Friend converting to wood heat

[red oak]

Talking to a friend yesterday who is tired of paying the bill for heating oil. By next year he wants to have a wood stove and be heating with wood. He asked me if I had any advice. I told him 2 main things and I wanted to get opinions on if I missed anything.

1. Get his chimney inspected. He lives in an old farmhouse and the chimney has not been used for decades. He just bought the house a few years ago. The chimney is sealed off so we don't know the state of it or even if it has a liner! Some of the old farmhouses still don't in my area.

2. Buy his wood now so that it has time to dry. He wants to have it delivered in rounds so he can split it. I told him to only burn dry seasonsed wood (split and stacked for at least a year and should be longer for oak).

I also told him to check out this forum which is where I get most of my info!

 

[Gasifier]

Red oak,

Sounds like you got it covered. Good advice. If you can get him to start reading on this site I think it will be the best thing he can start with. Right after getting some wood for next year. :coolsmile: Good advice man.

 

[CTYank]

Why was he using whatever amount of oil? Woodstove won't help much if he has lots of leaks, and little insulation.

Once orders are placed for stove and wood, that would be my point of attack.

Chainsaw(s) and pickup next up for scrounging duty. Minimized losses reduce scrounging pressure.

 

[onetracker]

yes.

inspection
liner
firewood

and...if he has the space, he should get a free standing stove instead of an insert. inserts are less efficient (but waay better than an open fireplace of course).

my 2 cents

OT

 

[Wood Duck]

Start collecting firewood and worry about the stove later. Stove can be done quickly, but firewood takes time. Oh, and you can never have too much firewood.

 

[Gark]

Everything else said previously first. Then, IF current flue has no metal liner, install insulated SS liner through chimney if possible.

 

[bogydave]

next year he wants to have a wood stove and be heating with wood. any advice.

1. Get his chimney inspected.

2. Buy his wood now so that it has time to dry.

3. check out this forum which is where I get most of my info!

I'd change 3 to 1

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

Red oak,

Sounds like you got it covered. Good advice. If you can get him to start reading on this site I think it will be the best thing he can start with. Right after getting some wood for next year. :coolsmile: Good advice man.

After the initial read my first thought was the same thing as Gas, have him spend the next year on this site. He will be a pro before he even lites off his first shoulder fire next year.

 

[John the Painter]

Yes follow steps like you said.When it does come to buying the stove go a little bigger than what he might need.Its easier to build a small fire in a big stove than too big a fire in a smaller stove(ie. over firing).

 

[Nater]

Why was he using whatever amount of oil? Woodstove won't help much if he has lots of leaks, and little insulation.

Once orders are placed for stove and wood, that would be my point of attack.

Chainsaw(s) and pickup next up for scrounging duty. Minimized losses reduce scrounging pressure.

I disagree. We live in an old house that is drafty, and no insulation (yet). The first winter here, we heated with oil. We used about 250-300 gallons a month, keeping the thermostat at 60 in the day and 50 at night. The next winter we heated with wood, with oil as backup. We burned about 6 cords (old pre-EPA stove), and maybe 500 gallons of oil for the whole winter. The house was about 70+, and the living room (stove room) about 80 most of the time.

So we saved at least 1200 gallons of oil, and were much warmer. So even after buying wood, we were able to pay off the liner and chimney repairs the first season, and still have some money left over.

 

[firefighterjake]

Good advice all around . . . on both getting firewood now rather than later . . . and on making sure things are safe.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Not only get some firewood now but determine where he will be getting more in the future. It would be sad to burn a year or two and then find out you can't get more fuel.

 

[joecool85]

Not only get some firewood now but determine where he will be getting more in the future. It would be sad to burn a year or two and then find out you can't get more fuel.

Can't get wood? Where's he live? Here in Maine it's everywhere! Someone always has a wood lot they want cleaned up, or downed trees in their yard, CMP/Bangor Hydro/Lucas Tree leaving all kinds of cut wood on the sides of the road in the spring, winter and fall etc. As long as you don't mind scrounging and processing your own wood, you won't go cold in Maine.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Joe, it is like that in Michigan too but not everybody seems to be able to get their wood. Hard to figure sometimes but that is the way it is.

 

[joecool85]

Joe, it is like that in Michigan too but not everybody seems to be able to get their wood. Hard to figure sometimes but that is the way it is.

Yeah, it's nice being able to just go out and get what you need directly from the land. From what I recall, Maine is the most forested state in the contiguous US - so that makes my life easy

**edit**
Maine is the most forested, percentage wise. 89% of our state is covered in trees, the highest in the country.

 

[muncybob]

....and, if he can be selective he should try to get wood that seasons quickly. Ash and cherry are prevelant around here and seem to do the trick for us. Stay away from oak for next year...that's 2013+ firewood.

 

[CTYank]

Why was he using whatever amount of oil? Woodstove won't help much if he has lots of leaks, and little insulation.

Once orders are placed for stove and wood, that would be my point of attack.

Chainsaw(s) and pickup next up for scrounging duty. Minimized losses reduce scrounging pressure.

I disagree. We live in an old house that is drafty, and no insulation (yet). The first winter here, we heated with oil. We used about 250-300 gallons a month, keeping the thermostat at 60 in the day and 50 at night. The next winter we heated with wood, with oil as backup. We burned about 6 cords (old pre-EPA stove), and maybe 500 gallons of oil for the whole winter. The house was about 70+, and the living room (stove room) about 80 most of the time.

So we saved at least 1200 gallons of oil, and were much warmer. So even after buying wood, we were able to pay off the liner and chimney repairs the first season, and still have some money left over.

You miss my point- not that hard to do. A woodstove is no silver-bullet- in a leaky house you're just tossing precious BTUs to the wind, literally. No matter your energy source, you want to take measures to retain heat, and humidified air. And you'll have even more reason to do so next year. Also, a higher firing rate of the stove raises temps on nearby flammables too- not good.

The less wood you burn this year, the more you have on hand for the future, or have available to give/sell to others.

I hope you now see why I counter-disagree. Waste not, want not.

 

[lukem]

Talking to a friend yesterday who is tired of paying the bill for heating oil. By next year he wants to have a wood stove and be heating with wood. He asked me if I had any advice. I told him 2 main things and I wanted to get opinions on if I missed anything.

1. Get his chimney inspected. He lives in an old farmhouse and the chimney has not been used for decades. He just bought the house a few years ago. The chimney is sealed off so we don't know the state of it or even if it has a liner! Some of the old farmhouses still don't in my area.

2. Buy his wood now so that it has time to dry. He wants to have it delivered in rounds so he can split it. I told him to only burn dry seasonsed wood (split and stacked for at least a year and should be longer for oak).

I also told him to check out this forum which is where I get most of my info!

If you have the means, give him a 1/3 cord of some seasoned wood so he gets a taste for it...get him started off on the right foot....a "stove warming" (no pun intended, but a good one) gift.

 

[joecool85]

If you have the means, give him a 1/3 cord of some seasoned wood so he gets a taste for it...get him started off on the right foot....a "stove warming" (no pun intended, but a good one) gift.

That's an awesome idea. That way if they ever do try burning wet wood they will realize how much of a pain it is and that wood burning doesn't have to be difficult.

 

[Nater]

Why was he using whatever amount of oil? Woodstove won't help much if he has lots of leaks, and little insulation.

Once orders are placed for stove and wood, that would be my point of attack.

Chainsaw(s) and pickup next up for scrounging duty. Minimized losses reduce scrounging pressure.

I disagree. We live in an old house that is drafty, and no insulation (yet). The first winter here, we heated with oil. We used about 250-300 gallons a month, keeping the thermostat at 60 in the day and 50 at night. The next winter we heated with wood, with oil as backup. We burned about 6 cords (old pre-EPA stove), and maybe 500 gallons of oil for the whole winter. The house was about 70+, and the living room (stove room) about 80 most of the time.

So we saved at least 1200 gallons of oil, and were much warmer. So even after buying wood, we were able to pay off the liner and chimney repairs the first season, and still have some money left over.

You miss my point- not that hard to do. A woodstove is no silver-bullet- in a leaky house you're just tossing precious BTUs to the wind, literally. No matter your energy source, you want to take measures to retain heat, and humidified air. And you'll have even more reason to do so next year. Also, a higher firing rate of the stove raises temps on nearby flammables too- not good.

The less wood you burn this year, the more you have on hand for the future, or have available to give/sell to others.

I hope you now see why I counter-disagree. Waste not, want not.

I do agree that insulation is a great idea, and it is on my to-do list. But in our case, we have FHW baseboard heat which is located around the perimeter walls. So most of the heat was lost heating uninsulated walls. The woodstove is centrally located, so we are heating from the inside out. Had we waited until we insulated the house, we would have burned 1000's more gallons of oil from overseas. Or I could just burn a little extra wood, which I can get from cleaning up down and standing dead trees in my backyard. So I would think burning oil is much more wasteful. And with the money saved, we just ordered a WoodStock Progress Hybrid to burn more cleanly and efficiently.

So I guess it depends on more on specific situations. For us, it was worth it to get the woodstove first and worry about getting the house insulated later when we had the time/money to do so. For others, it may make sense to insulate their house first.

 

[joecool85]

So I guess it depends on more on specific situations. For us, it was worth it to get the woodstove first and worry about getting the house insulated later when we had the time/money to do so. For others, it may make sense to insulate their house first.

I'm with you there, that's where we are with our house.

 

[red oak]

I just wanted to give an update - my friend followed most of our advice (had an energy audit, free-standing stove professionally installed, added insulation, etc.) He also found a wood supplier to have logs delivered. He will buck them up and split them on his property. I'm seeing him today and bringing him a truck load of my seasoned oak for a stove-warming present. Thanks to all for the advice! He projects the stove will pay for itself in 3-4 years.

 

[clemsonfor]

Why was he using whatever amount of oil? Woodstove won't help much if he has lots of leaks, and little insulation.

Once orders are placed for stove and wood, that would be my point of attack.

Chainsaw(s) and pickup next up for scrounging duty. Minimized losses reduce scrounging pressure.

I disagree. We live in an old house that is drafty, and no insulation (yet). The first winter here, we heated with oil. We used about 250-300 gallons a month, keeping the thermostat at 60 in the day and 50 at night. The next winter we heated with wood, with oil as backup. We burned about 6 cords (old pre-EPA stove), and maybe 500 gallons of oil for the whole winter. The house was about 70+, and the living room (stove room) about 80 most of the time.

So we saved at least 1200 gallons of oil, and were much warmer. So even after buying wood, we were able to pay off the liner and chimney repairs the first season, and still have some money left over.

You miss my point- not that hard to do. A woodstove is no silver-bullet- in a leaky house you're just tossing precious BTUs to the wind, literally. No matter your energy source, you want to take measures to retain heat, and humidified air. And you'll have even more reason to do so next year. Also, a higher firing rate of the stove raises temps on nearby flammables too- not good.

The less wood you burn this year, the more you have on hand for the future, or have available to give/sell to others.

I hope you now see why I counter-disagree. Waste not, want not.

I agree too, my home is way under insulated. I burn wood to cut down on my fuel (electric heat pump) bills for the heat. I do live in SC but cold is cold and i dont like keeping the thermostat on half my home at 65 and the other on 58 and still pay almost $300/month electric bill. When i can burn wood that i gather for free minus my time saw gas and truck gas. Yes its wasting it compared to having insulation, but i really dont have the money to tear down all my walls and insulate them let alone the time and mind to do it right now. I just keep it warm with an efficient wood stove and keep it packed full. No heatpump this year yet!!

Oh and for all the stuff you need to scrounge, i already owned two trucks the small trailer the 16ft trailer, a tractor, had the saw for at least 6 years now, and had the mauls. The only thing im looking to aquire now is the splitter, still looking for a splitter.

Well i did spend a few $$ building a woodshed (most of the materials were salvaged from something i already had).

 

[Flatbedford]

So I guess it depends on more on specific situations. For us, it was worth it to get the woodstove first and worry about getting the house insulated later when we had the time/money to do so. For others, it may make sense to insulate their house first.

I agree. We spent about $2000 after tax credits to upgrade from our old smoke dragon the our Woodstock Fireview in '09. I saved that $2000 in propane about one month into the second season and was more comfortable all winter. $2000 in insulation could never have made that much of am improvement in comfort or savings in fuel. If I ever get the house sealed up and insulated we will be much more comfortable comfortable and use less wood and propane, but I don't think any improvements will pay off as quickly for us as that stove did.