Does Anyone Here Just Heat with Wood?

[.Aannabelle James]

How do you get your houses warm above the mason dixon line with just wood!

Ok, I live in a 1940's house with a 1970's addition. The 1940's side of the house has no insulation in the outside walls -- nice, right??

In the 1970's side we have a heatilator fireplace with 4 metal vents in the brick facade. We run it almost 24/7 just to warm the back of our house. I keep my gas furnace set on 55 and it comes on 4 or 5 times a day? We freeze to death. My laundry room / sewing room is in the furthest regions of our house and it was 49 last week! Is this heatilator thing THAT inefficient??

I live in South Carolina for crying out loud! Granted we've had record lows lately -- stop here to let the northerners chuckle. (It's been lows of 15 and highs of 32 for weeks --- that's really really unusual for us!).

Anyway, what kind of system / fireplace heats whole house and keeps it on 64! I want that! i'm sick of numb feet!

Thanks!

 

[Kenster]

Our home is 4000 square feet. Two new heat pumps in the main part of the house. The enclosed sun room, which we use as our den/Tv room, has it's own third unit.
The house is 25 years old, well built, tight, and has Anderson windows. For the past two years we have heated the main part of the house (about 3300 SF) with just the wood stove. Granted, this is central Texas, not upper Minnesota. I usually only fire up the stove if the temps get below 40. Othewise, the house maintains mid 60s on its own and my wife and I are very comfortable with that. With a good hot fire going, the room temp in the huge, open cathedral ceiling "Great Room" will be about 70, warmer than that upstairs in the lofts. The master bedroom, which is pretty far away from the stove, might be 62 or so. Great sleeping temps. We'll still have a fan or two running at night and maybe the window cracked a bit.
BTW, our stove is a VC Vigilant wood burner. Because of the education I've recently got on this message board, I have ordered new gaskets for the griddle door and front door. I also see now that there are some caulking issues so I will soon fix that too and get it tight again.
So, yes we heat better than 99% of the time with wood alone, with the rare recent exception of when my wife was sick, or if the grandbabies are here and we need to boost the house temp a wee bit.

Ken in Bellville, TX

 

[OrpingtonManor]

I just joined this forum, but this is my 5th season of heating exclusively with the Quadrafire Castile pellet insert. I have no back-up, although installing the Morso 1410 is going to be the back-up plan. My NG use here is for a tankless, pilotless water heater, as well as a gas cooktop. The house is 90 years old, 1200sf single-story bungalow, and had NO insulation when I bought it 5 years ago. I have added some every year, as I could afford it, and now most of the house is well-insulated for this climate (R-38). The winter temps here average about 50-55 daytime, 35-40 nighttime. If I want to go away for a weekend, I just let the house get cold. When I get back, I wear a heavy sweater and down vest until I can get the temp up. There is no worry of frozen pipes when I do this, but it is hard on the feet (hardwood floors). Getting off fossil fuels was my main motivation when the furnace inspection revealed a questionable system. I also like to fiddle with things, so am quite content to clean the stove daily, haul pellets, and anticipate building a woodpile will fit with my style of living.

 

[hareball]

I'm running about 95% on wood heat this winter. We are having a warm couple days here so I'm getting some practice time in for the shoulder season.

 

[Big Al]

I got my Englander 12FP last year and it was my first year heating with wood in my own home. (My dad has heated with wood since the late 70's) My intent was to use it as my sole heat source and I stuck with that plan. However, it was a disaster to say the least. A) I didn't have enough wood (or money to buy more) and B) the wood I had was too green. I didn't freeze to death but it wasn't the cozy warmth that I remembered from my youth. The fiance was not impressed so we agreed to use the wood stove recreationally once we were married and she moved in. Well one year later we realized how much better the stove works with seasoned wood. Now we use it most nights and weekends. Quote from wife: "Anytime you want to start a fire, feel free!" I guess she likes to be warm, and did I mention she pays the gas bill? Anyway, the thought of going back to strictly wood heat is appealing but I can't say that I like the hassle of getting a fire going before work or coming home to a cold house if I'm gone too long in the day. So we just keep the T stat on 62.

 

[firefighterjake]

Well I do like my tools . . . but I pretty much burn 24/7 with some minor fossil fuel burning . . . namely when I go away on vacation, on those rare mornings when it is wicked cold and windy and I haven't got up in time to get the fire going soon enough, etc.

I've always maintained that having a woodstove shouldn't be a chore . . . and so I don't beat myself up if the oil boiler kicks on once in a great while since I know I'm saving a lot of money based on the amount of burning I do normally.

 

[logger]

All wood. Ran the furnace a couple times for about 30 minutes just to make sure pipes dont freeze, but other than that the thermostat has been in the "off" position since end of Oct.