Wood Burning Stove - is it worth having

[Harvey9]

I've been burning wood for over 30 years and to me it's not work. I don't mind the cutting, splitting, stacking and lugging same up the stairs. The Lopi is an excellent stove, a little costly yes but I'm sure you'll love it. It's sure nice to have a wood stove during a power outage.

 

[WayneB]

We have been burning wood for over 30 years, can't say we are good at it but we do keep warm! Actually burning wood heats you many times! When you cut the trees down, hauling in the logs to a staging area, cutting the logs up to stove size, stacking the wood up to season, hauling in the wood to burn, hauling out the ashes after the burn (daily task) all in the name of family fun. Problem here has been it has been mostly my fun.

The cost of the wood stove is cheap compared to the chain saw(s), log winch, wood splitter, My splitter cost more than the wood stove! Then there is the maintenance issues like cleaning the chimney, I run a brush down it monthly. Just seems to be a safety measure to prevent a chimney fire! Yes, we have had them too, sounds like a 747 going directly over head!

I know I have save money by burning wood, but would never say it is free, even when I cut my own tree. It is a whole bunch of work and I am always thinking two years down the road to make sure the wood is dry and ready for burning.




This is our wood stove at home





This is our wood stove at our mountain






This is our basketball fan!

 

[Mighty Dodge]

I've got a Fisher Grandma Bear and burn about 4 cords a year. The house has electric baseboard heat. I'd hate to think what my electric bill would be without the stove.

 

[Pirate]

I have a High Valley cat stove (insert) too. It's a large beastly stove. I like having the option of wood backup if the power goes out but my stove is really too big for normal use. It is right in the living room (insert) and generates way too much heat. We end up hot in the living room while the out rooms are cool. The other problem with the stove is that is needs electricity to power the blower. No blower, no good air flow, the fire will crap out, and it's **** noisy too. I have tons of wood but we decided to just use the heat pump as the heat is more comfortable than from the stove.

 

[YesDeere]

My friend made mine. Its pretty big. Will take a 27 inch log. Works great and keeps the furnace off. Has a 6 inch liner to the top of chimney. I

 

[Sutol]

I have one in the house which burns salvaged pallets and is very hot, I also have one in the garage which I made out of an old gas bottle which burns anything and everything and is also very hot.
Cost of fuel is just the effort of collecting wood

The advantage of burning old pallets is that the wood is dry and doesn't soot the chimney up. Dry pallet wood also leaves little ash, my burner in the house is cleared out about once a week maybe less.

 

[brokenknee]

Yes it is worth having, and I use mine only 3 months out of the year and it's nice. I vent out the a metal roof and it can be installed without leaking, don't limit yourself to a back vent.

Do get a a stove that you can attach a fresh air vent to and run that in from the back. You do not want your stove sucking all the warm air out. The exterior stainless steel double wall vent pipes are expensive. The prices you mention seem to be in the general area.

I ran the one below 24-7 during a cold snap (don't laugh if your from up north) when the temp stayed in the 20's for a week and never turned on the heater.


http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...88-texas-fall-winter-thread-firstfire2011.jpg

:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

 

[txdon]

:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

I knew some eskimo would appreciate it!

 

[KTurner]

Another thing to consider. For electricity, last Oct I paid $0.093/KwH, this Sept I paid $0.116/KwH. I've found that my average cost per kwh has gone up this year because I've been using less electricity than last year (smarter usage, and replaced the 26 year old AC) and rate increases. Oh yea by the way, they've announced that they're shutting down two local power plants due to epa regs, one in the next two years, one in the next 5-6. Soo.....

I can literally grow my own firewood. Haul off wood for neighbors, etc. Recurring costs are maintenance costs and fuel for the chainsaw and truck. More work, but that's exercise and outside time. But that's a lot cheaper than paying out the nose to the electric company because the EPA is forcing them to try to make electricity with less emissions than a cow fart (random comparison, I didnt crunch the numbers).

Keith

 

[DAY]

" And what other people call work, I very often call exercise."-EE Bota

Those who disdain the chopping and cutting and splitting often are found on a treadmill at the local exercise center- and paying good money for the "privilege".

As for the "Wood Police", a well designed and properly operated wood stove does NOT smoke.