I'm here for advise on switching to wood heat

[WonderingWoman]

Hi. I stumbled on this forum while on a search for information on chainsaws and woodstoves. I live in the mountains of Washington State and now that fuel oil has risen, have decided to expand my living room a bit by using part of my front porch to make room for a woodstove. I just didn't have enough room previously and wasn't motivated since fuel oil was so much cheaper.

I want advise. I'm looking at Stihls, maybe the MS 290? And, what about a really efficient, clean burning woodstove? Once I get set up by next fall, I'll only use the furnace to warm up the house in the morning.

Any advise?

 

[brooktrout]

Welcome to the forum! Whichever stove you go with, it should be as centrally located in the house as possible rather than off some wing or tucked in an addition. As for the Stihl, I almost got the 290, but after feeling it in my hands at the dealer, the 270 appealed to me more. A little more expensive, because it is a semi-pro, but I really like the feel. It went through this spring's triaxle load of logs like buttah. Forget the saftey chain they will sell you when you buy the saw- go full chisel. Good luck and enjoy!

 

[countrybois]

You are going to get a ton of various OPINIONS on both a saw and stove. Here is mine, you can't go wrong with a Stihl. You will have many try to impress upon you the need to go for a 'pro' saw, but in reality any of them will do a homeowner fine. The 290 is probably a good choice as a first saw. Capable of pulling a 20" bar. No it's not going to be the fastest in a full 20" cut but it will suit you fine unless you are consistently cutting 36" hardwood.

Same with a stove, many, many choices and people are going to tell you to buy what they bought. I have an old Arrow freestanding. It works for me. If I were shopping for a new one, I would be looking at the Lennox 'Country' line. I've heard good things about them and I like the looks. That is just my opinion though, no experience with them to back that up though.

Also, my stove is on the extreme end of the house. It works for my set-up. My main house is a raised ranch with two stairwells and the stove sits in the 'sunroom' between the house and garage at ground level. So....probably why this works so well is the heat from the sunroom goes up the stairwell just inside the door, moves through main floor and forces the cool air down the stairwell in the center of the house and then up the other stairwell where the warm air from the stove is. The house is 2400 sq. ft. and I heat solely with that little stove. Sure the downstairs is chilly (65 or so) but the upstairs is a constant 72 - 75.

 

[begreen]

Welcome WW. What part of the hills do you live in? There are many good models out there and a lot of them (including the Country) are made locally. You'll have to provide some more info on what style stove you like, the size of the house, location options, etc. Then we can help you match things up. If you live up north and don't mind taking a trip to Bellingham, stop by the Chimney Sweep for some straight talk and a look at some good stoves options. Their website is: www.chimneysweeponline.com.

For chainsaw info, make another post in the gear forum here. The Stihl is a good choice. Do a search on it there.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Where in WA? I spent a bunch of time in Pullman for work, as well as all over ID.

Anyway- you'll likely be cutting mostly softwoods like Doug firs. A Stihl, kept shahp, will eat that for lunch for the rest of your life. MS290 is a good choice. Look at your probable wood supply and size the saw and blade appropriately. If buying a new stove- most companies will have size recommendations based on house size, and offer EPA rated stoves- clean burning.

Be safe, and welcome!

 

[burntime]

Stihl 029 farm boss, same as a 290. 8 years and still running strong on the same plug! New stihls have a better chain adjusting system other than that its still a stihl.

 

[Vic99]

Wondering,

Welcome. A properly sized stove could heat your home 24/7 if you want to make the time investment. Typically, you would have to load it 3-4 times per day. Look at the differences between iron, steel, and soapstone stoves. +/- for each, of course. If you are only going to burn once/day and on the weekends, steel or iron may be a better choice. Soapstone is great for 24/7 as it holds heat longer, but also takes longer to heat up . . . which is not a problem if you burn 24/7.

If you burn 24/7, you may only need to use the furnance when it gets extra cold. A lot of this depends on the layout of your house, the square footage of the house, insulation in your house, and location of the stove.

Read all you can in the forums and on the information pages.

I have an MS290 and love it, albiet it is a bit heavy at times, it cuts well, even with a safety chain. Next chain I buy will be a non-safety. Good luck.

 

[BrotherBart]

I consider step one to be to find out what servicing dealers are selling what stoves in your area. Falling in love with a stove that you can't easily obtain and get installed is just burning time.

 

[Jags]

I love a new mind to mold. :lol:

I will double up on BG's suggestion of visiting Chimney Sweep (Tom) if reasonably possible. A straight shooter there.

Prepare yourself for a flood of opinions and lots of facts. Going in depth with your house configuration and even pics will help with suggestions.

A few things to start your head spinning. How much area are you looking to heat? Primary heat or evening/weekend burning? (helps to determine firebox size). Insulation quality of the house (tight like the space shuttle or leaky like a barn). Ornamental or not. Price range. Heating style (quick heat ups - even heat - etc.). Location of stove AND PIPE (internal, external, top exhaust, back exhaust).

As far a saws go, there are many-O-threads in the "gear" room to search on. Stihl v.s. Husky v.s. Dolmer v.s. everything ever built has pretty much been beat to death. Its the whole chevy v.s. ford thing. ;-) (go Stihl!)

Welcome to the site.

 

[WonderingWoman]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I was wondering, is there a stove that will also burn coal? I have been hearing a lot of talk of our energy future in America and have heard that we are still very abundent in coal and that that may be an important component of our energy future. I'm thinking ahead here if coal becomes more widely available and used.

I'm stuck with the locale where I have to put my stove. My house is not huge, it's somewhat insulated and hasn't been super expensive to heat. I plan to use some electric space heaters and use the oil furnace just to heat up in the morning, plus to keep the pipes from freezing while we're away. A stove with a fan would help distribute the heat, my downstairs is small.

I live in Upper Kittitas County. Yes, the wood to be found here is soft wood. This is snow country, with long cold winters, but not frigid like back east. The heating season is long because spring and summer are slow to get started here.

 

[burntime]

I remember reading that coal is acidic on the stainless liners? Not really sure as this is a wood burning forum. I am sure someone will have an idea. Also I remember someone saying there is a lot more co2 given off with coal...again I do not have data to back it up. Once you choose your fuel check the local dealers in your area. What you want and what you have available may be 2 different things. Good luck!

 

[WonderingWoman]

Thanks. I'm mainly thinking wood at this point, but was wondering if there were stoves that burned both. I'm not super experienced with what's available in woodstoves.

 

[Ken45]

As for chainsaws, buy one that has a good servicing dealer closeby. I went with a Husky because the local Stihl dealer was the local Radio Shack and clueless (don't even carry winter weight chain oil). Dolmar has a good reputation too, but again they are expanding and it's unknown if a local shop will be around in another year or two.

As to what size saw, well that depends on what you are going to cut and how old you are. At age 61, I'm more in favor of lightweight even if it means a bit more patience. I've got a couple old 15-16# powerhouses, but they wear me out whereas the 11# Husky 353 is great all around and the lightweight Stihl MS170 is a joy to use for limbing and small stuff. Which brings back the question, what are you going to cut? Will you be buying log length wood, or cutting your own trees with a lot of limbing? If you do a lot of limbing and cutting smaller trees like I do (16-18" is a large tree for me), then you don't need a powerhouse saw. OTOH if you're getting delivery of log length 24-30" trees, you don't want what I have.

As for woodstoves, I highly recommend them Look for a good dealer, but remember, many of them are just salespeople, so educate yourself so you know when they know what they are talking about instead of just trying to make a sale. Sadly, I've gone into some shops where I know more about their stoves than their salespeople BTW, there is a section of the board here with stove reviews. When you start to find some models you are interested in, I suggest that you look it up in that section and also use the search function to read past forum messages about the particular model.

Welcome to the forum.

Ken

 

[fossil]

There are multi-fuel stoves (of which I've heard, but about which I know next to nothing), but certainly a part of the decison would rest on fuel availability. I've never heard of anyone burning coal here in Central Oregon, don't have a clue where I'd get it if I wanted it. Maybe coal's available up in Washington, I dunno. Rick

 

[WonderingWoman]

I am 50 years old, athletic, and experienced with powertools. I've used a chainsaw before but am not super experienced with them. I'm 5'5" tall and 130 lbs. I plan to find my own wood from the local forests but don't plan to cut down trees, just scavenge from what is down.

 

[sinnian]

Also I remember someone saying there is a lot more co2 given off with coal...again I do not have data to back it up.

All of coal's past plant properties are gone ;-) It no longer gives off CO2, but rather CO when it is burned :red:

 

[fossil]

Well, here's another data point for you. A cord of wood is the equivalent of 128 cubic feet. That can be 4' x 4' x 8' of neatly stacked wood, or any other dimensions to equal 128 cubic feet. One cord of wood (depending on species and moisture content) weighs upwards of a ton and a half. Last burning season here in Central Oregon, we went through 7 cords of wood, or about 10 1/2 tons...that was burning in two stoves, but my shop stove is smaller and I didn't burn as many hours a day as the house stove. We're both retired, so home all the time, so burning all the time. We softwood burners need a larger quantity of fuel than the hardwood burners to produce the same heating results. Oh yeah...welcome to the forum! Rick

 

[Highbeam]

Kittitas eh? I worked many summers up the Teanaway river near CleElum. I now live near a town called Black Diamond. So named due to its coal mines. We have coal in the NW but it is not the kind that people use in their stoves. There's hard coal, soft coal, anthracite coal, etc. Apparently the only coal that people burn in stoves comes from near the Mississippi and eastward. Also, any stove that burns both wood and coal will do neither one very well as the multi-fuel compromise is great.

How large is your house? what's your budget for the stove? Do you like cast iron? soapstone? plate steel? colors? This stove will be something that you look at and spend lots and lots of time with.

I use electric as backup and my stove as the main source of heat. I burn softwood and used just over six cords of mostly "junk" species like cottonwood, red cedar, and willow this year on the wet side of the mountains.

 

[fossil]

...We have coal in the NW...

I had no idea.

...I use electric as backup and my stove as the main source of heat.

Ditto. Rick

 

[WonderingWoman]

Thanks for the info on coal. It sounds as if I shouldn't think about a duel purpose stove. What about stoves that burn both pellets and wood? Are there any like that.

Isn't Black Diamond off of Hwy 18? Nice area.

 

[begreen]

Stick to a single purpose stove. Get a good woodstove and be happy. If you give us more specifics about the house, the dimensions of the porch room and how well connected it is to the house we can maybe suggest a stove.

 

[WonderingWoman]

I will be opening up the living room by enclosing a small section of my front porch and taking out a 7' section of the wall. The depth of the area will be 5' and it will be totally open to the living room. My house is about 1800 sq at best, and is two stories. My furnace only has ductwork to the lower story, so we heat the upstairs with hot air rising plus some space heaters. The downstairs is fairly compact.

So, I want a stove to go into that 5x7 space. I'll store wood on the other part of the porch, plus some other areas.

I will be doing the carpentry myself, it will be a simple job and I won't need a permit. I need to choose a stove, then figure out how to put in the pipes through the porch roof, and how high to put the chimminy pipe. I was told that two layers of sheetrock, slightly separated, are up to code for behind the woodstove, is that correct?

 

[WonderingWoman]

Kittitas eh? I worked many summers up the Teanaway river near CleElum. I now live near a town called Black Diamond. So named due to its coal mines. We have coal in the NW but it is not the kind that people use in their stoves. There's hard coal, soft coal, anthracite coal, etc. Apparently the only coal that people burn in stoves comes from near the Mississippi and eastward. Also, any stove that burns both wood and coal will do neither one very well as the multi-fuel compromise is great.

How large is your house? what's your budget for the stove? Do you like cast iron? soapstone? plate steel? colors? This stove will be something that you look at and spend lots and lots of time with.

I use electric as backup and my stove as the main source of heat. I burn softwood and used just over six cords of mostly "junk" species like cottonwood, red cedar, and willow this year on the wet side of the mountains.

Yes, I'm up in that area in one of the old mining towns there.

 

[begreen]

I will be opening up the living room by enclosing a small section of my front porch and taking out a 7' section of the wall. The depth of the area will be 5' and it will be totally open to the living room. My house is about 1800 sq at best, and is two stories. My furnace only has ductwork to the lower story, so we heat the upstairs with hot air rising plus some space heaters. The downstairs is fairly compact.

So, I want a stove to go into that 5x7 space. I'll store wood on the other part of the porch, plus some other areas.

I will be doing the carpentry myself, it will be a simple job and I won't need a permit. I need to choose a stove, then figure out how to put in the pipes through the porch roof, and how high to put the chimminy pipe. I was told that two layers of sheetrock, slightly separated, are up to code for behind the woodstove, is that correct?

Sounds good. There are lots of stoves that might work. Do you have a visual preference for a steel stove, cast iron, or soapstone? How is the budget for this setup? We can suggest stoves from $700 to $2500 so it would help to narrow it down a bit. Visit the chimneysweep's website if you want to have some starting point for visuals and prices.

 

[WonderingWoman]

this one, or this one...

in brown, they would go with my house