TreeCo said:
Your friend should try conserving energy via insulation, etc and heat with conventional sources and forget about any type of wood heat. Wood heat isn't for people that live on a 50 x 50 ft. lot. Think about the neighbors.
This is a good start for anyone. THen, no matter what heat source is used the house will be more comfortable and use less fuel, whatever it may be.
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I have a DAKA add-on, nothing fancy, with a load of oak at 10pm, it will still be blowing somewhat warm air at 5am, but the heat is coming from the metal/fire brick. It's rated to heat up to 2600sq/ft., and we have a 150 yr old drafty, old windows, no insulation, 5bdrm, 3000sq/ft two story home, and so far, only on the below zero nights will the propane furnace come on at about 3-4am, not bad in my book.
Menards sells them for about $800 bucks, two guys can slide it down some planks on the basement stairs pretty well, I had buddy below the stove to guide it and I was upstairs with a rope sliding around me to control the descent, worked out well. Easy to install, there are accesories for hot water, and a combustion blower, and it can be setup to run alone as well. If I had a ranch house it would be seperate. The website shows the entire manual in PDF.
I've looked at some of the larger ones at TSC and they seem really HEAVY, look like they have more secondary combustion technology built in. I'd like to hear from an owner about these.
Let us know how this turns out.