Heating New Home

[mtnxtreme]

I'm building a new home, I considered a wood/oil burner combo in basement, but heard they were'nt too good, so I'm gonna put an oil hot water system in basement for backup, but would like to put a central fireplace or woodstove in the living area to heat the home if possible, I would prefer to see the fire, and have fans to blow the heat, are there any non masonry fireplaces or wood stoves that fit the bill ? Any reccomendations? The house is 2 floors abt. 2000 sq. ft.

 

[begreen]

Where are you locate Mtn? How tightly insulated will the home be? How much glass? Paying attention to sealing and insulation is the best time and investment you can make right now and will determine the stove/fireplace size later. Also, will the stove be heating 24/7 or more occasionally? FWIW, my brother in law installed separate oil and wood boilers so that he can run on either. That was expensive, but it's still working well after 25 years. He gets oil like every 5 years.

 

[mtnxtreme]

Catskill Mts. N.Y. I will burning as much as possible, utilizing the oil for when the wood runs out or I'm away, I like the wood gasification/ oil combo unit ($7000) a little pricey, but heard they were not EPA certified, I was gonna do a stove or zero clearance type fireplace on the living floor with that, so now I'm thinking of oil in the basement only and the wood heat in the living area.

 

[berlin]

the combination units run generally low 80's efficiency range for when using the oil. for purely heating purposes (vs. asthetics and being able to see the fire) this is probably the best way to go. neighbor has a big "yukon" oil/wood forced air furnace and loves it, also it may not be epa certified, however there is primarily steam coming from his chimney, it burns wood very clean and it does have secondary burn. there are many other brands out there as well. being in the catskills, have you though about anthricite coal? there are many auto-stoker boilers and furnaces that work very, very well, and, should you potentially ever be buying your wood, per btu, anthricite will generally be the cheapest heat source available. more convienient too.

 

[mtarbert]

AND.....coal today is still coal 100 years from now....I get my wood for sweat or I would be burning coal as we speak
Mike

 

[mtnxtreme]

the combination units run generally low 80's efficiency range for when using the oil. for purely heating purposes (vs. asthetics and being able to see the fire) this is probably the best way to go. neighbor has a big "yukon" oil/wood forced air furnace and loves it, also it may not be epa certified, however there is primarily steam coming from his chimney, it burns wood very clean and it does have secondary burn. there are many other brands out there as well. being in the catskills, have you though about anthricite coal? there are many auto-stoker boilers and furnaces that work very, very well, and, should you potentially ever be buying your wood, per btu, anthricite will generally be the cheapest heat source available. more convienient too.

Never thought abt. coal, what is "anthracite" coal? So your friend has no issues with the combo set-up, did he think it was worth the initial expense, and do you think he misses having one in the living area's or does he have both?

 

[berlin]

my neighbor has fireplaces in addition to his wood/oil furnace, he didn't really mind the additional expense, but he goes through probably 8-10 cords/year heating a very large 150 year old uninsulated home. the expense for his new furnace was probably nothing compared to what his fuel bill was, i remember it was rediculas, but i don't remember exactly what it was ($$). but yeah, he loves it and the thing works great for him. helps that his son is a tree guy (gets all his wood for free) otherwise he'd be burning coal like me.

anthricite coal is an excellent choice, and you have the option of stoker, hand fired stoves or furnace/boiler. the modern coal stoker furnaces/boilers are very popular and low maintinence. you should look into these as well. http://www.nepadigital.com/bb/index.php is a great site for all the info you want on coal.

 

[Corie]

As always, I'm with Berlin on this coal. Especially in furnace situation, Anthracite is hard to beat.