With temperatures now sneaking down into the single digits at night, if you haven't already, now's the time to tune up and check your heating system. For most houses in Homer, that means oil heaters or wood stoves.
Although fuel oil has dropped in cost, volatile prices have caused many homeowners to dust off their old wood stoves to supplement or even replace oil heaters. Barrett Fletcher of VBS Heating said they've been selling three times more wood stoves this season compared to last year.
"It's nuts," he said.
Stands of spruce bark-beetle killed trees offer a ready supply of cheap fuel in return for some sweat equity. Landowners with wood on their lots also can hire sawyers to fell and buck up firewood. Entrepreneurs also sell wood by the cord; check classified ads or bulletin boards.
Before using a wood stove, make sure it's a good product, that it's correctly installed with the right parts, that it's operated properly and that it's clean.
"Unless those four components are all there, you're brewing a recipe for disaster," said Elaine Grabowski, a firefighter-medic and head of departmental services for the Homer Volunteer Fire Department.
Fletcher offers these suggestions for checking a woodstove:
* Clean and inspect the chimney and stove pipes. The fire department loans out at no cost chimney brushes and rods. Brushes are available 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
* Clean out ashes and inspect baffles, bricks and air manifolds.
* If heat shields or wall protectors are installed, clean behind them to make sure air flows freely.
A chimney that hasn't been cleaned can catch fire when the creosote -- the black gunk and charcoal on the inside of stove pipe -- ignites. If a stove pipe and chimney should catch fire -- what firefighters call a "stack fire" -- Grabowski said to take these steps:
* Call 911 immediately. This will get help on the way.
* If the fire has spread beyond the chimney, get everybody out of the house.
"That's paramount," Grabowski said.
* If it's safe to do so and the fire is still in the chimney, take one cup of water, carefully open the stove door, toss on the fire and close the door. The water vaporizes as steam and cools down the stack and robs the fire of air. Don't put more than a cup in at a time, Grabowski said, since the idea is to make just enough steam to cool off and put out the stack fire. Repeat every half-minute or so.
* If the stack fire goes out, don't cancel a fire call. A stack fire might have spread beyond the chimney and into an attic or other roof spaces. Firefighters should check to make sure the fire hasn't extended beyond the stack and is completely out.
A good, dry supply of firewood should be on hand. Store wood outside under tarps or in woodsheds, and bring in kindling and split wood to dry inside. Stack away from walls, Fletcher recommended, so damp wood can dry at both ends.
An article by John Gulland, "Expert Advice for Wood Heating," in the October-November "Mother Earth News" has some good advice for building and maintaining woodstove fires, Fletcher said. Gulland recommends building a "top down" fire, with logs on the bottom, kindling on top of logs and newspaper on top of kindling. Light the paper first and the fire burns down into the kindling and logs. Modern, energy-efficient and low-polluting EPA certified stoves are designed to burn without visible smoke coming out of the chimney. Unburned smoke wastes energy and fuel and also leads to creosote build-up.
Oil heaters with closed combustion chambers offer economical, reliable heating. In Homer, the two most popular brands are made by Toyo and Monitor. Depending on the model, oil heaters have programmable thermostats that can be set to turn on and off at varying temperatures and times. To save on fuel, set the thermostat to run at low temperatures when away at work or at night. Bundle up under a nice warm comforter to stretch your fuel dollars.
John Ferrell, "the Toyo man," said most Toyo stoves need maintenance every two years, if that.
"If (the stove) has a nice crisp, blue flame, it's good," he said. "If they see a high yellow flame, it's time to service."
Both Ferrell and Fletcher suggested these tips for checking heaters:
* Change regularly the fuel filter on the tank.
* Make sure there's no water in the fuel line. If there is, it will settle at the lowest point in the line and freeze, clogging the fuel line.
* Clean the squirrel cage fan behind the heater.
* Clean the heater grill.
* Check the flue pipe, or the air intake and exhaust pipe at the back of the heater that goes outside.
* Clear the area around the exhaust pipe regularly, particularly when snow accumulates.
Fletcher suggested running heaters at 80 degrees at least once a month to burn off carbon build up.
Ferrell said the newer Toyo stoves go into a cleaning cycle at 2 a.m.
"That takes care of that," he said.
To maximize heat and minimize costs, a heater is only as good as the house it warms. If your house is poorly insulated and drafty, much of that heat will be lost.
For other assistance available to make your home energy efficient, see "Homeowners get help plugging energy leaks with state program," page 1.
Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.
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Homer Alaska - News -
Story last updated at
7:37 PM on
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Warm up to winter with these hot tips
BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
STAFF WRITER
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