Who heats with a wood burner??

[2zwudz]

  Who here heats their house with a wood burner? I am trying to figure out if I want to put a wood burner in my house to help with my propane bill which has gotten ridiculousely high.  What are some thoughts or suggestions?

Mark

[John_C]

I do.  The house was planned from the outset to have a cast iron stove as the primary heat source.  I have a small Vermont Castings - Consolidated Dutchwest stove with a catalytic combustor. The first floor of my house is an open plan LR, K, DR and 1/2 bath.  The stove is on the far side of the room from the stairs.  It heats the downstairs nicely and the open beam ceiling allows heat to warm the upstairs floors directly.  The upstairs stays just a little cooler which is ok for the 3 bedrooms. I have enough woods on my property that I have never had to buy wood.  I do have electric resistance heating in every room, each room on its own thermostat.  When I tend the fire as I should they are seldom used except in the bathrooms.

There are many house that would do well with a wood stove and many that would be hard to heat with one.  A two or three story house with conventional ceilings and cut up into small rooms would need some auxiliary method to move the heat around.  If you had to by wood it might not be cost effective.

[Redoverfarm]

Well I started out with an outside furnace to heat 1800 Sq ft Cape Cod. I burned approx 10-12 pu loads per winter.  Changed to a heat pump and propane furnace.  Usually burned 500 gal of propane a winter.  Added 2 additional rooms one being a family room in which I built a wood flue.  I purchased a Hearthstone "Mansfield" soap stone free standing stove which is capable of heating 2500 sq ft.  In an open floorplan this is probably true but the location of the stove does not completely heat the entire house of approximately 2400 sq ft,  But it does assist in that my propane bill had dropped to about 115 gal per winter. I use about 4-5 pu loads per winter. But as I have unlimited wood supply and do not purchase my wood.  The going price for a tri-axle (10-12 loads) in this area is $400.

[MountainDon]

We used to a couple decades and one country ago. It was 800+ sq ft, single story. The main floor plan was open, 2 bedrooms and bath across the back, kitchen, LR in the front with the stove in the middle. The wood burner was a Vermont Castings Intrepid (not made any more except in a coal model). We loved the stove.

We used about 3 cords of mostly birch a winter. Cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking it kept me busy in the fall through early winter (for the next year's supply.)

It was the primary heat source, with the gas furnace (hot water boiler) only coming on if we were away for an extended time, or if we needed to warm the basement. I had a divided system (rube goldberg) where I could remove the main floor from the loop and just heat the basement.

If I had to buy my wood there would not have been any savings at all.

So the circle has turned and the mountain cabin will have another VC stove. Still natural gas in ther 'burbs, and I won't change.

[John Raabe]

Like John C. we heat with wood and designed our house to have a wood stove at the center of the main floor.

The Solar Saltbox has some additional thermal mass and solar inputs as well.

The upstairs has four bedrooms and two baths that run cooler when the doors are closed. The addition wing is heated by electric resistance and does not share much heat from the stove. We usually burn about three cords of wood a year which costs us around $450 (I am now too lazy to cut the wood myself)

[duggae]

I use an O'dette free standing woodstove. It heats my very open two story home quite well. Probably burn 2-3 cords per winter here in mid MO. The finished basement gets cool however as the furnace does not come on with the stove hot. The stove is on the first (mid level) floor of the house. I absolutly love the woodstove. No finer heat. I also enjoy cutting and splitting wood though and I have all the firewood I need on my property.

[glenn kangiser]

Only wood in the underground complex.  We use about 1 1/2 to 2 cords and things are not sealed up well at all.  Then again -- we don't get a lot of freezing weather and the ground temp is usually over 50.

We have 60 acres here available to get dead or live oak or pine from and a Bush Hog with a dump bed (1000 lb cap. ) to make the 30 to 40% grades tolerable -- even fun.

[Robbo]

Yep.  Wood is our only source of heating but then we don't have extremes of cold that you guys in North America experience.  My wife, who comes from the Appalachians in SW PA tells me of winters there.  Fortunately, its easier in Oz even though we ocasionally get down to overnight temperatures of -12 Celcius, but these are rare.

However, we still heat completely in wood and its great.  We use about 12 tonnes a winter for a fan forced slow combustion stove that literally runs 24/7 in the tin shed that we are living in whilst we build our house.  On the upside, we have over 320 hectares (about 750 acres) of our own farm from which to collect wood - so its free except for the cost of the chainsaw and a bit of effort.

Robbo

[glenn kangiser]

We are in cords here, Robbo.  4'x4'x8'

Australia (tonne): In Australia, firewood is not sold as a firewood cord, it is sold by the tonne. A tonne is a measurement of weight, not volume as the stere and firewood cord are, so it is not exactly easy to convert. The conversion from cord to tonne will depend on the density of wood as some woods are heavier than others per unit of volume.

[Robbo]

We are in cords here, Robbo.  4'x4'x8'

I found a ton register converter  - 12 = 9.375 cords - don't know if that is the correct conversion or not but sounds reasonable.

Australia (tonne): In Australia, firewood is not sold as a firewood cord, it is sold by the tonne. A tonne is a measurement of weight, not volume as the stere and firewood cord are, so it is not exactly easy to convert. The conversion from cord to tonne will depend on the density of wood as some woods are heavier than others per unit of volume.

Sounds reasonable.  Cords sounds like a better idea for wood anyway because of the wide differences in weight.  Our wood, for example, is very hard and very heavy.  A bit like the "locust" wood I have seen my PA family burn.  However, most of what they burn is much lighter.  Mostly softwoods I think but I don't know the varieties.

[glenn kangiser]

My calc above was incorrect - 

Getting there -- 2204.6 lbs in a metric ton.

Wood avg 45 lbs per cu. ft. hardwood -dry =5760 lbs per cord  = 2.61 metric tonnes per cord  or 4.59 cords but soft wood is about 1/3 lighter (28 lbs cu ft) so you could go around 6 cords plus or minus.

[glenn kangiser]

You would be burning eucalyptus?

[John_C]

A cord of wood (air-dried red oak) weighing about 3,680 pounds may produce 21.3 million Btu of heat and is equivalent to 166 gallons of #2 fuel oil or 26,800 cubic feet of natural gas.

source  http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/rhgiles/Trevey/Firewood.htm

[glenn kangiser]

I'll bet the one I did didn't figure air spaces.

So 1.67 metric tons per cord or 7.18 cord in 12 metric tons - depending on wood weight.

[Robbo]

You would be burning eucalyptus?

Yep.  Very good wood as it grows very slowly in a comparitively dry climate.  Two or three sticks will burn all night - up to about 10 hours.

Cheers

[Redoverfarm]

Just another thing to take into consideration when trying to decide about a wood burning stove.

[MountainDon]

I guess he wasn't expecting it to fall in that direction. Would've loved to see a video of the whole affair.

[glenn kangiser]

First thing I do before falling a tree, even if I know which way it is supposed to do is move the truck out of reach.  Last two big ones I fell were 120' and 140' tall.

[MountainDon]

I learned that a long time ago... and I didn't need to be prodded by dropping one on my truck. It just seemed like a self evident truth.

[considerations]

The little one heats my 10 x 12 office, and I'm planning on one of the slightly larger ones for the 14 x 24 I'm starting on.  Saves lots of space and still does the job quite well.

http://marinestove.com/