When tired of cutting wood

[jimmiller2]

We have a propane furnace and a nicely installed Big Jack wood furnace at our present house. In a our area of southern Tennessee we have mild winters but when it gets very cold we fire up the wood furnace and love the wood heat and our land has a lifetime supply of free wood. We are building another smaller house and the plan was to install a heat pump plus a propane fireplace which I have already framed out. Wood is certainly better but as everyone knows a lot of work. As I was comtemplating installing a direct vent propane fireplace I saw a electric fireplace and did some research on the subject. With our southern location, desire for less work it looked like just what we needed to fill the space and to allow for a nice mantel /fireplace look. I just bought a 37 inch wide Dimplex which has the major market share. I just got it temporarily wired today and the fake flame looks great fire and can be run without using the 220 volt heaters and also air filter on the built in fan. It only puts out 2700 watts and is not a major heat source but fits our needs perfectly. I was wondering if anyone on the forum has any experience with these units? The house I am building is small 1200 sq foot and super insulated that even its modest output will be nice for those days when just a little heat is needed. The house is reinforced concrete block, ten foot ceilings and polyiso insulation with walls R35 and ceiling R55 to 60.

Thanks
JM

 

[begreen]

An electric space heater or heatpump can be great in a mild climate, especially in areas with reasonable electrical rates. One question, how frequent and long are power outages? That is critical where we live. We lose power for more than 8 hrs at least a couple times a year. Sometimes for a lot longer.

 

[Chinneysweep187]

If it fits your needs perfectly then I'd say your good to go. I would be concerned with what begreen mentioned .Power Outages. I would let the heat pump do its job and get a woodstove for supplementary/ emergency heat .

 

[BrotherBart]

Get a generator for power outages and go for it.

 

[Chinneysweep187]

Get a generator for power outages and go for it.

Word. I didn't think about that.

 

[jimmiller2]

That was a concern of mine also. A few years ago we had a major power outage for nearly a week but since haven't really had any other than a hour or two due to a car wreck or maintenance. A generator is a good idea. I got the electric fireplace temp wired yesterday to check and the flames and log set look very real. Dimplex is probably the best looking of the fake fireplaces. I will install it in the same way as this gas unit would have been with granite and stained wood mantel which I had already bought to use with this empire gas unit.

Thanks
JM

 

[begreen]

Instead of a gasoline generator consider a propane powered one, especially if you have a large tank. Or consider a vented propane space heater or fireplace for in the house.

 

[jimmiller2]

Instead of a gasoline generator consider a propane powered one, especially if you have a large tank. Or consider a vented propane space heater or fireplace for in the house.

Be green
At the new house we won't have Propane at all. That was one of the advantages for having the electric fireplace. I am hoping power outages are so rare they won't be much of a problem. The new house is in Moore county which is only 15 miles from our present house and uses the same power company. I am going to hook up our water so it will be easy to turnoff and drain the pipes. If we ever face a major several day power outage I will consider it a good excuse to go to Florida for a few days. I will probably invest in a cheap generator also and for cooking we can use our propane grill if we decide to tuff it out.

Thanks
Jim

 

[begreen]

Could be you are just fine. My SIL rarely has outages. We, OTOH have several due to our rural location, overhead wires and a lot of older trees.

 

[Coach B]

Are you on Duck River Electric Jim? I'm a neighbor over in Marshall County. We were out for most of two days last winter during one of the ice/sleet/snow episodes. It was a great time to discover the generator, which ran perfectly, was not generating power. Fortunately, the woodstove more than took care of heating and cooking needs. Kids actually enjoyed it. I have since got a new duel fuel gas/propane generator which I now confirm monthly will generate power. We do have a heat pump but rely on wood heat most of the winter even here in Tennessee. We've been to 0 or below I think two or three out of the last four winters. My wife and kids like to be warm and the heat pump just wont get it done in the December to early March stretch.

 

[Jason845845]

Not a whole lot of heat but it looks good while I contemplate what I'm going to do with a the fireplace.

 

[tarzan]

The best thing about getting a generator is once you have one the power outages will be fewer and further between

 

[begreen]

That's why I have 3.