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MacBook Earth, Water and Fire

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Feb 03, 2008 Professor Chaos link
Now that there's a MacBook Air, they're going to do one for each of the four elements.
Feb 04, 2008 Cunjo link
I already have a MacBook Fire
Feb 05, 2008 Lord~spidey link
whoa nice now you can make coffee with it or even cook a steak
Feb 05, 2008 Professor Chaos link
Just don't accidentally drink your MacBook Water. Also, do you have to mow your MacBook Earth is what I wonder.
Feb 05, 2008 toshiro link
Chaos, why not drink it? If the screen showed up on your stomach, and the kb on your thighs, you could look at your own navel and have a perfectly good excuse.
Feb 05, 2008 Professor Chaos link
Hmm.... I.... hadn't thought of that.... might cause back problems. Oh, my, there are a million dirty jokes that could follow this, but I won't.
Feb 09, 2008 Fnugget link
Need a MacBook Heart.
Then you can combine them all.
Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Heart. By your powers combined....
MacBook Captain Planet Edition!
Feb 14, 2008 break19 link
Well.. Apple is owned by a bunch of hippies, and most of the mac users are, as well. so I would expect that a captain planet edition is not that far off.

And yes. I use a mac.. but hippy I am not.

*finds a tree to make into firewood and 2x4s to drive home his point*
Feb 14, 2008 Dr. Lecter link
I usually make my 2x4's outta pine, which is a pretty shitty source of firewood ('less you like chimney fires).
Feb 14, 2008 toshiro link
Oh, I love stereotypes. You like trees, bam, you're a hippie. What about dendrology, huh?

And yes, pine is not that great as firewood... if you use it exclusively. Mix it with beech, and the results will be better. Birch is best...
Feb 14, 2008 Dr. Lecter link
Uh, Tosh, you understand the problem comes from burning any significant amount of excessively cresote forming pine/spruce/etc ad nauseam wood in your stove or fireplace, right? Burning a mix, say 50-50 with good hardwoods, only reduces proportionately the formation of dangerously flammable cresote inside the chimney.

Stick to using shards of it as kindling, or clean frequently (always a fun time in the winter, what with the dust, grime, cold, and usually slippery roof conditions).
Feb 14, 2008 Professor Chaos link
I use puppies and kittens as firewood.
Feb 14, 2008 Shadoen link
but...why?
:-(
Feb 15, 2008 Professor Chaos link
Because babies are expensive.
Feb 15, 2008 Lord~spidey link
all you noobs should get pellet stoves
http://www.canren.gc.ca/renew_ene/index.asp?CaID=47&PgID=1142
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellet_stove
/wikipedia/
A properly cleaned and maintained pellet stove should not create creosote, the sticky, flammable substance that causes chimney fires. Pellets burn very cleanly and create only a layer of fine fly-ash as a byproduct of combustion. The grade of pellet fuel affects the performance and ash output. Premium grade pellets produce less than one percent ash content, while standard or low grade pellets produce a range from two to four percent ash. Pellet stove users should be aware of the extra maintenance required with a lower grade pellet, and that inconsistent wood quality can cause serious effects to the electronic machinery over a short period of time. /wikipedia/
Feb 15, 2008 Dr. Lecter link
I have a lot less fun felling, sectioning, splitting, and stacking ... pellets, Spidey.

And women don't swoon for late nights of d'Yquem on a thick fur rug in front of a roaring fire of ... pellets.

Which really cuts out the two major reasons to have a chimney in the first place :P You've got a lot to learn, n00blet.
Feb 15, 2008 toshiro link
The problem with chimneys is that they are pretty inefficient... but good to roast chestnuts.

You don't need a pellet stove to have good efficiency while using wood as a fule to heat your house. Tiled stoves are also very good and, in my opinion, more cozy than chimneys. A tad expensive, though.

I'm not sure I know what you mean by cresote, Lecter, and googling it did not turn up satisfactory results. I was mostly referring to the caloric value over time, where birch has a nice position smack-dab in the middle between, let's say, beech and pine. I'm aware of the aggressiveness of the birch wood residues from burning it, but much like you said, using pine first, then beech, would probably be best.
Feb 15, 2008 Dr. Lecter link
You didn't google very much.

Here, try this: http://phoenix.gov/FIRE/firplace.html#CLEAN

To be clear, I don't advocate "using" pine in a fireplace or stove. I advocate a highlighter-sized stick or two of fat wood (you can google that one, too;) as an easy way of getting your kindling and smaller pieces going. That's it. Everything else... I like red oak, locust, and if don't mind the occasional exploding knot, hornbeam and hickory.

As for efficiency, I've found that an insert stove with a thermostatically controlled blower (for circulating air around the exterior of the unit, not as an oxygenator), located in the lower level of the house, quite sufficient to maintain high 60's/low 70's in a split level rambler (~5000 sq. ft.) in temperatures around 5-10 deg F below freezing.
Feb 16, 2008 toshiro link
I googled with your typo, so nyah :P The creosole substitute by google should have made me wary, but it was kind of late after a long week...

And yeah, the system you describe is possibly the non plus ultra in terms of efficiency. What would interest me is whether the blower is driven by external power, or if the stove provides that by itself (e.g. by using a small turbine). Do you have a link to the system you mention, describing its inner workings more explicitly?
Feb 16, 2008 Professor Chaos link
I think, as a nice gesture to people we don't like, that it would be a good idea to donate nucular waste to them to put in their homes for totally free heating. It would be kind of like killing two birds with one stone; free heat for people we don't like, and solves the nucular waste problem! What do you think?