I Really Need to Know!

[shaw24]

If I put an add-on wood furnace in my basement will my house smell like smoke? I know a LOT of you guys burn wood in your basement so please help me out. People around my town keep telling me my house is going to smell of smoke, but I dont think it will.

This is a big deal to me (mainly my wife) and could be the deciding factor to go to an OWB. I have talked to a couple ppl about this issue already and they have given me good info but I just wanted to ask the masses.

Thanks

Ryan

BTW I'm looking at the Yukon-Eagle SuperJack

 

[zipper1081]

Is your cold air return open in the basement or hooked into the living quarters. When I had mine open in the basement I did get smell of smoke in the house. I know this may sound stupied but when you first start burning wood in the house your nose is sencitive to different smells. I have asked people when they come in the house if you can smell smoke in the house and they say no.

 

[shaw24]

Kipper I'm not sure We haven't lived at this house very long. I'm not real furnace savvy either...on the first floor we have a 2'X2' wood grate looking thing that I'm guessing is the return air. Any other way I could tell?

 

[Duetech]

If you are careless you will have smoke. If you are careful you can still get smoke. If you build your set up so you won't have smoke there is no guarantee you won't have any but you are less likely to. We used a wood ad on furnace for seventeen years and had a few problems but nothing that lasted. Maybe one smokey day every couple of years if that and then not the whole day. We had wood and bought wood and did not spend money for fuel oil for most of those years which meant we didn't spend a minimum of a thousand dollars a year (figure $17-20K) for fuel oil so we could afford to wash the clothes or what ever. There was a time that the fuel oil furnace konked out and made the place smell like fuel oil for several weeks. Never had that kind of problem with wood. Bottom line accidents can happen but most people don't have problems.
From what I have seen with OWB's you have as much or greater risk of smelling like smoke even with precautions. Because of that I was glad I found a gasifier that essentially burns with so little smoke (at start up) most people don't think it's a wood burner.

 

[Der Fuirmeister]

Shaw24,

Cave2k said it well. I've been burning wood in a forced air furnace for 15 years here.

Wood furnaces are easy to install. You'll quickly learn how to avoid most smoke during the lighting and refilling stages. Earlier this evening I asked my son to light a fire. He proceeded to light a small fire near the door (instead of further inside the firebox) and then left the door wide open while he loaded more wood in. Smoke billowed out of the door. I gave him some pointers. Here's a short list you might consider. Others on this site may have some additional advice....

-Build the fire back inside the firebox and not near the door.
-Install a fan switch on the side of the furnace to turn it off when loading / lighting. This will reduce the draft in the area around the furnace door.
-Open the door slowly and give the flue draft a few seconds to pull the smoke away from the door.
-When adding wood try to open the door with one hand, quickly add the wood with the other hand and then close the door again.
-Try not to add wood or open the door for the first 15 minutes after lighting the fire or adding wood on top of coals. This is the time when the greatest amount of smoke is produced.
-If you have an outdoor chimney, and you need to start from a cold furnace, it can be difficult to get a draft started up without the cold air sinking back down. I've used a ball of newspaper to heat the fire box up first, but others on this site may have better suggestions.

Back in the 70's I had a mentor (second father type) who taught me much, including how to identify trees, safely cut them down, split, stack, season and burn. He burned wood for well over 60 years. He was cutting and burning wood right up to the day he died recently at 83. In the late70's he built an in-ground home. It was really something to see a little 30,000 btu German tiled stove heat that place up to 75 degrees when it was -20 below and blowing 30 mph here in WI. His stove sat front and center in the living room. We would load it up and watch the Packers. I'd love to find one of those stoves for sale......

Five years after he built his home he asked me to turn on the electric baseboard heat to test it. I did and it smoked like crazy burning off the oil on the heating elements. He had never turned it on in five years.

Anyway, don't tell your wife it won't smoke. It will, but less as you get to understand how to burn. Be patient. Consider involving her in the process of choosing a furnace or stove. You'll get some exercise, save money and gain a lot of satisfaction from burning wood.

 

[rwh442]

As others have said you most likely WILL have smoke during loading. Practice decreases smoke but sometimes it is inevitable.

One aspect your wife will probably dislike is the dust involved - at some point you have to remove the ashes from the stove/boiler. There are different systems - ash pans, shovels etc but ultimately your wife (or you!) may be dusting the upstairs more frequently!

Where are you going to store the wood? In the basement next to the stove/boiler? Then start thinking about insects.

Just my 2 cents worth after growing up with a stove in our basement as a child. I installed my boiler in a detached garage 150' away. No complaints from the wife or kids about the smoke/ashes dust or mess. It's a garage, not the living quarters.

 

[warm in VT]

If you are so concerned with the smoke, why not look at the OWB? I can only speak for the CB e-classic but it works quite well. Most overlook it as being a gassifier and doing all the things that the indoor gassers do. Yes, you may lose a couple of degrees to the outdoors but I would put mine up against anything that I have seen on here for performace when it is set up correctly and working right. I have been very happy with mine. I just wanted to point out that going with the dreaded OWB is not such a bad thing if the indoor units dont work for you. My .02$...............

 

[stee6043]

For me the elimination of smoke during loading was pretty easy - setup an exhaust fan. If you really want to have the wood burner inside there are ways you can exhaust the smoke without spending a ton of money. Northerntool.com has some pretty powerful fans you can buy with vent tubes. Or you can go ultra cheap (like I did) and buy a bathroom exhaust fan. There are ways around the smoke, no doubt about it...

 

[shaw24]

Thanks for all the replies....it's really a big help to me. I really want to get an add-on rather than an OWB for a few reasons like being able to stoke it inside, its a lot cheaper, and I live in town so I'm worried about the amount of smoke that an OWB would produce.

I'm definitely not going to tell her that there wont be any smoke, but we also have our laundry room in the basement and we dont want everything we own smelling like a campfire. But I like the idea of putting an exhaust fan for the smoke that would come out during loading...would that have any effect on the draft?

Is there any smoke that comes out when loading an indoor gasifier?

 

[Duetech]

Thanks for all the replies....it's really a big help to me. I really want to get an add-on rather than an OWB for a few reasons like being able to stoke it inside, its a lot cheaper, and I live in town so I'm worried about the amount of smoke that an OWB would produce.

I'm definitely not going to tell her that there wont be any smoke, but we also have our laundry room in the basement and we dont want everything we own smelling like a campfire. But I like the idea of putting an exhaust fan for the smoke that would come out during loading...would that have any effect on the draft?

Is there any smoke that comes out when loading an indoor gasifier?

If I load when I am down to just coals in the boiler no...with a little charcoalized wood...a little. Otherwise I can smoke the place out in a jiffy quick hurry. But my unit is not in the house. A draft fan can be ideal for in the home set ups but don't "just buy one" make sure of the one you get different types work differently. Draft fans usually only effect draft when in use.

 

[flyingcow]

I've got a innova from tarm. Only had it running since sat. The way the fan/draft is set up, you crack the door for a couple of seconds and open, 99% of the smoke stays in the unit. You can even leave the door open while you get the wood, I don't, but it does a very good job keeping the smoke problem to a minimum. It has to be put in with storage. Also this is not located in the house, my storage is, but the furnace is next door.
But no matter what you get for a furnace, you just have to get used to letting it burn its load of wood, before you check, and reload. That will take care of the smoke problem. Also if you have forced air heat, maybe turn fan off the blower so it doesn't suck the smoke up into the living area immediatly.

 

[Eric Johnson]

For me the elimination of smoke during loading was pretty easy - setup an exhaust fan. If you really want to have the wood burner inside there are ways you can exhaust the smoke without spending a ton of money. Northerntool.com has some pretty powerful fans you can buy with vent tubes. Or you can go ultra cheap (like I did) and buy a bathroom exhaust fan. There are ways around the smoke, no doubt about it...

+1 on the exhaust fan. That will pretty much solve all of your smoke problems, including some of the dust as well. Old kitchen range hoods work really well. Or, make your own out of some sheet metal (a fluorescent light fixtures makes a nice starting point for a custom hood) fitted with some flexible ducting and a $20 inline fan.

 

[shaw24]

If you are so concerned with the smoke, why not look at the OWB? I can only speak for the CB e-classic but it works quite well. Most overlook it as being a gassifier and doing all the things that the indoor gassers do. Yes, you may lose a couple of degrees to the outdoors but I would put mine up against anything that I have seen on here for performace when it is set up correctly and working right. I have been very happy with mine. I just wanted to point out that going with the dreaded OWB is not such a bad thing if the indoor units dont work for you. My .02$...............

That's what I'm trying to decide between. Both have pros and cons for me...I will just have to weigh them out and make a decision. Heres my pro/con list:

OWB
+No worries of smoke/wood/dirt in the basement
+Can heat both detached garage and home with unit.
+Dont have to burn seasoned wood.
+longer burn times.
-Outside loading in the winter.
-Lots of smoke.
-Big Furnace in the middle of my yard.
-Much more expensive

Add-On Furnace
+Indoor loading in winter
+Cheaper
+Smoke goes out chimney
+Heats house during power outage
-Possible smoke in house/dirtier
-Wood has to be seasoned.
-Stoked more often (not really a big deal for me)

 

[flyingcow]

on the OWB list. If you get the eclassic you'll probably need semi seasoned wood. regardless you should have seasoned wood. 30% of energy in burning green wood is used drying it out to finish the burn. neighbor has an e-classic and it smokes very little, just on start up.

On the inside boiler, depending on what you get and how you plumb the controls, you won't be able to use your boiler for heat during power outages. Unless you use a generator for power. OWB would be ok than too. I've got few thousand more into my boiler than my neighbor has withnhis e-classic. You can go with a cheaper indoor unit, but won't perform as well as the e-classic.

 

[Eric Johnson]

You can actually burn green wood in a conventional furnace or boiler, but it's harder to do, creates more creosote and consumes more wood. Same deal with an OWB, except that the creosote isn't an issue.

You'll burn a lot less wood in any indoor boiler or furnace than any outdoor boiler.

If you've got the resources to spring for an OWB, why not consider a small gasifier indoors or in your detatched garage? The latter would solve most--if not all--of your concerns except for the green wood part, which you probably don't want to do in any event.

 

[shaw24]

You can actually burn green wood in a conventional furnace or boiler, but it's harder to do, creates more creosote and consumes more wood. Same deal with an OWB, except that the creosote isn't an issue.

You'll burn a lot less wood in any indoor boiler or furnace than any outdoor boiler.

If you've got the resources to spring for an OWB, why not consider a small gasifier indoors or in your detatched garage? The latter would solve most--if not all--of your concerns except for the green wood part, which you probably don't want to do in any event.

I'm spending $300/month year round on LP....so I don't "have" the resources lol but I can justify spending some money on this! I just started looking into indoor gasifiers (yesterday) but they looked really confusing and then theres water storage?? I just don't know much about them. When you say small are you thinking like the EKO 25 or whatever the smallest model is?

I'm not buying anything until the end of summer probably

 

[stee6043]

With $300 a month you could finance a very nice gasifier system, storage and all, if you do the install yourself. That's a lot of coin. Your payback would be quick...

 

[slowzuki]

I'll add, some friends growing up had wood furnaces with big chimneys inside the house and leaky basements and they never had a smoke problem. Some others had air tight basements with outside wall chimneys and there was literally black marks above the loading door on the ceiling. None of them imparted a smoke smell on the house or their clothes but you could smell it when someone had just loaded the furnace.

I grew up with woodstoves with tall chimneys located in heated space, I had never seen smoke come out the loading door of a stove until my teen years at a girl friends place. The only smell we had ever had in the house from the woodstove was the stink of heating it up the first fire of the year while it burned the dust off and if it got over fired and made the paint stink a bit.

We put the ash bucket inside the stove when cleaning it and never got ashes in the house. There was a lot of sawdust etc from carrying wood in through the living areas. Mom didn't like it so we tried to use the downstairs stove mostly.

 

[ken999]

To say your NEVER going to smell any smoke would be foolish. There are times when it happens, usually operator error etc.

We went the outdoor boiler route with the CB e 2300. My wife and I wanted the fire-smoke-dirt outside. We had a woodstove in the basement and are currently burning a PE Summit insert for the majority of our heat. As much as I like fiddling with it, not having to get up every 4-5 hours and putting wood on a stove will be nice. I'm hoping to get away with 1-2 loadings a day in the new outdoor boiler. We have our own wood on the lot to cut, so we will not have to buy any firewood. If we HAD to buy wood, we likely would have bought and indoor gasifier and put it in an outbuilding, piping the heat into 800-1000 gallon storage tank downstairs. That way I still would only need to load the stove 1-2x a day.

Either route you choose you should be able to do it for less than $300 a month. Total cost for our boiler installed would have been around 16-17k. We are getting some help from friends/family and doing somethings ourselves, so we will be around 14k.

 

[shaw24]

Thanks for all the good information...this is really helpful. I don't really want to spend 300/month but I just figured if I spent around $7,000 or less, it would pay for itself in 2 years.

 

[Der Fuirmeister]

There's no one answer to fit all needs. Sift through the help provided here. You won't save 100% of the $300 per month, but it's not unrealistic to say you could save 75-90% of that. In the end you'll feel better about burning wood than paying for LP or oil.

Think through what's important to you (and your wife) and you'll figure out the best method to burn wood. Make informed decisions. You'll find a wealth of information here from folks who burn wood in a variety of stoves, furnaces and boilers. In return maybe you can help someone else someday.

Kind of like the way life ought to be....

 

[mike1234]

I installed my add-on furnace in the garage for 2 reasons, mess and smoke. I agree all of those who say less smoke the more you learn, but I smoked up the garage a few times in learning!! And maybe there are a few more coming. And the wood is a mess, no 2 ways about that. Carrying it through the house would be an issue. I make the wood mess in the garage, on warm days move the cars out and sweep and use the blower. That was the way I decided to do it, works for me.

 

[jdew1920]

I've been using our add on furnace now for over a month and have had no issues with smoke. Sure once in a while I open the door and I get a puff of smoke come out into the furnace room but it stays there and disapates pretty quick. I've never smelled smoke up stairs or in the rest of the basement outside of the furnace room - and even then that again is only when loading occasionally. I've spent many weeks over the past 10 years or so at my in-laws and I never was able to smell smoke from the wood furnace in the basement.

 

[shaw24]

I installed my add-on furnace in the garage for 2 reasons, mess and smoke. I agree all of those who say less smoke the more you learn, but I smoked up the garage a few times in learning!! And maybe there are a few more coming. And the wood is a mess, no 2 ways about that. Carrying it through the house would be an issue. I make the wood mess in the garage, on warm days move the cars out and sweep and use the blower. That was the way I decided to do it, works for me.

I would love to put it in my garage, but unfortunately my garage is about 50 yards from the house. The nice thing about my basement is that theres a door that goes to my backyard that will be really close to where I'm planning on putting the furnace so if there is a lot of smoke for some reason, I should be able to open the door and vent the smoke outside.

I’ve been using our add on furnace now for over a month and have had no issues with smoke. Sure once in a while I open the door and I get a puff of smoke come out into the furnace room but it stays there and disapates pretty quick. I’ve never smelled smoke up stairs or in the rest of the basement outside of the furnace room - and even then that again is only when loading occasionally. I’ve spent many weeks over the past 10 years or so at my in-laws and I never was able to smell smoke from the wood furnace in the basement.

This is what I want to hear! I'm so sick of ppl I know telling me that my house will reek of smoke blah blah blah.

 

[Der Fuirmeister]

I would not put a wood burner in a garage that is used to park a car or store gas etc for several reasons. Many communities / states have laws prohibiting this. For insurance reasons. And the biggest reason is ........gasoline + wood burner = boom