Hi all, new guy with questions

[Speakeasy2009]

Hi everyone,

New to the site and a new home owner in CT. Being a first time home owner I wanted to get a wood stove to lower or eliminate my need for heating oil. My house is only 1000 sqft upstairs and has an unfinished basement.

Right now I have the typical 25 year old oil burner which uses forced air. I’m the type that doesn’t want to have to rely on oil for my heat because when power is out, I freeze. Not good! Plus I don’t want to spend money on oil even though I’ll have to for this winter. My goal is to be independent of oil to keep my home warm.

Here is my dilemma –

My living room is small, and putting a wood stove in there will reduce the usable space by ¼, especially when a wood stove is cranking in the winter. I could go this route, but I eventually want to use my basement as extra living space so I want to heat that too.

Any ideas on how I can use a wood stove in my basement, and use the existing ducting to get the heat through the house? I cannot remove my oil furnace at this time.. needs to stay for a bit… and FYI the oil tank is down there too in the corner, its a 275 gallon maybe 10 ft from the furnace itself. If needed I can snap some pics of the setup and post them..


Thanks for all the info guys..


Ricky

 

[__dan]

Same question, same answer for everyone. First call is to the gas company. Find out if gas is or will be available in the street. If so, gas (methane) is the best fuel choice.

Next question, if you're buying cordwood, pellets are probably a better choice. The cost is in the same range with easier access and handling. For most oil replacement applications where gas is not available, I would be looking at a pellet boiler and going to hydronic heat if the house came with ductwork. If you want off of oil, a stove probably won't do that but a pellet boiler may.

One thing people should be aware of is, in new construction it is possible to build a home that has very low heat loss, nearly heats itself. Building new should always be on the list of options. Trying to renovate an old house to modern new including roofing, windows, insulation, most likely you could save money and get better quality building new to the right spec. Depends on the house, how much it needs and where it is located.

 

[stee6043]

Based on some similar threads I've seen over the years I think you'd ultimately be better off trying to go with a forced air wood burner rather than a stove. I don't think you're going to get enough heat upstairs if you're trying to use a stove in the basement.

There are a handful of decent forced air wood furnaces that can be had for reasonable sums of money. Perhaps used is a good place to start as well? Craigslist this time of year is likely filling up with some good deals.

Either way, good luck!

 

[Speakeasy2009]

Based on some similar threads I've seen over the years I think you'd ultimately be better off trying to go with a forced air wood burner rather than a stove. I don't think you're going to get enough heat upstairs if you're trying to use a stove in the basement.

There are a handful of decent forced air wood furnaces that can be had for reasonable sums of money. Perhaps used is a good place to start as well? Craigslist this time of year is likely filling up with some good deals.

Either way, good luck!

Thanks so much for the replies guys. I was actually looking at the forced air wood furnace as an option. Gonna try to price some out and see if I can afford one maybe next year.

I assume I cannot use the existing fluw for the oil burner right? id have to add a flue even if I didn't use the oil burner anymore??

 

[flyingcow]

Just curious, how much oil do you use?

 

[Speakeasy2009]

Just curious, how much oil do you use?

Not sure yet. I just today ordered my first oil delivery for the season. since I live alone, and have 3 bedrooms, im gonna close the air vents in two the bedrooms and keep those doors closed. This way the oil will only heat the living room, kitchen, hallway and my bedroom.

 

[mustash29]

A wood burner (stove, boiler, furnace or pellet boiler) will require it's own flue. A pellet stove is typically a direct vent through a wall.

To qualify for insurance, you need some form of automatic heat (electric, oil, gas, heap pump). Most pellet boilers with a pellet silo will qualify, something that has a hopper that only holds a few days worth of pellets will not.

You have duct work already. Do you have A/C? If not look into a heat pump unit. That will get you A/C, auto back up heat & pretty good efficiency. Eliminate the oil boiler and get a modest stove to do the majority of the winter heating. If the stove is in the basement, have your duct work configured to suck that hot air throughout the rest of the house.

Get an add on wood furnace, and tie it's hot air outlet into your existing duct work.

How do you get your domestic hot water? A heat pump water heater is a good choice. You can get HPWH's that tie into an electric or other DHW storage tank. The Nyletherm is very popular. The GE Geospring is a hybrid HPWH with an electric back up element & 50 gal tank all in one unit. There are tax credits and CL&P rebates on them.

There are many options out there. You really need to figure out your end game before doing anything. Measure twice, cut once.

My personal choice would be to eliminate the oil furnace, install a whole house heat pump, wood or pellet stove & HPWH.

 

[maple1]

I assume I cannot use the existing fluw for the oil burner right? id have to add a flue even if I didn't use the oil burner anymore??

If you mean leave the oil there & hooked up, no. If you mean remove the oil, and replace with a wood unit - then maybe, depending on what you have for a chimney/flue.

Do you have access to natural gas?