- Dec 9, 2009
- 1,495
Hi folks,
This is not about a wood boiler, but I was told that people who might be able to answer my question could be found in this forum.
My house is a well-insulated 2000sf, two-story house in interior Alaska. I'm up in the hills a bit, so don't see the extremes of temperatures some folk around here do--probably -40/-45 is the coldest I've seen here, but we do get extended stretches below -20/-30. When I bought the place (almost four years ago), the place had an older System 2000 in the detached garage, and a utilidor about 30' long circulated heat to the house. Huge tempering tank in the utility closet in the house holding a fortune in glycol, no mixing valve, Quest tubing, so some issues. The downstairs was cozy with in-floor heating, upstairs was a challenge to keep warm when it was really cold out. Average oil consumption was about 830 gallons annually--a lot by L48 standards, but about half of what some similar sized houses around here use, so the place does hold heat very well.
About a year ago, I had a woodstove installed in my house. Helped a lot, and the place was warmer than it had been with the boiler. Midwinter ice-storm and resultant power fluctuations (did I mention no power-fluctuation protection?) fried the boiler controls and it overheated (did I mention no take-up tank?) and blew gylcol all over the garage and destroyed the boiler.
We heated with wood the rest of the winter, and it worked. I had sufficient wood--just--to get us through. Attempts to purchase firewood this summer came to not much--let down or burned by three different people, and I am not set up with sufficient wood to get us through. Also tired of not being able to control this aspect of what I really need to have work smoothly. (Single mom, full-time job, longish commute, bum knee makes it hard to do for myself.)
Have been quoted $12K to replace boiler, get it installed, and get the existing problems fixed. I think the people who gave me these estimates are competent and know their stuff--but I just can't afford that right now. I'd been planning on trying to get through the winter on wood as best I can, and feeling pretty stressed about the idea (also feeling stressed at the idea of coming up with $12K) when it occured to me that there might be a compromise solution. I'm wondering about installing either a oil or propane burning heater that will keep the house from cooling off between wood stove burns, and supply sufficient heat to keep the house warm and functional.
Not looking for something to just keep the place from freezing up, or to be tripping over electric heaters. I want a comfortable, functional house in which we can get on with living. The wood stove takes us about 85% of the way, but for those times when it's not enough--or if something goes wrong with it or my wood supply, I want more. I'd like to do what seems to me to be the right thing--spend the money for the boiler job--but the reality is that I don't have it. (People keep suggesting that as a solution, which is why I am being repetitive about that.)
One unit I'm looking at is the Laser 73. I figure I can put maybe $2000-2500 into this project.
Very open to considering all suggestions. Brand names and specific units are helpful for me to get an idea of what you might be talking about. I have infloor tubing downstairs, baseboard upstairs, am open to considering utilizing these within the framework specified.
Thanks very much for taking the time to read this, and for any wisdom and experience you have to share in this.
This is not about a wood boiler, but I was told that people who might be able to answer my question could be found in this forum.
My house is a well-insulated 2000sf, two-story house in interior Alaska. I'm up in the hills a bit, so don't see the extremes of temperatures some folk around here do--probably -40/-45 is the coldest I've seen here, but we do get extended stretches below -20/-30. When I bought the place (almost four years ago), the place had an older System 2000 in the detached garage, and a utilidor about 30' long circulated heat to the house. Huge tempering tank in the utility closet in the house holding a fortune in glycol, no mixing valve, Quest tubing, so some issues. The downstairs was cozy with in-floor heating, upstairs was a challenge to keep warm when it was really cold out. Average oil consumption was about 830 gallons annually--a lot by L48 standards, but about half of what some similar sized houses around here use, so the place does hold heat very well.
About a year ago, I had a woodstove installed in my house. Helped a lot, and the place was warmer than it had been with the boiler. Midwinter ice-storm and resultant power fluctuations (did I mention no power-fluctuation protection?) fried the boiler controls and it overheated (did I mention no take-up tank?) and blew gylcol all over the garage and destroyed the boiler.
We heated with wood the rest of the winter, and it worked. I had sufficient wood--just--to get us through. Attempts to purchase firewood this summer came to not much--let down or burned by three different people, and I am not set up with sufficient wood to get us through. Also tired of not being able to control this aspect of what I really need to have work smoothly. (Single mom, full-time job, longish commute, bum knee makes it hard to do for myself.)
Have been quoted $12K to replace boiler, get it installed, and get the existing problems fixed. I think the people who gave me these estimates are competent and know their stuff--but I just can't afford that right now. I'd been planning on trying to get through the winter on wood as best I can, and feeling pretty stressed about the idea (also feeling stressed at the idea of coming up with $12K) when it occured to me that there might be a compromise solution. I'm wondering about installing either a oil or propane burning heater that will keep the house from cooling off between wood stove burns, and supply sufficient heat to keep the house warm and functional.
Not looking for something to just keep the place from freezing up, or to be tripping over electric heaters. I want a comfortable, functional house in which we can get on with living. The wood stove takes us about 85% of the way, but for those times when it's not enough--or if something goes wrong with it or my wood supply, I want more. I'd like to do what seems to me to be the right thing--spend the money for the boiler job--but the reality is that I don't have it. (People keep suggesting that as a solution, which is why I am being repetitive about that.)
One unit I'm looking at is the Laser 73. I figure I can put maybe $2000-2500 into this project.
Very open to considering all suggestions. Brand names and specific units are helpful for me to get an idea of what you might be talking about. I have infloor tubing downstairs, baseboard upstairs, am open to considering utilizing these within the framework specified.
Thanks very much for taking the time to read this, and for any wisdom and experience you have to share in this.