Customer Reviews

Heating with Wood DVD Set

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a an exceptional high quality video that that is essential for anyone who owns, uses, or is considering purchasing a wood burning appliance. All types of wood burning appliances are covered in this video such as stoves, furnaces, fireplaces, and fireplace
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Ted and Deb Sokolowski have successfully used wood exclusively to heat their home, which is located in the northeastern United States, for several years. Ted and Deb take you through an entire season covering all aspects of using a wood burning appliance from cutting, splitting, and drying wood to stove and chimney cleaning. Throughout the video, outside experts are featured with advice on stove selection, cleaning, etc.. The video emphasizes obtaining the maximum efficiency and effectiveness of your wood burning appliance while emphasizing safety.

In addition to the main video, there is bonus footage in Ted's Goody Box covering additional subjects such as maintaining chain saws and tree identification.

Overall, this video is an excellent value and will save you money through purchasing the correct wood burning appliance or getting the maximum performance from your existing wood burning appliance.

I don't normally review my purchases, but this DVD is really outstanding and I had to share with all the newbies out there that this is a great DVD. I have been wanting to heat with wood for years now but I really didn't know how to do it. Now I know the ins and outs of wood heating and will likely buy a stove with my new found knowledge. I was a bit apprehensive to purchase this DVD at first because I have seen some really horribly shot educational DVD's in the past. But this DVD really nails it. I wholeheartedly recommend it. It's worth every penny.

I am a first time wood stove owner and found that this video helped a lot. It really gives some good advice and tips.

My husband and I are novice wood stove users, and before getting our stove installed, we picked up this DVD set. I'm a visual learner, and when it comes to doing something like using a woodstove, it's nice to have visual instruction rather than reading a book or manual.

We didn't head the first advice of the video, which was to buy a newer, more efficient model of wood stove, but we simply couldn't afford it (we did snag a used Vermont Castings Intrepid circa 1983 - still a good stove, and in great condition for its age). Because our stove is older and we weren't shopping around for a stove, we didn't use the "How to buy a stove" section, but it was helpful to watch and understand for future reference.

With our older stove, the section that was incredibly helpful was the step-by-step instruction on how to replace the gaskets (the inner lining of the doors). Thanks to Ted and Deb for for demonstrating how crucial this replacement is and how it can lengthen the life of your stove even more.

I particularly enjoyed the chapters on building a Break-In fire and Sustaining a fire - I only wish there was MORE in this chapter (which is the only reason I gave this DVD set a 4 star rating instead of 5). The narrators/instructors are also very diligent about wood stove safety, and I felt this was well covered. I had to watch several chapters of the DVD set a few times over in order to absorb all of the information.

As a novice, the only part that I fast-forwarded through was the chainsaw use and maintenance. Though very thorough, and one day I will certainly watch and utilize the instruction, it wasn't necessary for me to get my woodstove going. We bought a seasoned cord locally this year, and I anticipate it will still be many years before we cut our own firewood. Still, it's good information to have and makes the whole experience very complete.

Bottom line: I would highly recommend this video to any woodstove user, especially beginners. It's a little cheesy at times (sorry Ted and Deb!), but their valuable information, thorough video, and easy-to-follow instruction supersedes any hokey-ness.

Having recently purchased a woodstove, I thought I made a mistake to the tune of a few thousand dollars: My wood wouldn't burn right, glass got all covered in creasote, etc.

In desperation, I bought this video. What a difference it has made! It has sections regarding how to choose a woodstove -which weren't helpful, since I already bought one, but the stove the DVD Authors have is -coincidentally- nearly identical to my own.

I learned how to build a fire in my EPA-approved woodstove, which is a bit different from the olders stoves. I learned how to cut, stack and cure wood, as well as what wood is best, what is OK, and what you shouldn't bother with. I learned how to sharpen my chainsaw. I learned more than I feel like typing about!

Essentially, this DVD took me from a novice to an experienced woodburner (or pretty close) in a few hours. I recommend it highly.