Preparing to buy some brand of wood stove for my house…..and in reading a plethora of posts it seems with any stove issues you have to view inside chimneys, stove pipes, inner stove workings and DIY investigating to problem solve…then DIY fix the problem. Being honest I don’t feel I can do much of any of that. I am retirement age and not handy and no interest in fixing things. The forums provide a wealth of information….but it’s wisdom I need now…. The most I can do is set up for success and follow directions - when problems crop up with a solid stove not sure I can fix them….not physically able to do much but load a stove and scoop ashes now and again. Would get chimney swept yearly….but maybe stove ownership is not a good fit for me? I want one….but whether I should or not is spooking me out this morning…..gaskets, nuts n bolts, probe thermometers, dampers….I am afraid the stove will end up a very expensive room decor item with the first problem!
Not a DIY homeowner - should I forego getting a wood stove?
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Find a good chimney sweep and they should be able to do the maintenance for you. Yes many people here are very diy oriented. But there is another large portion of wood burners who rely on people like me to maintain their setup
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
I don't forsee a problem running my wood stove into retirement - except for feebleness.
In my mind's eye I can see having to switch out my cordwood stove for a pellet stove someday. I figure I will have a bicycle basket on the front of my walker and do laps between the stack of pellet bags in the garage and the hopper on the pellet stove. The down side to pellet stoves is typically they need to get shut down once a week or so and the firepot cleaned out with soft paint brush sort of maintenance.
At my current rate of creeping decrepitude my shoulders will likely give out before my knees, so getting down on the hearth to maintain the pellet firepot is a not unreasonable expectation for me to have.
Either way I will eventually need a pro sweep to keep up with the chimney.
In my mind's eye I can see having to switch out my cordwood stove for a pellet stove someday. I figure I will have a bicycle basket on the front of my walker and do laps between the stack of pellet bags in the garage and the hopper on the pellet stove. The down side to pellet stoves is typically they need to get shut down once a week or so and the firepot cleaned out with soft paint brush sort of maintenance.
At my current rate of creeping decrepitude my shoulders will likely give out before my knees, so getting down on the hearth to maintain the pellet firepot is a not unreasonable expectation for me to have.
Either way I will eventually need a pro sweep to keep up with the chimney.
Buy a simple stove with less moving parts , have it professionally installed and get a good chimney sweep once a year. That’s what I’m doing. Not climbing a ladder to reach my tee clean out, risking a fall and investing in brushes, rods and a professional mask etc.
The process can seem daunting at first, but it definitely does not need to be a DIY setup. Your responsibility is to make the stove choice, get a well-referenced, experienced, and competent installer to do the heavy lifting, and get a good supply of wood ready to burn. The running of the stove is not that complicated, especially if you get a good basic stove. Think KISS.
If you need help, we can guide you, albeit remotely, with the stove selection, installation review (get quotes in writing), and operation.
If you are afraid of fire and have never burned before, then that would be a cautionary flag. Putting in a stove and new flue system from scratch can be costly. It definitely should be used, even if just for some night and weekend fires.
If you need help, we can guide you, albeit remotely, with the stove selection, installation review (get quotes in writing), and operation.
If you are afraid of fire and have never burned before, then that would be a cautionary flag. Putting in a stove and new flue system from scratch can be costly. It definitely should be used, even if just for some night and weekend fires.
This also brings about considering all the options. For some, a gas or pellet stove may be sufficient.
Hmmm never worked w/ a pellet appliance……No gas to my home___3 years ago when I bought the home it was $1200 to hook it up from the street to this place so I just forgot about it…. Now however really want weather off grid emergency situations related to heat fixable….. And ambiance for entertaining in winter which is usually a Holiday or 2 affair….. Friends an hour or 2 south of me truly were rattled with power out nearly 2 weeks in an ice storm….huge big deal and now it’s all in the courts…. Feel like a sitting duck….as many do with severe weather wreaking havoc across the world. Wood heat in spite of anxieties of relearning feels healing and calming & worth the effort in my mind….you have no idea how much this forum rights me in my figuring out stages….very grateful!
Very true….#1 is emergency safety….#2 is ambiance….. #3 would probably be formed by how well I acclaimate to the new stove….if it’s easy and effective it sure could supplement heat to turn down elec heat thermostat…..full time use feels overwhelming right now but love the idea of that capability in a quality stove operated properly!
Thankfully no fire fears if the stove operates safely with me at the helm….that’s why I want quality stove even if more $ - appreciate the forums support very much. Grateful!
Beautiful post… Thank you! There’s a good sweep here in town….but if that changes aye yai yai! I had both knees and both hips replaced before age 50….those are doing ok at 18 years out! Shoulders are hanging in there but make sleep challenging sometimes lol! My new favorite word…decrepitude lol!
While there is nothing wrong with a wood stove, it'll may be cheaper to spend the $1200 on the gas line and put in a nat gas appliance.
You'll still get the ambiance. The nat gas will flow even when the power is out. I believe most appliances (gas fireplaces) don't need electricity to run (or you get one that doesn't).
So that would mean way (way) less effort (moving wood, ordering wood, dirt in the home, tending to the fire) and still heat when there is no power, and ambiance - on the push of a button.
@DAKSY is, I believe, the nat gas appliance guru here, so he can tell if I'm wrong.
You'll still get the ambiance. The nat gas will flow even when the power is out. I believe most appliances (gas fireplaces) don't need electricity to run (or you get one that doesn't).
So that would mean way (way) less effort (moving wood, ordering wood, dirt in the home, tending to the fire) and still heat when there is no power, and ambiance - on the push of a button.
@DAKSY is, I believe, the nat gas appliance guru here, so he can tell if I'm wrong.
Your post gives me hope. Sports did a number on my knees have OA now which sucks. Need replacement down the road. I’m an outdoorsman so like being active so having knee pain is no fun.
I have gas and I believe a gas fireplace does works in a power outage with a vertical pilot. We wanted the wood stove for true off grid living. If the NG is not flowing you have no heat. My Gas boiler and hot water tank won’t work without power. My stove top will.
There are pilotless gas stoves that use a battery-powered igniter now too. NG flows all the time here, but the installation must be done safely, including from the main to the street.
What I worry about is if the NG pipe lines are compromised. The hacking by the Russians a few years back (colonial pipeline) with ransomware comes to mind. A friend of ours is high level at a large well known financial institution and has mentioned our energy infrastructure is vulnerable. The wood stove is nice insurance for true off grid safety.
Ok, so safety during a power outage pretty much cuts out a pellet stove. A quality generator could run it, but then you'd have to store the fuel for it unless you went with a whole house generator run by natural gas.
That leaves you with a gas stove or a wood stove.
For a gas stove, you have much less maintenance and preparation. If you are worried about the natural gas pipeline going out, you can always run propane. This would satisfy your needs. The gas flame doesn't really look like a wood flame though. In my opinion, there is definitely less ambiance.
Since this is mostly a wood board, we're probably very biased toward it. It would provide the heat and security you want, plus the ambiance. The biggest downside to wood is the wood storage. As you read around the board here, you'll come across many issues with burning wet wood. Stacking it and letting it dry is the solution. You can also buy compressed wood logs that are dry. You'll also need to keep the chimney clean.
Maybe looking at where you'd like to put it would make a difference. Stoves are space heaters. They work best if placed in the room you're in. In this room, would dust, ash, the occasional insect be tolerable? Are there white carpets that would show mud tracked in? How would you run the chimney?
Prof
Minister of Fire
Is there some value to you in the messing with the wood? This is my biggest source of regular exercise--cutting, splitting, stacking, carrying, loading, etc. Even if you don't do it all from start to finish, there may be some value for you in staying active and connected to nature. As others have said, a simple stove (preferably just an air control) doesn't take much. Most of my DIY projects are self-inflicted. For instance, I had a stove that was working perfectly fine in my basement. I decided that it could really use a nice stone hearth. So the question then became, can me and the 10 year old move the stove out of the way and back in place after the completion of the hearth. She also helped with the hearth construction. Totally not needed, cost me about $50 in child labor, and probably gave her a memory or two for her lifetime. Sorry for the long-winded response. Happy fires, with whatever source you choose.
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
I say this.. Its ok to get a stove. As with anything new there is some anxiety. Owning a wood stove is no different. I remember back when I started there was some reluctantly and nervousness. It will go away as you get used to the stove and you gain knowledge as you operate.
I can remember my great great grandfather teaching me the way of the wood when I was 8.. 200 year old house with a fireplace in every room.. no running water, no bathroom, no gas.. a hand well pump outside the back door.. I can remember the first time a flaming log came rolling out.. I nearly $hi* my pants.. man.. that was the good old days..
I can remember my great great grandfather teaching me the way of the wood when I was 8.. 200 year old house with a fireplace in every room.. no running water, no bathroom, no gas.. a hand well pump outside the back door.. I can remember the first time a flaming log came rolling out.. I nearly $hi* my pants.. man.. that was the good old days..
Its a "wood board" but I would like to challenge your assumptions a bit. But first some observations. Wood is always going to be more hands on than electric of fossil fuels (oil, gas or propane). It requires more preplanning commitment and space in order to use wood or pellets. There can be debate between pellet users and cord wood users as to which is easier. From an ambience aspect there is not substitute to a wood fire with glass door. Yes some pellet stoves can attempt to recreate it but its poor substitute. There are wood and pellet boilers that have zero ambiance (they usually reside in basement and have zero ambiance and the overall systems are costly. They win as primary heating source 365/24/7 but I will assume they are out of the discussion. From an ambience aspect a good natural gas "stove" with ceramics logs may have the ambiance and backup heating potential that you wish. So if ambiance and backup heating are the major reasons for the stove I think we exclude pellets. Gas stoves should be install it and forget it if they are installed correctly.
You stated you paid to have natural gas run to the home. That is important from a backup situation. The electric grid is always going to be vulnerable to weather. It always has been. There is very powerful lobby running a long term campaign spending tens if not millions of dollars to convince the public that the electrical grid is getting less reliable and in areas of the country most impacted by climate (Northern CA, Florida and hurricane prone coastal areas) the concern is valid. For the rest of the country the reliability of electric power is still quite high but its always good to have a backup. Incidentally in many areas that suffer icing events, its the individual house services that take the longest to restore, if you are in area that requires the lines from the street to the house to be underground, individual outage restoration tends to be far shorter as the utility only needs to fix the damage to main lines in the street. So if you do not have underground power from the street to the house, seriously consider it.
In vulnerable areas of the country there are standards for critical facilities like public buildings and hospitals and that is to have two sources of backup for electrical power. Generally, the solution is use the electric grid as a primary source and natural gas generation as a backup. Natural gas lines and infrastructure up north is mostly under ground and far less exposed to weather events. Its rare that the natural gas system goes down along with the electric grid so unless you are setting up for major disaster (like a major tornado) and living in hardened "bunker" its questionable if you will have a home standing to worry about heat and power. So in your case, a natural gas fired standby generator solves the electric power issue and install a gas fired stove or fireplace for ambiance. Compared to natural gas, wood is not a great emergency backup as it requires a well seasoned stack of cut and split wood stored undercover somewhere on the property. It takes a lot of wood to heat a house exclusively during an extended power outage and the lights will still be off.
Assuming you have a spouse in the house, you also need to see if they are on board for wood or to a lesser extent pellets. Both can be somewhat messy with cord wood being the messiest. Sure, some folks can minimize the messiness, but it requires a commitment, far more than a natural gas stove which is set it and forget it.
Where cord wood and pellets can win out is that they typically will cost less for heat in the long run than fossil fuels but that is somewhat regional. Natural gas was mostly a waste product of oil drilling until recent years and it is still flared in parts of the country to get rid of it. If you are near a source of natural gas and there is pipeline infrastructure to your area it can be competitive with pellets. The big issue with natural gas is its fossil fuel and at some point soon there will effectively be a carbon tax of some sort on it. It may not be called a carbon tax but its cost will go up to discourage its use and fund cleaner alternatives. Same with propane (also a waste product from oil and natural gas extraction despite with the millions of dollars PERC (Propane Education and Research Council) is spending millions to greenwash it). The US government's policy is to switch over the nations residential heating to non fossil sources in less than 20 years and that is going to lead to major disincentives to burn fossil fuels.
On the other hand, if you live in an area with trees, there is always going to be source of wood for those who are willing to work for it but that require sweat equity which you stated you are not interested in. Nothing wrong with that, its good to be realistic.
Ultimately, unless nothing will replace a crackling wood fire, my recommendation is get a gas stove with ceramic gas log.
You stated you paid to have natural gas run to the home. That is important from a backup situation. The electric grid is always going to be vulnerable to weather. It always has been. There is very powerful lobby running a long term campaign spending tens if not millions of dollars to convince the public that the electrical grid is getting less reliable and in areas of the country most impacted by climate (Northern CA, Florida and hurricane prone coastal areas) the concern is valid. For the rest of the country the reliability of electric power is still quite high but its always good to have a backup. Incidentally in many areas that suffer icing events, its the individual house services that take the longest to restore, if you are in area that requires the lines from the street to the house to be underground, individual outage restoration tends to be far shorter as the utility only needs to fix the damage to main lines in the street. So if you do not have underground power from the street to the house, seriously consider it.
In vulnerable areas of the country there are standards for critical facilities like public buildings and hospitals and that is to have two sources of backup for electrical power. Generally, the solution is use the electric grid as a primary source and natural gas generation as a backup. Natural gas lines and infrastructure up north is mostly under ground and far less exposed to weather events. Its rare that the natural gas system goes down along with the electric grid so unless you are setting up for major disaster (like a major tornado) and living in hardened "bunker" its questionable if you will have a home standing to worry about heat and power. So in your case, a natural gas fired standby generator solves the electric power issue and install a gas fired stove or fireplace for ambiance. Compared to natural gas, wood is not a great emergency backup as it requires a well seasoned stack of cut and split wood stored undercover somewhere on the property. It takes a lot of wood to heat a house exclusively during an extended power outage and the lights will still be off.
Assuming you have a spouse in the house, you also need to see if they are on board for wood or to a lesser extent pellets. Both can be somewhat messy with cord wood being the messiest. Sure, some folks can minimize the messiness, but it requires a commitment, far more than a natural gas stove which is set it and forget it.
Where cord wood and pellets can win out is that they typically will cost less for heat in the long run than fossil fuels but that is somewhat regional. Natural gas was mostly a waste product of oil drilling until recent years and it is still flared in parts of the country to get rid of it. If you are near a source of natural gas and there is pipeline infrastructure to your area it can be competitive with pellets. The big issue with natural gas is its fossil fuel and at some point soon there will effectively be a carbon tax of some sort on it. It may not be called a carbon tax but its cost will go up to discourage its use and fund cleaner alternatives. Same with propane (also a waste product from oil and natural gas extraction despite with the millions of dollars PERC (Propane Education and Research Council) is spending millions to greenwash it). The US government's policy is to switch over the nations residential heating to non fossil sources in less than 20 years and that is going to lead to major disincentives to burn fossil fuels.
On the other hand, if you live in an area with trees, there is always going to be source of wood for those who are willing to work for it but that require sweat equity which you stated you are not interested in. Nothing wrong with that, its good to be realistic.
Ultimately, unless nothing will replace a crackling wood fire, my recommendation is get a gas stove with ceramic gas log.
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Hi! It would cost 1200 plus to get gas to the house from the road and don’t want propane tank either so wood it is! This living room is small …..I can show a pic of the wall where wood burner would go perhaps….behind my chair is more to this rectangular room that has dining room table and chairs…..Off the room is the kitchen that has 3 stairs to go outside to get wood placed in backyard. And the other door off dining room has a bedroom to the right, one to the left and a tiny bathroom in the middle. Some furniture may end up moved to upstairs room like the fake fireplace and maybe chair/ottoman….not exactly sure. I use a cordless dyson vac often and a steam mop for floors having pets…..there is light carpet covered with a rug but am hard on things and with the dogs and me and kitty it’s all good….am not “fussy” about things. The house pic shows area off to the right that is the LR where stove will go according to chimney guy
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I would price both out, including a chimney inspection, insulated liner etc. for the wood stove.
A gas one, including the $1200 for the line might still be cheaper than a wood stove.
A gas one, including the $1200 for the line might still be cheaper than a wood stove.
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