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Heating your home

Started by Dugsaws, February 01, 2004, 09:14:37 PM

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Dugsaws

I am getting sick and tired of the rising cost of propane and fuel oil  >:( so I am thinkin of a second source of heat for my house, and was wonderin if anyone here uses wood pellet stoves, if so do you like or dislike it, what btu is your unit,etc, etc any info would be appreciated


  Doug
Doug

chet

Don't know about pellet stoves. But why not consider an outdoor boiler, then you can use your slabs for fuel.
I am a true TREE HUGGER, if I didnt I would fall out!  chet the RETIRED arborist

EZ

This is what we use, an outside wood burner. Wife keeps the heat up to 78 degrees when I'm not inside, she's kinda cold blooded I guess. We use to have a $400 fuel oil bill a month.
EZ

Ron Wenrich

Pellet costs are a little high, and not much better than the other fuels.  Costs in my area are at $150-175/ton.  I think you would do better with coal, especially in your area.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Swede

Have used electric heating and it woks good, low invest- and using- costs. My last electric bills have been to big now. :'(
I´m looking at heat pumps. Air/air  types can even heat wather and isn´t very expensive.
 I´ll try to find some .com links.

Swede.
Had a mobile band sawmill, All hydraulics  for logs 30\"x19´, remote control. (sold it 2009-04-13)
Monkey Blades.Sold them too)
Jonsered 535/15\". Just cut firewood now.

Frank_Pender

I use the hot water furnaces too.  I have a Taylor for the house as well as one for the kiln.  I am heating a 3,000 sq.ft. house very well.  If I had it to do over I would buy a unit that is a combination wood and probably fuel oil or maybe even sadust.  But with sawdust you would have lots of creosote build up I would imagine, due to its not being totaly dry.  I gus I could start running it into the kiln. ;D  but, agian, I would have the hig  electric bills for fans running for two or three weeks at a time.  No win, I reckon. :-/

  I sure would consider a water furnace of some sort with wood and a secondary type of fuel it would burn as a backup, or if you were toooo tired to go out and stoke the firebox with wood.  I have heard that some units will also burn used oil as well as wood.
Frank Pender

Swede

I heard about a man fireing with used oil. He placed a brick in an old furnace and heated up the brick  with wood. Let some drops/miute through a pipe and a valve on the hot brick. I think the brick works like a  wick.

New oil isn´t healthy, used oil is poisonous. So I send my used oil for recycling and pay for it.

Swede.
Had a mobile band sawmill, All hydraulics  for logs 30\"x19´, remote control. (sold it 2009-04-13)
Monkey Blades.Sold them too)
Jonsered 535/15\". Just cut firewood now.

SwampDonkey

Ron that is high for pellets. Considering you get 2.5 tons per cord of northern hard maple or beech at $110/cord = $44/ton stove wood. Canadian $$  :)

I burn 1.25 cords/mo and electric is $75/mo average. Not bad eh?

phew its turned quite mild here (well 20's and 30's) the last few days, almost too warm for wood, considering I have to keep the window open with a low fire hehehe  :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Ron Wenrich

I know every time I look at pellet prices, I just shake my head.  When they first came out with pellet stoves, the price was over $100/ton.  We could buy cut and split for $80/cd back then.

Pellets are a lot cleaner, and are supposed to have a more even heat.  I just don't see the economics with it, especially when you can get firewood at a pretty low price, depending on how much sweat equity you want to put into it.

I think the comparisons are 1 ton coal = 100 gal fuel oil = 1 cord hardwood.  

We've finally got the wind chills out of the single digits.  My house is hard to heat when its windy.  When oil goes up, the thermostat goes down, and the wood stove gets used a lot.  
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

SwampDonkey

145 gallon fuel oil = 1 cord northern hard maple or beech. My oil tank is 200 gallons and I know I'de burn 75 % of it in a  month and it would never give the heat my wood does. There's a 20 F difference in the heating between my oil and wood furnaces. Wood being the hotter. My mother's uncle used to burn a  full 250 gallon tank a month and his house is smaller than mine, it never got above 75 F and he also burned wood in a kitchen stove. You don't need no quilts on the beds in my house unless you'de like to be a grease spot by mornin  ;)

Gotta love that wood heat. Our minister of Natural Resources said we have to start using more efficient heating sources to save electricity. I figured it out that running the fan for my furnace only costs me $20 a month. Electricity is $20 cheaper from May 15th  to October 31st, around $60 average. And I only have to sweat 4 days a year bucking, splitting and handling the wood. Nice trade off  ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

RevCant

I use a Central Boiler 500,000btu outdoor wood furnace to heat my house, my parent's house and all of our domestic hot water.  Neither of these houses has much in the way of insullation, so I burn alot of wood.  The wood can be unsplit, green, and fairly large if you have some smaller wood around the big stuff.  This is an open vented boiler system, so you don't have to worry about pressure build up, etc.  Heat pump for back up in case I break a leg  :o.
If cows could only tail....

RevCant

I think I hit the wrong button gizmo :D
If cows could only tail....

SwampDonkey

They say those outside furnaces are nice, but i just can't get my head around having a furnace outside loosing heat that wood be best used to heat my basement. Sure you can pipe it into the basement but seems inefficient to loose heat to the -20 outside air, which try as you might, you'll never heat up. And I don't like the idea of wading through 4 feet of drifting snow with windchill to feed this thing-ah-mah-jig  ;)

cheers
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

EZ

I use wood and coal, when its in the 30's or higher I burn just wood, when it gets below the 30's I use wood and coal. I fill it up about dark time and dont mess with it until the next day. I burn about 2 ton of coal a season, the house is well insulated.
EZ

karl

Central boiler- heats shop, house, domestic, and (soon) kiln. It ain't fussy, but it is hungry. Used 11.8 gals heating oil last month- like that part compared to last season. 8)
Just can't see a savings in pellet stoves. Firewood is cheaper.
"I ask for wisdom and strength, Not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy, myself"  - from Ojibwa Prayer.

woodmills1

Ok Ok I use wood in the two stoves here but with 3200 sq ft I also hit the lottery once a month when the oil man delivers for the front of the house on the same day the gas man delivers for the back.
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

SwampDonkey

@ EZ:

Yeah your setup is nice but don't you find it hellish hot when your burning in the 30's? A little bit of wood goes along way.....gosh I'de die with all those heat sources and I have 10 foot ceilings throughout :)

Today I burned 4, five inch by 18 inch sticks and 3, two inch by 18 inch sticks and windows open. It got up to 35 F outside today. :)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

SwampDonkey

@ Woodmills

Isn't it awefull we have nothing to talk about but ways to keep our butts warm? Doesn't anyone saw in the cold?   :D  :D  :D


cheers
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

woodmills1

I gotta saw some pallet wood tommorrow, hope the battery made it through the chill :D
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

rebocardo

> around having a furnace outside loosing heat that wood
> be best used to heat my basement

All the ones I have seen used buried insulated pipes for the hot water and a heat core/sink/exchanger sometimes in the basement too. Very little heat is lost, far more is lost in a normal fire place.

The best thing is the newer EPA approved stoves with glass fronts and side door feeds. If you get a smaller one and keep it constantly feed so the temp. stays up there, you can burn practically anything.


SwampDonkey

Why is it so cold over your way and so darn mild over here? The wind is even out of the northwest here which is usually frigid. Maybe the jet stream had looped north of us for a few days. I don't mind, I've been wearing nothing but a cotton sweater and light cotton pants. 20's and 30's sure isn't a heat wave, but its not windchill either :)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

woodmills1

Yes we had a cold snap but we had warm fall and I bet warm late winter early spring.  So, it really isnt so cold here mostly normal and expected.  sometimes not fun though. :o :D :)
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Corley5

I figure that I've got about $150.00 into this winters wood heat.  Fifteen gallons of gas for the saws and tractor, a jug of bar oil and some two cycle mix, two new saw chains, and a days pay for one of my haying crew who helped pick up wood on a Saturday.  I spent some evenings and a couple weekends cutting wood for Dad and I.  I cut around 35 face cord.  I'm burning mostly green sugar maple with a little beech mixed in this year.  It's actually starting to season a bit now as it doesn't sizzle as much when it starts burning ;D.  It's freeze drying ;)  On a cold night you can see the frost on the wood in the shed.  Next winter I'm hoping to have an outdoor furnace like Dad's Heatmor.  It loses very little heat to the outdoors.  Snow will accumulate on its roof.  I love my wood heat and with all the hardwood we've got it'd be foolish to use anything else but I'm getting tired of having a fire in the house.  The mess and most of all the safety concerns are beginning to bother me.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

SwampDonkey

@ Rebocardo

Yes with a fireplace you might as well burn your wood outside in an open pit and let the wind blow the heat into the living room window, since your heat just goes poof up the flu. And a flu of a fireplace is generally on the outside of the house which is the worst place for a flu. Your flu is best in the centre of the house where it is kept heated and less soot and creasote. I don't see how heat isn't lost in an outside stove either. I know the pipes are insulated and burried, they'de have to be. But there is a tremendous amount of heat being wasted which is radiated off the stove. And being in the cold it consumes alot more fuel, that's why your struggling to keep sufficient heat for combustion.  Also, those setups are very expensive. That setup would be fine for people with alot of scrap in the yard and don't mind wading snow drifts all winter and digging the wood out from under snow. If I had to go build a shop to hold the fuel or house the darn thing it would all be too rediculous. I have other uses for my money. I can get a wood furnace for $1000 installed and if properlly maintained will last at least 25 years. I only spend 4 days manufacturing my stove wood, for a 7 month winter, all inside under cover piled up, dry, easy access, no hassle fuel source ....sigh. And as long as I do the labour myself its no cost to me, otherwise uncle sam would be taxing me for that.   ;D

'nuff said

cheers  :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

SwampDonkey

@ Corley5

My gosh man......green wood   eeeek!!! I see where you'de be afraid of the hazards there. The heat of combustion is alot higher with green wood and the build up in your flu, frightening. I bet the walls of that flu have big balls of soot all over. Do you ever brush your flu or add soot remover to the fire? Clean your pipes monthly? If your flu is outside that is double dangerous. Also, when you open the stove door does the smoke roll out, bad sign? Why wouldn't you cut your wood the fall before to season it ahead of time?  :o

cheers and safe burning
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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