# Wood stove for heat



## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Ok guys the price of heating oil has finally peed me off to the point I'm getting off the oil tanked asap. Thing is the only two alts I have are electric and wood, electric is a no no cause I don;t want my electric bill as high as my oil bill was, so I'm getting a wood heater, I remember when I was a kid we heated with wood, but I don;t remember how warm it was, does anybody remember weather or not a wood stove will heat my whole house?
This place ain't but 1200 square feet.
And wood around here is ether free or relatively cheap cause of the storms we have


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

It can, but sort of depends where you put it. It needs to be close to the center of the house. Naturally depends on the kind you buy and the wood you burn. "green wood", needs to cure probably a year.

Also check with the local authorities, some places restrict wood burners. 

BG


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

You right about the green wood, theres no way I'd EVER burn green. I have a spot near the center, but I guess its up to the fire marshal weather or not I can put it there cause my oil furnace sits there now
Va Beach allows wood burners, they just have to meet certain fire codes,
the heater I'm getting is new, never been used, and antique so I know its cast iron and thick, I remember that the thicker they are the longer they last and the longer it stays warm 
I wanna put it where my oil furnace is because of the one obvious reason the flue is already through the roof there and I don't have to cut another hole  just rebuilt the pipe I have with a wood stove pipe


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

I just see all kinds of dollar signs on this project. Stove pipe will has to be changed out, probably to triple layer insulated pipe, which bigger.

If the oil furnace sits in like a closet, those wall will have to come out.

I would get a heater with air box around that will blow warm air out.

BG


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

I do too, the oil furnace flue runs a lot cooler then a wood stove flue, I would leave the oil burner in place in case you need it at some future point, most of the wood stoves I've seen keep the room they are in too warm and the room at the other end of the house too cold


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

My sister has a place in New Mexico and all they use for heat are wood stoves and a fireplace with ceiling fans to move the heat around -- seems to work pretty well but their winters are fairly mild too.

You have to be careful to properly set up the ventilation for wood stoves though as they can produce more carbon monoxide than an efficient gas or oil furnace. Drafting wasn't a problem in the old days but with newer sealed houses it can be a bear to get a stove to work right unless you vent it properly. My aunt had a wood stove in her newer-construction house and the thing wouldn't stay lit unless you cracked a nearby window.

Some people like the smell wood smoke but it can annoy others. When I lived by a lake in Arkansas it might as well have been in the middle of Beijing for all the fresh air there was in the fall and winter, what with a couple of hundred houses spewing out fireplace smoke, which then got trapped in the valley.

The people living across the street here burn corn in a pellet stove -- it smells just like burning plastic bags; in fact, everyone around here thought that they were burning their trash in the fireplace for a couple of years.


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## bruiser (Jul 30, 2005)

MPR mentioned a pellet stove. Have you looked into them?


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

Pellet stoves are actually pretty good and burn cleanly if you use processed wood pellets and don't try to be ultra-cheap about it and use the damp, moldy corn from the bottom of your grain bins for fuel like the neighbors here do.


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

wrench97 said:


> I do too, the oil furnace flue runs a lot cooler then a wood stove flue, I would leave the oil burner in place in case you need it at some future point, most of the wood stoves I've seen keep the room they are in too warm and the room at the other end of the house too cold


Problem with the oil heater is (1) it breaks down every year (2)these things leak like a sive ( the middle east loves me when I buy oil (4) I hate oil heat cause its so dry my wifes nose bleeds where a wood heater I can put a pan of water on top and let it evaporate. Plus the whole oil furnace staying cooler ..well a wood heater Gets hotter, therefor less fuel to heat. And yes its a triple wall flue one comes with the heater I'm getting 



MPR said:


> My sister has a place in New Mexico and all they use for heat are wood stoves and a fireplace with ceiling fans to move the heat around -- seems to work pretty well but their winters are fairly mild too.
> 
> You have to be careful to properly set up the ventilation for wood stoves though as they can produce more carbon monoxide than an efficient gas or oil furnace. Drafting wasn't a problem in the old days but with newer sealed houses it can be a bear to get a stove to work right unless you vent it properly. My aunt had a wood stove in her newer-construction house and the thing wouldn't stay lit unless you cracked a nearby window.
> 
> ...


 Where at In Arkansas? I lived 13 miles outside of Leslie up country 254



MPR said:


> Pellet stoves are actually pretty good and burn cleanly if you use processed wood pellets and don't try to be ultra-cheap about it and use the damp, moldy corn from the bottom of your grain bins for fuel like the neighbors here do.


Pellets cost money, around here I can get paid to remove trees which mean I get money ANS free fuel for heat


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

_Where at In Arkansas? I lived 13 miles outside of Leslie up country 254_

Not too far from where you were -- My aunt and grandma lived on Beaver Lake between Rogers and Eureka Springs -- some of our family has lived in Benton County since before the Civil War; my grandpa's grandpa fought all over NW Arkansas and SW Missouri with the 1st Arkansas Cavalry (Union). I have camped at Buffalo River a few times too.

I stayed at my grandma's place at the lake for a year while fixing it up for sale and mostly heated it by burning wood I was clearing off the lot. That winter was the one of that big ice storm too, sometime around 1990 plus or minus (I was taking a couple of years "off" after getting my grad degree and wasn't paying much attention to dates then). The whole area was without power for a week and nothing could get up or down the hills to get in or out. I stepped out on the porch to watch a couple of bobcats one day and slid down almost to the lake -- it took me two hours to get back to the house going tree to tree.

When grandpa first went back there in the late 60s to build a house on the lake, the road had just been bulldozed out and you couldn't even get in without a Jeep. Now there are thousands of people living all over the area and the lake is covered in boat docks. Gotta love progress.


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Oh one thing I forgot before it was too late to edit my post, around here in my neighborhood the power only goes out when its either unbearably hot or unbearably cold, unbearably hot we can drink cold liquids and sit in the shade outside, unbearable cold the power goes out for three weeks at a time, so the oil heater and any electric heaters are totally out of the question. You guys have no idea at all how many time I've been on here either from my phone or my battery backup that I can charge off of the Jeep using a power inverter.
For me wood heat even though it will mean a lot of work is probably my best bet to keep the family warm if I do it right.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

I know a guy that still uses coal, hard to get now he claims to only use about 20 tons a year, it's a gravity hot water system


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

20 tons a year? what does he do use it for power, water, and light?


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

This brochure has some interesting data regarding home heating fuels:

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/techline/fuel-value-calculator.pdf


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Thanks MPR, you just verified my belief that wood is indeed cheaper, BUT The top page where it says " green wood" Not even a complete idiot would burn green wood, that WILL cause a explosive buildup in a flue almost as bad as burning Pine


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## mach10bill (May 29, 2012)

For sure it will heat your whole house if you put a Chimney Heater in.
I have one of these in my Chimney and I have to open the windows in the winter. Chimneyheaters.com


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Thanks for the link, I bookmarked it. Gonna check into that also and see what is involved


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## CCT (Mar 21, 2009)

For your situation I'd suggest you look at a heating and electricity backup system incorporating devices LIKE;

How It Works

Generac Power Systems - Guardian Series 8 kW

I don't recommend anything I haven't tried personally (why I said 'LIKE'), BUT the combination covers you for good heating, low fire hazard and thus lower fire insurance rates, and loss of power issues that seem to plague you.

In this case I have a Generac 8 KW (7 KW on NG) that has supplied me over 5 outages, the worst at -20C for 18 hours.

My stepson has an external fireplace circulating liquid heater he routed to his house and workshop - has been a great thing (except for him obtaining the wood).

Don't limit your focus.


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

The only problem with those links is I'm trying to get as much OFF the oil grid as possible


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## CCT (Mar 21, 2009)

Then I'd suggest a tepee or property in Costa Rica - burning wood inside your home extensively is fraught with danger unless you spend a GREAT deal of time cleaning your creosote, etc.

The outside heater can't burn you down, has a low smokestack, etc.


But, to each his/her own.


You could probably cover the backup hydro with wind + photovoltaics (after some expense) BUT you are al;ways faced with technology and taxes, NOT to forget the Govs regulations that are increasing in size about fire prevention/warning facilities, child safety, property maintenance, etc.

Maybe a cave?

:smile:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

My wood heater is on a pm schedule. the one thing I remember from the Navy that helps me every day is inspect EVERYTHING on a regular basis, that includes, but is not limited to regular cleaning, replacement of parts and visual and or acoustic inspection.
My heater gets a pm once a week.


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

People have been thousands of years and they lived off the grid. It is doable.

BG


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## CCT (Mar 21, 2009)

BG, you are right - on the other hand, they did that with about 10 million or less people on the planet, no taxes of any kind, the ability to hunt and fish as they wanted, and life expectancies of about 45-60 years maximum (if someone didn't come along and take their stuff and their life).

Might be an interesting concept, BUT that's all it is.

No free rides anymore. Taxes, taxes, taxes.


:smile:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Basementgeek said:


> People have been thousands of years and they lived off the grid. It is doable.
> 
> BG


It sure is, I got rid of the oil tank two weeks ago, sold it for $75 with 1/4 tank of oil in it. Heater is still in eth house in case I ever sell it, kinda can't sell a house in Va without either gas, oil or electric heat (stupid law) But I now have enough wood to heat this winter and personally guys, if I could raise my own food, make my own electricity, and ride a horse to work and be totally off the entire grid, it wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit.


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## charlie1776 (Jan 19, 2011)

Have you looked in to a Hardy outdoor wood burner? My cousin uses on at his house. Just add a hot water coil in your duct work and tie the controls into the thermostat. The burner it self only has a small water pump and a damper actuator.


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Yea I looked at those, I like the indoor ones better, at best if I ever have to replace the thing I might get a modern one or an old boxwood stove.


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Well, I cleaned it today, and just for you old timers who know more about wood stoves than I do, you may all laugh at me and call me stupid, 
We all know that rain can and does go down the flue pipe and cause rust on the stove itself, well...I bought a cap last year to go over the flue and I totally forgot to install the darn thing at the end of the season so now here I am sitting in the nice air conditioned living room with the smell of fresh stove paint on the stove to cover the bare cast Iron I wire brushed the surface rust off of 
Yes i dismantled as much as possible and yes I got in every single little nook and cranny. And yes I feel dumb


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

Yes, many years ago I realized the importance of on a "cap" on a chimney. Birds can get down easy but can't seem to get up. They stink after awhile.

BG


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Birds I don't have a problem with, for some reason even the doves don't like silver  which is the only color I had when I painted the flue cap.

I'm thinking about modifying the flue cap so that all I have to do is slip the pipe cap in after the season and screw it in with two or three screws.


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## SmellMyFeet (Aug 19, 2012)

My dad installed an old cast-iron wood stove when I was a kid (18 years ago or so) and it has been running all day, every day, through every winter since that day. 

It has perhaps two downsides. First, it's easier to keep it running constantly than to start new fires all the time, so whoever wakes up first starts the fire, and then someone needs to feed if every few hours to keep it going. This isn't really practical if you're not home all day, and it can be inconvenient, though I never got tired of tending to it. He spent quite a bit of time obtaining wood and cutting it to a suitable size. For us, it also meant it was nearly always slightly too hot. The second possible downside is the mess. Ash needs to be cleaned out every couple of days, and some of it always scatters itself around the house... somehow. Also, sometimes it gets a bit smokey when starting fires, not once they're running. This never bothered me though.

He lives in suburbia, but the area has a lot of eucalyptus that burns really well, and most years we kept the heater going constantly just by collecting fallen branches. Free heating year round, and a service to the community in a bushfire prone area. There was hot water in the kettle on the edge of the stove at all times, and most stove-top cooking was done on the heater, not to save power, just because it was more convenient. The heater creates a great atmosphere and smell of burning eucalyptus is nearly the best thing in the world. Family arguments always happened in summer, but winters were always great. Wood heaters bring back fond memories for me.


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Here in Virginia My wood stove runs on any hard wood, basically I'll burn anything except pine of other ever greens with the exception of Holley.
yea the starting is a downside, but my oldest son is STILL living here at home and has NOT found a job yet so he will be here all day to tend the fire  PLUS his girlfriend is probably gonna be moving in also, she asked if she could after she gets a job and the wife and I said yes, as for the ash, yea is gets all over but not as bad as you say it does in your place, don;t know why, maybe its how I do it maybe its the type of ash from the eucalyptus, or maybe its cause my ash bucket has a cover on it. but I LOVE the the heating ability of wood AND the medical benefits of it, you see if I use oil heat I get "winter itch" every year so bad I want to remove my skin plus I get Bronchitis so bad I spend three days to a week in the hospital every year, burning wood so far I haven't had either, or the host of colds I used to get with oil.
Sop far wood has cost me roughly $2500 a year less than oil, AND so far this year people have PAID me to remove trees from their property 

Pretty nice huh?


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