Hello all,
We moved into our home 3 years ago and have been heating with a woodmaster 4400hd. First winter didn't know what we were doing, bought 20 full cord of maple.. burned it all. Second winter bought 30 cord, 20 of oak 10 maple. Burned 26 cord between the fireplace and the boiler. We didn't use the fireplace the first winter. This year purchased 30 cord again, beech and maple. (I also understand I'm burning green wood and that doesn't help but I'm cutting 30 cord solo and it makes it hard to get ahead)
We are heating our home which is 4400 sq ft and our DHW. We start burning in September and burn usually until May. We have a backup propane boiler/ furnace. This winter I am doing everything I can to get things insulated and make things more efficient. Right now with everything being the way it is I can't keep my little ones bedrooms at temp. We have slant fin baseboard heaters. I have considered changing a few of them out for runtal heaters to try getting more heat in their rooms. In the meantime we know that we want a boiler that is more efficient.
So if we are looking at upgrading we need something that will heat 8000 sq ft of home (we are going to finish our basement in the future) and possibly a 40x60 garage. The garage isn't necessary we could heat that with propane if we had to. We would like to stay in our home for the next 30 - 40 years if possible. Which means I need to use as little wood as possible. I have been looking at 2 boilers but was curious what everyone would think a good option would be for me. I have read through the previous 3 years of posts on this site and feel there are some people on here that will give me honest answers, and maybe some ideas I didn't know existed.
I would also like to use my existing plumbing on the inside of my home if possible. If my setup is horrible then I'm open to changing things if it can easily be done but I'm not tearing open walls to change lines type of fix.
So very rambling long story made short
1) needs to be more efficient
2) needs to heat my home
3) needs to be something I can manage into my golden years
4) needs to not need 30 full cord a winter...i cannot stress that last one enough... seriously it sucks
Sorry the post is a mess but it's been a long week already.
Any help would be appreciated, I want to do this right the first time so I need to get my ducks in a row, hoping to do the upgrade in spring of 2020. Thought having a year to prep and get things in order would be enough time. Hopefully maybe be able to find the best time of year to purchase also...I don't know if prices fluctuate with the seasons.
We moved into our home 3 years ago and have been heating with a woodmaster 4400hd. First winter didn't know what we were doing, bought 20 full cord of maple.. burned it all. Second winter bought 30 cord, 20 of oak 10 maple. Burned 26 cord between the fireplace and the boiler. We didn't use the fireplace the first winter. This year purchased 30 cord again, beech and maple. (I also understand I'm burning green wood and that doesn't help but I'm cutting 30 cord solo and it makes it hard to get ahead)
We are heating our home which is 4400 sq ft and our DHW. We start burning in September and burn usually until May. We have a backup propane boiler/ furnace. This winter I am doing everything I can to get things insulated and make things more efficient. Right now with everything being the way it is I can't keep my little ones bedrooms at temp. We have slant fin baseboard heaters. I have considered changing a few of them out for runtal heaters to try getting more heat in their rooms. In the meantime we know that we want a boiler that is more efficient.
So if we are looking at upgrading we need something that will heat 8000 sq ft of home (we are going to finish our basement in the future) and possibly a 40x60 garage. The garage isn't necessary we could heat that with propane if we had to. We would like to stay in our home for the next 30 - 40 years if possible. Which means I need to use as little wood as possible. I have been looking at 2 boilers but was curious what everyone would think a good option would be for me. I have read through the previous 3 years of posts on this site and feel there are some people on here that will give me honest answers, and maybe some ideas I didn't know existed.
I would also like to use my existing plumbing on the inside of my home if possible. If my setup is horrible then I'm open to changing things if it can easily be done but I'm not tearing open walls to change lines type of fix.
So very rambling long story made short
1) needs to be more efficient
2) needs to heat my home
3) needs to be something I can manage into my golden years
4) needs to not need 30 full cord a winter...i cannot stress that last one enough... seriously it sucks
Sorry the post is a mess but it's been a long week already.
Any help would be appreciated, I want to do this right the first time so I need to get my ducks in a row, hoping to do the upgrade in spring of 2020. Thought having a year to prep and get things in order would be enough time. Hopefully maybe be able to find the best time of year to purchase also...I don't know if prices fluctuate with the seasons.