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I am installing a wood stove insert into my fireplace soon. It is a Regency, the large 3100 model. I can't wait to nearly eliminate my gas bill. I will be paying around $2,500 for the stove and stainless liner, but will likely make my money back in less than two years, possibly less. Anyone here heat (or supplement your current system) with wood? Lots of trees will be coming down in my yard soon.
A 70%+ hike is expected for natural gas prices this year. I imagine I will have some of those folks from the gas company checking my meter this winter, to make sure I have not tampered with it. As a chimney sweep, I am always finding free firewood. This will help even more.
My main heat source is a forced air wood furnance. Love the heat and aroma I get from it. Since its down in the basement, dot get the ambience factor though. Does a good job for about $6-700 of split and delivered to the yard wood a year plus the sweat equity getting it inside.
I have found some maintenance issues with the furnance that may have impaired the efficiency I've griped about the last couple years. Best burn time I could get from a load of wood was about 5-6 hours, sou would come home or wake up to a rather chilly house. When the guy I use to sweep the chimney came this year, he pointed out that the grates above the fire box were pretty much clogged with ash. he had to use the metal prod from the sweep to break some of it up, thats how well packed it was in there. Also the lining on the door had worn out in a spot. This air leak may have been reducing my burn time as well.
So as much as I like the wood furnance, I too have been contemplating alternate heating sources. i have been looking into the pellet stove option. I'm attracted by the freestanding stoves that can burn all day and night from a hopperful and provide that wonderful flickering flame to look at. I;m looking at about $3000 all told for the stove, hearth pad, installation, piping and a seasons worth of pellets. I figure it can also come in handy for those chilly fall and spring nights when other wise I'd be switching n the propane furnace (yuckkKK!!).
Hard to pull the trigger for that kind of money but like you said, it'll be cost efficient over the long run and just a pleasant thing to have.
garylspolar, Although i still have the wood stove downstairs, It hasn't been used in a number of years. I always felt that wood heated twice, once when you cut and split it, and then when it was burned. When I did use wood for heat it wasn't just for saving money, I really enjoyed the cutting and splitting,I used to always try split when the weather was quite cold, when hit with the splitting maul the wood would just crack open. and I always felt that the heat from wood was such a comfortable heat. At that time I already had a truck, chain saw and a good suppy of wood, (it takes a lot of wood to heat a house for a season.) I would always like to stay a year ahead with the wood supply, that way I would know that the wood was good and dry, and although most people will tell you Oak is the best, I would differ, Ash, IMOP is by far the best!!. On the down side, I would have to say wood can be quite dirty, (had a couple of back ups over the years) You have to have a place for the wood pile, I don't know where you live, out in the country I had no problem, but if you live intown, it can be a problem. and if you have to purchase a truck and saws or have to buy the wood, it can take a real bite out of your saving, I always kept my chimey in good shape (as I'm sure you will), I really did enjoy it. I have a large Fisher Stove , these are the KLR of woodstoves, you could burn anything in them, I did burn coal (packaged) for awhile, but if you have any close neighbours, they might object. Good Luck, Have fun Den
I attempted to use a wood stove in the first home after my wife and I were married but she has allergy problems, including most trees. What was saved in heating was offset by doctor's bills! Plus she felt bad most of the time. Not good for newlyweds.
Any future use of wood will require using the stoves that are outside the house and circulate hot water for heating. They also can take big firewood chunks!
'02 in black - the real BMW color! (Now gone to a new home)
Vann - Lifer No. 295
I've been heating with wood since about 1980. First stove was a home made job welded together from two water heater tanks. Next one was a nicer boiler-plate job with cast iron doors from Monkey Ward. Got my current stove from Vermont Castings in '82. It's what was then their mid-size model, the Vigilant. Loads from the top or the front. The castings (sand) are beautiful. I love that stove, and yes, so do the cats (Trixie and Alice), but most importantly, so does my wife.
I haven't burned a drop of fossil fuel since I've been a woodburner. I usually burn between 2 and 3 cords a year. I mostly get wood from lots being cleared prior to being developed. Of course, since I've been at it so long, now, I've built quite a network of folks that keep an eye out for me. And come hurricane season, there's windfall. Some of that is even close to home, which helps (he said while nervously eyeing Ophelia).
It's a lot of work  even considering the paltry amount of wood that I consume. But it's very satisfying work as well. But then there's also the mess that comes in with the wood. And it tends to be a very dry heat  I have humidifiers all over the house.
But damn! It feels good to back up to that big hunk of hot iron!
Our house way out in the country is "off grid", ie miles from the electric lines and any gas lines and is heated exclusively with an airtight wood burning stove, the Castine by Jotul. We do have a propane tank that I fill once a year for the clothes dryer, water heater and Mz Pam's cook stove. All the fire wood I cut and split from our own place. I have seen temps here as low as 15 below F and it stays cozy warm in our house. We use 2 to 3 cords per year as well. I can add one or two pieces of wood in the stove in the evening when we go to bed, 8 or 9 pm and the stove is warm and full of coals in the morning ready for a load of wood.
Our electricity comes from a very good system of solar panels, solar tracker, 5500 watt sine wave inverter and a bank of 140 lb batteries. We have more than enough electricity to run our fridge plus a chest freezer, washer and dryer, hair dryer, 60" DLP TV, ceiling fans , our well, 31/2 HP air compressor, etc,etc. We have never had a utility bill out here since we moved here in '97 and proceded to build our own house ourselves.
The Jotule
The house last winter, our little piece of Haven.
This keeps you healthy and sharp so that you can always beat the squids on their want-to-be go-fast Squid bikes.
I grew up with wood heat, my Dad still uses it, and I will probably get into it again soon at these fuel prices!
A wood stove or F/P insert will create a hot spot in the room it is in. That's not usually a problem during the day when everybody is in the living room but can be real uncomfortable otherwise. Most furnaces have a switch on them or on the thermostat for running just the fan (constantly). Running the fan will circulate the heat through the house better and be more comfortable but will up your electric bill a bit. Stoves and inserts that have a fan built in can be ducted into the return air side of the furnace, making it even more efficient.
Newer homes and older ones remodeled with a house wrap and new windows are typically very tight - they don't let outside air in very readily. That is a real problem for wood stoves. The wood needs air to burn. All the hot smoky air going up the chimney must be replaced in the firebox for the fire and "draft" to continue. The best bet is to get a model that uses cumbustion air ducted in from outside.
That's true even for old drafty houses, too. Remember, for each unit of smoke that escapes the chimney, an equal amount of outside air must come in. Better to have the cold outside air go through a duct than through the room. Most stoves can be retrofitted with a little enguinuity.
BTW, if you burn wood, you want to become a junk mail junkie! Roll all the junk mail, newspapers, and magazines into "logs" and fasten with masking tape. I've even seen roller jigs sold for this somewhere but I forget where. Get on as many mailing lists as possible and have a sizeable amount of BTU's delivered to your door!
Much respect to Granpa Hoon! Way to save money, and oil. It's overcast quite often in Cleveland, so I'm not sure how much electricity I would get with solar panels. I am going to look into it, however.
I just blew a disc, a vertebrae, or maybe just pulled a muscle... Regency wood stove insert is in my garage and ready for install in a couple of weeks. It's still wrapped up, so, here is the web site for the company where my new money saver comes from:
As a chimney sweep, I am always finding free firewood. This will help even more.
