Self sufficient heating..... Check !

[IndianasFinest]

This has been a very large, important project for me to complete, but it is now offically done. Over the last few weeks I have been working on installing a wood stove in the main level of my home to help alleviate the burden of our monthly electric bill. My house was built in 2007, and has all electric heat consisting of a heat pump with a back up resistence coil unit. Besides the expensive bills there was the issue of possiable power loss. I have in the past relied on kerosene heaters to keep us from having to leave our home or our pipes freezing, but no more ! This was the year do to it if you were able, since there was a $1500 rebate on certain wood heat stoves from the Goverment. The stove is an EPA certified unit from England stove works made in Virginia, and can heat up to 2200 square feet. Although it has not been very cold the stove seems to do very well heating our entire home. We are looking forward to some nice warm wood heat, and lower utility bills, plus we have the added comfort of having heat no matter what. My next project is going to be switching our home over to well water if the ground on my property agrees with me. Hopefully if there is water at a reasonable depth it will be drinkable, and we can get off another monthly bill.

 

[BigMatt]

Dude that is sweet!

The only question I have is how are you getting the heat around the house? Since it is a new house, it probably has an open floorplan, but I was wondering if you have made any provisions to get the heat to the bedrooms or anything.

 

[IndianasFinest]

Here is a crude example of the floor plan of my house. The ceiling fans in the great room really help to move the heat into the hallway, and I have installed a fan over the door way of the bathroom pushing the cold air into the stove room. Now, I have not really been able to test this theory, but what I have been told on other wood heat forums is that by blowing the cold air towards the hot air it creates a convection loop, and in turn circulates the warmer air to where the bedrooms are. Last night it was in the upper 30's and I had a small fire going, my wife had to open the window in the bedroom at about 2 AM, because she was to warm. If all else fails the return air duct for my HVAC is in the same room as the stove so if we have to we will run the blower to help suck in the hot air, and send it back out the registers in the back rooms.

 

[kolob10]

I've heated with wood exclusively for the past 30+ years. I cut and split my own wood (by hand - no gas powered splitter). My house is 1700 square foot and has an open floor plan. I burn from 8-12 rick of wood a year depending on conditions. I heated with a Vermont castings defiant but have recently switched to a Yotul Oslo. Both stoves worked fine. I enjow the warmth of wood heat and the ambience of the fire glow. I live in a rural area and have enough wood on my place to sustain me the remainder of my days. I usually only take the trees that are down due to disease, insects or weather. I enjoy the process of wood gathering and like to tinker with the stove. My son in law has a 3800 square foot homee and heats exclusively with wood. He has a Jotul Forelight I believe. Last year he burnt 10 rick of wood of wich he gatered from the state forest at the cost of $3/rick. anyone need any advice on heating with wood - give me a shout.

 

[dudley0]

Nice looking unit. When I was growing up that was basically our only heat source. I hated it. Constantly having to feed the thing. Bugs will be fun for you this winter as well if you store any wood inside. Cutting, splitting and stacking... ugh.

Don't get me wrong, wood is an easy source of heat when all else has failed. There is just a lot of work and cost involved in it. My brother-in-law just installed one of the outside boiler units. Works great. No smoke smell or extra bugs and mess in the house. He is going to start heating his water with it as well as a next project. Not sure how he will run it if he has no electricity for the fans and pump though. They live in a densely wooded area and have truckloads of logs dropped all the time.

Either way it looks like a pro install and you are closer than I am to being self-sufficient for heat. My next house will have provisions for wood heat, just in case.

 

[caddywhompus]

Looks great! Let us know what you end up doing if it doesn't end up heating as well as you think. It could help some of us think ahead if we decide to make the switch.

 

[Arm America]

You have completed an outstanding project
and no doubt are proud of the end result. It looks nice.

I think you will be surprised on how well it reduces your electric bill.

While heating with wood does have a few drawbacks,
in my opinion the good far outweighs the bad.

 

[Vasili]

where's the blower and ducts?

looks nice though.

 

[IndianasFinest]

where's the blower and ducts?

you surely don't expect that to do the trick all winter do you?

Are you being sarcastic ?? Do some reading at a site such as Hearth.com - Information on Gas Fireplaces, Wood Stoves, Gas Logs, Pellet Stoves, Fireplaces, Chimneys and Hearth Products to see how many people heat there entire home with this exact stove. Some people are even heating 2 story homes with little to no insulation.

 

[Vasili]

Are you being sarcastic ?? Do some reading at a site such as Hearth.com - Information on Gas Fireplaces, Wood Stoves, Gas Logs, Pellet Stoves, Fireplaces, Chimneys and Hearth Products to see how many people heat there entire home with this exact stove. Some people are even heating 2 story homes with little to no insulation.

no, seriously, where's the blower and ducts?

 

[IndianasFinest]

Well, typically there is no ducting with a wood stove. A wood burning furnace can be tied into your existing duct work if you wish to go that route, but finacially I could not afford to install a furnace, and the required chimney pipe so I installed a stove. There is a spot in the back of the stove for a blower, but it really is not necessary given the location of my stove. Instead of having a blower to help circulate the warm air, I am using the ceiling fans, and another fan I spoke about earlier to move the air. As of right now it seems to work very well for example last night the temps were in the upper thirtys with the house staying a little too toasty at 80 degrees. Once it starts to get colder we will burn bigger fires with harder wood to keep the house warm through out the night.

 

[Vasili]

Well, typically there is no ducting with a wood stove. A wood burning furnace can be tied into your existing duct work if you wish to go that route, but finacially I could not afford to install a furnace, and the required chimney pipe so I installed a stove. There is a spot in the back of the stove for a blower, but it really is not necessary given the location of my stove. Instead of having a blower to help circulate the warm air, I am using the ceiling fans, and another fan I spoke about earlier to move the air. As of right now it seems to work very well for example last night the temps were in the upper thirtys with the house staying a little too toasty at 80 degrees. Once it starts to get colder we will burn bigger fires with harder wood to keep the house warm through out the night.

all i wanted to know and more.

as long as you've got a plan and got it figured.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Dude that is awesome! BUT, don't stack your wood up against the house, or even CLOSE to the house. Every kind of crawly bug you've ever seen around home or in the woods will soon be giving you trouble in the house and a few new ones.

Best you can do is stack it away from the house and where the sun can hit it all day. At least half the day.

 

[indyjoe]

If your return is in the wood stove room, just keep your central air blower on all the time. Should do fine. Then your real heater only turns on if the temp drops below your set temp.

 

[IndianasFinest]

If your return is in the wood stove room, just keep your central air blower on all the time. Should do fine. Then your real heater only turns on if the temp drops below your set temp.

Right, thats the plan if need be. Hopefully I won't have to use the electricity, but I figured I would set the thermostat to about 60 or so just incase.

Jack, I agree with you 100% but right now we do not have anywhere else that is out of the rain to store our wood. However, I just bought (yesterday) a 12x20 metal building with the intention of building a wood storage shed on the back of it, so next year the wood will be infact away from the house. Should have our building in 2-3 weeks according to the builders.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Jack, I agree with you 100% but right now we do not have anywhere else that is out of the rain to store our wood. However, I just bought (yesterday) a 12x20 metal building with the intention of building a wood storage shed on the back of it, so next year the wood will be infact away from the house. Should have our building in 2-3 weeks according to the builders.

Rain won't hurt fire wood any. Just leave the maul handy to the wood pile and in the event of the absolute worst scenario, pouring down rain, freezing cold, just got home and the stove has been out for hours...

Spend your money on a lawn wagon to pull behind the lawn mower or even a wheel barrow to load up a day's wood or more and bring up to the house.

Grab a few soaking wet sticks and split them to kindling. A couple wads of news paper will probably start them but the house is cold and you want it hot fast, thow in one of those fire starter things and just get all the hassle over with. Starter, kindling, a big piece or two and come back in 30 minutes and throw in more wood like normal. By then it won't matter if it's wet or not.

If you've got a wagon load dry close it's not a problem at all and up in the wagon but out in the cold you don't get the bug and critter problem up at the house.

That wood rack to stack it on won't last long that close to the ground either. Put down some concret blocks to keep the wood from contact with the ground and don't store more than you'll use in a year.

If it turns out you want that stove to heat more, better, or faster, get a fan kit for it. I know all the other stuff, ceiling fans and furnace blowers but none of that will improve the heat OUT PUT of a stove as much as air blowing through the stove the way it's designed to. You set it up for the furnace to do that but it's a lot easier to just put a blower kit on it.

 

[Cpt Caveman]

As much as I hate to I'm gonna have to say Jack Ryan you're wrong in my estimation! Your comment "rain won't hurt firewood any" is misleading. Rain doesn't make firewood easier to use. It makes it harder to use. wet wood causes more soot and creosote to develop in your flue and is harder to get started. It makes no sense to cut and split a buncha wood then leave it out in the rain . It takes twice as long to get it down to the moisture content that is considered "seasoned" if left uncovered and rained on. Now, lately I doubt it would have made much difference since I've not had any appreciable rain in a couple months, but normally our usual rainfall would definitely cause my wood pile to be wetter than I want it to be.
You burn some wood that's been seasoned under roof for a year and tell me if it isn't easier and more efficient than wood left out in the rain.
Gotta say your don't store more than a year's worth is poor advice too . I have two years wood put up right now and I'm working on my third. Can't have too much firewood. Its a commodity that can be traded or sold as well as used to heat your house.
My opinion folks and your mileage may vary.

One other thing I saw earlier in the thread. Those outdoor furnaces are worthless without power of some sort ( grid or genny)so if you are in it to prep for the shtf then stay away from them.

 

[longbow]

I have the same heating issue. I'm adding spray foam to many places around the home to save some money. The wood stove will see alot of use this year since power rates have doubled for the winter.

Over the next month I will triple my wood stocks as I bring in the wood that is waiting to be split and stacked near the home

 

[indyjoe]

I didn't notice with the picture, but you also need to have an external air in to the stove for efficiency. Our fireplace has external air in. Otherwise, you have to suck in as much air as it going out the pipe from the cold outside. This means that you might be loosing energy in the house, by running a fire.

This may be less of an issue with a wood stove, compared with a wood fireplace, as the heat transfered into the home is much better with the stove.

 

[Jack Ryan]

As much as I hate to I'm gonna have to say Jack Ryan you're wrong in my estimation! Your comment "rain won't hurt firewood any" is misleading. Rain doesn't make firewood easier to use. It makes it harder to use. wet wood causes more soot and creosote to develop in your flue and is harder to get started. It makes no sense to cut and split a buncha wood then leave it out in the rain . It takes twice as long to get it down to the moisture content that is considered "seasoned" if left uncovered and rained on. Now, lately I doubt it would have made much difference since I've not had any appreciable rain in a couple months, but normally our usual rainfall would definitely cause my wood pile to be wetter than I want it to be.
You burn some wood that's been seasoned under roof for a year and tell me if it isn't easier and more efficient than wood left out in the rain.
Gotta say your don't store more than a year's worth is poor advice too . I have two years wood put up right now and I'm working on my third. Can't have too much firewood. Its a commodity that can be traded or sold as well as used to heat your house.
My opinion folks and your mileage may vary.

One other thing I saw earlier in the thread. Those outdoor furnaces are worthless without power of some sort ( grid or genny)so if you are in it to prep for the shtf then stay away from them.

Rain don't help it any for sure but it won't stop you from building a fire and it sure won't stop one from burning that's already going.

If you want to spend money on buildings to store fire wood like it was lumber then you are right. I wouldn't say it's good but you can keep it for several years. Fire wood stacked on that rack in his picture will be good for maybe two years, stacked out there like that is will have termites in three years for sure and probably in the building next to it. By the time it's been out there 4 years that wood rack will be rotted and the fire wood will be on the ground and the bottom 2 feet will be worthless and wet constantly. Better off used to stop erosion than carried in to the house and used for heat.

I'd rather use the fire wood to heat the building I want to live in than use buildings to keep fire wood dry. If it's a real concern throw a tarp over it when the hot dry season is over in the summer and it starts snowing and raining.

But.... in the end it's your wood, your building, you cut it, do with it what ya want. I didn't pay much attention to who posted what but if ya know that much about firewood ya sure didn't need to ask so I'm assuming my memory serves correctly and it wasn't you I was giving advice to.

Best advice still holds though.

But.... in the end it's your wood, your building, you cut it, do with it what ya want.

You'll learn pretty quick how you want to deal with it and a stack of firewood sure isn't something that's a make or break deal if you lose it or use it.