New house - thinking about heating with wood - need help

[jimdad07]

If you want the in floor heat, I would put it only in spots where you have concrete or ceramic. It is not very efficient with wood floors, it also does not work very well if you put carpet over it. The other spots I would put baseboard in. I would also put an indoor woodboiler in with a gas boiler backup. I also have seen a couple of wood pellet boilers that seem to work well. There are many options for heating your home with wood. I have a big Lopi soodstove in my 1456 sq. ft. house that heats the whole place even on the -0 nights we get up in New York. A owb will most likely not be available to you as an option because of your location.

 

[logbutcher]

If you have to buy wood then there really is no advantage to burning wood IMO.You might be better off getting a pellet stove for your shop.My buudy is a carpenter and he tossed around the idea on how to heat his shop.He did not need it heated all the time so a heater that had any kind of water was out.Then he thought about hot air with a plenum.But with sawdust he felt it might cause it to be airborne.His final decision was 2 propane heaters from Home depot one at each end of the shop.His shop is 20'x50' with 12' ceilings.He does not even go through a 100 lb of propane a winter.

Not true Milkie. Even at +/- $400./cord of hardwood it beats ANY fuel cost BTU to BTU. Check out the many tables and auto calculations of fuel costs online. Pellets per ton are not cheap when available and vary in BTU content. Don't take opinion for it, look it up and compare your local costs for a cord of hardwood to oil, propane, electricity, pellets. Do BTU content per unit cost.

When you harvest your own firewood and heat 100%, 24/7 with wood, the savings and benefits are high. Very very high. Besides, you get some sculpted body cutting, bucking, limbing, humping, splitting, stacking, carrying, loading, ash cleaning, chimney sweeping, tuning, modding, sharpening..........:deadhorse::deadhorse:

I'm not giving you specific numbers so that you can get it yourself then show and tell.

 

[abohac]

Floor heat

I did almost exactly what you are doing 7 years ago and I have never been sorry. I heat 3350 sq feet of living area, the basement and 3 car garage. I have floor heat in all hardwood floor and tiled areas, and floor heat in the basement and garage and snow melt at the approach to my garage. There are tons of people that can give you information on laying out your pex, zoning, thermostats, pumps etc. If you are mechanically inclined at all you can do all of it yourself. I have about $10,000 in my system. I think I paid for it in a little over 3 years (when you include hot water). I use a Woodmaster outdoor boiler. I cut one heck of a lot of wood because of my system and the fact that my dad has 2 boilers (one for his house and one for his farm shop). We cut about 90 face cords per year (use about 60 and sell a little). If you are set up to cut wood (know what you are doing, have access to wood and have the equipment to handle it) I'd certainly go the route you are planning. Write back if you have any questions.

 

[swamprat46]

This is a pic of house I just finished. (stolen from freehand, ) had my son post it. (I'm computer illiterate)


It is 3 stories, and she heats it with a very small woodstove. It is very well insulated, with cellulose insulation. The stove is midpoint on the second floor, and I know the heater doesn't come on for the top two floors. I'm not sure about the walk out basement. It is 4500 square feet or so.

I wouldn't have guarenteed the heating with such a small stove. But it works. Well built.

I heat a 4000 sq ft house with a Hearthstone soap stone stove rated for 2400 sq feet. The house is 2 story with a daylight walk out basement. The stove does not provide 100%, I would guess at least 70-75% maybe a little more. I have a 95% efficient propane furnace that is zoned for different levels to control heating and cooling. The furnace also has 2 DC circulation fans that run year round 24-7. There are no hot or cold spots in the winter and the basement is never damp in the summer. The stove is in the middle of the house on the main floor and consumes 3-4 cords of seasoned hardwood per year. The house is full of windows and includes a south facing great room that pretty much heats the house in mid winter. The only time the furnace kicks on is briefly when temperatures drop below 0, and then only to warm up the basement. The chimney is in the middle of the house, and only needs cleaning once per year. The stove is so efficient that it does not require a catalytic convertor. I brush out the stove pipe once a month. Compared to my friends with outside boilers, I use 1/4 to 1/3 of the wood that they do. I've heated with wood in 4 different houses for 40 years and this is the best setup so far.

John