Would you spend a Manitoba winter in this?

[Biker]

Joining the naysayers here, I think they're going to find that very tough going.. As has been said I'd like to see how they're doing a few weeks form now but these sort of stories rarely ever get the follow up treatment. Shame really.

I sorta want to say they ought to taken into care for their own good but everyone's got to have a chance to try something new experiences I suppose. Does make me wonder if they actually asked for advice before settling there to winter it out. Asking the locals could be a potential mine of information.

 

[Macaroon]

I wonder why you think sharing your space with a dog would be a problem, Tengu? The dogs I've known have been cleaner, on the whole, than some of the people I've known. I ask out of real interest as I share my space with the dog when we're out, which is a good 50 - 60% of the time.

 

[cranky1]

once they get that air- tight heater going they will have the door open all winter. and those heaters will burn for 18 hours easy. the tepe is a little small but easily doable. I have seen native people here in the Yukon living like this for years.

 

[tsitenha]

They are delusional, pantry to limited (fats, quantity, variety etc...) for an extended stay (blizzard etc...) Even with people near by being caught in a white out could isolate them for whatever time it last, you can't see a few feet in front of you.
Walls are very thin, they will need at least 8 cords (4' x 4' x 8') of wood to heat a good shelter.
As far as native were able to live there, they where born to it and much better prepared, even so they died. Malnutrition, Hypothermia, cabin fever etc..
Reminds me of the young fellow that perished in Alaska some years ago following a similar idea.
Hope they live and learn.

 

[mrcharly]

I think the shelter is too small.

Not enough room to stock up on food, not enough room to bring a stock of wood inside. Open the flap door to get more wood and they'll lose all the heat instantly.

The friends of mine who lived in a yurt (for years, in Lancashire) ended up adding a porch mini-yurt, to contain wood and muddy boots and prevent instant heat loss. Yurts, tents and suchlike don't have any thermal mass to built up and store heat so its important not to lose all the warm air.

 

[silentpaddler]

Ha ha... they don't call it WINTERpeg for nothing....those two scrawny wretches will be a pair of hippie popsicles by new years...

 

[bb07]

Ha ha... they don't call it WINTERpeg for nothing....those two scrawny wretches will be a pair of hippie popsicles by new years...

Hey SP, good to hear you're alive and well. Yeah, winter hasn't even started there yet by the looks of it. Winnipeg is supposed to go down to -18C tonight, which is positively balmy. They should come to Saskatchewan. We hit -34C here last night and it's only November.

 

[British Red]

Damn!

How many cords of wood do you get through a year bb07?

 

[Toddy]

Mors came to the Moot a few years ago, and he was more than surprised at how long our firewood lasted and how little we actually consumed.....he thought about it and came to the conclusion that it was because we weren't burning pine.
So when Brits looked appalled at the amount of 'cords' of wood he said were necessary, he realised why. I think he went home with the notion to find some oak and ash

I thought firewood was measured in stères ? A kuub, or cubic metre size ?

cheers,
M

 

[British Red]

I figure it in cubic metres and / or cords - even face cords if I feel like it . About 3.6 cubic metres to the cord. Logically weight makes more sense as it eliminates the hardwood / softwood debate - but of course the amount of moisture hugely affects weight so it would have to be weight at, say, 20% moisture.

 

[rik_uk3]

once they get that air- tight heater going they will have the door open all winter. and those heaters will burn for 18 hours easy. the tepe is a little small but easily doable. I have seen native people here in the Yukon living like this for years.

18 hours easy? Wow, chums of mine born and bred over there must be doing something fundamentally wrong then.

 

[Toddy]

Tattie crates worth
Actually those work quite well I'm told. One of the local-ish tree surgeons fills them and sells firewood that way.

It's definitely a night for a fire

M

 

[British Red]

Tattie crates worth
Actually those work quite well I'm told. One of the local-ish tree surgeons fills them and sells firewood that way.

It's definitely a night for a fire

They work great


Barn Logs by British Red, on Flickr

 

[yoko]

So you're asking if a tipi is a proper shelter for Canada? I believe indians use them for that environment. Those guys in the vid seem to multiply heat with fire and mylar Kochanski style. I think they can make the winter but, hey, i'm spanish. Must be cold up there.

 

[bb07]

How many cords of wood do you get through a year bb07?

For one full year, and this is a bit of a guess, I would say 6-8 cords (cord=4x4x8'), this being jack pine and spruce. Lots of variables of course, but this should be realistic. I actually enjoy cutting wood, so I do so every chance I get, resulting in continuously topping up the woodpile. This is what makes it difficult to calculate more accurately.
Although it's cold now, in a couple of days the temperatures are forecast to rise to a few degrees below freezing, with nights ranging from -8 to -16c, so much warmer. Unfortunately, it won't last.

18 hours easy? Wow, chums of mine born and bred over there must be doing something fundamentally wrong then.

I too questioned that figure. I've used the sheet metal airtights a lot (and that's what it looks to be as far as I can tell) and don't have much love for them. If they're filled right full, they'll burn most of the night, sometimes, and I say that because they are finicky things at best. At times they'll burn okay, and at others they'll be temperamental, deciding to burn wildly without rhyme or reason, causing one to wake up in the middle of the night almost dying of heat.
Although they are called air tight stoves, they are anything but. In fact, I don't trust them enough to fill them any more than half full at a time, and only if I'm there to keep a close watch.
A much better and safer stove is a true airtight stove that is brick lined to retain heat.
The great advantage of the sheetmetal stoves is in their ability to produce almost instant heat.
Another concern I would have in the so called 'teepee' shown in the video is with regard to the stove pipe. They might find their tarp nicely melted to it

 

[British Red]

For one full year, and this is a bit of a guess, I would say 6-8 cords (cord=4x4x8'), this being jack pine and spruce. Lots of variables of course, but this should be realistic. I actually enjoy cutting wood, so I do so every chance I get, resulting in continuously topping up the woodpile. This is what makes it difficult to calculate more accurately.
Although it's cold now, in a couple of days the temperatures are forecast to rise to a few degrees below freezing, with nights ranging from -8 to -16c, so much warmer. Unfortunately, it won't last.

Not as much as I thought then - although more than me - I burn three to four for Winter heat of hardwood and maybe one more for cooking through the year - although we generally use propane in the warmer months as the range just makes it too hot for cooking. That's a goodly chunk to cut and haul though - I can see why you do it a bit at a time. I generally do ours in one long orgy of cutting and splitting in the Winter

 

[bb07]

As I said, it is a bit of a guess. It could very well be more but I simply have never bothered to pay much attention because of not really having a reason to know actual quantities. I just cut and burn. If I were purchasing my firewood, I would likely have an extremely accurate accounting of the quantity used.

The most important thing is a well insulated building, as well as a proper, efficient air tight stove. As you know, a poor stove and drafty building equals a lot of wasted firewood!

 

[tsitenha]

Wood warms you many times over,
when you cut/fell it
when you haul it
when you buck it
when you split it
when you stack it
when you burn it (seasoned is best)
and then a bit more when you haul the ashes out
One of the things that leaps out at me is that the stove is so very close to the door way... if the synthetic "skin" of the "tepee" does flame getting out would be "sticky"
I imagine or hope that they would bank snow around the bottom edges (insulation, draft control)
I would include a "roped guide, path" to their wood pile (near as possible) and to their latrine in case of a blizzard.
The best to them

 

[santaman2000]

Mors came to the Moot a few years ago, and he was more than surprised at how long our firewood lasted and how little we actually consumed.....he thought about it and came to the conclusion that it was because we weren't burning pine.......

Burning pine? Not only does it not give off any heat, you might as well be burning money.

 

[silentpaddler]

For one full year, and this is a bit of a guess, I would say 6-8 cords (cord=4x4x8'), this being jack pine and spruce. Lots of variables of course, but this should be realistic. I actually enjoy cutting wood, so I do so every chance I get, resulting in continuously topping up the woodpile. This is what makes it difficult to calculate more accurately.
Although it's cold now, in a couple of days the temperatures are forecast to rise to a few degrees below freezing, with nights ranging from -8 to -16c, so much warmer. Unfortunately, it won't last.

Isn't it a cruel irony that the coldest spots have the crappy wood? Down here in eastern Ontario our coldest so far this year
I think was -12...and here we are with all the hardwood... out our back door is dozens of square miles of red oak, maple,
ironwood, ash, birch... I cut about 8 or 10 full cords a year, but that heats our house, my parents' house, and the hunt camp.