reduce heating bill with Wood Stove

[Briar Hill Brittanys]

How to buy the right wood stove . Some more good information to ponder. Mark

 

[Scotty370]

Michelle- Sound like you got your 'act' together! This has been an educational thread! With all that equipment that you own, sounds like you get the logs up to the lot you mentioned, get some pallets, then, Have a Pig Roast in June, and invite all your friends for a "Spit and Split" party! Should set you up for a couple years!!!! ~Scotty

 

[inveresk]

Normally winter temperatures here are around single digits centigrade but there are rare times it can drop below freezing. Today is typically +8 oC daytime, dropping to around +5oC at night. We had a week this winter so far when it's dipped to -8 oC. Size your stove to cope with typical winter temperatures and it won't be man enough for those occasional inclement conditions.

Also, the level of heat is proportionate to the amount of wood I throw on. If I chuck on one log, it burns fiercely enough for full, clean-burn combustion but doesn't cook us out of the room. Throw three or more logs on and we would have to open windows and sit in our underwear.

 

[Car Doc]

I posted something earlier about an enclosed forced air wood furnace but after looking at the floor plan and reading all these other posts I am at a different opinion.

I am not so sure a brick fireplace with an air tight insert wouldn't be a better solution?

Reason I say this is they are considered a lot safer than free standing wood stoves to insurance company's and IMHO they look better and add value to the house.

Granted the cost will be considerable compared to just cutting a hole in the roof which I am NOT a fan of a fireplace will generally have a brick flue on the outside of the house with an outside clean out as well. just my 2 cents

 

[westcliffe01]

Michelle, we do not know where you live ?? In the majority of the midwest one would go through 4.5 cord of wood in a winter heating a space a lot smaller than 2500 sq ft. I'm just a little lower in consumption and the floor area heated is just over 1300 sq ft. While I would agree that my home could do with more insulation, it is insulated to "code" which is of course the minimum standard and what all builders follow. I do have the disadvantage of heat loss down into a largely uninsulated walkout basement (garage) and my great room has a ceiling that is 12ft high. In addition, most of my glazing faces North (smart people, who build speculatively...)

Consider that a wood stove including installation (even if you do it yourself) is a pretty major investment. Once you have it, the difference in workload for partial vs primary heat is very debatable. If you burn 24/7 you will only light the stove a few times a year, whereas if running it occasionally or once per day, you will be lighting from cold daily. The work splitting and stacking is probably 90% the same for 2 cord vs 4 cord and since one has to keep ahead about 2 years at least to have dry wood, you will have many cord stacked up anyway.

The payoff will be better using it as primary heat, since the lowest you can get the utility bills is down to the cost or being connected. In my case this is about $35 each for NG and electricity, so even if I have virtually no consumption I am looking at $60-70/month

If you get a big enough stove, the feeding routine comes down to morning and night with a little top up before going to bed. A stove with a proper grate like the Morso stoves and a deep ashpan is a great help with ash removal. Nobody makes a "proper" shovel for removing ash directly from the stove itself. The shovels that one buys requires the coals to be shaken out of every scoop, which certainly adds to the mess problem. The other key thing is the ash rising on hot air currents initiated by the heat of the ash being scooped out of the stove. And for getting the remaining coals close to the air supply, one needs a "rake" which no-one seems to sell either. A Poker is a clumsy tool at best for manipulating the coals.

[*] I am doing to supplement heat not replace heat, so I do not see needing any more then 2 cord a year. I would say in three years the stove will pay for itself. I agree if you are burning 4 or 5 cord a wood in less then 2500sq foot home it is not the right set up or you need to more insulation

 

[Skyco]

I posted something earlier about an enclosed forced air wood furnace but after looking at the floor plan and reading all these other posts I am at a different opinion.

I am not so sure a brick fireplace with an air tight insert wouldn't be a better solution?

Reason I say this is they are considered a lot safer than free standing wood stoves to insurance company's and IMHO they look better and add value to the house.

Granted the cost will be considerable compared to just cutting a hole in the roof which I am NOT a fan of a fireplace will generally have a brick flue on the outside of the house with an outside clean out as well. just my 2 cents

Just be sure to factor in the insurance company and code will most likely require a stainless liner in that brick flue.
I spent about $600 on a 6" SS insulated flue liner I installed myself in my chimney for an insert.
The outside cleanout is a moot point since the SS liner connects directly to the insert. Basically it is all a sealed insulated system from the insert out the top. No need to even access the cleanout.

 

[dave1949]

I posted something earlier about an enclosed forced air wood furnace but after looking at the floor plan and reading all these other posts I am at a different opinion.

I am not so sure a brick fireplace with an air tight insert wouldn't be a better solution?

Reason I say this is they are considered a lot safer than free standing wood stoves to insurance company's and IMHO they look better and add value to the house.

Granted the cost will be considerable compared to just cutting a hole in the roof which I am NOT a fan of a fireplace will generally have a brick flue on the outside of the house with an outside clean out as well. just my 2 cents

My son put a wood burning insert into an existing fireplace. Aside from some fan noise, as Eddie mentioned, it produces good heat and is very attractive.

Downside to any wood/pellet burner needing elec. is when the power is off, either you need a generator or you can shiver while looking at the stove That has always made me avoid burners that rely on fans or elec. controls.

Another way to look at stove size, it's really about how much it weighs, not the outside dimensions. The perfect match-up would be a stove that you can burn with a nice bright flame that doesn't overheat your home. Since houses lose heat more rapidly the colder it gets, you will only have the perfect stove under some conditions. In other words, don't obsess over it because I don't think there is a 'perfect' sized stove for all conditions over a heating season.

I would put much more emphasis on the quality of the stove, how cleanly it burns, how easy it is to clean and maintain. Years ago I had a Vermont Casting wood burner with the catalytic after-burner built into the back of the stove. That stove made heat and plenty but the catalytic parts burn out after about 4 years and cost over $200 to replace. I don't think they use that design anymore but those are the type of things to look at carefully - as I didn't
Dave.

 

[lostcause]

My son put a wood burning insert into an existing fireplace. Aside from some fan noise, as Eddie mentioned, it produces good heat and is very attractive.

Downside to any wood/pellet burner needing elec. is when the power is off, either you need a generator or you can shiver while looking at the stove That has always made me avoid burners that rely on fans or elec. controls.

i did the same thing a year and a half ago - i had an existing fireplace that was not usable anymore. i was debating pellet or wood burning insert, but in the end i went with wood because for me it had many more benefits than drawbacks.

i agree with you on the drawbacks of requiring electricity, but that's only a pellet stove and not a wood burner. i do have an electric blower on my wood insert, but it's an auxiliary fan to help more the warm air around better. the unit still works just like a conventional wood stove when the power is out, and believe me, it's out more than i'd like. one other perk is that wood is always available in some form to those who live in the boonies, so you're never totally out of heat, no matter what happens.

a pellet stove needs electricity for the auger, and i assume the ignition is also electrically driven? one other feature of pellet stoves that may seem deceptively nice is that they can often be installed without a chimney. they will vent to the outdoors through the wall with a small exhaust fan. the biggest drawback with that is that if the power goes out, any smoke created by the pellets currently in the burning chamber does not exit well, and tends to smoke up the house. i do not know how a pellet burning insert works as far as exhaust - if they have a fan, you may get the same smoky effect, but i would hope that he chimney creates enough draft to avoid that.

 

[skipmarcy]

Well as always you guys have placed a lot of information on the post, (which is GREAT! and thank you) I think it has been interesting.

An outdoor wood boiler for is not the answer too much wood and too expensive to heat a 1500 sq foot home. It is just not a good return on investment to heat that small a house. If I was heating my barn, garage and house I might consider it but really do not want to bother with that much wood. If I was heating about 5000 sq feet I might consider it. I believe I stated this in my orginal question. But anyways this is my reasoning.

Ok here are lessons learned for me!

[*] I am going to get a wood stove.

[*] Chimney will go Straight thru roof. no bends better draft

[*] Ash pan in the stove.

[*] Get one that is approved for mobile homes makes the best sense as it
gives me more freedom of placement.

[*] No fan on stove I already have a ceiling fan in the living room and will install another in the dining room will move air pretty well with that.

[*] I live on 106 acres and 35 acres is woods, I have hedge rows which I wish to thin and get rid of, plus 35 acres of woods. So as far as trees to cut if I choose I can cut what does not have to be split if I want to. Also a splitter for my tractor would not be that expensive and a friend has offer to loan me his. The key word here is fellows FREE

[*] I already have two tractors a massey 165 and john deer 5103 Both have a front end loader. The JD has forks and root grapple. I also have a **** spreader that has been converted to a wood wagon. I also own three chain saws, chains, along with john deere gater and mule, and have used an ATV to skid logs on occassion.

[*] My plans will be to wait till the leaves start to bud and then cut the trees so as the leaves dry up they help the wood dry. Once I get it up to the barn I have very big parking area for my kennel with shale parking area to lay down trees, not in the mud will not dull saw. During the summer as I want an outdoor fire I will use branches from the trees for my little fire pit on the deck. Will get rid of brush.

[*] Once I am ready to cut wood I will take some kind of pallets and add three sides and roof. I will pay a kid to stack wood in the pallets, as it gets cut. Once I need wood will lift the pallett on the deck with JD which will be about 3 feet from outside deck door, which is right next to wood stove, once inside the house the stove will be right beside the door. Will have an area big enough to keep a days wood inside. I agree with having to carry wood thru the house that is messy, and up any steps gets old quick. But if I only have to carry it 3 feet outside the house, and 2 feet inside that is not bad.

[*] I have enough scrap tin from past projects to cover and side the Wood pallets a few support 2X4 from what lumber I have and it should not be too bad. If I can get a big pallets I can almost get 1/2 cord a wood on one pattet. it only has to 4X4X4.

[*] I am doing to supplement heat not replace heat, so I do not see needing any more then 2 cord a year. I would say in three years the stove will pay for itself. I agree if you are burning 4 or 5 cord a wood in less then 2500sq foot home it is not the right set up or you need to more insulation

I am a little confused about size. Eddie had said go bigger, but it seems like some of you said go a little smaller. So I am bit confused on that part. I know if a fire is hot you do not get a build up in pipe. So I am leaning a little toward maybe something that will heat up to 600sq to 1000sq ft.

I would not mind a little more conversation on the size for square footage.

Michelle - There's only one thing in your list here that I don't agree with - that you are going to cut when the trees start budding. Ideally this is a little late, the sap has already risen from the roots and is not the best time to cut, although personally I cut when I can/need to - even in the middle of summer if some cutting has to be done for some other reason. All of my wood for this winter was cut during warmer weather this time because a friend needed a right-of-way cut for power lines - get it when you can !! The drying leaves will not dry the wood out, you must get it cut & split and stacked so that the wind can get thru the stacks to start the drying process well. As already noted, allow as long as you can for drying/seasoning, at least 6 mos minimum for wood cut when the sap is down, longer when cut in warmer weather.

 

[crazyal]

I am a little confused about size. Eddie had said go bigger, but it seems like some of you said go a little smaller. So I am bit confused on that part. I know if a fire is hot you do not get a build up in pipe. So I am leaning a little toward maybe something that will heat up to 600sq to 1000sq ft.

I would not mind a little more conversation on the size for square footage.

Here's the stove I have.

Stove Details | Hearthstone Stoves

My house is a two story timber frame with foam panels so the R-value is higher than most houses. It's 1800+ square feet with a pretty open floor plan. But the vaulted ceiling in the living room is about 22' high at the peak (inside) tso there's lots of volume to heat. I have a high end ceiling fan set at the correct height to move the air around. On paper the stove is a perfect match for the house.

In reality it's too big. Only if the temps drop to -40 at night can I let it burn wide open. Soapstone stoves don't throw the heat the same as a cast stove would IMO. The stone mutes the highs and lows. If it was a cast iron stove I would most likely be looking into downsizing it. Secondly the stone, once hot radiates heat long after the fire has died.

For example tonight it's about 20 out and the house is heated to about 75. I rarely use the furnace to heat (since wood is free). It's too warm out so I've let the fire die and will probably wake to a house in the high 60s. Once we start getting nights near zero I'll stock the stove up at night, set it to low and it'll keep the house in the mid 70s all night long.

Hopefully some of this will help you in your decision.