Need to lower heating cost`s! .. fireplace insert...or...IWB add on? Suggestion`s needed

[johnn]

I have a two-story with basement,square floorplan...imagine a rubic`s cube. Basement has fireplace directly under fireplace on first floor located in living room, both flues inside common chimney. Downstairs has central unit AC, Gas. Wouldn`t moneys spent be better spent on an add on wood furnace that can be ducted in? You boiler room guy`s are way ahead of my knowledge curve;so any help would be appreciated. Location is southern Ill. so my burning season is rather mild compared to many(3 to 4 ) months top. not many days in the teen`s.

Currently using pre EPA insert upstairs...and once fired my central heat seldom kicks on . however the burn times on this burner are not long so early morning usually requires central heat until I get up. Needless to say, If I`m going to do all the work associated with burn`s...why not have a few more room`s more comfortable? Fire Chief and Vogelzang are the two I came across today, could use some input on these and others. Please and thank`s.

 

[LeonMSPT]

Wood/coal boiler would heat domestic hot water as well as the house... gassifier best if you can afford the initial outlay of cash. I don't have one, bought traditional, as I didn't have the cash. Learning still, but it's working out well so far.

 

[Piker]

As you know by now, a gasser will give you the most efficient use of fuel. The further south you live, the longer it takes to get a payback from your wood burning investment, regardless of whether you purchase gasification or conventional.

One thing to think about... the price difference between a gasifier and a conventional boiler can be made up in a relatively short period of time just in the value of the wood you will save. Say 2 to 3 years average but depending on what you are comparing and the size of your heat load etc. That's not too bad really.

The forced air units are way cheaper up front. I have seen some forced air units that also heat domestic hot water with a coil near the firebox, though I don't know how efficiently they work.

If you have an idea of how much fuel (gas or oil) it would take to heat your home for a season, you can calculate approximately how much wood it would take to replace that in a gasser or in a regular forced air wood stove. If you know this, you should be able to amortize your costs and savings over a given period of time and come to a conclusion as to which route is best. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

cheers

 

[johnn]

Broken leg won`t allow me downstairs to read out furnace or get to record files, however I know from family friends and associates at work that my bill for heating compared to their`s....I`m about 400 to 600 to the good during one heating season.That`s with an old insert. Sure most room`s are cooler than their`s, but we enjoy sleeping in cool room`s. To upgrade my insert and liner with no fancy stuff and doing it all myself including block off and liner I estimate conservativrly 4K? (sound right?) (3K to 4K sounds better) So what1s out there for that range not getting really high tech. What`s an Econoburn EBW200?

 

[Piker]

Broken leg won`t allow me downstairs to read out furnace or get to record files, however I know from family friends and associates at work that my bill for heating compared to their`s....I`m about 400 to 600 to the good during one heating season.That`s with an old insert. Sure most room`s are cooler than their`s, but we enjoy sleeping in cool room`s. To upgrade my insert and liner with no fancy stuff and doing it all myself including block off and liner I estimate conservativrly 4K? (sound right?) (3K to 4K sounds better) So what1s out there for that range not getting really high tech. What`s an Econoburn EBW200?

You will not be able to install a gasifier for 4k... if you do it yourself you might get by with about 8k depending on how detailed you go with your system, and providing you don't need a very big boiler. An EBW200 is a 200,000 Btu output Econoburn gasifier. That's a pretty good sized unit. It's what we use as a demo here at Hillside.

I have heard very good things about Woodchuck forced air furnaces... don't know much about them yet though.

cheers