Keeping warm this winter

Keeping cozy when it's cold outside is one of the great challenges of living in upstate New York. Today the temperature gauge outside my kitchen window is reading 10 degrees, and the local meteorologist (gleefully, I swear--these people live for this stuff) reports that when you factor in the wind chill, the outdoor temp dips to a tepid 15 below! No matter how full our oil tank, and how often the furnace kicks on, we can't seem to keep warm.

As luck would have it, I was perusing the goods at the local hardware store this past weekend, when something interesting caught my eye: a bag with a flame imprinted on the front of it. And since my eye seems to be drawn to any and all things looking even remotely "fire like," or "flame worthy," at this time of year, I paused, and checked it out.

And that's how I discovered Qualiflame Energy Logs. Apparently these "wood" logs are made of compressed particles of sawdust. You know, the stuff you usually throw away? Among the claims made on the bag were: produces less creosote, pollution and harmful emissions than traditional logs." How? I had no idea. The bag didn't elaborate. But it did claim to "burn longer," and "produce more heat than traditional logs." At less than ten bucks a bag (30-lb 10-pack), I figured I'd try it out.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it did, indeed, burn about twice as long as traditional logs, and it felt twice as hot. In fact, it got so hot that my husband burned his hand on the nearby fireplace tool when he grabbed it.

Okay, so since it seemed to do the trick, I googled the product, and found out the hard facts about this hardwood byproduct. In terms of heat, it's hotter because it's so compressed, packing a walloping 8,000 BTUs of heat/energy per pound (as opposed to the 5,800-6,000 BTUs of the same amount of cordwood). And because it has a lower moisture content than traditional logs, it creates less smoke, so, fewer emissions. And the log bag is made of recyclable plastic.

I seldom promote particular products, but in this instance I feel a recommendation is both helpful, and timely. All in all, a relatively inexpensive way to turn up the heat during the coldest month of the year. The store I was in (Lowe's) also had "Eco-Energy Fuel Blocks," which I plan on trying next. Stay tuned...and stay warm!