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Ahead of his time

bigdaddyjuniorbigdaddyjunior Member Posts: 11,233
edited May 2006 in General Discussion
Knew a guy some years back who had an arguement with the local Natural Gas monopoly so he came up with an alternative that was ingeneous.He replaced his gas fired burner assembly in his boiler with a standard combustion chamber like on an oil or coal fired unit. Then he started to respond to all of the junk mailers in a positive way as well as ordering every free catalog you can imagine until he had huge piles of junk mail coming every day. He'd take all of this paper and soak it in a tub in his basement until it was mush. Then he scooped it into what looked like bread moulds with holes in them and let them dry for a week or so with bricks on them before removing them and stacking the logs like firewood all along his basement walls. All winter long he would burn these compressed paper logs to heat his water and home. Took him about an hour a day to keep the process going and he never had another heating bill.
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Comments

  • zipperzapzipperzap Member Posts: 25,057
    edited November -1
    LOL ... LOVE IT!!![:D][:D][:D]
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  • Red223Red223 Member Posts: 7,946
    edited November -1
    A genious.
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  • Horse Plains DrifterHorse Plains Drifter Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 40,224 ***** Forums Admin
    edited November -1
    Great idea. When I pick up the mail I stop by the shop on my way back to the house. I stand in front of the barrel stove and sort the mail. About 80% of it goes in the stove.
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  • wanted manwanted man Member Posts: 3,276
    edited November -1
    When we lived in North Carolina, before I had access to tops and other stuff to cut, we bought one of those contraptions that "roll" newspapers into "logs". It was more of a "gimmick" than anything else, but provided more than one fire in the back yard, by which to sip a few cold ones[:)] Wonder whatever appened to that thing?![?]
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  • spryorspryor Member Posts: 9,155
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by wanted man
    When we lived in North Carolina, before I had access to tops and other stuff to cut, we bought one of those contraptions that "roll" newspapers into "logs". It was more of a "gimmick" than anything else, but provided more than one fire in the back yard, by which to sip a few cold ones[:)] Wonder whatever appened to that thing?![?]


    Having been a "Mother Earth" fan for years, and heating with nothing but wood for the last 30, I've seen many alternative fuels. An oil drip furnace was always on my list of one I'd like to try.
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  • DancesWithSheepDancesWithSheep Member Posts: 12,938 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I love stories about living in the middle ages. Don't tell me, don't tell me: He doesn't pay health insurance premiums either because he found an alchemist who will cure his humours in exchange for some of the ginseng he grows in his herb cellar.
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  • hughbetchahughbetcha Member Posts: 7,801 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by DancesWithSheep
    I love stories about living in the middle ages. Don't tell me, don't tell me: He doesn't pay health insurance premiums either because he found an alchemist who will cure his humours in exchange for some of the ginseng he grows in his herb cellar.


    Insurance heck... the local barber will "bleed you" for a dollar!
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  • DancesWithSheepDancesWithSheep Member Posts: 12,938 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by hughbetcha
    Insurance heck... the local barber will "bleed you" for a dollar!

    I save all my old shaves. Twice a year I compress them into briquettes and have free heat for my Weber all summer long.
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  • Ray BRay B Member Posts: 11,822
    edited November -1
    The problem with using your junk mail as fuel is that the stuff that works best is pulp as in newspapers; the worst is the slick stuff generally used in magazines. Unfortunately, most of the advertisements and cataloges use the slick stuff. In order to use mail for fuel it is best to skip the mail and just subscribe to about 6 newspapers, but then the cost per unit of heat defeats the purpose, so until advertisers go back to paper-pulp, you might try wearing a down vest.
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  • yoshmysteryoshmyster Member Posts: 22,051 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    bigdaddyjunior; next time I see a guy standing around the local free paper stand at night I'll have to ask if he's your friend[:D]. Recently they changed the type of paper dor them it seems slicker pulp. I wonder if people got tired of having black finger tips?
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  • CA sucksCA sucks Member Posts: 4,310
    edited November -1
    but what happens when the internet revolution replaces all junk mail at your door with spam mail in your inbox?
    you cant burn that stuff!
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  • bigdaddyjuniorbigdaddyjunior Member Posts: 11,233
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by DancesWithSheep
    I love stories about living in the middle ages. Don't tell me, don't tell me: He doesn't pay health insurance premiums either because he found an alchemist who will cure his humours in exchange for some of the ginseng he grows in his herb cellar.


    Translation- I am so heavily invested in utility stocks that if one more guy goes off the grid I may have to get a paper route.
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