Upgrade or not?

[brokenknee]

First year of heating with wood. Currently have a Northern leader wood furnace. Have not been able to find any information on this stove. I do believe the company is no longer in business.

Have a realitivly small home 1,200 square foot slab house. Current wood stove is in a seperate room on the oppisite side of the attached garage, with the heat being delivered to the house with duct work run in the attic.

I was wondering if it is worth while to upgrade to the newer EPA certified stoves? From what I have read it will save some on the firewood, but will it also give a little longer burn time?

What is the main difference from the wood furnaces they sell for $1,500 at the big box stores and the $4,000 you can find elsewhere?

Also considering a wood boiler, but not sure about added benefits versus cost?

I do have forty acres, but it is mostly poplar and pine, not real crazy about burning either. Can purchase logger cords for $65 a cord if 10 cord order or $70 if 5 cord order. Have used the online cost calculators and this saves me about 3/4 over what I am paying for electric baseboard heat.

 

[begreen]

Welcome to the forum. Yes, you can be heating while using a lot less wood. By the description, it sounds like there is a lot of opportunity for heat loss with the system. And usually heating registers in the ceiling are not good for comfortable heating. How is the comfort level? Is it much colder around your feet?

The fancier furnaces often have better, cleaner burn systems, better controls, and stouter construction, but they would be up against the same issues as your current system. If your home has a somewhat open floorplan and you have a place for a centrally located wood stove, I think you will find it a nice improvement with greater comfort, less wood consumption and a nice fire view.

How much wood are you currently using? How well insulated is the house?

 

[brokenknee]

Welcome to the forum. Yes, you can be heating while using a lot less wood. By the description, it sounds like there is a lot of opportunity for heat loss with the system. And usually heating registers in the ceiling are not good for comfortable heating. How is the comfort level? Is it much colder around your feet?

The fancier furnaces often have better, cleaner burn systems, better controls, and stouter construction, but they would be up against the same issues as your current system. If your home has a somewhat open floor-plan and you have a place for a centrally located wood stove, I think you will find it a nice improvement with greater comfort, less wood consumption and a nice fire view.

How much wood are you currently using? How well insulated is the house?

Thank you for the "warm" welcome.

Comfort level not to bad, I do use ceiling fans to help distribute the heat. Right now it is 9* F above outside, last few days it was in the teens below zero, night before last it got down to -26*. It did keep the house warm.

Wife was down in the cities yesterday and even though I loaded up the stove prior to going to work, it had completely died out (not enough coals to fire the stove up again) before I got home, eight hours, I start and stop my day from my house. Forgot to turn the damper down today and loaded the stove this morning like I had been, I had to open the windows to let some of the heat out.

Unfortunately I do not have a very open floor plan, the house was build in 1965 and there have been little to no improvements done since the build. It does appear they have added insulation in the attic. the heat vents are wrapped in insulation. I did gut the kitchen and they do have R13 in the walls, the windows need to be replaced because of fogged glass but do not seam to leak.

We have talked about adding a stove in the living room, this would require relocating the door were a current window is. Not a huge deal, but an additional expense and work.

What are the advantages / disadvantages of a gasification stove versus a catilic style stove? Stoves versus wood furnace?

Anybody do a retrofit and put hot water heat in in place of the electric baseboard and use an outdoor boiler?

Not sure on the amount of wood I will be using, previous owner left about five cords and that is what I have been burning for the last month. I am not sure that will be enough to get me through the heating season, but at my current rate it should be close. I did not start burning with wood until about a month ago after I got my first real electric bill for heat. The heating portion of it was almost $300 and it had been a warm month. It was then I knew I needed an alternative to the electric baseboard.