Famous Annual "I Really Heat With Wood"

[headleyj]

,I gotta be doin something wrong then - OWB doing heat and HW, 1862 SF house very well insulated (1 yr old) with basement (underground on 3 sides), insulated piping 4' underground in 6" pipe and our elec bill is still $100-125/ mo.

In fairness I don't shut off the breaker to the back-up heat pump, back-up heat grids or WH though......maybe I'll rig up a bypass on the WH cause now it acts as a holding tank basically....

 

[Marc]

Um, I guess I fall into #3?

I'm living in the family farmhouse, which is quite big (good and bad).

Currently I heat about half of it with a Hearthstone Heritage. That zone never comes on.

The other half I keep the heat at 55F... oil boiler. I'd optimally, somewhere down the road, heat everything with an Eko or Tarm, but for now I'll have to settle with about 1/3 the heating bill my grandmother used to create. Which isn't so bad. Should be even better as I progressively get insulation in the house, new windows, etc.

Of course all that is on hold now that part of it is currently "flying" on jacks to replace the sill beams.

Also planning on replacing the 60 year old Fitzgibbons boiler with a Buderus or System 2000 next year, along with homebrew solar hot water.

 

[Chris Crouse]

I'm option 3 because I have no one around to tend the stove during the day. I leave the furnace on at 54 or 55 and come home and get a fire going as quick as possible. It gets up to the mid 60's most times before I go to bed. It cools down until the next evening and then the process starts all over again. This burn pattern and the fact that I have burned a lot of wood that has not been ideally seasoned had me worried about build-up in the chimney. I just cleaned it after burning it for the past three winters and had hardly anything come out so I am happy. Once i lose my job or marry a girl with no job wood will be my primary heat source. Wood - the true renewable resource!

 

[demographic]

Where's the "Fossil but as I work as a carpenter and also have an open fire that can heat the house to some extent it seems a shame to throw my offcuts into the skip when they could save me a bit of cash" option?

 

[logbutcher]

Where's the "Fossil but as I work as a carpenter and also have an open fire that can heat the house to some extent it seems a shame to throw my offcuts into the skip when they could save me a bit of cash" option?

Too long and complex for us Yanks.
( P.S. "offcuts" and "skip" are ????? )
Besides, everyone on this side of the pond knows that "open fires" suck the very living H out of any warm air in the house. :jawdrop:

 

[Oregon_Grown]

Only wood

Propane was costing me $300 every 6 weeks and I was always cold. Wood costs me about $400 a winter and I sometimes have to open the windows and doors it's so hot Um.. I vote for wood! Not getting the furnance fixed til I sell the place.

 

[GRAYSTONE]

Wood Heat All The Way Here

I have 3 Napoleon Wood Stoves spread through the house. I mix and match according to outside temp. Rarely use more than 2 at a time. Keep unlit ones cleaned out and filled with paper and kindling ready to light at a moments notice. Usually burn a stove for 4 days then let it go out and clean out the ashes. In the mean time I just light another one to keep warm.
House is 2600 sq ft 2 story stone house with no basement. No duct work either. Spread heat around with a couple of small fans.

I do have 2 1500 watt electric heaters to leave on when we go away for more than a day. I use 6 to 7 cords of wood per year.

 

[RAS323]

I have electric back-up...it's only used if I'm gone for the weekend or a week or two. My electric bill (electric water heater) is usually $50 a month (summer or winter).

 

[jburlingham]

Currently I run a propane floor furnace kept at 50. Wood too keep it comfortable. If I could get a bigger stove in, I would tell the gas guy to piss off.


Grew up in a house that was almost 100% wood heat, our oil furnace was used for hot water.

 

[flewism]

We're are "Fossil furnace on all the time", but the thermostat is set at 62°.
I have a 60' long ranch and the insert is at one end. It heats the family room, kitchen, dining room, and living room. I had to move the thermostat from the living room to down the hall by the bedrooms a couple of years ago because the furnace would never kick on. I also installed a damper to completely cut the heat off to the east side of the house where the stove is. Also gas hot water, stove and dryer, good insulation windows and doors. highest gas bill last year $109. The stove only burns around the clock on the weekends or holidays as everybody is at school or work during the day. We use 4 to 5 cord a year.

 

[demographic]

Too long and complex for us Yanks.
( P.S. "offcuts" and "skip" are ????? )
Besides, everyone on this side of the pond knows that "open fires" suck the very living H out of any warm air in the house. :jawdrop:

Offcuts are just that, they are the bits of wood that are too short to be used on a building site and they would usually get thrown into a skip which is kind of a big dumpster where building site waste gets thrown.

You're right about open fires being about as in efficient as its possible to get which is why I plan on replacing it with a decent little wood burning stove that will also warm a kettle.

 

[Wife'nHubby]

Wood for heat.
oil f/a with but with thermostat set to 65*F.

My goal is to be 100% with oil f/a just as back up but haven't reached that goal yet. Burned as much as possible with a fireplace with a blower type grate last yr., + a couple of small fans moving air around and did very well (surprise!) with that set up. I guess I was just testing to see if I could get proper air flow. Got the house up to 73 degrees inside with 0 degrees outside with this system.

We have an older wood stove sitting in the garage waiting for installation but $$ is the problem. We have other $$ issues that have to be dealt with first. Gotta get the stove in soon though - I think I am developing an allergy to the open fires. Either that or just quit burning until we can come up with the $$ to get the stove in place.

We have a good supply of wood ready for this winter though and more to be split for 2010/11.

Shari

 

[Cambium]

Cool poll...I'd love to see what specific parts of the country say. I for one rarely use fossils.

 

[Henry G.]

Poll doesn't fit my use. Prolly 30% propane central heating for convenience, 70 % wood for economy and better heating. Wood stove is upstairs, master bedroom downstairs, sometimes you just gotta turn on the central heat so you can get laid without having to wear a coat in bed.
Electric mattress heater also a big plus too.
You will wait as long as you can to go pee at night when you can see your breath in the air inside!

 

[hearnoevil]

I have electric heat for back up, Mornings when the wind is 100 +kms an hour and I don't like lighting the stove.

I did my basement over and did not put in any heaters, if I don't light the stove I have no heat in the basement.

 

[watchamakalit]

I just installed my wood furnace so I still have a gas furnace. But my goal is not to use it at all. Dunno if I can since this will be first winter with the wood furnace. Either way I don't' want to remove the gas furnace just in case. Call me crazy but I have a hard time justifying removing a good working usable furnace from my house. I don't need the space for anything else so I might as well leave well enough alone.

 

[IMA_Redneck]

I fall into number 3. Have a napoleon 1400 that we heat the house with when we are home but have the heat pump set to 62 to cover for when we are not home.

David
___________________
Dolmar PS-540
Makita 6401
Napoleon 1400P woodstove.

 

[dingeryote]

I just installed my wood furnace so I still have a gas furnace. But my goal is not to use it at all. Dunno if I can since this will be first winter with the wood furnace. Either way I don't' want to remove the gas furnace just in case. Call me crazy but I have a hard time justifying removing a good working usable furnace from my house. I don't need the space for anything else so I might as well leave well enough alone.

Watcha,

Keep that Gas furnace in there and operable.

If you ever sell the hootch, it will be easier to sell with a Gas furnace.

Also, sometimes it's necessary to just run the things to take the edge off untill the wood furnace gets started in the shoulder seasons.

If ya ever have to work on the wood furnace or chimney, ya still have heat.

When ya get old and crippled up, and can't carry wood... Ya got heat.

Redundancys are a good thing.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[watchamakalit]

Watcha,

Keep that Gas furnace in there and operable.

If you ever sell the hootch, it will be easier to sell with a Gas furnace.

Also, sometimes it's necessary to just run the things to take the edge off untill the wood furnace gets started in the shoulder seasons.

If ya ever have to work on the wood furnace or chimney, ya still have heat.

When ya get old and crippled up, and can't carry wood... Ya got heat.

Redundancys are a good thing.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

That's my plan. Plus I kinda need the gas furnace fan to help move the air.

 

[olyman]

1450 sq ft house,ancient windows--insulated a lot,but the windows!!!!!!!!!! about 5.5 cord a year, and when i get the windows replaced,and things tightened,is should drop to 3 cords. and yes, i have a 98% effi gas furnace backup. i cant be home all the time--and i DONT need pipes freezing!!