7 Comments
User's avatar
Tarn - mutual eye-rolling's avatar

Reading Substacks is exercising the mind.

I can't imagine the workout involved in writing one.

I like to read these stacks on the train. And I can wiggle my feet at the same time.

Tim Ellison's avatar

Yes, but while also chewing gum ?

Eldric Vero's avatar

Tim...we have a splitting axe and an electric wood splitter. We have cozy and the best fires to help heat our home in The Great White North of Alberta.

Adam's avatar

I want to give you a ribbing and tell you to get back to work, but I'm just sitting here reading a blog while I should be covering the outdoor spigots.

Tim Ellison's avatar

For just a small fee, I shall offer my expert services to help you Procrastinate !

Matt Blackman's avatar

Interesting comparison. We have both (wood stove and HVAC which works down to 30F. The difference without ripping out our 10 YO Trane 2 stage $20000 HP and replacing it with a Chinese HP (Cost +$15,000) is that we love wood which is plentiful and cheap here ($300/cord) and do have power failures which have zero effect on wood heat and cooking.... Added Bonus, stacking and cutting & splitting is great exercise I can still do well at 72...

Tim Ellison's avatar

Hi Matt !

My Chinese Ductless DC Inverter Heat Pumps work well down to -5 F.

I now only fire up my woodstove if it going to be into single digits or below 0 F.

The Chinese DC Inverter Heat Pumps only cost about 1 k$, and come with instructions so that anyone can install them. But you will pay 5 - 10 times more for an HVAC company to install them for you.

A friend down the road is a logger -- he has an amazing machine that takes a tree trunk, and pushes it with a pneumatic piston against an array of blades, which splits it, and then a saw comes down and cuts it, and a conveyor belt dumps the wood into the back of his dump truck. He comes and perfectly spreads the dump-truck load along where I will stack it for 300$ -- 6 Rick or 3 Cord for 300$.

I've tried getting people to pay my 50$/hr to me as a Personal Trainer to stack this wood for me -- but alas, no one has yet taken me up on this Amazing Offer.