wood furnace

Toad

Toad

Active member
I'm not looking forward to our propane bills this Winter, and thinking about adding a wood furnace in the basement or one of those units out in the yard. I would like it to be an add-on, so we could still have propane heat available when we need it, but could get at least a portion of our heat this winter from wood.

Anybody using a supplemental wood furnace to heat your home? What are your thoughts about a basement unit versus an outside unit? Our basement walks out to the driveway, so hauling wood in and ashes out would be pretty easy, and only 1/2 of the basement is finished, so any mess associated with the wood or ashes would just fall on cement and be easily cleaned up.

We had our fireplace burning almost nightly last winter, but it is pretty inefficient at heating the house. I thought about installing a wood stove or getting a blower unit for the fireplace, but wood makes a lot of mess in the living room. It would be nice to have a wood furnace in the basement or out in the yard so we don't have to drag firewood through the main floor of the house. Plus, it would be nice to really see some energy $$ savings from burning wood, and not just the ambience.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
I too am on propane at this house. I was a wood burner at the last one. Our unit was in the basement. I have a buddy that has his outside. Stay outside. Far less mess and it seemed that my house always smelled of smoke and ash while his doesn't. That said my first line would be to check the energy efficiency of my house. How well is it insulated? Do I have a high efficient furnace? Are all doors and windows sealed? Do I need new doors and windows? Once I did all that we are down to a tank and a half or so of propane on a fair sized home on a hill. Our climates should be the same. Those things are expensive for a quality one 15k or so. Lets say after you pay for your wood, or use a three or four weekends putting it all up, it's a fair investment. Just remember it will become something else that eats into your free time. Not to mention the hassle of having to stoke it and clean it out. I did it for years and probably would never go back unless it was a cabin out in pheasant country somewhere:)
 
I bought a corn/pellet stove last year. Did not use any gas all year. Much cleaner and easier to install than wood burner. You can vent straight out of the house similar to a dryer.
 
If you just have a regular, older style, wood burning fireplace not only is it very inefficient, it is sucking the warm air out of your house and probably costing you more in propane while it's running than if you weren't using it.

You should probably do some kind of cost analysis to determine whether a wood burning stove would pay for itself and over what period. Heating with wood can be a lot of work. Wood should sit and dry for a year after it's cut and split. I heated with wood for 2 years back in the 80's and while I may have saved some money it was a real pain in the "you know what". Also take into consideration the cost of a chain saw, splitter, gas plus your time and effort.
 
Wood stove

I put a Harman P-38 pellet stove in at our business and I'm pretty sold on it, especially if you don't have access to a wood source. When I factored in the cutting, splitting, hauling, chainsaws, truck, trailer, and potential danger, at my age it just made better sense. If you like putting wood up though, and enjoy the process, it's a good feeling to beat the gas man. Nothing like wood heat. I fed a wood stove all through my 30s and 40s, and enjoyed it. The older you get, the warmer you like it.
 
Thanks for all the input, guys. Carptom, I think I will look more seriously at an outside unit. We blew about 10 additional inches of insulation in the attic a couple years ago, which helped a lot. Windows and siding would be natural next steps, but we have a seemingly inexhaustable supply of firewood right out the front door. And it needs to be cleaned up and thinned out to reduce the fire danger anyway.

Dakotazeb, I hear you about the fireplace. It was probably break-even messing with it, but the family sure enjoyed sitting in front of a fire every night.

I agree, we'll just have to see what the payback period is. If I could pay it back in less than 5 years, get rid of a bunch of junk trees, and reduce the fire danger at my house all at the same time, it would be win-win-win.
:cheers:
 
Hey Toad, just a thought...

Except, maybe, for the outside unit, you might want to check with your homeowner's insurance agent to see about coverage and premiums, before you make any commitment. As I recall, they're not all that happy about fire in homes.

Hope it works out. When I heated with a wood stove in the early days up here in WI, it was work, but there's no heat like it; and it's kind of like having an other being in the house. Also, on pellets, check prices if you lean that way. I've been told there's not a big cost savings with the pelletized fuel costs. Of course, that was before fuel oil was 3.49 and natural gas had kited up to the stratosphere.

best wishes
 
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