Wood Stove vs. Add on Wood Furnace

[Troy G]

I have been reading through the archives and need to ask this question to people who are more in the know than I.

I currently have a Regency 2400 wood stove installed in my basement. Wifey and I spend most of our time in the basement as that is where my office is and that is where the TV is.

The problem is that the down stairs is quite warm and the upstairs is not quite warm enough. I have our programmable thermostat on the gas furnace set at 21 degrees Celsius and it usually cuts in at around 4:00 am if I load the stove at 11:00 when I go to bed. This is with poplar wood and House is 1200 sq/ft.

I started researching add on wood furnaces and thought this would be the answer to my problems of getting wood heat upstairs. Upon researching I am seeing that some people are saying that wood stoves are more efficient and use less wood. Likely not an apple to apple comparison given many unknown variables. I do not want to spend a bunch of money to put in a ad on wood furnace only to be taking a step backwards and have to use even more wood. Also been reading that cutting vents in the ceiling is not really worth while. I was going to try and get some small fans and mount them on the ceiling and get the air moving towards the up the stairs.

Here is a picture of the stove and hearth area.

 

[coog]

Troy, I don't know what your budget is, or how good your firewood supply is, but a furnace for whole house heating is the best way to heat multiple levels.My friend just replaced an older wood furnace with a gas/wood combo and had a hard time keeping the place below 90 degrees(F, in MN)Seems 2or 3 logs is all it needs to keep it in the 70's.I have an old brick house with a woodstove.I love it, but a furnace would do a better job with all the wood I burn.

p.s cutting vents in the flooring/ceiling is against building codes in the U.S.Creates a fire path.

 

[aandabooks]

A wood furnace is definately going to consume more wood than a stand alone wood stove. The benefit is that they are generally not in a living area and keep the mess contained to a basement area.

The woodstove radiates heat into a living area and also brings the mess with it.

The more that you want the whole house heated with an evenness to the heat, the more you are generally going to consume in wood. Kind of like the people on here that have the OWBs. The whole house gets heated evenly, the mess stays outside but the tradeoff is the amount of wood consumed during a heating season.

My FIL used to have a woodburner in the livingroom and when we would go over to his house I'd wear a sweatshirt over a tee shirt. If I was in the livingroom, tee shirt only. Once I moved to an outlying room, then it was time to put the sweatshirt on. Just on the one level of the old farmhouse there could be a 15 degree difference.

 

[Troy G]

Thanks for the responses thus far. I am not opposed to working harder to have even heat in the house.

I have access to wood that is not the issue.

So the heat rating of the add on wood furnaces seem to be quite accurate with the heat and square feet ratings? When I bought my wood stove I should have bought the biggest one I could. I am reading that taking this mindset with a add on furnace is going to make things quite roasty toasty. I am in Saskatchewan Canada and we get cold weather coupled with wind.

As far as budget goes I am looking at this as an investment that will eventually pay for itself in gas savings.

 

[chainsawaddict]

Where is your furnace return?

it is way easier to get heat upstairs than downstairs.

 

[sesmith]

We also have a stove in the cellar and have never been able to get a constant temp throughout the house...we've just lowered our expectations and enjoyed not paying for much oil. Here's what I've found that helps. I have a forced air furnace in the cellar and leave the blower door open to allow cold air return from upstairs. This helps a lot with the heat flow (but I can't use the furnace without shutting the door). I stacked a cinder block wall on either side of the stove, the length and height of the stove (my cellar doesn't look as good as yours). The 1st course is laid sideways to allow airflow under the walls. The walls act as more thermal mass for the stove. They also prevent much of the heat from being radiated out the stone cellar walls and convert much of the radiant heat to convection. I also have my furnace set way lower than you do...58 F or 15 Canadian My upstairs temp fluctuates between 64 and 72 but usually is around 67-68 F. I usually only kick on the furnace to bring the temp back up if it starts the day at 64 or it's managed to get that cold when we come home from work. A furnace would help you control your house temp better, but even with the setup you have, I'm sure you're using your gas furnace way less than you would without the stove.

 

[Techstuf]

Try a small fan mounted to the ceiling of the stairway to the main level. I heat my upper two levels from my basement just fine. My basement averages around 90 degrees while the main level is 80. Upper story usually sits between 65-70 degrees. Heck, I've even opened the door to my attic to melt the snow off the roof with my wood stove on occasion.

Before shelling out for an expensive wood furnace and associative electric costs, consider tweaking your convection loop with a small fan, perhaps a thermostatically controlled unit that will kick off at the desired temp.


TS

 

[skid row]

I have an add on wood furnace and it pretty much runs 24/7 november thru march. The entire house is heated well no matter how cold it gets outside. If you go that route make sure you connect it to your cold air return.

 

[046]

as you already know, radiated heat has a greater affect on local areas.

what you need is a Large quiet fan moving hot air upstairs. moving heat with air requires Large CFM (cubic ft per min). look at how large your gas heater's ducts are.

since heat naturally rises, moving heat upwards is not as difficult as moving heat in a single level house.

Try a small fan mounted to the ceiling of the stairway to the main level. I heat my upper two levels from my basement just fine. My basement averages around 90 degrees while the main level is 80. Upper story usually sits between 65-70 degrees. Heck, I've even opened the door to my attic to melt the snow off the roof with my wood stove on occasion.

Before shelling out for an expensive wood furnace and associative electric costs, consider tweaking your convection loop with a small fan, perhaps a thermostatically controlled unit that will kick off at the desired temp.


TS

 

[Troy G]

Thanks for the replies. I am going to try and exhaust all possibilities trying to get the hot air on the ceiling in the downstairs level going up.

The idea would be to get the hot air going into the cold air return of the ducting for the furnace?

 

[Zodiac45]

Thanks for the responses thus far. I am not opposed to working harder to have even heat in the house.

I have access to wood that is not the issue.

So the heat rating of the add on wood furnaces seem to be quite accurate with the heat and square feet ratings? When I bought my wood stove I should have bought the biggest one I could. I am reading that taking this mindset with a add on furnace is going to make things quite roasty toasty. I am in Saskatchewan Canada and we get cold weather coupled with wind.

As far as budget goes I am looking at this as an investment that will eventually pay for itself in gas savings.

Possibly a bigger stove and some floor registers(or some way too move air) would help the upstairs. My old house on the coast of Maine (200+yrs old) has registers in the floors in strategic places that can be opened or closed. They help. This would be the cheapest way out. A tied in add on wood furnace is more money and will use more wood too.

 

[Troy G]

Is there such a thing as Wood Burning Apparatus Acquiring Disorder, very similar to the CAD disorder many suffer from on this fine forum?

I am going to try and make what I have work right now, that way I can buy that Timberwolf log splitter and Stihl MS 660 that keep calling to me.

I thought I was burning wood to save money?

 

[wdchuck]

Is there such a thing as Wood Burning Apparatus Acquiring Disorder, very similar to the CAD disorder many suffer from on this fine forum?

I am going to try and make what I have work right now, that way I can buy that Timberwolf log splitter and Stihl MS 660 that keep calling to me.

I thought I was burning wood to save money? :dizzy:

You will save money, but not if you stick around here much longer.

 

[David Wayne]

It's not so much about the money you save as it is about what you have after you spent it.
Heating oil= 0
Equipment= more cool toys.

 

[IndyIan]

Hi Troy,
I have the same woodstove as you, and I think its fine but we have to run ours fairly hot to heat our house with it. 500F on the top is good for -5 to 0C but when we get -20 we crank it up running 700-800F for an hour or two at a time, let it drop to 550ish and throw a few more sticks in getting it back up to 700-800F.
We get very little creosote in the chimney, like half a liter when I clean it out in spring. But if you have been burning cooler then you should clean your chimney before you go to the higher temps.
Also don't aim for the higher temps with a half full stove, as you need to leave the intake wide open, pulling in lots of cold air from somewhere in your house. Load it full, run near wide open till you hit 700-800F then damp it to 1/4 open or so it maintains 700F+, you'll see the secondary air tubes take over and not as much air is being pulled through the stove.
I'm burning only hardwoods, oak, maple, beech, some ironwood so you might have to do things a bit different with poplar.
I think if you can get a cold air return near your stove and leave the furnace fan on you should be good to heat the house.
Ian

 

[Troy G]

It's not so much about the money you save as it is about what you have after you spent it.
Heating oil= 0
Equipment= more cool toys.

The cool toys need to go on the chopping block as the wife and I are expecting our first child in late July or early August. I have a gun safe full of long range hunting rigs, long range bench guns, NRA silhouette guns, and high end optics.

I may be able to convince the wife that I need a Timberwolf and a 660 because she will not be able to help me with the wood preparation all Spring or Summer.

"The quicker I get done with the wood cutting, splitting, and stacking, the sooner I can wait on you hand and foot, HONEY!" "My Stihl equipment are tools not toys, I get no enjoyment out of using the gear, I love you!"

 

[Troy G]

Ian,

In the three years I have used the stove, I have experiences no creosote in the chimney. Every fall when I go to clean the chimney it is a couple of passes with a Nylon brush and the stainless is clean. I understand creosote to be a black, hard, tarry build up, my chimney usually just has a little grey soot that could probably be cleaned by runnning some high pressure air up the pipe.

I burn the stove so that there is always secondary combustion happening. I always burn the fire hot to start and then slowly start to choke it down just so that the flame is still dancing off the wood. The first year I was always out side looking to see if the chimney was smoking. It took awhile to learn how to burn wodd as it is an art. Now I just try and keep things as consistant as possible as my wood species rarely changes so my burn characteristics are repeatable.

 

[Techstuf]

Troy, if you don't already, it's also absolutely imperative that you feed that stove outside air. If not, it will be sucking cold air from every crack and crevice upstairs and you'll barely break even. Mine is in the basement and I feed it from the dryer vent via a 4" aluminum feed duct which terminates just above the stove's door such that when the door is opened, the air also serves to keep the smoke from entering the room. A draft curtain coming down to feed the stove catches the smoke and causes it to turn down and back into the stove, mixing with the incoming air.

Also, if you wish to vent the dryer inside, capturing heat while giving off needed humidity during burning season, I highly recommend a high efficiency washer which spins the clothes at much higher RPMs. Your clothes will come out of the washer twice as dry as the old models. Also your dryer will require much less electricity and put out just the right amount of needed humidity. I just use the wife's old pantyhose over the end to catch the lint and make sure it is aimed properly, away from metal surfaces and out into the room.

Regards,


TS

 

[CrappieKeith]

There's a big difference between a stove and a furnace.
Your comment about stoves being more efficient is not entirely correct.
Here's 5 things to look for.
1.Amounts of heat exchanger surface area.
2.Gasification or Cadalitic reburn.
3.Thermal Mass or firebrick...dense bricks like 3200 degrees
4.Burn rate cycling via a thermostat.
5.Barometric draft regulators mounted in the flue alliviating draft speeds.

With these option working for you, the wood consumption is minimal,then duct the furnace to it to heat your whole home.
I have a Yukon that does these things and I have been on the same 100 gallon propane tank for the last 10 years.It's still half full.
I heat 1400 s/f and need about 1/2 cord of hardwood a month with temps that average 5 above to 10 below in the winter.I keep my home at 73 -75 degrees.

 

[Techstuf]

I heat 1400 s/f and need about 1/2 cord of hardwood a month with temps that average 5 above to 10 below in the winter.I keep my home at 73 -75 degrees.

1/2 cord a month....WoW, I'll have what he's having! I'm heating double the sq. footage and burning just over a cord a month. I'd love to get away with burning 2 cords a season!


Is your home insulated with snow to the roof top or what?


TS