Replacing forced air oil newbie

[vance700]

Hi everyone, first I'd like to say what a great site this is and thanks for having me.
I've recently purchased a new home on 100 acres, 50 of which are bush. The house is a two story farm house approximately 2500 Sq ft currently running a 20+ year old forced air oil setup. I also have a wood stove in the living room that I've been running all winter. The oil furnace has recently quit and is due for replacement so I'm looking into my options with wood. I've been trying to do my research on boiler vs forced air and indoor vs outdoor on my own but I think I may need some advice to get me started.
My hot water is also currently electric which is costly enough in Ontario, so that is something I've been keeping in mind. Any info or advice to start me in the right direction would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Erik B]

@vance700 Welcome to the site. Good people here. We love pics of your stove, saws, splitters and any other equipment you use for your wood adventures. Some here even like barley pop

 

[Mustang71]

A lot of that depends on how much you want to spend and how much you want to monitor and reload ur heating equipment.

I have a wood furnace. When it gets cold in the house I throw wood in it and it warms up the house a few degrees. Then I kill the air to it until the house cools down. I only heat with it when I'm home because it needs to be watched. It keeps me to one tank of propane a year.

 

[dave_dj1]

Welcome Vance, take into consideration how old you are and what health you are in. How old do you want to be trudging outside to stoke a stove, etc.
I prefer a hydronic system but that is costly to install when you have a hot air system already in place. Hot air furnaces are cheap compared to boilers.
If you go with an indoor unit I hear good things about the yukon eagle and a few others.

 

[vance700]

Thanks for the responses! I'm 28 years old, in good shape and also rent a room to a friend who is always around to help with cutting, splitting and stoking the stove. These days it seems like all the farmers around me are clearing land and have no interest in the wood which they usually just pile with excavators and burn so I should have an unlimited source for the time being. I'm planning some renos for next year and I'd like to have radiant heat in the kitchen floor which is why I thought a boiler right off the bat. I currently have an old pioneer p42 and a husky 372xp which I'm planning on doing a few mods to haha

 

[Mustang71]

If you know about heating and boilers then I'd say it's the way to go if you are going to heat with wood only. Put a water coil in the ductwork and use the furnace to move the heat around the house. Add a zone for hot water and a zone for the radiant and zones for whatever else. Run the whole deal off the boiler. I think they make more efficient out door boilers than other wood burning equipment is too.

 

[NSMaple1]

If you can use or want hot water heat (rads or infloor or coil in plenum or whatever), consider a boiler.

But don't get one just for DHW considerations. Unless you use a LOT of hot water, an ordinary electric water heater isn't that expensive to run. Ours has never been more than $30/mo at 0.18/kwh, family of 5.

I am also not sure I would totally replace the oil with a wood unit. That would leave you only with wood heat. Which your insurance company might not like - pretty sure they will want the 'primary' heat to be something that will not need daily manual intervention all winter. Like oil or electric etc.. So I think you will need to consider what you are going to replace the oil unit with, that isn't wood - along with also adding a wood unit of some kind as a second heat source. Even if practically speaking, the wood unit ends up running all winter & whatever else doesn't at all.

 

[GVS]

Hi everyone, first I'd like to say what a great site this is and thanks for having me.
I've recently purchased a new home on 100 acres, 50 of which are bush. The house is a two story farm house approximately 2500 Sq ft currently running a 20+ year old forced air oil setup. I also have a wood stove in the living room that I've been running all winter. The oil furnace has recently quit and is due for replacement so I'm looking into my options with wood. I've been trying to do my research on boiler vs forced air and indoor vs outdoor on my own but I think I may need some advice to get me started.
My hot water is also currently electric which is costly enough in Ontario, so that is something I've been keeping in mind. Any info or advice to start me in the right direction would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

You say the forced air unit quit.Did the burner itself quit,the blower quit or is the fire box shot?Burners or blowers aren't wicked expensive.The fire box may be different story.An outdoor unit weather a boiler or hot air is going to cost!There are many wood burning stoves that will keep you comfortable through the winter months.You've many options.

 

[blakey]

Hi everyone, first I'd like to say what a great site this is and thanks for having me.
I've recently purchased a new home on 100 acres, 50 of which are bush. The house is a two story farm house approximately 2500 Sq ft currently running a 20+ year old forced air oil setup. I also have a wood stove in the living room that I've been running all winter. The oil furnace has recently quit and is due for replacement so I'm looking into my options with wood. I've been trying to do my research on boiler vs forced air and indoor vs outdoor on my own but I think I may need some advice to get me started.
My hot water is also currently electric which is costly enough in Ontario, so that is something I've been keeping in mind. Any info or advice to start me in the right direction would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

I am in a very similar situation as you, 2 story farmhouse, existing oil forced air system, 100 acres. I went with a Central Boiler 5648 back in 2001 and have not regretted it. I load morning and night and forget about it in between. Loading takes minutes if the wood is stored nearby. It does consume a lot of wood, but it is worth it in convenience of being able to set the thermostat and the house stays within .5 to 1 deg. of the setpoint. This is great in the fall and spring where you can still burn wood and not be run out of the house. I run mine 7-8 months and heat domestic water and a couple smaller outbuildings as well. My oil furnace is still functional but would need an inspection and new oil tank to get filled. Haven't bought any heating oil since 2001. I don't split anything under 12" and keep enough wood in a shed to run the winter months so I'm not digging through snow. Right now I am cleaning up odds and ends to burn. It is a big purchase so makes more sense if you don't plan on moving for quite a few years. My insurance guy came by after I installed it but he wanted to know how I liked it and went and bought a Heatmor which he has been happy with.

 

[Mustang71]

Those are 2 nice things about the boiler you don't have to load it a lot or split the wood very small. Don't believe what you read on the manufactures websites either about wood furnaces. You won't get an 8 hour burn out of a load of wood unless you don't want any heat out of it. Loaded I get about an hour which will heat the house up.