I have a propane central heat furnace in my medium, large two story farmhouse. Thinking of putting a big woodstove in the basement to heat the house if the economy collapses and I can't get propane or the electric goes down and the fan can't be powered. Or for an extended ice storm.
Thinking of lining the sketchy old chimney put there for the old furnace decades ago. Thinking of a big old used fisher and keep the basement door open to let the heat rise up into the house. Lots of hedge around here, lots.
Thinking of cutting big long logs and building a big fire to get me thru those cold Missouri nights.
Are new stoves better or worse? Will it be cheaper to get a used Fisher or a new one.
Any advice? I'm an accountant who moved back to the family farm and am clueless.
Thank you
Putting a woodstove in the basement usually turns out to be a huge disappointment and perhaps in this case, even more so. The main reason is that the basement walls in your home are probably not insulated. This means that most of the heat your stove will produce would go to heat and keep heated the basement walls. But even if they were insulated, most people have found it is very difficult to get the heat from the basement to the upper part of the house. Yes heat does indeed rise, but in this case, very little will get above that floor. It simply does not work.
Therefore, if you intend on heating with wood, you will find that placing it in the area you spend most of the time will serve you much better. This normally is not in the basement.
You do have some very good firewood in your area and should be able to do well with it. I would suggest you begin by leaning (visit The Wood Shed) what types of wood you have, how long it takes to dry that wood before you can burn it and how best to store it so that it dries the quickest. Learn first that it does take time to dry wood. Gone are the days when folks were said to cut wood in the fall and burn it in the winter. You do not want to get into this sort of thing.
Are new stoves better or worse, you ask? You be the judge as I will give you an example of our situation.
Many years ago we were given a great bargain on a stove, or so it seemed. This stove was basically new as only a very few fires had been burned. At the time, this particular stove had been highly regarded. For a mere $100, we took that beast out of their home and installed it into our home. Well, we did not freeze (it was a big stove after all), but I can tell you we were never comfortable in winter. To assist, we closed off part of the house during the winter and also used a small heater in the bathroom to use when we were ready to use the shower. We averaged about 6 cord of wood per year. The most we used was about 7 1/2 cord. As stated, we were never comfortable in the winter but we got by.
Fast forward to 2007 when we finally decided it was time to get a better stove. After much searching and researching, we purchased a stove from Woodstock Soapstone. At first I laughed when I saw the stove. It indeed was a beautiful stove and we admired it but I just could not see how a stove so much smaller than what we had could heat our home. Long story short, we bought. Of course I leaned on that six month guarantee they offered. We installed the stove in September, 2007.
The results we have obtained are:
1. We are no longer uncomfortable in winter. In contrast, we keep our home at 80 degrees or warmer all winter.
2. We no longer close off part of the house in the winter. In fact, we have added a room onto the house.
3. Rather than 6 cord of wood per year, in the six year's we've had this stove, the most wood we've burned is 3 cord. (There may have been just a few fires over that 3 cord last year but the year before it was 2 1/2 cord at most.)
4. If we figure we've burned 3 cord less per year, this amounts to 18 cord of wood we have not had to cut over the last 6 years.
5. When we had the old stove, we cleaned our chimney normally 4 times per winter or more. We have cleaned our chimney one time since the new stove. To add to that, I have not yet looked but my wife did remove the cap from the tee a couple weeks ago and some ash fell. I have not measured it yet but there was not much. There has been no black creosote since we added this stove.
6. Our stove is as much a piece of fine furniture as any in the home. It looks at home as well in the summer as in winter.
You judge. Was the new stove better, or was it worse?
Good luck.