Jim:
D.P. ‘s article “Fire -Your Partner in Survival was very good!
I would like to add that firewood storage life depends greatly on the type of wood. Oak and other similar types can be stored for well over 20 years with no problems. (Especially if split and covered with a quality tarp or stored in a woodshed with a good roof.) But in contrast, un-split white birch will start to rot in a single year. Poplar and some other species also degrade quickly.
D.P. is right on about the type of heater to use. When I built my house back in the very early 1970’s, I just had to have a conventional Heatilator type fireplace for the open fire romance. I should have listened to the old timers back then who told me to just put in a stone hearth and plain wood stove! In the end, I wound up closing the fireplace damper, filling the flue with fiberglass insulation and putting a steel cap on it! Now I’m just using the wood stove in the basement [with a separate chimney] to easily heat the entire house with lots less wood than the fireplace consumed.
Gasoline to run chainsaws can be kept for a very long time with the addition of PRI-G stabilizer. The same company also makes a stabilizer for diesel, called PRI-D.
(I recently started a gas engine that has been sitting for over 12 years with the original gas in the tank. Started right up and ran fine. (I did add a little extra PRI G every few years during it’s storage time)
I have no financial interest in PRI G or PRI D. I’m just a very satisfied user.
Letter Re: Fire – Your Partner in Survival
