I've been running 2 1500 watt heaters in my 400 SF Uninsulated garage. Raises the temp from about 40 to about 57 in about 3 hours. About all it'll do is a 15-20 degree temp rise, so figure a single heater would be about half that.
I've done that at my previously off-grid place to take the chill out, 1500W run off my 1600W continous generator. It was enough to help a bit, and I could warm up my hands, but not to keep anything remotely comfortable in 30 degree temps.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 21 Dec 2020 07:45pm
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Thanx, Nate, that is real world practical feedback.
Sounds better than huddling over an old Coleman lantern with a canvas overthrow! Btdt....
Wonder if it is true, that all roads eventually lead to a direct vent LP furnace? Especially with the smart phone interface thing that lets you call the place ahead of time to turn on/up the temp in anticipation of one's arrival.
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zorro
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# Posted: 25 Dec 2020 02:12pm
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To confirm
I did paint the chimney black and after almost 1 year, it is still perfect - not chipping or peeling at all
Chimney is fully to code but I did not like the stainless look and so painted it black to fit the rest of the build
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 25 Dec 2020 09:59pm
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Well, I had resolved to pull the woodstove out. Went there for the overnighter and it worked perfectly. No backdrafts, good controllable burn, maintained 78*f, all good.
Now I dont know.... But soon we will be snowed out and I will have the rest of winter and maybe all summer to sort it out.
Btw, found out from my ins. co. that even though the structure isnt covered we have $12K+ for pers. stuff as well as liability and med. payments, all an add on to our homeowners for less than $50 more a year.
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FishHog
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# Posted: 26 Dec 2020 08:28am
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Quoting: gcrank1 worked perfectly. No backdrafts, good controllable burn, maintained 78*f, all good.
colder weather so you get a good draft up the chimney. Shoulder seasons can be hard to get a good fire going, winter weather is a snap and they typically burn perfectly in that kind of cold weather.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 26 Dec 2020 03:12pm
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Guess it wouldnt be a bad thing if the wood stove works well for the hard cold and we would depend more on the LP 'furnace' idea for the shoulder seasons and to initially be kicking the chill out on a hard cold visit while the wood stove gets up to speed.
That would make it the truth that the gas is the primary and the wood secondary/aux.
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