supplemental wood heat

[b249]

I am interested in picking up a wood stove to assist in heating our 1000 sq. ft. home that is on a slab. We currently have a 50,000 btu propane wall furnace. I think what I am looking for is a more consistant, even heat. The wall furnace does heat the place but the temp. goes from cool to hot depending on whether the furnace is on or off.

I thought that if I set the wood burner (or pellett stove) in the living room this would solve the problem.

Am I on the right track? Any suggestions on stoves?

p.s. We looked into a ducted furnace but they wanted almost $8,0000 to install ducts and the furnace w/ a/c.

Thanks for any suggestions,

Mark

 

[hwp]

I understand what you are going through. Our previous house had a hot water heating system which gave a nice even heat throughout even the coldest day and allowed for differential zonal heating. Our current house has gas-fired hot air furnaces so the temperature fluctuates considerably depending on whether one or both of the furnaces are on. However we overcome this to some extent by using our roman-style fireplace to supplement the furnaces. The fireplace has a firebox that hold about 60 pounds of wood and it has a huge masonary mass - concrete block faced with river stone and quite small fairly well sealed doors. The wood heats up the masonary mass and then the masonary mass (which gets quite warm to touch) radiates heat for the next twenty fours or so. One fire a day is usually enough. This evens out the temperature fluctations. We burn about 10 cords of wood a year in this process. I doubt that you can do the same but I would suggest looking for something that will hold a lot of heat and then radiate it for some time, possibly made from cast iron, such as a pot belly stove.

 

[looch]

Do you already have a chimney? If not, it could end up costing more than the stove.

There are many options when it comes to wood stoves. How much are you willing to spend (rhetorical)?

You can get a wood stove from the local Home Depot. You can get a nice cast iron unit from places such as Vermont Castings. And then there's the ultimate (in my opinion) soapstone unit like the Hearthstone or a Woodstock.

Wood heat is great. It takes the humidity out of the house and warms you to the core. If it's financially viable for you then definitely go for it.

 

[rsislo]

We have a small wood burning Earth Stove located at one end of our 1300 sq. ft our house between the dinning room and living room. It is a very simple wood stove and there is not any thing special about it but it will burn for close to 8 hours on one load of oak firewood. Although we have a forced air furnace we primarily use the wood stove for our heat in the winter and we have always been very happy with it.

My younger brother has a pellet burner stove and he uses it in a larger house and it does a great job. But the pellet stove needs a lot more maintenance and repairs then my wood burning stove. It stays kind of cool on top. The cats like to lie on it and he has to clean fur out of it. (I suggested mouse traps on top of the pellet stove to keep the cats off but his wife told me I was mean) It is very clean and there are never any pieces of wood bark and dead ants lying in the floor from when he fills it with pellets. He fills it once a day and it will run all day with one load of pellets.

For me the wood stove is the way to go because I have lots of oak trees and 3 chain saws. Oh and my cats never want to lie on top of my wood stove.

Roger

 

[looch]

Sidebar: Put a sheet of aluminum foil on top of anything you don't want cats on - it freaks them out when they jump on it.

 

[DUMBDOG]

Have a wood burning stove in the basement, heats the whole house (1400 sq ft) until the temperature drops below 10 degrees. Our house is not really set up for the wood stove heat as the basement stairs come out on one end of the house. If properly set up, a wood stove would heat that house really nice.

 

[b249]

Thanks for the reply's!!

We don't have a chimney. I was thinking of running one thru the ceiling where-ever I place the stove. I was going to go straight up as opposed to out the wall for better draft.

Any idea how much wood I would use a winter in the Lansing, MI area? I know it's a tough question but at this point a SWAG would give me a rough idea of operational cost.

Cats on the stove eh? I like the mousetrap idea also but my wife would say its' mean too. I'll remember the tin foil though.

What are everyones preferences: pellett or wood? reasons? Depending on the amount of wood used I could do that, but I don't want another "hobby" of chopping/stacking a bunch of wood.

Thanks again,

Mark

 

[alco141]

i have an auxiliary wood furnace in the basement, plugged into the warm air plenum of the main gas furnace. it keeps the house really warm and as you say does keep the temp swings more moderate, also saves me a huge amount on gas bills. i use it mostly for about three months jan feb march here in north west pa. as it tends to overheat the house if the temp is abouve 45 degrees. i had a friend that had his old farm house heated it almost exclusively with a wood burner in the kitchen. has since put in the aux furnace like mine and loves it. he burns about three to five cords a year, i will burn about three a year on a typical winter.

wood heat, nothing like it.


alex

 

[hwp]

<font color=blue>...Any idea how much wood I would use a winter in the Lansing, MI area?</font color=blue>

That depends on how much you use it. My guess would be somewhere between two and five full cords.

Given that you don't have any facility for burning wood, it could get quite expensive to set up a system. If you don't have a woodlot, just buying the wood can be expensive. Good red and white oak firewood (split) costs about $US150 a full cord around here and the price is going up about $10 to $20 a year. It might be cheaper around Lansing as you have more woodlots than around here.

One point to keep in mind is that there are different uses for the term "a cord of wood". A cord (often called a full cord) is 128 cubic feet (4'x8'x 4'). However around here when people talk about a cord, they usually mean a "face cord" (4'x8'x16") or about 43 cubic feet. But others mean a "stove cord" (4'x8'x12") or 32 cubic feet. So make sure you know what you are getting.

 

[b249]

Howard,

Thanks for the info on "cords". I would have thought a cord was a cord. They sell "cords" of wood near me for 50-60 bucks. Guess I need to look closley at the cords to see what I would be buying.

Mark