reduce heating bill with Wood Stove

[Treemonkey1000]

Looks great Michelle. Does that have a option for a fan? You may have said that in previous postings I didn't read back through them. 3-4 days of wood at once!

 

[PatasColo]

...The wood pile outside in the picture is about 7 feet from the stove. I am going to get a rack for inside house that will hold a 1/2 cord of wood and wood dolly with wheels. That way before a big storm I can bring in enough wood to last at least for 3 or 4 days.

Michelle, (This may be an idea for the future.) If you could make your racks so that they were somehow smaller and rollable via dolly, it could save you a lot of work getting large amounts of wood into the house at once. Of course, this may not be practical due to the weight of the wood and obstacles like the door threshold, etc. Anyway, I always emphasize to my wife that I want to stack the wood as few times as possible.

Perhaps there is a way to quickly transfer a "column" of wood from your existing racks onto a dolly, without having to handle each piece separately? Just brainstorming here... :thumbsup:

 

[PatasColo]

Hi Guys
As a womens privledge I have changed my mind and order my stove last night will arrive today The Alderlea T5 heats up to 2000 sq feet. Fire box is
2.1 cubic feet and I can cook on it. ...
Pacific Energy Fireplace Products | Alderlea Cast Iron Wood Stoves & Inserts

Michelle, We almost got that stove too! But for various reasons, last year (Sept 2010), we bought the Hearthstone Shelburne and also had to have our entire chimney pipe replaced... apparently the previous owners had had chimney fires and ruined the expensive pipe that was there.

So, your chimney cost doesn't sound too bad to me, but it depends on the details. We paid around $2800 for our chimney replacement. We got three estimates, and all right around the same price. However, our chimney goes up somewhere over 30 feet, and it also has some interesting complications from how it was built into the house (set in solid concrete) near the bottom. In case you're interested, I'll attach a pic of our stove and hearth.

Also, we later added the custom fan that attaches to the stove, and it makes a lot of difference (though it could be quieter). It was pricey for what it is (around $200). Prior to buying it, we had a large room fan pointed at the stove, and it worked nicely, but there wasn't a good place for it (looked a bit ghetto, but was quieter than the custom fan).
-Mitch

 

[Michelle K linnane]

treemonkey1000I want to wait on fan option I am installing a ceiling fan in the dining room and have one in the living room and will put one in my bedroom. The ceiling fans are very quiet and move a great deal of air. I can always add the fan
later for now I will use a $20 walmart kind for first year.

Pastacolo I want the wood rack in the house to be log rack so it
does not look so bad and The wood dolly will move a great deal of wood
quickly remember my source is only 7 feet away. I have only handled this
wood twice. We brought up the entire tree with the folks on tractor. It was
cut into stove lengths in front of wood splitter. As it was split it placed in bucket of tractor and stacked on the deck. So from the deck most of the time it will go in the stove.

I am thinking of doing my dining room and kitchen with a slate floor it will
take a bounding from my dogs and look rustic. With the cedar siding in the living room and dining room it should look good but now will just do the hearth area in slate.

General comments
With the wood on the deck and it is 8 feet high off the ground and the wind hits it all the time man has it dried in a month. Holy cow, I can not believe how much lighter it is then when I first stacked. The wind does not stop blowing here. Nice for drying the wood.
and boy can it dry stuff.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Sounds like you have your ducks in a row or actually your wood in a row Michelle. I just put a new wood stove in last spring. I ran it a little back then. I put a 12" house fan behind it on a timer to blow the heat off.

My ceiling fan can move the air around also but it is sort of distracting with my lower ceilings. They wanted about $250 for the fan blower kit with the stove. I thought let me try it without first. Anyhow today I went to an electronics store and picked up a couple of new computer fans and the power supply. I made up a bracket and shield to mount the fans to run air into the stoves chambers that the blower kit would have used. That ended up costing about $23.

We'll see how good it works. I might go with bigger fans. You can't hear these fans at all from about 20" away. Nice and quiet.

 

[Briar Hill Brittanys]

Ya know, funny thing is it heats you 3 times. :laughing: That's a sweet looking stove. Hope it works good for you. I don't think your prices are outta line either. Specially if it's a good professional job. Mark

 

[dixstir]

wood--- we have used wood for almost 40 years we have a kozy head built in brick down stairs and a qudrafire pellet up stairs set the stat at 70 (used about 50 bags last year @ 325 a bag one bag last about 3-4 days ) and it kicks in when the wood goes down the combo works good would not change we have a gas furnace for backup but it does not kick in . in the winter we have hotdogs and a few steaks on the built in grille built in fireplace . I am sure you will have the rocker in front and just sit and watch the fire dont think I ever sat and watched my furnace run ha ha .

 

[chad22]

I just moved into a mobile home and finally got around to installing a wood stove that my parents were no longer using. It was just sitting in the house we were living in for awhile.

But the house has gotten to the point where it's not worth repairing. The walls are all folding in. So I took the wood stove out and put it in my new "well new to me" mobile home that was given to me.

I decided on the wood stove for heat seeing as I was using space heaters last winter and even in the fifth wheel camper I was living in. It was cold in there. And I was paying almost $200.00 a month in electricity.

My parents are paying almost $300.00 a month for there natural gas in the winter.

So I figured since we had the wood stove, and loads of wood. That I might as well use the stove for heat and actually stay warm.

And I'd also be saving on the electric bill too.

It's only 45 out right now. But, I'm sitting here in shorts. It's like it's summer again.

I also got out the tea kettle and boiled some water for some hot cocoa.

Hope everyone stays warm this winter.

Chad

 

[Michelle K linnane]

I have decided I am going to lay down slate as a base for my stove. I thought about having laminate hardwood in dinning room and kitchen and what people tell me they do hold up with dogs. I went to lowes and found a slate I like and bought enough to do the floor under the stove. As I get a little better shape with money I will do the dining room and kitchen with slate floor. And please to tell me the floor will cold with slate, any floor without a rug is cold this is what they thick socks for or slippers.
I will buy the slate now just to make sure they do not discontinue it and have it installed as I get the money. But what I would pay for a big floor pad, I can laydown slate. My neighbor is cement guys and it is going to rain AGAIN this week, so he comes tomorrow to do the slate. hopefully let it set for a couple of days move the stove on the pad and finish hooking up the stove. My contractor already has it on the roof will take pictures of that. once the slate is set up we will finish the inside pipe work and fire up the stove.

 

[Michelle K linnane]

Slate guy just left laid down the durrock and cut tiles and laid them out.
I have decided like I said in my last post to do the entire floor in the dining room and kitchen in slate. Will hold up to my dogs as they go in and out of the sliding glass doors in the dining room all the time.
I took a picture of what he did today and I love the look.