Basement vs. Living room for wood insert?

[emt1581]

Turn off the heat upstairs and you'll be retreating to the wood shed.

Things could be worse.

WOW Add a .223 instead of that lever gun and that would be the PERFECT man-cave

-Emt1581

Till winter rolls around.

See my above post on back-up heat sources.

-Emt1581

 

[begreen]

The first cold day you have that woodstove or insert cooking, she will be convinced. Hard to beat wood heat.

That's a good point. Off topic but what's a good price to pay for a cord? It's been over 10 years since my dad bought a cord so I have no clue. Is it dependent upon the area?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

That's a regional thing. It depends on the species of wood, time of year, seasoning, whim of the seller, etc. Ask around locally and pay a little more for wood from a seller that has a good, year after year, reputation. It's worth it.

Whatever you find, get at least a couple of cords of 16" seasoned wood bought and stacked now. Modern stoves do not like semi-seasoned wood and don't produce a lot of heat if you try to burn it. This is the most common complaint we hear come November.

 

[emt1581]

The first cold day you have that woodstove or insert cooking, she will be convinced. Hard to beat wood heat.

That's a good point. Off topic but what's a good price to pay for a cord? It's been over 10 years since my dad bought a cord so I have no clue. Is it dependent upon the area?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

That's a regional thing. It depends on the species of wood, time of year, seasoning, whim of the seller, etc. Ask around locally and pay a little more for wood from a seller that has a good, year after year, reputation. It's worth it.

Whatever you find, get at least a couple of cords of 16" seasoned wood bought and stacked now. Modern stoves do not like semi-seasoned wood and don't produce a lot of heat if you try to burn it. This is the most common complaint we hear come November.

Oh good to know!!

I figure I'll check Craigslist initially, but other than that I really don't know how to find someone that has a "good rep". I mean everyone I know has a gas fireplace...for the look. No one serious about wood heating. So how do I find someone in my area?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

 

[begreen]

Another thought would be where the combustion air is going to come from. Stoves/inserts in the basement usually have to compete with one or more fossil-burning appliances. Things can go really, really wrong.

My plan would be for the wood stove for basement family room and a gas fireplace (which can be direct vented and easily done) for the living room. Natural gas is cheap (cheaper than cordwood in my area), and you wouldn't have to lug/store the wood upstairs.

Read my earlier post on what the gas company said....they can go pound sand as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not understanding what you mean though. There's ZERO other "fossil fueled" devices in the house. Water heater and ALL appliances are electric. I just bought a riding mower tonight and I have a snow blower but those are out in the garage. So I'm not sure where you were going or what you meant with the fossil fuel comment.

Thanks!

-Emt1581

He meant other appliances competing for combustion air. Keep on reading about basement installations and you will see what was meant. In your case, it might just be a clothes dryer and maybe a bathroom fan? Don't worry about it until you know it's an issue.

Ohhh ok. Yeah there'll be a clothes dryer and a bathroom fan in the basement and a few fans on each other level. I've never heard of this before. I'm still not understanding the risk/problem though...

-Emt1581

This doc explains it on page 3 & 4.
http://tinyurl.com/2cpmeop

 

[btuser]

Read my earlier post on what the gas company said....they can go pound sand as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not understanding what you mean though. There's ZERO other "fossil fueled" devices in the house. Water heater and ALL appliances are electric. I just bought a riding mower tonight and I have a snow blower but those are out in the garage. So I'm not sure where you were going or what you meant with the fossil fuel comment.

Thanks!

-Emt1581

If you're all electric then you're at the low end of "do I have to worry about this" spectrum. A gas/oil burning appliance will need combustion air to burn, so does a wood stove. An atomspheric gas boiler is no match compared to a well-drafting wood stove, and even it was oil burner/power-vented it will suck the flue gas right out the barometric damper But you're electric so I wouldn't worry.

I would have to pay $300/cord for dry wood, $250 for "seasoned" wood, and $200 for a decent cord. You can get deals if you buy more at a time and save the driver trips. I just got 4 REALLY GOOD cords @ $170/cord. Wood is better than oil right now and 2x as good as electric (my rate is about $.19/KW) but still not as good as gas. I live in Southern NH.

Have you run the numbers on what a gas conversion would cost/save for your heating and hot water? Why not take the offer of $300 for a gas hookup and go with a 90+ furnace that could direct vent, then you've just regained another flue for a possible wood stove in another area? Ahhh, I love spending other people's money.

 

[emt1581]

You mean that part about the down/thermal drafts? Seems like that's only if I have a few fireplaces. Hopefully we'll figure out a way to get a stove upstairs and then use the downstairs for either an insert of some sort or just a regular fireplace (if entertaining or whatever).

Thanks!

-Emt1581

 

[emt1581]

Read my earlier post on what the gas company said....they can go pound sand as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not understanding what you mean though. There's ZERO other "fossil fueled" devices in the house. Water heater and ALL appliances are electric. I just bought a riding mower tonight and I have a snow blower but those are out in the garage. So I'm not sure where you were going or what you meant with the fossil fuel comment.

Thanks!

-Emt1581

If you're all electric then you're at the low end of "do I have to worry about this" spectrum. A gas/oil burning appliance will need combustion air to burn, so does a wood stove. An atomspheric gas boiler is no match compared to a well-drafting wood stove, and even it was oil burner/power-vented it will suck the flue gas right out the barometric damper But you're electric so I wouldn't worry.

I would have to pay $300/cord for dry wood, $250 for "seasoned" wood, and $200 for a decent cord. You can get deals if you buy more at a time and save the driver trips. I just got 4 REALLY GOOD cords @ $170/cord. Wood is better than oil right now and 2x as good as electric (my rate is about $.19/KW) but still not as good as gas. I live in Southern NH.

Have you run the numbers on what a gas conversion would cost/save for your heating and hot water? Why not take the offer of $300 for a gas hookup and go with a 90+ furnace that could direct vent, then you've just regained another flue for a possible wood stove in another area? Ahhh, I love spending other people's money.

Woah! I thought a good cord would be like $150-ish! Seems like the cost of wood has gone up from the 90's. I have not done the numbers on gas but I want a fire of some sort...for light, heat and ambiance. Unless a gas furnace would be ridiculously cheaper I wouldn't be interested. Plus I like being independent. I can always get more wood or find stuff to burn if need be. I don't want to have to worry about a supply line or price going through the roof and such.

Thanks though!

-Emt1581

 

[btuser]

Not so much downdraft because the flue is cold, but the suction caused by the draft of a hot flue.

 

[emt1581]

Looks like a cord is a little cheaper in my area.

http://allentown.craigslist.org/search/?areaID=167&subAreaID;=&query=wood+cord&catAbb=sss

There's already a wood rack behind the treeline of my property and the current owners are leaving me a wood dolly. So maybe I'll grab a cord or two now and cover it up that way I'll have it for the winter.

-Emt1581

 

[emt1581]

Something we haven't focused a whole lot on is the idea of a wood stove in the living room and it's capabilities. If I were to put a stove in the living room...would it heat the upstairs bedrooms fairly well?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

 

[BrotherBart]

Something we haven't focused a whole lot on is the idea of a wood stove in the living room and it's capabilities. If I were to put a stove in the living room...would it heat the upstairs bedrooms fairly well?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

Mine does. Heats both floors. As I have said here before, I sleep under a sheet year round. And yes I am in balmy Northern Virginia. We only got down to five degrees last January, with three feet of snow. Kind of a temperate climate.

Of course the other three feet that fell on top of it before it melted pissed me off.

 

[Dix]

Something we haven't focused a whole lot on is the idea of a wood stove in the living room and it's capabilities. If I were to put a stove in the living room...would it heat the upstairs bedrooms fairly well?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

Probably, depends on the layout.

I'm rounding up the "sistahs", this is getting out of control. You guys have forgotten us , yet again.

I bet it'd be a done deal, for the sistahs, put a stove on the first floor, and git 'er dun.

 

[emt1581]

Something we haven't focused a whole lot on is the idea of a wood stove in the living room and it's capabilities. If I were to put a stove in the living room...would it heat the upstairs bedrooms fairly well?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

Probably, depends on the layout.

I'm rounding up the "sistahs", this is getting out of control. You guys have forgotten us , yet again.

I bet it'd be a done deal, for the sistahs, put a stove on the first floor, and git 'er dun.

Wait...what?? What's getting out of control? Who have I forgotten? Do I need to put my body armor on and hide under the bed or something???

-Emt1581

 

[Dix]

Something we haven't focused a whole lot on is the idea of a wood stove in the living room and it's capabilities. If I were to put a stove in the living room...would it heat the upstairs bedrooms fairly well?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

Probably, depends on the layout.

I'm rounding up the "sistahs", this is getting out of control. You guys have forgotten us , yet again.

I bet it'd be a done deal, for the sistahs, put a stove on the first floor, and git 'er dun.

Wait...what?? What's getting out of control? Who have I forgotten? Do I need to put my body armor on and hide under the bed or something???

-Emt1581

Yes. All of the above :coolsmirk:

 

[Dix]

I advised on "get your wood now" on page 1, I believe.

 

[emt1581]

Something we haven't focused a whole lot on is the idea of a wood stove in the living room and it's capabilities. If I were to put a stove in the living room...would it heat the upstairs bedrooms fairly well?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

Probably, depends on the layout.

I'm rounding up the "sistahs", this is getting out of control. You guys have forgotten us , yet again.

I bet it'd be a done deal, for the sistahs, put a stove on the first floor, and git 'er dun.

Wait...what?? What's getting out of control? Who have I forgotten? Do I need to put my body armor on and hide under the bed or something???

-Emt1581

Yes. All of the above :coolsmirk:

I think someone's been nippin the hooch.....

-Emt1581

 

[emt1581]

I advised on "get your wood now" on page 1, I believe.

Who the hell remembers back that far?!?!

It does seem like a lot do it though. We close on the 22nd. I plan to figure out what we're going with and get two cords ASAP then cover them up with a tarp and wait for winter like a kid on Christmas Eve

-Emt1581

 

[Dix]

Something we haven't focused a whole lot on is the idea of a wood stove in the living room and it's capabilities. If I were to put a stove in the living room...would it heat the upstairs bedrooms fairly well?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

Probably, depends on the layout.

I'm rounding up the "sistahs", this is getting out of control. You guys have forgotten us , yet again.

I bet it'd be a done deal, for the sistahs, put a stove on the first floor, and git 'er dun.

Wait...what?? What's getting out of control? Who have I forgotten? Do I need to put my body armor on and hide under the bed or something???

-Emt1581

Yes. All of the above :coolsmirk:

I think someone's been nippin the hooch.....

-Emt1581

Nope, not tonight.

 

[Dix]

I advised on "get your wood now" on page 1, I believe.

Who the hell remembers back that far?!?!

It does seem like a lot do it though. We close on the 22nd. I plan to figure out what we're going with and get two cords ASAP then cover them up with a tarp and wait for winter like a kid on Christmas Eve

-Emt1581

Cover top only, after it's stacked.

If the weather is good, hold of on the covering. Wood needs air flow to dry.

 

[emt1581]

I advised on "get your wood now" on page 1, I believe.

Who the hell remembers back that far?!?!

It does seem like a lot do it though. We close on the 22nd. I plan to figure out what we're going with and get two cords ASAP then cover them up with a tarp and wait for winter like a kid on Christmas Eve

-Emt1581

Cover top only, after it's stacked.

If the weather is good, hold of on the covering. Wood needs air flow to dry.

Other than putting a canopy over the wood pile...how do you cover just the top? Also, if there's any sort of wind when it rains, isn't the rest of the pile going to get soaked??...or do yall run out and quick cover it in a rain storm?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

 

[begreen]

Don't worry about it. Just cover the top of the pile. Any side wetness will dry out quickly.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I advised on "get your wood now" on page 1, I believe.

Who the hell remembers back that far?!?!

It does seem like a lot do it though. We close on the 22nd. I plan to figure out what we're going with and get two cords ASAP then cover them up with a tarp and wait for winter like a kid on Christmas Eve

-Emt1581

Cover top only, after it's stacked.

If the weather is good, hold of on the covering. Wood needs air flow to dry.

Other than putting a canopy over the wood pile...how do you cover just the top? Also, if there's any sort of wind when it rains, isn't the rest of the pile going to get soaked??...or do yall run out and quick cover it in a rain storm?

Thanks!

-Emt1581

Forget about the rain. It won't get "soaked," just damp about an eighth of an inch in at best, and it dries out in a day or two, hours in the stove room, minutes inside the stove. If you really, really, really can't stand to leave it totally uncovered, you can cut down some tarp and string it just over the top of the pile, or better yet get a few metal roofing panels and weight them down with rocks or something.

We argue about this all the time on this forum, but one thing we agree on is never, never cover the whole shebang because it just holds in the moisture the wood is trying to get rid of. I don't cover my stacks at all, even in winter, and the worst that happens is it's a little damp on the outside when I bring it in and takes a couple hours near the stove to dry out completely, maybe a day if it's stacked on the other side of the room away from the stove.

But you really have to get your wood and get it stacked outside loosely NOW. It's no kidding that the new stoves/inserts require totally dry wood to work properly (and not gunk up your chimney with creosote), and starting now with green wood, you're going to have your problems as it is.

Come over to the Woodshed forum and talk about wood supply and folks can give you the lowdown. One word of warning. If you find somebody on craigislist advertising "seasoned wood," it won't be.

 

[ddddddden]

Also, I think you mentioned a wood rack behind the trees. . .you want your wood out baking under the summer sun, not under the shade of trees, especially if you have only ~ 4 mo. to get it dried out. If your father's Osburn is much over ~ 20 yrs old, it's "pre-EPA." As has already been mentioned, but perhaps underestimated by you, newer "EPA stoves" are much more picky about their fuel being dry. "I can always find something to burn" is not as doable with the new stoves, unless you are talking about finding something dry like 2x4's or wood bricks. Around here, nobody sells dry firewood anymore, except for the $4 bundles @ Kroger. IME, the wood vendors on Craigslist are con artists who either don't know what "seasoned" means, or don't care and will just tell you whatever they think you want to hear. Best price around here is $300 for a dump truck load that's supposed to be ~ 2.5 cords. . .works out to ~ $1 /cu ft.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Here's one "sistah's" perspective on the stove versus insert issue. Before I had a stove, all I knew was fireplaces, which I loved. I felt cheated when I couldn't find a home that I liked with a fireplace and had to settle for a woodstove. After I lit the first fire in it, you could not have paid me a million bucks to have an insert instead. Woodstoves are magical in a way that inserts just aren't, nor are fireplaces. An insert just feels to me like a thick glass barrier between me and the fireplace. A handsome woodstove is pure joy just on its own terms, radiates heat on five sides and doesn't require a noisy blower to warm up the room. I'm a total, complete, abject convert.

But on the esthetics, there are woodstoves and there are woodstoves. Some are un-handsome and utilitarian "black boxes," but others are the handsomest piece of furniture in any room, even when they're not going.

 

[emt1581]

Here's one "sistah's" perspective on the stove versus insert issue. Before I had a stove, all I knew was fireplaces, which I loved. I felt cheated when I couldn't find a home that I liked with a fireplace and had to settle for a woodstove. After I lit the first fire in it, you could not have paid me a million bucks to have an insert instead. Woodstoves are magical in a way that inserts just aren't, nor are fireplaces. An insert just feels to me like a thick glass barrier between me and the fireplace. A handsome woodstove is pure joy just on its own terms, radiates heat on five sides and doesn't require a noisy blower to warm up the room. I'm a total, complete, abject convert.

But on the esthetics, there are woodstoves and there are woodstoves. Some are un-handsome and utilitarian "black boxes," but others are the handsomest piece of furniture in any room, even when they're not going.

I appreciate your reply. No offense though but you ARE posting on this forum...that sort of makes you more biased than the "typical" gal in terms of fireplaces, stoves, etc... I think what I'll do is explain that if we get the stove and don't have to spend thousands on a fireplace, she can get the granite counter tops...

BTW, by handsomest do you mean the colorful ones with the glazing on them?

Thanks!

-Emt1581