Wood Heat

[Stepper]

I am wanting to heat my home with wood. I got to thinking that there may be alot of you folks who live in the Northern States who heat their homes with wood. And i was wondering what type of wood stoves you use ? So i have herd alot of good things about pellet stoves but then again you are at the mercy of the market on the price ot the pellets.

I have an abundant supply of wood so that would not be any problem. Does anyone have any woods that they would reccomend ?

 

[mtncows]

If you have older children or don't mind using fireplace screens for barriers,a cast iron stove is the way to gtherwise get a jacketed stove ( it still hurts to touch but skin doesn't stick ).
If you have forced air from the basement.then a jacketed wood furnace would be best.All ashes,chips and dirt are in the basement and it helps dry clothes,etc.
Before you get started,contact your extention service and fire dept.They will both have alot of safety info and extention will have tips on effecientcy.Burning wood envolves some work but hte benefits far excede

 

[dun]

Any of the good air tight wood burning stoves will work. We've had 3 different types over the years. If you have a fireplace a good air tight insert works amazingly well. It's pretty surprising how economical of wood the air tights are.

 

[cfpinz]

As far as namebrands go, I like Englander. But ours is homemade. If you already have ductwork in your house, get one of the wood furnace types with a blower and plumb it into your ducts. Works really well.

cfpinz

 

[dun]

As far as namebrands go, I like Englander. But ours is homemade. If you already have ductwork in your house, get one of the wood furnace types with a blower and plumb it into your ducts. Works really well.

cfpinz

This made me think of the outside woodburners that are plumbed in through the existing central heat. There are a lot of those around here and they typically only have to be stoked once a day plus they also heat the water for the house.

 

[hillrancher]

I have a Hardy out side wood furnace that heat water and pumps into the house. It is backed up by electric, We use elect until it gets cold all day. It is out side so this does not affect the insurance rates. We had a furnace in the basement until we got this one. It was as mess, smoke in the house when it was loaded and dust.
We use around 8 to 9 ricks of wood per year that is keeping a fire 5 + month a year. Also the hot water is heated with it. When the temperature is above 10 F at night fill once per day. It heats 2400 sq. ft. also set up to heat a shop. That we don't heat.

 

[mitch2]

As far as namebrands go, I like Englander. But ours is homemade. If you already have ductwork in your house, get one of the wood furnace types with a blower and plumb it into your ducts. Works really well.



cfpinz

If you have an attached garage, you could also put the furnace in there and plumb into your existing duct work, heats garage as well then, and mess out of the house.

Have a friend that did it this way.

Have a BIL who has the outside one, and fills about once a day, it heats his house and garage.

Michele

 

[fit2btied]

...Before you get started,contact your extention service and fire dept...

Don't forget to talk to your insurance company. About 20 years ago, during the set-up of the rural fire districts around here, some companies (MFA/Shelter) took the opportunity to eliminate all wood heat customers that lived over 5 miles from a firehouse. Others (State Farm) raised rates high enough to make it cost prohibitive. We didn't have a wood stove at the time but our house had a triple-wall stainless steel pipe flue. MFA/Shelter insisted that it be removed and the roof redone so it could not be reinstalled or face cancellation. Switched to State Farm - ~ $450 the 1st year, ~ $780 the 2nd, over $1100 the 3rd.

 

[MistyMorning]

I am wanting to heay my home with wood. I got to thinking that there may be alot of you folks who live in the Northern States who heat their homes with wood. And i was wondering what type of wood stoves you use ? So i have herd alot of good things about pellet stoves but then again you are at the mercy of the market on the price ot the pellets.

I have an abundant supply of wood so that would not be any problem. Does anyone have any woods that they would reccomend ?

Stepper we have a pellet stove. Burns corn or wood pellets. Now up here the thing won't heat the whole house during the guts of the winter, but in the fall and spring it will just fine. Wood pellets last week were about $3.76 for a 40 lb bag which will last for about 24 hours.

As far as the variety of woods to burn, my experience in the past is that the oaks or birches would burn best. Wouldn't use the larch or tamarack burns toooo hot!

Hopefully mnmt will get on here soon and give you his advice since they burn wood there.

 

[bigbull338]

i hate to say this but do not get a pellet or corn stove.the cost of buying the corn or pellets will kill your hipp pocket.get a good wood stove with the ash tray in the bottom.that way you can push the ashes in the tray.an dump the tray when its full.if it dont have a tray youll have to let the fire burn way down.an shovel the ashes out into a bucket.wood heat is all we use.an we burn 3 or 4 cords of wood in the winter.my brother has the built in heater that forces the heat thoughout the house.an it can warm his house pretty good.an it burns 26in long big wood.he has to fill it about 2x a day.an shovel an haul ashes out when needed.we cut an splitt our own wood.using dead or fallen trees.we burn mostly oak wood.as well as some hackberry wood.both woods burn hot.

 

[Stepper]

Well i apprechaite all of the replys. I have heated my home with wood some in the past. But not enough to really know what is the best way to do it.

I just bought another home and i am adding a 20 x 26 family room onto it and was thinking about adding a fire place to.

But i would like something that would help heat the house. I have a fire place insert in my present home that has the blowers. But it really does not do much for heating. But then again it is not a real good insert either.

The best stove i ever had to heat the house with was a basic warm morning wood stove that had the stove pipe going out the wall. But it was sort of dangerous due to the heat it put off surrounding it.( walls, furniture, etc..., would get real warm) And it like a fire place is bad about getting ash dust in the house when it is time to clean out the ashes. And then two it took up alot of space since it had to sit out from any walls etc....,

From what i have read about pellet stoves the problems with them are all the things that can go wrong with them. The electric motors, blower, augar etc....,

From what i hear about the outside wood furnance's they eat up alot of wood and are not very efficient.

I know they all have their good/bad points. So i am just tring to decide what would be the best way to go and what are all of the different ways to heat a home with wood.

 

[mnmtranching]

Stepper, We heat 100% with wood that I cut off my land. Free except the exercise.

I have a custom fireplace insert, set in cement blocks and brick face. The insert is made of 1/4 inch steel with a dome and 8X12 flue inside 8 inch cement blocks. Inside the fireplace are 4- 2 inch pipes bent to fit the inside. 2 fans with custom attachment blow air into the ductwork to all parts of the house. The unit has 8 inch airspace sides and back. a 1 foot by 40" grill below and 1 above the unit just below a concrete pad that supports the flue. Glass doors with metal frames are big to allow for large round wood, to last overnight. I hired a welder to make the unit to my specs. We're on the 14th Winter.

In the basement attached to a forced air blower we have a wood burning stove. We use this to supplement in the cold weather.
I save more then enough $ to pay for all my Fall adventures.

I always use dry wood, burns hotter without problems. Oak, birch, Poplar, pine, ash. Anything as long as it's dry.

 

[Stepper]

mnmt,

Is your duct work in the ceiling or floor ? And is there any chance you have some pictures that you could post ? I had never thought about plumbing a insert into the duct work.

 

[mnmtranching]

Stepper I have a full basement with floor trusses, so the duct work is in the floor, same for the downstairs wood stove. We have electric forced air furnace hooked up to the ductwork and the blower is on a thermostat, with the heat elements turned off except for when we leave for a weekend or so in cold weather.
Thurman, I will send pics.

GSP is not the fellow I met in MT, had to pm him to ask.

Wayne

 

[Limomike]

Stepper.. I would look into this : http://www.countryflame.com/
Since you are adding a new room, you might want to put this into your plans. I have one in my house, and I love it.

 

[CKC1586]

Lots of wood heating systems in our state. Brother uses wood hooked up to duct work and hot water heater, back up is oil.
Daughter has wood fired boiler with in floor radiant heat, this is awesome.
Many outdoor wood furnaces hooked into heating systems most folks really like them.
Can't beat the "warm heat" from wood.

 

[msscamp]

I am wanting to heat my home with wood. I got to thinking that there may be alot of you folks who live in the Northern States who heat their homes with wood. And i was wondering what type of wood stoves you use ? So i have herd alot of good things about pellet stoves but then again you are at the mercy of the market on the price ot the pellets.

I have an abundant supply of wood so that would not be any problem. Does anyone have any woods that they would reccomend ?

We used wood-burning stoves for years, and it was basically the sole source of heat on the ranch. We started out with a Franklin Stove, and it was crap for what we needed. We switched to an Earth stove and it did great! As far as what type of wood - you can use any of them, but be aware that soft woods such as pine tend to burn quicker, and produce more creosote? so they need to be alternated/burned with harder woods such as oak to keep the creosote from building up in the chimney and causing a chimney fire. I think there is a product on the market that can be sprinkled on the fire to keep this from happening, but I'm not sure. I would also suggest installing a chimney thermometer so the temperature can be monitored.

 

[Stepper]

msscamp,

The thermometer is a good idea. I apprechaite everybodys input. That is exactly what i was looking for, lots of different ideas, i can put all of these ideas together and come up with an ideal heating system for my home.

Thanks Every body. ;-)

 

[MikeC]

The best system for wood heat I have seen is a outdoor wood fired boiler and the base board type radiator pipes indoors.

You could also install a heat exchanger in your duct work for the hot water and use it for heating bath water, etc..

More efficient than direct wood heat and doesn't dry out the air inside the house, and a heck of a lot safer.

I have a big fireplace in my house now but a fireplace takes a lot of wood and most of the heat goes up the chimney.

 

[TexasBred]

Stepper a conventional fire place usually sucks more air out of the house than it puts into it. If you do go with the fireplace by all means put an insert in it that will blow the heat into the house and will allow you to damper it down as well and extend the length of time the wood last. We have a pellet stove and love it. Course it doesn't get as cold here as up north but it keeps the family room very toasty and cuts way back on the electric bill in the winter. A bag of pellets last us several days burning it only after we get home everyday. Don't know what part of the country you live in but where available red oak is one of the hottest burning wood. It think most folks out here in central Texas use post oak as it is readility available.