Heating with wood only

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Rockey

Rockey

Minister of Fire
Dec 18, 2007
811
SW Ohio
I have learned a great deal from reading the posts on the hearth.com the past few weeks. Most of which was reiterating what I had already heard or knew to be true but also a lot of good ideas that I had never thought of before (ie - a blockoff plate).

My goal this heating season is to rely solely on my energy king insert as my families heat source. Will I make it? I don't know. Nights like tonight make me wonder, it is 16 F out right now and the temp in the house is very difficult to motivate this evening. 72 in the back of the house near the insert and 66 in the front furthest from the insert. It is atwo story house with 9' ceilings and 2700 sq feet. I split about 6 cords of the best oak last March from a local veneer company that sells it to me for $30.00 for a 16' trailer full. Some is dry 15-20% MC but a good deal didnt receive enough sunlight/wind despite a record hot and dry summer here. As a result some of the oak is 22-28% and isn't even worth trying to burn unless I mix it with a good amount of dry wood. I also have a cord of some of extremely dry maple that is really helping.

My main concern are the Jan/Feb nights ahead where zero degree weather is lurking. judging from previous years, unless i get the house temps in the upper 70's during the day my house just loses too much heat during the night hours, usually about 5 degrees, but more on the coldes nights. What would be the most beneficial for me? Insulate more? Add a blockoff plate? The house is about 15 years old insulated pretty well but a lot of windows. I refuse to pay for propane unless it gets below 63 in the house and no hope for getting it up in a few hours. I did let it drop to 56 when we were out of twon for the weekend a few weeks ago but it was easy to get it back up to temps with the warm weather when we returned. Whare the suggestions from the experts that have been doing this for years?
 
That house size may just be too much for the insert alone. A 2700 sq ft house needs a big firebox with a free standing stove, I dont know if there is an insert capable of the job in that climate.
 
2700sf is a lot to heat with one wood-burner. I get by with my stove most of the winter, but I am willing to accept much much lower temps in outlying rooms. For instance, the master bedroom on the first floor regularly gets down to the mid 50's. In the morning the main part of the house is in the mid to low 60's. Right now it's about 23 outside we are all in the livingroom it's 72 now but will cool through the night and the electric blanket is heating the bed.
 
I have gotten good results from a space heater in the bedrooms at night when the temps reach into the single digits. A small ceramic type, for a couple of hours makes a huge difference.
 
Can you install insulating curtains, shades or blinds on a lot of the windows? That can really reduce night time heat loss. If the chimney is an exterior one, then put an insulated block off plate in too. A lot of heat is lost to the outdoors without one.
 
Or get another freestanding stove on the opposite side of the house. It might cost a little initially, but peace of mind and $ in the long term might prove beneficial.
 
My home is right around 1500sq feet. I have a Quad 4300 flattop freestanding stove. It was 16 degrees lastnight with 20ish mile hour winds. WHen i got up this morning at 6am the majority of the house was hovering around 65-68. The room the stove is in was 74. I loaded it up with 5 pieces oak at around 10. When i got up there where a nice bed of coals and with in 20 mins and 3 peices of wood the downstairs was was at 75. My house is smaller but I know that if I let the stove burn harder and when down around 1am to reload I could easily keep the whole house 75. I have never used or experienced an insert before but It would seem you loss alot of heat because alot of the stove is hidden. I have heat pouring off all 5 sides of my free standing stove.
 
Insulate, or buy another stove. Stoves are zone heaters, and 2700sq/ft is one big zone. What insert are you using?
FWIW, I heat one 1700sq/ft zone of a 3 zone house with my insert, and on really cold nights (<10) with some wind, the zone temperature will be down at 64 when I wake up... 62 sometimes if it's really windy... and yes, it takes a couple of hours to reheat all that masonry and get the temps back up to 70 or so.

-- Mike
 
Rockey,

I have a 2700 sqft two story colonial, 8 ft ceilings, and have one stove, the Lopi Declaration. The floor on which the stove is located runs the gament from 66 - 74, with the higher temps being in the 450 sqft room in which the stove is located. The 2nd floor usually runs at about 62. I do have the furnace kick in twice a day on the 2nd floor for 15mins before activity occurs.

I am sure that if there was some effective method to get the heat up the stairs it would be a little warmer, but without major renovations to the house the 62 will have to do.

Erik
 
Simply put, when it gets cold, you'll have to use the ol furnace to heat. I only have 1900 square feet and it is a wide open floor plan. Last night I did not have the chance to get the temp above 74 and this AM it was 69. I live fairly close to you Rockey so outside temps are the same.

Not a bad idea to get a 2nd stove as stated these are zone or space heaters. Sounds like you would be much better off with an wood furnace.

Good luck
 
I'm a little north of you guys. It's always a good 4-5 degrees colder at my place out in the country than it is in town, so whatever the temperatures on the news say, I usually know that we're a little lower. It was a little chilly last night, that's for sure.

The wind comes across the crop fields in the winter pretty good to. Always have a nice breeze, so the AC doesn't get pushed too hard in the summer. I think I only used it for a total of 4 weeks this past summer.

I can't wait to get my stove installed and going. I've got my thermostat set at 64 degrees. I can't afford the propane to keep it where I like it. 69 in the morning doesn't sound too bad at all!

-SF
 
While it's admirable to try to not use your furnace at all sometimes it just isn't practical. I set my thermostat at 60F and during very cold weather it will come on once or twice during the early am. Occasionally I'll use it to quickly bring the house up to 70 and then let the insert maintain it. While I certainly could get out of a warm bed at 5am on those cold nights to load the stove and never use the furnace it's not worth it to me. Also if I'm away from home for an extended period I'm not worrying and rushing to get back home to keep the heat up.
 
My house is a little over 1800 sq ft and my stove heats it standing still, even on nights near zero with wind I have never had a cold room in the house.

Many of the problems begin and end with home designs.
My house is a Cape and Capes are an old home design, old enough that they heated with wood when they started building them. The heat radiates through the first floor and then up the centrally located staircase.

When in doubt, get a bigger stove.
 
Thanks for all the responses guys. It got down to 64 deg in the house last night and the outside temp was around 12. I do have a free standing stove in the basement and think it would be the best choice to use on nights below 20 deg in addition to the insert on the 1st floor. I don't like using it because it is an unfinished basement and most of the heat escapes right through the walls before making its way upstairs. I guess its time to at least get the basement insulated and some shades on the windows on the 1st and second floor like someone mentioned. The good part about the design of the house is that there is a lot of open space design with two big openings in the room that the insert is in so the heat convects very well upstairs and keeps it very comfortable. I think the stove downstairs will supplement enough during the really cold nights to do the trick, I just have to get the fans fixed on it and reinstall it. Thanks again.
 
"Simply put, when it gets cold, you’ll have to use the ol furnace to heat."

If you don't have someone at home during the day to tend fire this is true. If you do have someone at home then you can easily heat with wood only. My wife works at home so she maintains the fire during the day and I have a 2500sq ft two story with cathedral ceilings full lenght. I burn one minimum order of propane per year (stove and water heater) and ALL heat comes from wood.
 
babalu87 said:
My house is a little over 1800 sq ft and my stove heats it standing still, even on nights near zero with wind I have never had a cold room in the house.

Many of the problems begin and end with home designs.
My house is a Cape and Capes are an old home design, old enough that they heated with wood when they started building them. The heat radiates through the first floor and then up the centrally located staircase.

When in doubt, get a bigger stove.
Click to expand...

My situation exactly
 
I live in southwest WI and most winters see us down to near -20F at least once and usually -10F maybe 5 times or more. I wonder what the difference between a house being lets say 65F @ 0F vs ??@-20F. Currently i do not heat with wood, but i have bought the stove (DW CDW244) and am waiting on the stove pipe. I plan on using more for zone heating then heating the whole house.
 
A stand alone Hearthstone Equinox might take care of your needs very well....
 
Unless you have designed the house and built it for wood heat?? Forget It?? Sorry, it just ain`t gonna work. Personally, I like my home cool, but the better half, does not. Oil-fired boiler for central heat= 70 gallons per season,propane insert = 140 gallons per season, and wood =4.5 cords per seanson. If it were just a "Guy thing"-- I am sure we could heat with wood only., But most of us are married, and the ladies like their warmth. At least most of us are trying to do the right thing, using a renawble resorce to the max!! If I were 20 years younger I would build our house to accomadate wood only, then it would be done right. And I could heat with only a wood stove. But for the majority of us that isn`t the case , all we are trying to do is get our heating bills down.And we sure can with wood heat. No doubt about it. But forget about trying to do wood only, when the house was not designed for wood heat. If we are heating our homes with 60-to 80% wood, then we have a right to be smug about it. It at least makes us more intelligent than the majority. Most of which are just to lazy to bother!!!
 
I have about a 1400 sf Cape. The only issue I have is the lack of insulation. Get as much as you can!!! My sunroom is a cold 55 in the mornings. The wife hates it to the point that she wants to shut down the stove and let the oil work overnight. The bad part as others have said is that wives like it warm. I can say that I have gotten used to warmer temps in the house and now enjoy heating to about 70 vs. keeping the temps at 58 with the blankets on.
Plus this keeps us warm 3 times (cut and split, lug, and burn).
Chad
 
I have a wood furnace, all rooms are all ways warm as long as there's fire. If it really cold I reload during the night.2000 ft colonial. Most of the time it is 76 @ 10pm 72 at 5 am.
 
woodconvert said:
"Simply put, when it gets cold, you’ll have to use the ol furnace to heat."

If you don't have someone at home during the day to tend fire this is true. If you do have someone at home then you can easily heat with wood only. My wife works at home so she maintains the fire during the day and I have a 2500sq ft two story with cathedral ceilings full lenght. I burn one minimum order of propane per year (stove and water heater) and ALL heat comes from wood.
Click to expand...

What I am learning is that as devoted to not turning on the furnace as I am, if I leave the house for 8 to 10 hours, I come home to the furnace on and a cold wife. If only....

When I get home I always empty the ash tray, clean out the fly ash and throw on a few logs and wa la lookie there - it burns again!

Hard to train others I guess.
 
I was remiss in my last post on this subject. A home heated with only wood can be a hard sell when the time comes. Also, some banks will not give a mortgage on a "wood-heat only" house. Acutally, I was unaware of this until my wife pointed out that fact,she is in the business, so ought to know. (don`t ya just hate when they are right)? Maybe the Mods might want to move this to the boiler room. Folks there should consider a combo furnace-boiler rather than just straight wood.
 
If I were buildling a new house, I would do it with the plan of heating with wood as my primary heat source. I would make sure that my house design lent itself to keeping things toasty with a wood stove. I would also make sure I still installed a central heating system though. The last thing I would want is to never be able to leave the house for a few days without winterizing everything. It would be nice in an emergency to have it as a fall back. Having two sources of heat available but only using one is my preference.

-SF
 
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