reduce heating bill with Wood Stove

[Ken45101]

We have always heated with wood since we moved here 8 years ago. We love it! It is a lot warmer than the heat pump we have, and of course a lot cheaper! Back in the 1970s we also heated with wood for a few years.

Yes, it is work, but you could also buy firewood and come out ahead depending on what your other options are, but wood heat keeps us warmest.

I recommend the newer EPA approved models, they are a lot more efficient (less wood, more heat, very little smoke). We have a Pacific Engineering Summit and it keeps our 1800 sq ft house warm. The only time we see any smoke coming from the chimney is just after we reload the stove and it hasn't gotten going yet. Even then, the smoke is light. Once it gets going, you cannot see anything coming out of the chimney, unlike the older stoves. Smoke is wasted heat going up the chimney and of course collects as creosote which needs to be cleaned.

The PE Summit has a glass door and it's wonderful to sit and watch the fire And, of course, warm!

The outside wood boilers generally create a lot of pollution and use a tremendous amount of wood. In general, they are not very efficient

We tried a pellet stove and it has been a major disappointment. Didn't keep us warm and didn't save much money. Yes, they are convenient but that's about it. Even if you have to buy firewood, it's a lot more economical than pellets. Pellet quality has been terribly variable the last several years, and often expensive.

Our stove cost $1800 (end of season) plus another $1300 for the chimney. It's best by far to go straight up with the chimney, it's better for the stove, collects less creosote, and is MUCH easier to clean!

We heat our house with about 3 cord of wood per year. Wood should be split and seasoned at least one year. Two years is better. Currently I'm burning 2 year seasoned wood and it really makes a difference in how well it burns and the heat it puts out although 12 month seasoned wood does fine. But burning unseasoned wood (e.g. anything less than 8-9 months) is bad.

I built some 4x4x4' racks that I can move with the forks on the tractor and put one inside the garage. Really works great, reduces handling and gives us a 2 week+ supply.

Insurance has not been an issue for us. Just make sure that the stove is installed properly. The PE Summit only requires something like 6" behind it and 12" on the sides. We do have the optional blower kit and that is nice.

An excellent resource to learn about wood and pellet stoves is hearth.com. They have different boards for the various types of heat and a lot of knowledgeable folks.

Ken

 

[FredH]

As was just mentioned , our home is a manufactured home , thus you DO need to get a stove that is manufactured home APPROVED . Ours is , although ours is a complete fireplace . Mentioned before was clearances , which is something that I was really amazed at with our fireplace and the little amount of clearance that was required . Besides the obvious that a pipe needs to go outside for the chimney , you will also have to provide outside air into the stove for fresh air , or at least that are the requirements here in Oregon .

Our original fireplace had double wall pipe , 10" and 12" , while the new fireplace has 8" and 10" so my hole in the ceiling and roof was to big . Simple fix was I took apart the old pipe , kept the outside 12" pipe and installed it around the two ( 2 ) new chimney pipes . So my chimney is now 8" , 10" and 12" , with a 2" air baffle in between each pipe . There is a box that sits on top the fireplace ( unseen because its behind the wall ) , that feeds outside air into the gap between the 12" an 10" and between the 10" to 8" . Basically there are holes at the bottom of the 12" and the 10" that this box sits around . As the chimney drafts , so does the chambers between each section of pipe , keeping the entire chimney very cool to the touch .

Although our home is super insulated , 2" x 6" walls , 2" x 8" floors , double pain windows , etc.... , it is nice to be able to shut down the heat pump and just use the fireplace .

Fred H.

 

[AHNC]

ve clearance issue is very real in a place like yours. I've been in the stove business years ago and represented a couple chimney pipe manuf years ago. In many homes you look and say, "why, I've got plenty of room for a stove". Well, you need heat shields with at leas 1" air space behind, 18" from the wall to the stove pipe riser. You can reduce that to 6 or 8" by using a close clearance double wall pipe, which I strongly recommend. Selkirks is called DS and Duravents is DVL. then you add the body of the stove with it hearth in front and before you know it you have to do a doe-see-doe with the stove every time you walk through the house...all year long.

I must acknowledge my bias here. I represent the company I'm going to refer, but I use them in my own home and many of my friends have them too. I even got my sister into one and if you knew her, you would know what confidence I have in the product:laughing. I have it right where I tore out my Vermont Castings wood stove 17yrs ago. Look at a Rinnai Energysaver Tankless Water Heater Buyer's Guide & Local Dealer Search | Rinnai America. Get a decent propane generator and you are all set. With the generator, properly wired you will be hosting the neighborhood power outage parties. You have enjoyed getting your wood in, but you will pay more in insurance, have to deal with the dirts, smoke etc. When you have a fire in the winter it is great, but wood is a pain in the neck, and I have done a lot of it. Happy Heating!

 

[westcliffe01]

The best bet when investigating clearances is to buy blue masking tape and then apply it to the floor where you think you want the stove. Start with the rear clearance, then the depth of the stove, then the ember protection required in front. Then work sideways. If you have a large piece of cardboard, then it can be moved around to try different locations.

If you want to maximize heat output, don't install double wall pipe. Besides reducing heat transfer to the room, it also looks substantially bulkier. If you get a massive stove it may be fine, but in the 1.6-2.0cu foot size range a double wall pipe simply looks massive. For smaller stoves, some are rated for 5" or even 4" stovepipe and using the right diameter makes the install look correctly proportioned. Make no mistake, some like the PE T6 or Hearthstone Mansfield or Equinox are really big stoves. On the other hand, a Morso 2B or Jotul F602 look ridiculous with an 8" diameter pipe connected to them.

 

[Ken45101]

If you want to maximize heat output, don't install double wall pipe.

While it is true that you will get more heat output, you also want to keep the chimney plenty hot to minimize creosote buildup. The more heat you extract, the more creosote.

I elected to use double wall pipe all the way to the stove collar to minimize creosote. I'm sure other people have different opinions.

Ken

 

[westcliffe01]

The warmer the climate you live in, the less heat you need and the greater the tendency to burn any given stove "low" which results in creosote (Florida Bungalow syndrome). Conversely, the colder the climate, the more heat one needs, the higher one tends to burn - less tendency for creosote. I'm only in Southern MI, but the only place I get deposits in my chimney is in the 3ft of class A which projects above the roof in the frigid winter air. The rest of my system is clean as a whistle and doesn't even need to be brushed.

I had double wall but replaced it with single when I got my pacific energy stove and the single wall with the rear shield makes a huge difference in heat output and looks 10x better. I would never do it another way given my climate (~7000 heating degree days). Now much of TX has only 2000 heating degree days, so the tendency to overheat would be much greater.

 

[charliepff]

My wife and I just had a wood stove installed about a month ago. The stove was $1,800 with 80% effeciency rating. The chimney was run to the outside of the house and is approximatelly 26 ft to the tip above the roof peak. It has been by far one of the best investments. I only wish I would have bought and stored more dry wood. We were mixing in green wood but there was just too much creosote. The minimum clearance on the back of the stove is eight inches. The project was 6,500 after everything was said and done. The stainless pipe was unbeleivably expensive. When the stove is running the Heat Pump does not kick in and the heat pump for upstairs seems to run a lot less. We do need to get a fan to help circulate the air a little better though. Oh, the stove we bought can heat up to 2,400 square feet. This is also the first time I ever posted a picture on tractorbynet.:thumbsup:

 

[joeyd]

This is my 4th winter using a wood stove as my primary heat source with propane/heat pump as my auxillary heat source. I am extremely happy with my Woodstock Soapstone stove. Welcome to Woodstock Soapstone

Their website has a ton of useful information about wood stoves, wood burning and their efficiency using a catalytic converter to reduce emissions. They have quite a few styles, mine is attached.

 

[sal64]

hello i put in a wood stove about 2 yrs ago, i have a 1600 ft ranch the stove a small gibralter it heats my hole house, i put fans to suck heat up and move it to bedrooms the stove i got free, the sst double wall sst pipe about 1000.we save about 1500 to 2000 a yr ,the only thing is cutting wood is a chore i need about 4 to 5 cords a yr i have the wood on my property and all the equiptment to cut and split and in still put a lot of weekens in, but i like to do it,

 

[skipmarcy]

My wife and I just had a wood stove installed about a month ago. The stove was $1,800 with 80% effeciency rating. The chimney was run to the outside of the house and is approximatelly 26 ft to the tip above the roof peak. It has been by far one of the best investments. I only wish I would have bought and stored more dry wood. We were mixing in green wood but there was just too much creosote. The minimum clearance on the back of the stove is eight inches. The project was 6,500 after everything was said and done. The stainless pipe was unbeleivably expensive. When the stove is running the Heat Pump does not kick in and the heat pump for upstairs seems to run a lot less. We do need to get a fan to help circulate the air a little better though. Oh, the stove we bought can heat up to 2,400 square feet. This is also the first time I ever posted a picture on tractorbynet.:thumbsup:

You should check the owner's manual for your heat pump thermostat - mine is a basic type with no programing abilities except for the basic delays you can set and the one feature I really like with my woodstove - I have a recirculating mode for the fan that has 3 different time settings to run just the fan and circulate the air better. Your heat setting on the thermostat will overide this recirc. setting as necessary to keep your temp up to par with the heat pump but I find that the pump runs considerably less with the recirc air running every so often to help distribute the woostove heat.