Enclosing the central wood boiler

I bought a carport and had it assembled over my wood furnace. Having this will help us keep the firewood by the furnace dry and ready to be loaded into the boiler. Also during bad weather outside it provides shelter while we load it with wood. It is a 10x15 foot steel structure with 9 feet of clearance overhead. It is open on both sides to allow air flow but the sides are enclosed to protect us from the elements a little.

The wood boiler looks so small next to my Red Maple tree

Even though this was not necessary it will be a nice thing to have when the nasty days show up, freezing rain is not fun to work in. So having a roof should make things much easier. Curious to see what happens with the snow on the roof, possible the residual heat from the boiler will keep the roof snow free... maybe not.. lol

It all started with me and my foreman leveling the area where the carport foundation will go. It was over 7 inches out of level before we started and now its perfectly level.

The installers build the carport, it is all included in the cost which was a little under $3000 All I did was watch all of it go up, and the leveling the area before they arrived.

Ground anchors are used to keep the carport from becoming air born during heavy winds. They use a hammer drill like device to drive in rebar.

With the framing coming along soon they will start putting the siding up and the roof.

The installers came from the Carolinas, I forgot which one. Their dually diesel pickup and the specialized trailer carried all of this over here up to Virginia.

My wood pile is looking kinda thin, time to gather more and prep it while they build. We are constantly bringing over more wood, so good we will now have a place to store it.

They move quickly and have the framing up in a matter of hours. It was interesting to watch them put it all together.

Siding is going on, I matched the color to my workshop. A beige white wall and a green roof.

Seeing those corrugated metal panels used it reminded me of the chicken and duck enclosure. I watched how they hung up the panels, seems like we did so I am glad we had the right idea.

Some people cut a hole in the roof to fit the chimney through, I felt like this was not needed and just letting it hang out the back is fine. The tractor is hanging out behind the furnace, we use it to bring over more firewood from the barn area where its all seasoning.

Stacking all the wood is next, we are thinking about filling up the open side of the carport, and then enter through the sides to feed it. Not sure if we are going to do that, the smoke may be a big problem.. When we open that door it can get pretty hazy and with more wood blocking it may be an issue.

Its important to make sure enough ventilation is coming in so when we feed the fire we do not black out from smoke inhalation.. lol

Feeding the fire, its always hungry. Luckily we lots of downed trees, and dead ones ready to be cut down when we need more. We regularly rake the coal bed to make sure air flow is good.

I have made a few piles of wood. These are smaller tree branches.

Keep my lobbers near by if something is cut too big for the boiler.

The other side has more stumps and bigger wood. I get rid of all the dirt on the roots and then the roots and trunks make for good firewood.

I think I like the colors, picking the same as the other building and shed seems good.

All those wildflowers that bloomed and now died back and I have big stalks of these plants. I think I can put them in the wood furnace, but they are quite the mess. I may need to find a way to bind them and then put them in the furnace.

We keep pine tree branches with the leaves on them for a quick start wood. It burns up very fast and helps to start a fire again if the flames go out in the furnace.

Part of using this furnace is cleaning the ash out on a regular basis. I have been using a plastic paint bucket to collect the ashes, and one melted right through the bucket.. lol I have a metal bucket on order and should work better than this.

Once the ashes cool I put them in a large trash can, we plan on using this as a resource in our fields and on our crops in general if they need more calcium or potassium. We plan on doing soil tests soon to find out if that is needed.

I recently cleaned out the back of the furnace as well, there are a few spots where ash builds up and needs to be removed. Its a dusty job and I try to wear a face covering when I work with the ash.

The purple markers on the ground is where the water lines come into the furnace. I marked every water line well so the installers were well aware of the placement of the pipes. And they can make sure they do not drive ground anchors into my water lines.

Now the carport is installed, I need to follow up adding gravel around the base of it. That will help the area not be so muddy and keep erosion at bay. This area is mostly flat but still need to put something over that dirt and cover and gaps in the foundation.

Well I think the wood furnace likes its roof and enclosure, I know I do. It has yet to rain with it but I think I will be happy to have it when the weather gets bad. And now we have a place to store wood besides the barn we can not worry about firewood getting soaking wet.