How We Heat Our Cabin In Nordic Winter

This weeks video is slightly different from the rest and I apologise if hearing about firewood and heating is a little boring, it's definitely not my go-to subject to talk about. However, since I had a few questions about our firewood and how we heat our off-grid home, I thought the topic deserved a video to fully explain.

Instagram- mariegarratt_

#offgrid #cabin #winter

[rece]

Absolutely Perfect Marie❤It Becomes Away Of Life, The Fire Is The Heart ❤️ Of The Home 💯I've Just Bought Mine Can't Wait To Be Up And Running ❤️ xx

[littledrover]

In Australia I had a slow combustion wood fire (what they are called in Oz anyway) as I lived in the High Country (mountains). Mine was able to be opened up to let more air into the fire box then fully shut down at night so the wood smouldered away all night and quickly came alight in the morning. You could also control how open the chimney was. One thing I’ve noticed is your wood is much smaller (in diameter) than what I used and wonder if that’s because the trees are more slender? I used a mix of “stringy bark” and if it was really cold added in some “iron bark” which burns much hotter. I just took advice from the local forestry workers who were the experts 😅. I usually put 3 logs in around 7am which slowly burned till around 4pm when another 3 went in with firebox slightly more open so it burned hotter in the evening. Around 10 or 11pm 3 large logs were put in and when they were well and truly alight shut the firebox completely down. Am interested how different countries do it 😊

[frannsetra]

Loved that video. We are very interested in how your life looks like living off grid in Sweden 🇸🇪😊

[Mr_Reaper]

Thank you for the insight into your world, lovely video

[geoffbennett]

Lovely. Warmer than my house here in Dudley W Midlands. So concerned about heating costs! I'll just watch your fire on repeat to keep me warm! 🥰

[heidibloom]

Ahh loved your fire wood vlog 🔥 Thank you! That's an impressive wood store and you have both worked so hard preparing it all! Well done! That's how I make our fire too, we moved to a house with a wood burner a year ago and it just makes the winter so much more cosy and bearable in the UK Midlands, our kitty's love it too. Good to see you feeling much better Xx

[JR.]

Great video Marie. Would it be worth having a ceiling mounted fan at the top of the stairs say, for when it gets too hot up stairs, you can push the excess heat down into the cooler parts of the barn, rather than sending it out the door? Just a thought, I appreciate the power challenge.

[Nick-]

Very interesting explanation and process. How many bags of logs do you burn in a day - hopefully not too many !

[dreadedscotslass]

If you pull some of the bark off the birch it's like paper and is a fantastic fire starter. Lovely video... I hope you've emailed them about the flu for the fire as it's long overdue now I believe.

[AndieFrogley]

From what I understand, the main reason to season the wood is because the higher the sap, the more sticky soot in the chimney, which increases the risks of a chimney fire.

What firelighter was that? I like the wax coated straw ones! Curious to see what yours were :)

[asaandthemarchharepart]

Wonderful video Marie. Just looking at them flames makes the work so worth while. Wish I could get back into that lifestyle. Much better than being in England haha Love and Big Hugs to you Both X

[daisy-grfm]

I love your videos. How much land do you own as part of your homestead?

[MarcelEling]

It certainly is a nice workout. Saves money both ways.

[vog]

I really like the simple way you describe things. I wonder how many times a day you start fire upstairs in winter?

[eerokutale]

A heat retaining fireplace would be more comfortable way to heat your house but they are very big. From Wikipedia: "In Eastern and Northern Europe and North Asia, these stoves evolved in many different forms and names: for example the Russian stove (Russian: Русская печь), the Finnish stove (in Finnish: pystyuuni or kaakeliuuni, "tile oven", or pönttöuuni, "bowl oven" for the metal clad version) and the Swedish stove (in Swedish: kakelugn, "tile stove") associated with Carl Johan Cronstedt. The Chinese developed the same principle into their Kang bed-stove.

A masonry heater is defined by ASTM International as "a vented heating system of predominantly masonry construction having a mass of at least 800 kg (1, 760 lb), excluding the chimney and masonry heater base. In particular, a masonry heater is designed specifically to capture and store a substantial portion of the heat energy from a solid fuel fire in the mass of the masonry heater through internal heat exchange flue channels, enable a charge of solid fuel mixed with an adequate amount of air to burn rapidly and more completely at high temperatures in order to reduce emission of unburned hydrocarbons, and be constructed of sufficient mass and surface area such that under normal operating conditions, the external surface temperature of the masonry heater (except in the region immediately surrounding the fuel loading door(s)), does not exceed 110 °C (230 °F)."

[mmwaashumslowww]

Two different types of wood that you mentioned, Birch and Pine. Does the pine have a fair amount of resin in it to make it better for kindling?. I have heard that some resin woods tend to splinter and crackle well when burning. Folks in the UK will envy the lovely fireplace and cosy warmth that you have and not having to pay rip off energy bills.

[MarcelEling]

Did you think about a closed system to burn the wood more effective?

[whu]

Hi Marie, How do you get rid of the don`t mean Mr Pollard of course.

[burtshere]

Curious if the fire heat lasts all night or if you have to get up to feed it when it’s really cold out?

[davidryle]

Marie, they're commonly called billets.