woodsmoke and security

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I have a woodstove and wood to heat part of my homw post y2k, i am worried that others will see the smoke and come nosing around, should i just use a space heater for the first few weks? Iam not worried about defending myself per se, but wy advertise right? or am i just being paranoid?

-- jeremiah (braponspdetroit@hotmail.com), October 25, 1999

Answers

Get some signs that say protected by smith and wesson and Dobermans

-- Feller (feller@wanna.help), October 25, 1999.

I don't know where you live. In the NorthWest where I live EVERYONE burns wood, wether they have a good woodstove or just a fireplace. Won't all of your neighbors be burning wood in an emergency?

Trees are kind of a nuisance here. With the constant rain, they grow like grass. I expect that with any power outage there will be thousands of fireplaces going off.

Bryce

-- Bryce (bryce@nospam.com), October 25, 1999.


Duh, I get it, you are from Detroit..

They burn lots of wood there don't they?

-- Bryce (bryce@nospam.com), October 25, 1999.


The barking dobermans and the squalling rugrats are also an indication that you're there.

-- A (A@AisA.com), October 25, 1999.

jeremiah,

You have nailed my biggest worry. Have yet to see a logical answer.

-- R. Wright (blaklodg@hotmail.com), October 25, 1999.



There is no complete answer --- wood makes smoke and thats it.

You could make sure the fire is hot and going by daylight, dry wood burned hot makes a lot less smoke than a starter fire or wetter wood.

You could burn during the night and let the fire die at dawn if its not to terribly cold.

You could have a diversionary type fire outside that might distract people if there is no smoke coming from your chimney when they arrive and they located you by smell or at long distance.

But in the end, if you have a fire you can be found --- even with LP or oil there will be water vapor produced on some mornings, at least where I live when its really cold --- and its just as obvious as smoke. But if it gets as bad as you seem to indicate, people will be checking out anything that moves, not just smoke.

-- Jon Johnson (narnia4@usa.net), October 25, 1999.


The liabilities oughtweigh the assets.The have nots will VASTLY outnumber the halves,and there's worse things than needing to layer clothing I spent the money I had budgeted for a wood stove on extra food.

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), October 25, 1999.

John and zoobie - leave it to the guys from Wis. to know about wood burning!

One thing I've noticed too, is that different brands of stoves produce different volumes of smoke. My quadrafire has almost no visible fumes coming from the stack. It might be a little late now though to purchase a new stove.

-- dan (dbuchner@logistics.calibersys.com), October 25, 1999.


Defense in Depth:

Burn wood early in January as needed per local conditions. Indications are that shelters may not be opened for first 3-7 days.

If local utilities go out and/or authorities open shelters, switch to cleaner alternative like a stand alone kerosene heater - all that is needed is a slightly opened window to assure adequate ventalation. Be prepared to burn kerosene for a while (23000 BTU unit states requirement of 2 gallons of K-1 per 12 hour period).

If need for alternative heat persists switch back to wood when out of kerosene. Have back-up means to secure additional wood - chain saw/bow hand saw. Be prepared to share/barter with anyone that did not go to the shelter.

This should cover a 2-4 week outage and should require 2 cords 8x4x4 and 50 gallon of K-1 in cold climates. For anything longer I have not seen that shelters will be an adequate alternative - in which case bugging out to a farm/rural site may be best as shelter occupants may be out of control.

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), October 25, 1999.


Zoobie,

So what did you decide to use for heat in the end? We also considered a woodstove (incl. downpayment), but decided that in our small house w/ kids, dogs, cats and lots of flying paper a woodstove wan't practical. Plus the problem of storing wood in an urban backyard.

We bought a kero heater, but need much more fuel...reluctant to start storing gallons of it 150' away from house...

Jeremiah: re. visibility problem-- can you set up an arrangement w/ friends or neighbours whereby they use a corner of your heated space as their 'warming centre' for part of the day/night, and in return help you protect your heat source from marauding types? As others have suggested, I think that such folks would be at least a bit intimidated to face down a group of warm and relaxed GIs w/ self defense skills/ equipment and maybe a big dog or two.

-- silver ion (ag3@interlog.com), October 25, 1999.



Jeremiah I didn't buy 3 cords of oak to worry about someone noticing I have fire wood. Every house on my block has a fireplace, not my fault they didn't buy wood. My main concern is just keeping the stuff dry from the wind & rain this winter. In my Plow & Hearth magazine (call 800-627-1712) for a copy, they have advertised a Firebright Reflectors that sit behind the fire to reflect more heat into a room, it's made w/24 gauge stainless steel panel, w/solid brass feet & comes in various sizes, Question: Is this a item I s/buy, don't have a woodstove, just regular fireplace, any thoughts & ideas w/be appreciated. Thanks

-- Judy (Dodgeball@aol.com), October 25, 1999.

Defense strategy,

Hold off on using anthing that others don't have initially until one determines the outcome or the extent that shortages our going to occur. Once the determination has been made you should have an idea as to whether you should burn wood or wait until..........

-- D.B. (dciinc@aol.com), October 25, 1999.


Jeremiah, Noticed that Detroit is part of your e-address. If that is an indication of where you are, run do not walk to the nearest exit! The worst year that old Dodge City ever experienced was five killed in one year and that earned it the reputation that endures to this day as in "Get out of Dodge". Any good Saturday night in Detroit tops that.

An old Michigander long gone

-- Lumber Jack (johnsellis@webtv.net), October 25, 1999.


I keep bringing this up, but I haven't seen any good answers yet. I suppose there probably isn't one.

I don't think woodsmoke will be half the problem that COOKING FOOD SMELL is. You might as well stand outside and ring a 7 foot tall dinner bell for all to hear.

Any thoughts on this one?

Cory

-- Cory Hill (coryh@strategic-services.net), October 25, 1999.


We bought a nice, big Buck insert out of our local classifieds for $60. Took about 4 weeks of looking before we found what we were looking for. Try papers from cities a few hours drive away as well as your own. That drive, for that kind of savings is worth it.

We also called a local heating oil company and they came out and installed and filled a 150 gal Kero tank. It was a new tank, so more expensive than a used one would have been. Try mobile home repair places and repo lots. They may have older tanks that are in good shape and cheap. You can get a spigot to replace the fixed fuel line to make re-filling the 5 gal K cans easier.

As far a wood smoke, we have some very seasoned oak. Once we get the stove going in smolder mode, that dry oak just doesn't produce visible smoke up top. The smell of a fire does spread around quite a bit.

If you go the Kero heater route, get a couple of extra wicks. We bought 2 xtras yesterday at WM (~$7 ea)

The wife and I stay downstairs and the kids are directly above us. We are installing flow through vents this coming weekend, so that the heat from either the K1 heater or the stove will heat the entire house. We are using vents that can be closed, for fire safety (and to hopefully keep some of the downstairs noises from going up to the kids rooms......

-- BH (silentvoice@pobox.com), October 25, 1999.



Hey came up with a great idea to catch someone making off with your wood, now is the time to buy cow bells, any loud bells to attach to chicken wire etc., when you pull off the tarp, wood cover etc., they will have to remove the chicken wire & the bells ring off, the bells w/be especially great for night time.

-- Judy (dodgeball@aol.com), October 26, 1999.

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