jthornton
ArboristSite Guru
I heat my garage and machine shop with a couple of inside wood burners. I rarely start up the one in the garage and usually just open the door between them and put a fan blowing from the garage to the shop to circulate air. This works ok but is not ideal as the machine shop is hot and the garage is cool. I burn about 2 cords a year to heat 2000 sq ft between the garage and the machine shop. I heat my house with propane and it takes about 400 gallons a year to heat my 2500 sq ft (including the walk out basement) house.
So I spend $600-$800 a year on propane and my labor to cut and split the wood. What I'm wondering is where is the payback for going all wood? Does the OWB die before you reach that point. Just saying $750 a year in propane savings would take 10 years to get even if the OWB cost $7500 installed. Do the OWB's last that long? Can you install one for that price?
My other thought is to build a smaller OWB and just use it to heat the garage and machine shop for now to get some experience with an OWB. Can you just put a radiator with a fan behind it in each area and run some tubing to each one?
The other factor is I will have a wood splitter in the near future...
Thanks
John
So I spend $600-$800 a year on propane and my labor to cut and split the wood. What I'm wondering is where is the payback for going all wood? Does the OWB die before you reach that point. Just saying $750 a year in propane savings would take 10 years to get even if the OWB cost $7500 installed. Do the OWB's last that long? Can you install one for that price?
My other thought is to build a smaller OWB and just use it to heat the garage and machine shop for now to get some experience with an OWB. Can you just put a radiator with a fan behind it in each area and run some tubing to each one?
The other factor is I will have a wood splitter in the near future...
Thanks
John