Home heating totally with wood

[rusticretreater]

My Dad used a Buckstove fireplace insert.  There was a fan thermostat thing that was held to the back with a bolt that used to burn out frequently.  I finally just wired an on/off switch for him.  

[woodroe]

Wood and Sun only, 33 yrs now. Never installed a backup.
1500 sq ft home plus full basement, 4-5 cords on average, never more than 5. 
Wood comes from the lot, cut, limbed, twitched, bucked, split. Hard telling at what
point I'll have to put in some backup. But so far the price is right.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Started with wood in various configurations in 1974, Ashley automatic, home made hot air furnace, Vermont castings stove, Taylor outdoor boiler, Central Boiler Classic now, with both oil boiler and heat pump for backup
Did use just oil for a few years in the late 90s.
Getting lazy now and am considering biting the bullet and going all oil and heat pump.

[SwampDonkey]

Backup here was easy, on the side of the wood furnace. I've never used more than $30 of electric heat a month because it's not on very often and barely 5 minutes when on. I don't travel in the winter so I'm right here to throw wood in. ;D Today is a cool day in the 50's and it's never been on all though the daylight hours. I had my bedroom window up 3" all night. Going to be in the 70's Thursday. North wind came up since daylight so window is down, overcast since noon. 75F in here now, still comfy for me even if down to 70F. Heck, the AC will drive it down to 70F-75 range in summer heat so I have no complaints. :D Electric might come on tonight once or twice an hour dropping into the low 30's. I'll keep this up until I'm 75, then push buttons for heat. :D :D I'll close in the stairway to the second floor with a door, it will still get heat, but only forced air, no convection from the first floor. That'll cut the heat by 1/3-1/2 I figure. I heat 2900 sq feet, includes basement and 2 floors. My upper floor as 9'-14' ceilings. :D

[gspren]

Started with wood in various configurations in 1974, Ashley automatic, home made hot air furnace, Vermont castings stove, Taylor outdoor boiler, Central Boiler Classic now, with both oil boiler and heat pump for backup
Did use just oil for a few years in the late 90s.
Getting lazy now and am considering biting the bullet and going all oil and heat pump.

After heating with wood for many years I liked it but we travel so much between our main residence in PA to our vacation home in DE that when we sold the farm and downsized to two acres I gave up on wood. This winter I had the oil furnace in the PA house removed and changed to propane, so far I like it much better. In the DE house the main heat is heat pumps and a pellet stove. The only time the heat pumps aren't efficient is when we have been gone for a few weeks with the heat turned down to 55-58 when you get there and set it to 70 the heat strips kick in and they use a bunch of electric so that's when to fire up the pellet stove for a few hours. Many people say the heat pumps are good down to mid 30s and that's partially true but if the thermostat sees that it's more than 2-3 degrees colder in the house than the set point it will start the auxiliary heat strips to help it catch up. 

[cutterboy]

 I'll keep this up until I'm 75, then push buttons for heat. 

SD, you may find that when you reach 75 wood heat has become a habit that is hard to break. The heat wood produces is like no other. You might be surprised at what you can accomplish at 75. You have been an active man all your life so your chance of staying active and strong and healthy right through your 70s is very good.

[Magicman]

Lotsa things that I thought I would or would not do after I reached 75.  :

[doc henderson]

It is hard for most 50 year olds to imagine being 75.  I am learning slowly, year by year.

[SwampDonkey]

Nah, I'll be retired from firewood, personal choice. I'll have wood on hand for power outages. A couple of cord should do 20 years. :D Oh, probably cut a little for the shop I suppose, 2 or 3 cord should do the trick. ;D My grandfather on mom's side cut wood until he was 84, my uncle did most of the wood handling and cut'n by then. He still had wood heat to the end, which was another 3 years. He was blind the last 3 years, so hard to cut wood then. Reassess at 75, I may not be here to assess. :D :D

[Wood Shed]

Update.  There have been many changes but one thing remains, I still heat my home totally with wood.  The CB 6048 marches on without missing a beat, just finished it's seventeenth season.  While spending the winter or most of it out of state I just turned the house temp down to 60 degrees and let the oil fired boiler take over.  I left the OWB full of water and ran the circulating pump continuously.  The water temp in the oil fired backup was turned down to 110 degrees, warm enough to heat the under floor system that requires about 105 degrees.  Set up a method of monitoring the house temp with my phone that worked pretty well.  When I arrived back home in the spring the OWB temp was 100 degrees and within a few hours I was back to wood heat only.

That lasted for three years then at the end of our stay in 2021 we sold the winter home and moved everything back home.  Traumatic for my wife but a relief for me.  One thing I (we) have learned, home is a feeling you get deep inside, NOT a destination.  I was homesick from the minute we got there until the day we left, sounds childish but that is just how it felt.

So I will continue cutting and splitting wood.  Sure was easier when I didn't split anything but I do think burning split wood only is in my future one way or the other.

Thanks for all the replies.

[hedgerow]

We have been heating totally with wood since I installed the Garn in 2009. Shop, house and domestic water. Run it year around for domestic. Had to shut it down twice in that time frame to repair welds that failed and leaked. Both times it was in the coldest part of winter. Switch back to propane to get threw those times. Have been heating with wood on and off for forty years. When we lived at one of our other farms we used two wood stoves in that house and would use propane in the shoulder season's. I heated with used oil in that shop. As I am getting older and my health isn't the best I think if I ever have to replace the Garn I will switch back to propane. Getting 10-15 cord a year is getting to be a big job and it tough to find help. My two guys that help me are getting old like me. 

[SwampDonkey]

Up this way, your own wood is the cheapest route you can get of course. Second to that is electric. Electric is way cheaper than stove oil, propane, or any kind of gas. What little I use electric heat, it has been very cheap. I don't have to call anyone to fill a tank and is no up front cost, and no yoyo pricing games. ;)

[Spike60]

98% wood, with oil furnace backup that also does the hot water. Will keep it that way as long as possible. Have no target age or how many more years until I stop burning wood. Have always enjoyed the entire wood burning process, including the work involved. Plus it gives me a way to play with the saw collection.

That being said, the reality that the above mentioned work gets harder as the years add up can't be ignored. For me, the simplest adjustment is to just take it in smaller bites. No more all day wood cutting like 20 years ago. Couple hours at a time and it'll all get done.