Burn more waste paper.

[Woodznutz]

Some years ago I heated my 2-flat, including hot water, with newspaper logs. I modified the grate in my wood burner to accomplish steady and complete combustion. Lots of paper going landfills or being stored at great cost that could be used for fuel.

WASTE/ENERGY: Paper-Derived Fuels Prove A Cleaner Burn

To supplement traditional fuel methods, some companies have discovered fuels derived from pa-pers. By using paper to supplement coal or wood waste, the process produces a cleaner-burning fuel and may be less expensive than traditional methods."Paper-derived fuels represent fuels that compare to...

www.waste360.com

 

[1srelluc]

I remember when those newspaper rollers (they made logs) were a thing......Hell, now the paper is so thin you would freeze to death rolling enough to heat a room.

Check this out:

 

[Woodznutz]

I remember when those newspaper rollers (they made logs) were a thing......Hell, now the paper is so thin you would freeze to death rolling enough to heat a room.

Check this out:

I just quickly rolled dry newpapers into logs and taped them to keep them from unrolling. After a few hours they 'set' and won't unroll. I stacked them in my woodburner in such a way that they didn't collapse and smother themselves out. A load of nine five-inch diameter logs would burn all day. I looped a water line through a coil on the outside top of the firebox and into a 'preheater' tank piped ahead of the water heater. A thermostat turned a circulating pump on when the temperature in the firebox got hot.

As I worked in a large apartment building, I had a large supply of newspaper to work with. I couldn't do that today as very few of my tenants even take a newspaper. However, I still burn my junk mail and other paper in my fireplace. By feeding it slowly there is virtually no smoke and it gives a lot of heat at least for a few moments. I installed a blower when I built the fireplace so I do get heat from it. In fact, I burn wood almost every evening during the winter, and while the fire is going it heats the whole house well above what the furnace thermostat is set at. It heats even better since I increased the attic insulation to R-49.

 

[jwoodie]

Let's start with the NYT and WAPO.