How well does wood seem to heat your home? Looking for subjective answers.

[tinman100863]

I have a 50 year old home that was drafty and poor insulation. I did have a energy audit done ,(blower door test done). the company gave me a report with a ala carte menu on fixing the problems. I did tackle the attic myself by sealing off drafts as much as I can , reinsulating with a R30 plus,in the basement I began to seal off the sill plates sitting on top of the foundation walls, then for the winter I put up shrink wrap on the windows , and also made covers for my central air conditioning air grilles. it made a HUGE DIFFERENCE so far. I do have a 15'-6" cathedral ceiling in the living room (that's where the insert is ) which has very poor insulation that needs to be replaced! but that's a big project for the future . the best advice I can give you like what others had mentioned is to FIRST , address your drafty and poor insulation problems as well as the windows. wishing you the best.
cheers

 

[mass_burner]

Ditto on the energy audit. It let's you know where your loosing heat so you can make whatever adjustments you want.

We have a 2k sq mid century ranch, lots of glass, most is period that can't be replaced as it was built custom onsite. We focused on the attic, adding 9"' cellulose. Also did complete air sealing in attic, especially around center chimney, door sealing, attic access doors, cellulose above garage ceiling.

That made a huge difference.

 

[tcassavaugh]

i have a 1985 built ranch that has about 1200 sq ft upstairs and about the same in a mostly finished basement. I have a PE Summit in the basement and a small Jotul F3CB upstairs. i use the jotul most of the time and it does well keeping the whole house warm as long as it doesn't get much below 20 or so. if its going to be cold, i fire up the Summit to augment the little stove. The summit can heat the whole house but i run through wood a lot faster with it. i have to say, after the heat permeates the house, its nice to walk around on warm floors. i run through about 4-5 cord when I've used both stoves and run 2-3 if just using the Jotul. As mentioned earlier, the audit will probably be an eye opener. sealing up those drafts and having some good windows will do wonders.

 

[tcassavaugh]

i have a 1985 built ranch that has about 1200 sq ft upstairs and about the same in a mostly finished basement. I have a PE Summit in the basement and a small Jotul F3CB upstairs. i use the jotul most of the time and it does well keeping the whole house warm as long as it doesn't get much below 20 or so. if its going to be cold, i fire up the Summit to augment the little stove. The summit can heat the whole house but i run through wood a lot faster with it. i have to say, after the heat permeates the house, its nice to walk around on warm floors. i run through about 4-5 cord when I've used both stoves and run 2-3 if just using the Jotul. As mentioned earlier, the audit will probably be an eye opener. sealing up those drafts and having some good windows will do wonders.

 

[Creekheat]

Our home is very well insulated and we live in a moderate area of the Midwest. Still we have reduced our total energy expenses by almost $1500/yr

I don't pay for my wood, I did however factor in fuel for saws, splitters, vehicles and such as well as maintainance.

The "effort" I don't put a tag on because I love the outdoors and the exercise.