What's everyone use as supplemental or main heat?

[JBourquin]

Do you have any possibility of creosote build up in the chimney with a pellet stove? Burning wood pellets or corn make a difference? Ken Sweet

There will be some build up, but it cleans pretty easy. The pipe I put in is only 3" round and total of about 5' long. It snaps together and comes apart just as easy. As for the corn vs. wood, I've only had my stove a few weeks and have only run wood pellets so far. Can't really speculate on the difference.

 

[Tig]

Main heat is wood, but the renovation in progress took priority over cutting wood. I'll be out of seasoned wood before the end of the month so we'll have to $tart relying on electric to hold the temp at night. I was testing out the electric backup on the geothermal unit this morning. Our limited hydro feed seems to hold it.
Geothermal won't be online until the summer.

 

[idaho2]

LG ductless heat/cooling system. Have an all electric home and with ceiling heat we needed to replace this antiquated system. Cut our electric bill by 75.00 a month the first year. PUD is monitoring ours as well as other users in the area as not many like it but used alot in Europe. It also qualified for energy rebate of $1500.00. I have one (Mitsubishi) here at the hospital just for the CT room as constant temp is a must for the detectors. Nice thing these are ductless and if you have an older home and not able to install duct work these will do the job. Works best in an open area/great room concept. Look them up may work if your in need. We have one outdoor unit with two zone units in the larger rooms.

idaho2

 

[Jaeger]

Good info guys.

Always interested in ways to save money on heat, and heating shops too.

Ray Jay,

I'm on the NEPA crossroads!

Great resource for coal burners!

 

[Scooby074]

Solid wood heat from the woodstove here now.

Next house will be Radiant infloor with either an external or internally installed gassification boiler. Fuel might be biomass. Either pellets or chips.

If I had a large enough tractor and a large enough property, i'd really lean toward a chip fired boiler, with biomass from my own land. It would sure save on labour from cutting and stacking firewood. Real popular in Europe.

I just watched this video from Portage and Main and their chip boiler, looks real good.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I have 2 geothermal units I installed myself a yr ago, and I have a pellet stove. Been meaning to write up the geothermal installation in the projects section, but haven't gotten around to it. Actually I still have ductwork mods to make on the downstairs unit. This is my first winter running heat with geo. My upstairs unit was struggling a little when we had single digit temps, so I finally turned on the electric backup. I looked at my electric meter this morning, my next bill is going to be a little high, but I have saved a lot by not burning any oil this year (about $1000 saved). I still have my oil burner, but I think I will get rid of it, it's 15 yr old. I used around 700 gal/yr oil before I added the pellet stove, dropped to 400-500 gal/yr with my first non automatic pellet stove, and then put in a Harmon XXV automatic pellet stove and still used about 300 gal/yr after adding the pellet stove., this is a great stove The pellet stove is on my first level, so I normally don't run my first level heating unit very much, usually just the 2nd level.

 

[Jaeger]

Scooby,

I have radiant floor heat (hot water) under all the tile surfaces of the house. It is without a doubt one of the best things I ever did. It retains the heat better than forced hot air, especially if you insulate with reflective foil underneath. It's worth the investment and work IMHO.

Jaeger

 

[Scooby074]

Scooby,

I have radiant floor heat (hot water) under all the tile surfaces of the house. It is without a doubt one of the best things I ever did. It retains the heat better than forced hot air, especially if you insulate with reflective foil underneath. It's worth the investment and work IMHO.

Jaeger

Current house has electric radiant under tile in the bathroom. First time getting out of the tub on a cold morning was all it took to convince the Mrs that the next house would be entirely radiant infloor heated . Its a great system

 

[DKCDKC]

I have a three-zone geothermal heat pump for central air/heat and hot water. I should have had it rigged for under-floor heat but didn't. My bad. I have a 3000+ sq ft ranch with abundant windows and heat the house all winter for between $600 and $900 - best guess. I am sold on the geo. I have an excess of firewood and a small Irish stove that I use during any cold below 20 degrees F, and for just appearances sometime. Wood is usually cut for me on shares, so I have no cost in it. I have a generator that can run the heat pump fans during an outage to disseminate stove heat through the house if necessary.

I'm please with the heating for the moment. The unit is 11 years old and still under warranty. But has cost me little. When it goes I'll put in another geo using the same piping.

 

[mehig]

I have a three-zone geothermal heat pump for central air/heat and hot water. I should have had it rigged for under-floor heat but didn't. My bad. I have a 3000+ sq ft ranch with abundant windows and heat the house all winter for between $600 and $900 - best guess. I am sold on the geo. I have an excess of firewood and a small Irish stove that I use during any cold below 20 degrees F, and for just appearances sometime. Wood is usually cut for me on shares, so I have no cost in it. I have a generator that can run the heat pump fans during an outage to disseminate stove heat through the house if necessary.

I'm please with the heating for the moment. The unit is 11 years old and still under warranty. But has cost me little. When it goes I'll put in another geo using the same piping.

I have a Water Furnace but it only came with a 10 year warranty. What brand of furnace do you have?