Posted on 02/13/2006 8:33:22 PM PST by Tennessee_Bob
Not a huge post here - but I'm looking for anyone out there with experience with wood burning stoves. After my first gas bill of the season - I used less gas than the same time frame last year, and the price doubled - I'm seriously considering going to what seems to be a less expensive resource.
The house I own was built in 1944, as part of the worker housing for the Manhattan Project here in Oak Ridge. It's a concrete slab, with low pressure boiler and radiant heat coils laid into the slab. The walls are primarily concrete and cinder block, with a low-angle, composite roof - so no attic to trap heat. While I like the radiant heat system, the gas to run it is eating me alive.
I've found a couple used ones in the local area - and I figure the best thing to do is to ask "Why are you getting rid of it?" Easiest route would be for me to install it myself - with the layout of the house, there's one location that would be perfect for it, as the rest of the house sits almost in a straight line from where I would locate it. I understand about having to put down a fire stop or hearth on the floor - the carpet is coming up anyway, and that would allow me to lay down brick for the stove to sit on. I'm leery of punching a hole in the roof for the stove pipe, and will probably end up going with a hammer drill through the wall and running a double insulated stove pipe up and out.
City code allows for wood heat, and it seems that this would likely be an ideal way to go, considering the amount of fuel available in this area - I know how to run a chainsaw, and grew up using a maul on the woodpiles we had in our backyards around the country.
Anyone have any hints, tips, or other recommendations??
Hint: They produce heat.
y'didn't say they had to be good hints. Geeeez.
Wood stoves scare me, but that's because I am an insurance guy. Whatever you do, do not put on a heat reclaimer or heat saver. This is a device that goes on the stove pipe. They are a fire hazard. The other important rule is that you do not want to hook it up to an existing chimney. You will need a special pass through device where the chimney meets the ceiling. There are minimum clearances that need to be followed around the stove and around the pipe and if you don't meet those guidelines you may not be able to get insurance. There may also be a surcharge on your homeowners insurance policy. Hire someone to do it.
Hint: hire a maid. They can get messy.
Woodburning stoves are great. It will heat an entire house, usually (depending on design).
If you can afford it, get the kind that will go for 12 hours without having to load more firewood---you will be glad.
I had the regular stove, and my only (small) complaint was having to get up around 4 am to put in more wood to keep the fire going strong.
If I wasn't renting right now, I would definitely have a wood stove in here.
First time I used one I was amazed -- had plenty of heat and didn't have to pay the gas company one dime for it. Lived out in the country at the time, so even the cost of the firewood was very cheap.
I used to live in one of those old houses in "Woodland" and found that the radiant heat was really "the way to go".
The hydronic systems are realy very efficient, however, in those houses you have to do a little bit more to help them out.
First, the cinderblock walls have a terrible R-value, so alot of heat escapes thru them unless you sheetrock over them with a layer of insulation behind that. Second, the flat roof does not provide much of a barrier to prevent heat loss, many houses in that area have added gable roofs to keep heat in the house. If you have carpet in the house, keep it, it helps to retain the heat of the floor pretty well, and a house with carpet can be heated with the radiant floor system for about 1/2 to 2/3 the cost of one without carpet.
Almost any hydronic system can be converted from one energy source to another, (i.e. gas to electric or even solar). The house you lived in was most likely coal in the forties or fifties. You might be able to convert it to wood. But that would probably be fairly costly to do, and not very efficient, as the slab takes several hours to heat or re-heat.
As far as heating solely with wood..... well, be prepared for a workout. It may be cheaper than gas, unless you actually attach a dollar value to the labor that you put into, chopping, hauling, stacking, splitting, etc.
The best bet, IMHO, would be to do an "energy survey" of the house, find where you're losing heat, and fix those problems first before trying to change heating methods.
Corn brother, Corn!
http://www.cornburner.com/
I've been around wood heat since I was a little kid. It saved us a lot of money, both when I was in PA and here in AZ. It does involve a fair amount of work, though.
If you plan it right, you can keep the mess to a minimum. You will get more dust inside the house pretty much no matter what, though.
I trust you realize that seasoned wood is best. You usually don't want to cut it down, split it, and throw it into the fire. That will make more ash than need be and gunk up the chimney.
The best bet for stopping fires or burning the carpet is to do what you plan to do...set up a nice, wide hearth made out of stone or bricks. Mine back east was made from flagstone.
They also have a new Corn burner but remember that the current trend is Ethanol in the coming future so corn prices will double and then some.
You might also try insulating your walls with outside Celotex or 1" foam board of some kind as well as upgrade your windows to insulated vinyl with low "E" Argon filled thermal units. Then, add about 12 inches or more of blow-in glass or fiber to your attic. This will save you the most.
Central Boilers are the latest high-tech. wood burners you can by they are the best on the market. they are also highly efficient and meet or exceed all EPA emissions standards. They are also designed for in-floor pipe or radiant heat applications. Seriously, give their web site a look.
One thing more to add. Central Boilers are also fully self contained and are meant to be installed outside. All you need to do is run an under ground, pre assembled feeder pipe to your house from the boiler. You keep the boiler outside by the wood pile and keep your house clean and quiet in the process.
In case you didn't know, 12" cinder block walls have an R value of about 1.9. That's pretty poor compared to standard 2X4 construction which usually has about an R15 value. No wonder it's costing an arm and a leg to heat You could add R7 of insulation value to your walls by putting up 1 1/2" rigid sheet insulation on your inside surfaces and drywalling over it.
Great tips in these posts. Insulation is key. However! I used a Buck woodburning stove for almost a decade to heat my home. YES, very, very effective. And laying down in front of it during cold evenings was akin to a body massage. As one poster wrote -- getting up to feed that puppy, regularly, was a pain. One can become a slave to the woodburning stove... lol.
Well crap, Was gonna give ya some advice there till I ran into the "concrete slab", which evidently means no basement. My Dad and Mom heated with a double barrel woodstove in the basement for years......got so hot in the house we had to open the front door with snow on the ground. lol....good luck!
If you intend to go with wood as a supplement to the gas, one thing to be careful of is the location of your thermostats. If the gas thermostat is too close to wood stove it will never go on--and pipes in more remote areas of the house may freeze.
Take the letter of your local code very seriously and don't be tempted to stack your wet wood closer than 3 feet from the stove. It will ignite!
Been heating since the late seventies, mostly with a Jotul and the last few years with a Vermont castings' Dutchwest medium with a catalytic converter (It's fun to see little more than moist air coming out of the chimney)
There is nothing more satisfying than the bone baking heat coming from a woodstove.
We have one. It's by FAR the most economical way to heat the house. Plus, the more pipe you have exposed, the more efficient it will be. Put the back of the stove about 12-18 inches from the wall and run the pipe straight up to the ceiling.
Heated my 3600 sq ft house with one. Get a "King" with a blower. Not a WoodKing or anything else, just a King.
As other people have posted, correct installation is the key. I feel I could have done it myself but I chose a professional to do it. In my old house the flue was too big. I had two chimmney fires even though I cleaned the chimmney twice during the burning season. My new stove is great (Pacific Energy). Hardly any creosote buildup. It heats most of the house and, as other people have said, the warmth just seems better.
I like burning wood because I like cutting splitting and stacking. A lot of people lose interest after seeing what is involved in preparing the wood (unless you are planning to buy your wood already split).What I don't like is cleaning the chimmney and getting rid of the ashes. When you install the stove, try to make it so you don't have to go on the roof to clean the flue.
As far as economics is concerned: If you can get your wood for free it is probably worthwhile...but don't expect huge savings. Recently, my logsplitter engine died. So that was $250. I purchased a new chainsaw a few years ago. You have gas and oil expenses as well as chain sharpening (never really could learn to sharpen them well). I also keep a truck running just for hauling wood. But I still feel it is worth it. The logsplitter I loan out and get the goodwill of family and friends (and beer). I would need a chainsaw anyway with the size of my lot. Sometimes we have a good old fashion wood cutting party and people who need wood from me come and help.That is always a good time. So it is hard to gauge how much you are saving.
But, There is nothing like sitting in front of a woodstove during a snowstorm drinking a dark beer. I would give up my tv before I gave up my woodstove.
I'd go pellet stove first, less work, etc, then a Vermont Castings as another poster described above.
CHECK CODES and follow them. It sure would suck to lose your house and not have insurance cover it!
I eventually went with a fireplace, but was considering something along these lines a while back.
http://www.woodstove.com/pages/woodstoves.html
Very pretty soapstone stoves with some kind of catalytic convertor. Supposedly very efficient. I think they range around 2K or so in price, depending on the model.
But if you don't want to spend that much, then just get a plain jane old cast iron model. You'll have to feed it more wood, but it'll keep you nice and toasty.
I love a good fire. My fire place is two sided (see through) with four foot openings. The AC return vent is in the cieling next to the fireplace. Since the temp there gets up to 80 degrees, I can turn on just the fan of the central unit and it sucks that warm air up and sends it to the bedrooms.
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