Posted on 11/25/2009 9:12:49 PM PST by Sun
Is a wood stove insert warmer than a regular fireplace, even without the fan (if there's a power outage)?
Same over here. Up country like Makawao, Pukalani, and especially the Kula area, most homes up there have some sort of heat. I live in Kihei close to the ocean and no heaters needed any where around here. We got Whales here now, seen any over that way? The Humpbacks are here for the winter.
didn’t realize you lived in Hawaii....lucky you.....
Is a wood stove insert warmer than a regular fireplace, even without the fan
I have yet to turn on my furnace, my insert is going and the house all 2200 sq ft stays toasty
check out httP://www.buckstove.com I have the Model 81
While my neighbors average gas heating bills are about $400/mo I average @ $65/mo during the winter for cooking gas and our clothes dryer. My furnace is typically for 'back up' only. I do use the cold air return and fan from the furnace (which is in the same room as the woodburner) to circulate the heat from the woodburner throughout the house without the burners in the furnace kicking on.
I go through @ 3 cords of wood in the winter heating between Dec 1st and the end of February. I get the wood for free (sans the work we do to in cutting down the dead trees on our property and hauling it 350 miles home) from family in the Upper Penninsula.
If you go with a fireplace insert, you will need a stainless steel chimney insert, that'll run you anywhere from $300 - $600 depending on the height of your chimney. Assuming you're paying for wood, consider how much you'll use the insert to provide actual heat. The economics of having an insert and heating with wood works for me only because I get the wood for free.
BTW I prefer the heat from the woodburner, it goes through my arthritic bones, something the gas furnace can't do.
When we built our retirement home in ‘03 we had a masonary fireplace installed not knowing whether to use the firelplace, or to install gas or wood insert stove. We finally decided to go with a wood insert stove: Dutchwest Model DW2500 Series with fan.
We made a wise choice. It’s rated to heat 1500 sqft (we have 1468 sqft living space) at 9600 - 58,000 BTU (low end -high end of air intake setting). We also have a cathedral ceiling and fan which we reverse to circulate the air as it rises. Also, since we live in the woods, we “spec’d” an emergency generator hookup so when the power goes out we can still use the wood insert/fan to heat.
The cost in 2005 to install was $2400.00 ($600 Labor/$1800 Parts)
We have it enjoyed the stove immensely. It has become an attraction for friends and family during the holidays. They enjoy the warmth and seem to get fixated on the fire through the glass aspect... very soothing and no smoke!
Sun,
I forgot to mention that we bought the stove on-line for $800 and had it delivered.
“..does two fireplaces mean two chimneys?”
Not if the fireplace upstairs is right over the one downstairs...then they would be sharing the same chimney. They would each have their own seperate flue liner “run” in that one chimney, though. Depending on the age of the house this set up of sharing the same chimney but seperate flue liners would have been done due to the building code...it’s safer, in other words. Enjoy.
I found this out the hard way when I purchased a home that the previous owner had built. He used the wood burner as his back up heat but certain code issues had not been addressed and I had to get rid of it before I could get homeowners insurance from USAA.
A couple of years later, I did install a zero clearance insert in the downstairs fireplace and have had a lot of nice service from it ever since.
It will give you heat even if you lose the fan due to a power outage but it won't give you as much heat as with the fan operating.
I posted this on another thread a while back, you might look into it as an alternative to a battery operated fan system should your power go out.
http://www.modernoutpost.com/gear/details/te_whisper.php
If I had a wood burner, I’d certainly consider using one of these as a backup to the blower fan.
Also, it cut the amount of wood he burns by about 50% if I recall correctly.
Sun, not sure about the inserts, I know that the pot bellied stoves IMO are better then the fireplaces, they seem so much warmer.
To demonstrate just how great Hawaii is, I came here for a ten day vacation in 1969 and never left. Aloha
Gas is nice, but not as warm as wood, and we need warmth where we live (below zero sometimes).
“But if it is an insert into a fireplace, then it isn’t going to emit any more heat without a fan. Is there a battery powered fan system that you can add to your insert wood stove.”
Now I’m confused. Some people are telling me an insert is warmer than a regular fireplace, and you are telling me it’s no warmer without a fan (if there is a power outage). I’ll ask the installer about a battery powered fan system.
“I have yet to turn on my furnace, my insert is going and the house all 2200 sq ft stays toasty)
How is it in during power outages when you can’t use a fan?
The most important thing for me is to have it warm during power outages. We have survived for three days in the winter with the fireplace (because we have doors around our living room to keep the heat in, plust
hot water bottles :) ), but were a bit uncomfortable by the third day.
Yes, it would be a lot more pleasant to have less smoke.
Is yours warm during power outages, without the fan?
Thanx. I’ll check it out.
“My brother has an insert, has had it for about 20 years, it has no fan and will run you out of the house if you are not careful with it.
Also, it cut the amount of wood he burns by about 50% if I recall correctly. “
That’s great, and I love the fact that you also save money on wood.
During the ice storm of ‘98, we heated our whole upstairs with am insert, for 6 days with no power. We also cooked soup, stew and spaghetti, made tea, etc. on it.
We also have a free standing wood burning stove downstairs, which does offer more heat than the insert, and between the two units, we heat our house all winter here in Eastern Canada.
In fact, we very rarely use the fan on the insert...it's just too noisy. We use ceiling fans through out the house to circulate the heat.
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