I figure many of the readers of this here blog are familiar with wood heat, but perhaps that is just an assumption. Anyway, I want to mention this post I recently wrote for sustainablog about wood heat — it’s called Wood Heat Stoves: 4 Reasons You Should Consider Heating with Wood.
Check it out. I love wood heat, and the benefits are many. What it all boils down to, though, is that nothing really compares to having a live fire in your home. It just feels so… human.
The Morso 1410 is a very small, clean-burning wood stove
The Morso 1410 “Squirrel” is a sleek, small wood stove. And I’m very glad to have its company. It’s been getting a fair workout these days, and I’m happy with its performance. Here’s a little rundown on my experience with the small wood stove out of Denmark.
April and I are definitely enjoying the Morso 1410 Squirrel stove. I’m happy with the performance of the tiny stove, and it’s beautiful, too, especially when a big ol’ fire is roaring inside.We have started cooking on the Squirrel as well, and it’s proving to be very capable.
Test firing the Morso 1410
It’s done! We’ve got a fully functioning woodstove, with the stovepipe penetrating the living roof of the house, all sealed up and complete. So how did we do it? How did we send a stovepipe through the EPDM liner of our living roof?
Drilling through 20" of cob
The latest (and most urgent) house project has been installing the stovepipe for our new Morso 1410 (Squirrel) woodstove. After some careful consideration, we decided how to install the pipe. We’re about halfway through the process, but the hardest part has yet to come…
A tiny hearth for a tiny stove
It’s been a long time coming, but the little Morso 1410 wood stove finally got moved into its final living place. I spent a day or so making this tiny little hearth for the stove, which was a pretty fun little project.
I’ve been researching efficient, small wood stoves that could replace the rocket stove in my house. Most home wood stove manufacturers’ smallest models heat 800-1000 square feet at a minimum, which is overkill for my 200 round foot home. However, the house will probably benefit from the extra oomph with all of that (cold, cold) thermal mass and lack of insulation. Here are the two top contenders that I have been researching.
Here are a couple of photos of the tiny, super ragamuffin wood stove April and I are using right now. It’s manufactured by the Buckeye Incubator Co. Our setup is extremely tacked together, as you can see — the stovepipe runs out the top half of a double hung window. We didn’t exactly have enough stovepipe, so we straightened out some elbows to make a short straight run for inside the house. Outside, the stack rises a few feet above the eaves and is wired to the rafters to prevent it from shaking in the wind.
We used two perfectly sized sheets of metal (thanks Bob) and cut holes in the middle to seal up the window. Aluminum tape covers the edges and keeps air from sneaking in.
With this little thing, we can get the whole house decently cozy in about thirty minutes.
I’ll be happy to have a better quality stove in the house!
I have officially proclaimed the rocket stove “not working”. The stove simply does not draw on days without the right wind direction/intensity. It is unreliable. Even when the wind is right, the stove takes too long to heat up (even the barrel itself!) At times, it smokes into the house, which is added frustration.
Something is not right, unfortunately. The stove just does not keep the house warm. When April was home alone in December, she struggled to keep the indoor temperature in the 40s! That is not really livable.
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This blog is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. Since 2012, we’ve been hosting Natural Building Workshops so you can learn essential skills to build your own natural home.
