New here.. wood boiler questions..

[Black71gp]

Hey everyone. been reading here a bit.. now for a question. I live in a 2100sqft house thats 120 years old with 120 year old windows and lack of insulation. currently have natural gas heated water baseboard heat. I was looking into getting an OWB like my dad just got but i live more in a village and do not want to deal with complaints. so I was thinking of maybe an indoor boiler? I have a single chiminey right now for the hotwater tank and current boiler. Would I need to change anything if i got a wood boiler?

would it be worth getting a wood boiler and everything or maybe just a wood furnace for the basement and since i dont have duct work i could get an old grate for the flloor and just have it blow into one room.. the living room. I know the boilers are way more expensive than the furnaces right?

so if anyone could give me some thoughts on what they woudl do.. boilerwise.. or whatever. it would be appreciated.

 

[mga]

first thing i'd do is correct the poor insulation and drafty windows or doors. even the hotest fireplace wont be as efficient or make the house comfortable if it leaks cold air.

 

[wdchuck]

first thing i'd do is correct the poor insulation and drafty windows or doors. even the hotest fireplace wont be as efficient or make the house comfortable if it leaks cold air.

Yep, agreed, tighten up the house some more first.

I've got the old house, old windows, no insulation, and a wood burning furnace, all the air leaks actually screw up the draft in the chimney, it is on my short list for this year, tighten up the house.

 

[Black71gp]

ok so once i tighten things up what would you recommend?:

 

[mga]

ok so once i tighten things up what would you recommend?:

there are wood burning systems that tie into an existing hot water gas/oil baseboard system. i believe a couple of guys here have them installed already. the only ducting would be to vent your wood burner.

i have hot water heat, but, unfortunately, it would be costly for me to hook one up, so, i use my converted fireplace. does pretty good, but it would have been nice to heat that water up thru out the house. in my case, my chimney configuration doesn't allow any access from the basement.

but, getting that house insulated would be top priority. the attic is easy to do, the walls have to be blown in. windows are expensive to replace.

 

[Black71gp]

ya actic has insulation.. wall were blown in a while ago.. windows are the pricey upgrade that need to be done... just looking for a good deal on those.. and the woodburner will be after that so trying to get some ideas...

 

[mga]

ya actic has insulation.. wall were blown in a while ago.. windows are the pricey upgrade that need to be done... just looking for a good deal on those.. and the woodburner will be after that so trying to get some ideas...

if your original window jams/frames are in good shape, you could take measurements and have replacement windows made and install them yourself, saving a few hundred bucks.

 

[Marc]

The gasification boilers are generally significantly more expensive (Tarm, Eko, Woodgun, Garn, Econoburn, etc.) than furnaces and work best with heat storage, although it isn't necessary. The one problem you'd have is I believe most require their own dedicated flue, unless you buy a combo oil/wood unit like Tarm sells, which then I believe one flue for both sides of the unit is OK (not positive though).

 

[ericjeeper]

Tighten the envelope

That is the funny part about people in general. They want to find a cheaper way to still heat the outdoors. Some new high efficient windows. Windows are available with an R-10 value now days. Pricey but worth it.

 

[Mike Van]

No building inspector or insurance company is going to o.k. two units in the same flue - You're going to have to either get rid of the gas furnace & buy a wood/gas combo, or build/add a new flue. Thats one place the OWB's really help, the house system stays the way it is, there's no fire in there, wood being moved in, etc. OWB's are really expensive from what i've seen, in a village, they may not be allowed. You better check your town codes, etc. before you buy. Like the guys said, insulate & seal up that house, any kind of energy these days is costly, wasting it is pointless.