How many of you with wood boilers still have and use wood stoves?

[VtRv]

I'm in the process of getting my Tarm boiler hooked up but it's starting to get cold here in Vermont so I've been lighting my VC wood stove in the evening. I was wondering how many of you with wood boilers have wood stoves as well and do you find yourselfs using them or are they just there for back up?

 

[ssupercoolss]

cant speak for the guys with wood stoves on this one, and i havent even installed my boiler yet, but for taking the chill off of things i turn to my pellet stove. which is what i plan on using until i start getting temps overnight below freezing. i normally dont see temps below freezing until december around here. from what i understand its best to let the boiler run with the pedal to the metal, rather than long idle periods.

 

[Duetech]

My wood stove is out after 17-18 years service. Not even there for back-up. My boiler is connected to my oil furnace plenum via air/water heat exchanger. Oil is my back up. I have an eko 40. If power goes out I have used a gas powered generator. Emergency back-up is kerosene heater...Cave2k

 

[MrEd]

I am finishing up my Tarm Solo 60 install (should have heat in a week), but will continue to use my Hearthstone Heritage wood stove everyday. A wood boiler is nice, but its not "cozy" like a wood stove is. We are home all day (me, wife, 4 kids), and nothing beats having a roaring fire in the woodstove on those cold winter days. The Tarm will run each evening and provide heat for the bedrooms and DHW which the wood stove cannot do. Chances are I will no longer pack the wood stove with wood each night like I did in previous years, but I don't see the daytime use changing.

 

[peakbagger]

I have keep my VC defiant in my basement next to the wood boiler for several reasons

For spring and fall days when there isnt enough heat load to run my Burnham wood boiler. I dont have heat storage for the wood boiler, so when there isnt enough load on the boiler it shuts its damper and runs inefficiently plus the circulator pump runs continuously until the boiler cools down.

I also keep the defiant to burn the wood that is cut too long for my Burnham. I cut by eye and the burham will hold a 16 and 3/4" stick, the VC will burn a 23" stick.

The defiant doesnt need power to operate and is real handy for a power outage.

My shop doesnt have a heating zone in my basement and sometimes I want to warm it up.

Dick Hill is a big advocate of two stoves, a small one for spring and fall and a big one for winter so they always burn efficiently.

 

[Birdman]

This is a great question. One that I am pondering too. I have a nice efficient woodstove in my main living area. We have a log cabin and it heats the large area which has a cathedral ceiling. It can really crank out the heat when I want it too. Zero degrees outside?... not an issue.. I can get it to 68 in this area. Two fans to push heat down and when I want.. I can leave the master bedroom door open upstairs and it can heat that too( If its 20 degress out). I am having a Tarm 40 installed soon and will try to heat this area without the stove this winter. Putting in 30 feet of high output baseboard in the main living area. I am a little scared to remove the stove... it has been so dependable... but wife does not like the mess it creates in the house. I am thinking of putting it in the basement for some sort of backup. HOwever if it is down there.. it won't be very effective to heat the living space upstairs. At least if I have problems with Tarm.... we can go hang out in basement... and keep pipes warm. I would like to get storage for the tarm... and install that now too... but the 5700 for set up is a little much right now. Does anyone think " Bioheat" will drop this price or is it set in stone. Odds are I won't be able to get the storage for a while longer.... so that means my oil burner will click on for days in October and maybe March and part of April. That doesn't make me happy. Curious to find out how many gallons this will take. Currently I keep this main living area very warm with wood stove. Will I be able to keep it this warm with the Tarm on very cold days?... and nice and toasty with oil on those in between days with out using a ton of oil? Hope I am making the right decsion by getting the Tarm and taking out the wood stove. Stay tuned.

 

[Huskurdu]

After spending so much money on the E-burn 150 and related parts, I expect that my fireplace insert will be lonely for a while. I'm burning my E-burn with 500 gal storage daily even though the weather is mild. Maybe next year I'll start burning my insert again during mild days....I've still got a bunch of improvement work to do to my system...I'll take care of that next year.....my wallet hurts too much to continue this year. :-o

 

[603doug]

The "little woman" likes to read her book in front of her wood stove watching the pretty little flames and its great, 80 f air temp with the windows wide open, the floors of course do not kick on so 0200 in the morning your freezing your a** off. Now it is a game with us, she will instruct me to build a fire in her stove I groan the whole time because it screws up the radiant and we have a lovely evening together

 

[Huskurdu]

The "little woman" likes to read her book in front of her wood stove watching the pretty little flames and its great, 80 f air temp with the windows wide open, the floors of course do not kick on so 0200 in the morning your freezing your a** off. Now it is a game with us, she will instruct me to build a fire in her stove I groan the whole time because it screws up the radiant and we have a lovely evening together

LOL, I've frozen our livingroom zone a couple times because of the fireplace insert. I was lucky to not have ruptured the copper either time. The one time it was frozen for a couple days! Hopefully with the new wood boiler, it won't happen again. We can now burn the fireplace insert without turning it's fan on.

 

[chuck172]

I'd like to comment on an old topic.
I'm finding that I burn less wood by using my woodstove in addition to my Tarm. The way my house is set up, my Lopi Endeavor is centrally located and heats my living room, kitchen, dining room, and master br.
The tarm will take care of the basement, two end bedrooms and of course my domestic hot water.
The Tarm gobbles up wood compared to the Lopi. It's amazing what just a few small sticks of wood in the woodstove will do compared to the 5.5 cu. ft. firebox of the wood boiler.

 

[woodsmaster]

Took my wood stove out to the shed. It was about shot and we were tired of the mess, smoke, and it was tacking up space.
I have elec or kerosean for backup.

 

[HeatFarmer]

I plan to keep on using my wood stoves. We have a Waterford Leprechaun in the parlor we use to take the chill off & for ambiance. We also have a Waterford cookstove in the kitchen we use all the time for cooking. Because of this, we added very little new heat from the boiler system in the kitchen as the cookstove can "cook" us out. Even though we plan on running the boiler to charge storage all year--for DHW--I think it will be nicer to light small fires in the wood stove in the shoulder season, like we've always done, and save running the boiler for when it really gets cold.

 

[Gasifier]

I have a Pacific Energy Super 27 that I burned in for six years. Still works great. The new Wood Gun boiler is heating this large house, two stall garage, and DHW without a problem. The P.E. is sitting in the basement for back-up. Just in case the power goes out for a long period of time. All I have to do is disconnect the chimney from the wood boiler and reconnect it to the wood stove. I have a generator that I can plug into an outlet(220) on the outside of the house and that is wired into a Reliance Protran Transfer Switch. This allows me to run the oil boiler and/or wood boiler (including all circ pumps), well pump and water system, and I have one more circuit to wire to the correct panel box to run our refrigerator. My brother is coming to help me do that today or tomorrow. That is one of the many things that was on the list to get done while I was on vacation this week.

 

[wood thing]

I'd like to comment on an old topic.
I'm finding that I burn less wood by using my woodstove in addition to my Tarm. The way my house is set up, my Lopi Endeavor is centrally located and heats my living room, kitchen, dining room, and master br.
The tarm will take care of the basement, two end bedrooms and of course my domestic hot water.
The Tarm gobbles up wood compared to the Lopi. It's amazing what just a few small sticks of wood in the woodstove will do compared to the 5.5 cu. ft. firebox of the wood boiler.

My setup is just about the same. It depends on the temp and if I am around. Mostly at night time. Happy holidays

 

[jebatty]

Wood stove remains the heat for the house and the Tarm for the shop. Wife loves the stove, does not want the Tarm hooked up to the house. No issue in adding radiant panels, etc., she just loves the stove. We burn 24/7 and have done so for 21 years, same stove, remains in very good condition. Haven't found temps too low for the stove to keep the house cozy -- minus 40'sF and all. Don't see this changing.

 

[ChiefChicken]

The Tarm is in the basement and provides main heat for the house and shop. In addition we have a Crawford kitchen stove from 1900. Used to belong to my wife's grandmother. We had it restored and use it at least several times a week in the cold months. Sometimes just for a little warmth to sit by and sip a drink, sometimes to cook an entire meal. It's amazing how well it works considering it's age.