Wood furnace off-grid?

[Cynnergy]

I am looking into the possibility of renovating my great-grandparents' homestead on the island. The homestead was built in 1937 and originally used a wood furnace for heat. My dad swears it kept the house cozy and there is just no way that it would have used much (if any) electricity in 1937, although the house is wired and has electric lights, etc. The island is off-grid.

If the family does go ahead with the project, I would like to put a woodstove in the main living area and look into installing a wood furnace too - simply because it would mostly be used for weekends in the wintertime and getting it up to temp will need a lot of firepower (as I have discovered with the cabin). Is this possible? How much electricity does a wood furnace use?

 

[hobbyheater]

I am looking into the possibility of renovating my great-grandparents' homestead on the island. The homestead was built in 1937 and originally used a wood furnace for heat. My dad swears it kept the house cozy and there is just no way that it would have used much (if any) electricity in 1937, although the house is wired and has electric lights, etc. The island is off-grid.

If the family does go ahead with the project, I would like to put a woodstove in the main living area and look into installing a wood furnace too - simply because it would mostly be used for weekends in the wintertime and getting it up to temp will need a lot of firepower (as I have discovered with the cabin). Is this possible? How much electricity does a wood furnace use?

Were are you on the coast? I know of a couple that operate a Jetstream boiler off the grid on Lasqueti Island.
I'm in Port McNeill.

 

[Cynnergy]

Hi hobby, I live in Campbell River and the island is a bit further north of here (but south of you).

I can see how a wood boiler might work because the pumps shouldn't be very energy intensive. A furnace blower is. I wonder if we could just install one and not hook up the blower? It would be an expensive experiment. It's not a really big house (maybe 1000 sq ft on both floors plus the basement which is unfinished and shouldn't need heat). The furnace would go in the basement.

 

[hobbyheater]

Most gasification boilers will need a blower for combustion .

http://www.smokelessheat.com/varmebaronen

This company sells one that is natural draft .

Hardwick island ? Cracroft ?

 

[maple1]

1000 sq.ft.? No power? Weekend use?

Sounds like a place for a stove to me. Maybe two if you really want the horsepower, but one big one should do it.

 

[hobbyheater]

Boilers are much heavier than stoves or furnaces . A boiler will likely require the services of a landing barge or a boom type lifting equipment. Many stoves or furnaces with the fire brick removed can be muscled on and off a boat! Something to consider .

 

[brenndatomu]

Any wood furnace that is designed for a traditional furnace plenum (not a couple 8" pipes) will work. The ductwork will just need to be designed oversized and with a steady rise built into the runs and proper clearances maintained. Lots of furnaces used to be run with "gravity heat", and still are in Amish country. The PSG Caddy is one that the Amish seem to favor, Yukon furnaces can be run sans electric too, I'm sure there are many others.
Is the ductwork still there or did it use a large grate in the floor over the furnace?

 

[Cynnergy]

The house is about 2000 sq ft - 1000 each floor. The original ducting is still there. Chimney must be at least 25 ft tall, if not more, from the basement up through two stories. There's no baseboards, so I guess we could put in radiant floor heating with a boiler, but that seems like a lot of work if a wood furnace would work. Also we would have to drain the house when we leave in the winter and cold is in the forecast, so the less water in the house the better.

Our cabin is about 900 sq ft and the PE Super 27 does just fine keeping it toasty (too warm a lot of the time), although it does take about a day to get everything warmed up in the winter. I think the house would take forever to get warmed up from cold, even if we had a big stove in. I guess it might be more cost-effective to just get two big stoves, but I like the idea of using the furnace - the house was built for it after all.

Thanks brenndatomu that is useful info! My dad insists the house was always warm when he was there as a kid, so maybe the ductwork was built oversized as you suggest.