Efficient way to heat old farm house off the ground???

[leb1005]

Bought an old farm house around 3000 sqft that is off the ground and looking for an efficient way to heat it. The ceilings in the house are 12 ft and the hall way is 40 ft long with bedrooms on each side kitchen sits in rear of house. We first started looking at fireplace inserts one for the living room and one for the kitchen but because of the design of the house not really sure if that will be enough to keep the entire house warm. Have now started looking at outside woodburning furnaces. If anyone has gone from fireplace to woodburning furnace for heating with good results would like to hear your comments.

 

[jebatty]

Insulate and seal all cracks. Then consider efficient heating. There is no efficient heating without insulating and sealing.

 

[leb1005]

We have just had the house insulated and will know how well that helps this winter. Really looking for ways to keep the house consistantly warm through out (if possible).

 

[Duetech]

Went from a wood furnace (add on style) to a gasifier. Burned much less wood and heated the whole house with well regulated uniform heat. Heated the domestic hot water too. I would not suggest using an old OWB technology style unless you are trying to deforrest a large area of ground and like the smell of sausage all the time (done that too). If you have to build a building to house an indoor unit then do it. You will save money and effort. My gasifier paid for itself in fossil fuel savings in less than two years. Savings in wood will take a few more years. Even with or without the rise in firewood costs the gasifier would still be on track to save me money.

 

[jebatty]

What is your current heating system? Hot water with kind of emitters? Hot air? Other? This may help providing info.

 

[begreen]

What is meant by "off the ground". Is there a basement or just a crawlspace? Or is this a flood zone and the house is on stilts?

 

[kuribo]

build a fire underneath....should be nice and toasty....only works once though.....

 

[flyingcow]

build a fire underneath....should be nice and toasty....only works once though.....

:lol: Start fire...wait 1 hour....call 911?

 

[CTYank]

We have just had the house insulated and will know how well that helps this winter. Really looking for ways to keep the house consistantly warm through out (if possible).

Let me restate what jebatty said, slightly differently: without sealing, insulation means squat. That spells trouble for old farmhouse.

"consistently warm throughout" to me implies lots of unnecessary fuel consumption, and significant distribution system.

I'd pass on fireplace inserts, and hook EPA stoves into those flues- no biggie. Is there anyone local who can inspect and advise on your options?

 

[laynes69]

We have just had the house insulated and will know how well that helps this winter. Really looking for ways to keep the house consistantly warm through out (if possible).

"consistently warm throughout" to me implies lots of unnecessary fuel consumption, and significant distribution

That's not necessarily true. We heat with a wood furnace thats EPA certified. Even last year with a attic that had poor insulation we used less wood than others who used wood stoves around here. The benefit for us was a home that had even temperatures throughout. Their homes were also smaller than ours. To me the goal is keeping the entire house warm. Stoves don't always do that. If there is ductwork, or a boiler system and a EPA furnace or gasifier can accomplish what's needed I would go that route. I would however try to get a heat loss done to get a rough idea of the btus needed to heat the home.

 

[leb1005]

We have just had the house insulated and will know how well that helps this winter. Really looking for ways to keep the house consistantly warm through out (if possible).

"consistently warm throughout" to me implies lots of unnecessary fuel consumption, and significant distribution

That's not necessarily true. We heat with a wood furnace thats EPA certified. Even last year with a attic that had poor insulation we used less wood than others who used wood stoves around here. The benefit for us was a home that had even temperatures throughout. Their homes were also smaller than ours. To me the goal is keeping the entire house warm. Stoves don't always do that. If there is ductwork, or a boiler system and a EPA furnace or gasifier can accomplish what's needed I would go that route. I would however try to get a heat loss done to get a rough idea of the btus needed to heat the home.

We've sealed most of the cracks still a few we will need to get to. We have no neighbors and a free supply of hard wood from the mill and although I've found some nice stoves I don't think they alone will get the job done.

 

[leb1005]

Went from a wood furnace (add on style) to a gasifier. Burned much less wood and heated the whole house with well regulated uniform heat. Heated the domestic hot water too. I would not suggest using an old OWB technology style unless you are trying to deforrest a large area of ground and like the smell of sausage all the time (done that too). If you have to build a building to house an indoor unit then do it. You will save money and effort. My gasifier paid for itself in fossil fuel savings in less than two years. Savings in wood will take a few more years. Even with or without the rise in firewood costs the gasifier would still be on track to save me money.

Have an endless supply of hard wood available from the mill for free

 

[benjamin]

I'm assuming you're dealing with a much smaller heating load than some of us northerners are thinking of. Most of us wouldn't have running water for several months of the year if our houses were off the ground. With that much smaller of a load, and your statement that the house is insulated and somewhat airsealed, I'm going to guess that you'll be comfortable enough with two stoves at opposite ends of the house, but that's only a guess. I know you wouldn't be comfortable with a sprawling farm house in WI with two stoves, but that's why they didn't build many sprawling farm houses in WI!

BTW, how many hot water heating systems do you see in MS?

 

[Duetech]

Went from a wood furnace (add on style) to a gasifier. Burned much less wood and heated the whole house with well regulated uniform heat. Heated the domestic hot water too. I would not suggest using an old OWB technology style unless you are trying to deforrest a large area of ground and like the smell of sausage all the time (done that too). If you have to build a building to house an indoor unit then do it. You will save money and effort. My gasifier paid for itself in fossil fuel savings in less than two years. Savings in wood will take a few more years. Even with or without the rise in firewood costs the gasifier would still be on track to save me money.

Have an endless supply of hard wood available from the mill for free

Free wood is definitely a big bonus. In my area OWB's typically burn around 2x of a gasifier. For my place that means around 6+ extra cords. Red oak per cord is about 4500# x6 =27000# x10 years = 270000# of extra wood. To top it off most firewood is handled 2-3 times before it is placed in the fire box. If 3 times that is 3/4+ million pounds of wood extra. That is an accomplishment but so is half of that. Time is a factor we all spend not knowing how much is in the bank. Actually with my gasifier I burn around 6 1/2 to 7 cords for the entire year as I heated DHW during the summer with my gasifier. With an OWB currently hooked up I burned 12 cords just for the heating season last winter and I am scrambling to get the gasifier back on line.
A good point brought up is the reason the house is raised. If in a flood zone it would be difficult to put a boiler in a known "safe" elevation.

 

[begreen]

Yes, I want the full picture here before recommending anything. Raised, in a flood zone has a special connotation. I wouldn't want to put an expensive OWB gasifier system in a lower elevation if this was the case.

 

[leb1005]

Yes, I want the full picture here before recommending anything. Raised, in a flood zone has a special connotation. I wouldn't want to put an expensive OWB gasifier system in a lower elevation if this was the case.

NO FLOOD ZONE... House is raised cause that's how they did it in the south way back when.

 

[leb1005]

Difference here (in the south) from the north is our winters while many would consider milder and to some point are, they are a wet cold instead of a dry cold
which makes alot of difference. Been up north during very cold months was very tolerable considering the dry temps when compared with damp cold.

 

[nate379]

Haha. That's like saying... oh it's not bad.. it's a dry heat when it's 110*.

-20* is still cold if it's dry or wet or whatever.

 

[begreen]

Based on the description and location I would try heating with one or two stoves in the house envelope. This will be less expensive and much less complex. 3000 sq ft in MS should not be too hard to heat with the right setup. The nice thing is that for fall and spring you can run just one insert and run both when it gets cold.

If you agree, post a new thread in the main hearth forum describing the house and fireplaces. If possible include a sketch of the floorplan and maybe some photos of the current fireplaces.

 

[Tennman]

FCTC, Our home is about 160 years old near the Tenn/Al line. If you in the northern part of MS we have similar climates. Our ~5000 sqft home is off the ground on a cut stone perimeter foundation. Because of the shortness of the heating season and my personal eccentricities regarding perserving historical correctness of our home I've made some decisions guys up north would never tolerate. This results in a far less efficent home than most of our northern brothers here. Because of the difficulty of getting ductwork to the upper floors our home has heating/cooling for both floors; heat pump up and propane down. So, I installed a BioMass 60 boiler in an outbuilding about 150' behind our house that supplements the downstairs propane furnace. We keep our downstairs about 66-68F which results in the upstairs usually being a comfortable 62-64F for sleeping. Many would find this too cool, but we find it acceptable and healthy. For northern AL, I think the winter mean is about 37F with of course short periods of exceptional temps in the teens. I installed the wood boiler to eliminate horrendous propane bills and its worked. I probably buy about 2/3 of our wood due to my time shortage and will still have about a 3 year payback vs propane. Read here and pick the right boiler. Hardy heaters are plentiful around us but my boiler burns far less wood. I learned everything I needed to select, install, and operate my boiler right here at this website. Read here a bunch and if you're leaning towards install for the upcoming winter get wood NOW so it can be drying. BTW, we fire up the boiler about Thanksgiving and shut down early to mid-April. Best wishes.