THE AMAZING $500 WOOD-BURNING STOVE ... THAT YOU CAN BUILD FOR $35 (OR LESS!)

[WhiskeyGirl]

THE AMAZING $500 WOOD-BURNING STOVE ... THAT YOU CAN BUILD FOR $35 (OR LESS!)

Most homebuilt wood-burning stoves are scabbed together from old 55-gallon drums. And they more or less do the job they're supposed to do ... despite the fact that they're notoriously inefficient users of fuel, are difficult to regulate, rapidly burn through, and are so ugly that most people will only tolerate them out in the garage or workshop.

Perhaps the single really good thing that can be said for the majority of the 55-gallon-drum burners is that (usually) it doesn't cost very much to put one of them together or at least it didn't used to. Here lately, though, the steel barrels have become increasingly difficult to find ... and, when you do locate one of the containers, it frequently has a seven dollar price tag at fixed to it.

There must be a better way to go about assembling a homemade wood-burning stove. And there is' As MOTHER was recently shown by Wilton, Iowa's Robert Wars (who, incidentally, just happens to be the brother of MOTHER researcher Emerson Smyers).

"Forget about messing around with old 55-gallon drums," Bob told us. "What you want to build your stove out of is a discarded electric water heater tank ... for at least four good reasons:

"In the first place, the walls of such a tank are a minimum of three to four times as thick as the metal in a 55-gallon barrel ... which means that a water heater drum will make a much tougher stove that will last a lot longer.

"Second, when you build a firebox from a junked water heater tank, it's very easy to make the stove as airtight and efficient as any $500 woodburner on the market. And I can't say that about any 55-gallon-drum stove I've ever seen.

"Third, if you construct your heater the way I tell you to, it'll be easy to load, it will have excellent fire and temperature control, and it'll look classy enough to put on display right in the living room.

"And fourth, you can build one of my 'water heater' stoves for even less than most folks now spend putting together a 55gallon-barrel wood-burner. As a matter of fact, I scrounged up everything that went into mine. Which means that the stove cost me only the laborone good long daythat I used building it."

read the rest of the story and see pictures here -
http://www.motherearthnews.com/do-it-yourself/1978-01-01/the-amazing-500-wood-burning-stove-that-you-can-build-for-35-or-less.aspx

an oldie but a goodie article     

[WhiskeyGirl]

Eco homes: Doing your bit on the eco-home front

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 08/07/2008Page 1 of 2

Sarah Lonsdale launches a new column on how to reduce the carbon footprint of our homes, in which she will look at new green gadgets and ways of saving energy

I became aware of climate change and its possible causes about a decade ago, when talk of melting ice caps prompted concerns about coastal flooding and the demise of polar bears. I bought a wind-up radio and started recycling. But it wasn't until 2006, when reports on global warming and its effects started coming thick and fast, that the imperative to do my bit hit home.
   
Green goddess: Sarah Lonsdale in her garden collecting wood for the stove, which has helped to cut her gas bills

But where to start and what to do? Reducing carbon emissions from our homes, which account for 27 per cent of the UK's total emissions (about six tonnes each), is the easiest and most cost effective way of reducing our personal carbon footprint.

After a little research and a fascinating chat with a Norwegian cousin who heats his home with a wood-burning stove, even when the temperature falls to -20C, I realised there was plenty that could be done to cut consumption of fossil fuels: conserving rainwater to avoid using tap water on the garden; switching to energy efficient lighting and appliances; insulating roofs, floors and walls; replacing inefficient boilers; not using the tumble drier, composting, recycling, using organic paints and so on. The list of minor changes is endless and with the rising cost of fuel, they will help you to save money too.

I have started to make savings and while this year most people's gas and electricity bills have gone through the roof, ours have fallen by a cool thousand pounds. Last year, in our four-bedroomhouse, where I live with my husband and two children, we were paying £94 a month for gas and £74 a month for electricity. This year we are paying £60 a month for gas and £54 for electricity. In addition, at the end of the winter quarter our gas supplier refunded £300 and then a further £150 last month, making a total saving of £1,098 for the year. We haven't switched utility companies or made any sacrifices; the minor extra chores, such as remembering to fill our pockets with kindling when we go for walks or making sure the mobile phone solar chargers are correctly positioned, are gladly embraced.

The biggest and most economical change we made was to put insulation in the cavity walls of our draughty 1920s suburban home. The installers came last spring, spent a day drilling holes in our walls and filling them with what looked like pale yellow candy floss, filled the holes and left us with a bill of £275, a small price to pay if you consider the savings. According to the Energy Savings Trust, there are still about eight million homes in the UK that could benefit from cavity-wall insulation. If you live in a house built between 1920 and 1980, that could be you.

read the rest of the story here -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml?xml=/property/2008/07/08/pecohome108.xml