I have a question about cord usage.

[tlhfirelion]

I have crept love here from the wood stove forum to ask a few questions. I'm not new to wood burning but am new to indoor wood furnaces. Before I do too much more research on the best brands and installs, I need to get a better grasp of the amount of wood used in an indoor, furnace tied wood burning system. I live in Northern Arkansas, near the Missouri line. We have our moments winter wise with ice and snow but nothing like you fellas up north. I currently use at the most 3 cords of wood (all split oak) per year but if it was more convenient, I would use a little more. Keep in mind a few things. My home is 1450 sq ft. 1000 of it is upstairs, 450 is down and thats where the electric heat pump/furnace currently is and the crawlspace has all the ductwork so a wood furnace would be quite a nice set up from my perspective.

That said, I see some of you guys using 10-12 cords of wood and that is in NO way an option for me. My reason for looking at this option is because my walk out basement is ALWAYS chilly, my upstairs stove/hearth takes up a lot of space in an already cozy house, and if I can still use wood heat and get my living room back by removing the hearth, that would be of interest to me. The other concern is the venting. I'd have to go over 10' out the back of the house and then up over the eave which is about 15' from there so that may be another mess.

Just a general bit of info to maybe get some feedback from you that have experience with this type of system. thank you in advance for your help.

 

[laynes69]

I've used 2 cord here in Ohio so far this year. 2500 sqft home plus 1200 sqft basement. A bad winter, I would use maybe 5 1/2 cord. A house your size would be less. Those burning 10-12 cord are using old school furnaces. Modern furnaces are a breeze when it comes to wood usage.

 

[cachunko]

In mid Michigan, I used about 6-7 cord on an average year. This year I've used maybe 3 so far, but it's been quite mild. I can't imagine you using much down there.

 

[tlhfirelion]

Thanks to both of you for the reply. Thats good to hear those 10-12 numbers shouldn't be my experience. Do either of you have an opinion on what brands I would look at for my sized house? Most of the ones I've looked at are for much larger homes. I don't know if thats a much of a concern like it is with a typical wood burning stove.

 

[cachunko]

Sorry, but I'm no help there! I have a great big unit.

 

[JohnDolz]

Thanks to both of you for the reply. Thats good to hear those 10-12 numbers shouldn't be my experience. Do either of you have an opinion on what brands I would look at for my sized house? Most of the ones I've looked at are for much larger homes. I don't know if thats a much of a concern like it is with a typical wood burning stove.

Hi - I think a lot of it depends on budget to what you really want to allocate to avoid a chilly basement. You can get a gasifier with storage (like an Effecta 20KW with 400 gallons or so of water), your whole house would be toasty (assuming you tied it into you core heating system or you can use a heat exchanger in the basement and heat from there up. You're wood usage would be minimal and you would have a super system but might be overkill for your needs. That being said what I have is overkill for my needs. Good luck and feel free to ping me with any questions..

 

[tlhfirelion]

Hi - I think a lot of it depends on budget to what you really want to allocate to avoid a chilly basement. You can get a gasifier with storage (like an Effecta 20KW with 400 gallons or so of water), your whole house would be toasty (assuming you tied it into you core heating system or you can use a heat exchanger in the basement and heat from there up. You're wood usage would be minimal and you would have a super system but might be overkill for your needs. That being said what I have is overkill for my needs. Good luck and feel free to ping me with any questions..

Thanks for the reply. The size of my basement alone would eliminate any mass storage like that, but it is an interesting option. I wonder if these furnaces offer much radiant heat? I assumed there would be some that would help with the chill in the air? I kinda like a little overkill but my goal here is to streamline my situation and utilize the ductwork underfoot for the majority of my home. Seems like a system tied furnace would be a no brainer.

Would a system sized for a say, 2500 sq ft home end up just providing me even longer burn times and reduced wood usage?

 

[tlhfirelion]

Sorry, but I'm no help there! I have a great big unit.

HEY-OOOOO! lol

 

[JohnDolz]

Thanks for the reply. The size of my basement alone would eliminate any mass storage like that, but it is an interesting option. I wonder if these furnaces offer much radiant heat? I assumed there would be some that would help with the chill in the air? I kinda like a little overkill but my goal here is to streamline my situation and utilize the ductwork underfoot for the majority of my home. Seems like a system tied furnace would be a no brainer.

Would a system sized for a say, 2500 sq ft home end up just providing me even longer burn times and reduced wood usage?

My knowledge is limited to the system I own, others have a ton of knowledge and can guide you into other types of options. The gasifier I am suggesting ir really only designed to be used with storage (so it can burn at optimal efficiency). Think about the storage as a rechargeable battery and the boiler as the charger. In this case if you get a bigger charger you may need a bigger battery. Bigger does allow you to gain some efficiencies by starting fewer fires and also allows you to go longer periods of time between fires. The boiler does not put out a lot of radiant heat (and I insulated my pipes to reduce it) and doesn't run that many hours a day so I have a Modine hydronic heater in my basement which runs off of the hot water. You can certainly use a heat exchanger and a boiler to leverage your ducts for the rest of the house. You can also accomplish this with other types of boilers and furnaces but as I said my knowledge is limited to what I have.

 

[3fordasho]

I'm running a Drolet Tundra to heat 3400sq ft in Southern MN. I also fire up a Progress Hybrid if temps drop below 10f and/or I get southern winds (no wind break to the south). Currently on track to go through 4.5-5.5 cords. Well insulated for 1982 construction - walls are 2x6 spray foamed but lot's of 40 year old windows that don't seal like new.

 

[tlhfirelion]

One other thing I wonder that may or may not be a deal breaker is the power needed to run an indoor furnace if we lose power. That can happen sometimes during ice storms and it could be a couple days before power is returned. I have a generator of course but seeing as how my set up would have all the homes ductwork above the furnace, I wonder if this can be run without power? Say I had a Tundra (which I'm researching now), can these even be run and let gravity do it's thing?

 

[3fordasho]

One other thing I wonder that may or may not be a deal breaker is the power needed to run an indoor furnace if we lose power. That can happen sometimes during ice storms and it could be a couple days before power is returned. I have a generator of course but seeing as how my set up would have all the homes ductwork above the furnace, I wonder if this can be run without power? Say I had a Tundra (which I'm researching now), can these even be run and let gravity do it's thing?

They can be in a pinch. The Tundra manual addresses power outage situations and suggests partial loads for such events. That said your ducting has to be set up for it and it helps to remove the filter from the filter box - that is enough restriction to prevent gravity flow.