Stove Vs. Furnace

[fastmopar1k]

Hey all!! I know I have seen this debate on here before but I cant seem to find it. My wife and I bought our first house in april and are now to the point where we can install one or the other. I am leaving the decision of which to my wife. We are both real familiar with wood furnaces but are thinking a stove might be the way to go. Would you guys be willing to list some pro's and con's of each to help her decide which one she would like to have? I am sure there are some I have missed when talking with her about it. Thanks!

 

[JeffHK454]

When I put my furnace in 7 years ago I had two small kids and knew I didn't want a hot ass steel/glass box sitting in my main living area. There's no denying that a stove is considerably more attractive than the ugly old box in the basement but I wouldn't be able to keep my kids away from it 24/7 and couldn't live with the consequences.

My house was set-up perfectly with a walkout basement and made having a furnace on the lower level just too easy .. kept all the mess/back-puffs and ash away from my living area but put the wood supply 30' from the back door.

 

[gandrimp]

When the powers out your furnace wont work.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

If the furnace is connected to a thermostat, it will provide more even heat. Mess of firewood is in basement or lower level. Works best if you have outside access to basement or lower level. Walking firewood through the house to get it into the basement would be a pain.

Ian

 

[JeffHK454]

When the powers out your furnace wont work.

My furnace will heat my house to the lower 60's when it's in the teens outside with no blower .. it just gets damn hot in the basement !

I would guess it's some sort of convection (?) but I get a small amount of warm air from vents when there's no power.

 

[England14]

Our little wood stove in the basement has had the house do warm that my wife has left the front door open when it was in the 20's. We have an outside basement door that makes it easy to get wood in. And it is nice not having to go outside to fire an OWB when it's cold, raining, or snowing. I keep about two weeks of wood stored in the basement.

 

[sunfish]

I am leaving the decision of which to my wife.

Why ask then?:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[sunfish]

I perfer a totally passive system...no fans and no electricity required. Here's a photo of out Jotul F600CB taken a few minutes ago. The photo is dark and taken with no flash so the flame will show better.

I feel the same way. Nothing like sitin in front of a fine wood stove on a cold evening umpkin2:

PS, Great photo BTW !!!

 

[logbutcher]

Good debate, good process.

When building we made the decision (s) on 2 wood stoves. Why?

1. Familiarity. Know the procedure: loading, harvesting, etc..wood stoves.
2. Cost. Quality to quality, a good gasifier furnace ( e.g. Tarm ) net cost wood have been an easy >$20,000. Also a Masonry/Russian Fireplace wood have been higher.
3. Space: Either the masonry or Tarm needs a large area for operation and construction. Added space in building.
4. Power: the furnace needs power; Masonry not.
5. Woods stoves are space heaters--get cold, get closer, cuddle. (Hard to cuddle around a furnace).
6. All predicated on building on a slab--ledge here.

The cons of wood stoves are many and obvious. Primary: we have woodlands.

JMNSHO

 

[rottiman]

Had a wood furnace several years ago. It was -35 outside on Xmas Day. Just loaded the furnace on top of a really good bed of coals. planned to be gone all day. Furnace just started to really get going when the hydro went out due to high winds. Immeadiately the furnace started to get really hot smelling and start to over heat. Since I had a hose close by I tried to douse it not once, but three times. It was like a birthday candle that you could not blow out. Since I am on a well, I ran out of water pressure with no hydro. I was was about to start shoveling snow when the hydro came back on. The moral of this story is had this happened about 10 minutes later, the furnace would have definitely over heated and probablty burned the house down. I now have two stoves which are well capable of heating the entire house w/o the need for hydro. I live in a area where we often lose power. Since no one is home during the daytime, I do not want to take the chance. Just my $.02...............

 

[Haywire Haywood]

What is hydro?

Ian

 

[DSS]

What is hydro?

Ian

Canadian electricity.

 

[biggenius29]

I have a furnace in my house.

One, we have small kids, so putting a stove in the house just would not be a good idea.
Two, our house is a old farm house and grandpa used to burn wood downstairs, so we had a chimney already, so easy hook up. Plus I have a wood room downstairs for the wood. I can keep about a cord of wood downstairs.

I dont know what would happen if the power would go out though, I think with convection the heat would disapate. But if power would go out and I would feel it would be for a long period of time I would take the outer shell off to help disipate the heat. My wife is always home, and I only work a few miles away from home.

Some day I would like a stove in the house, just for the ambiance, but I dont know if we will ever get one. Our house just isnt set up right for one for heating wise. Plus I would have to get creative with a chimney, and more than likely would need a chimney going up the side of my house, were we are planning on a deck some day.

If I were to build a house and could design it any way, I would make the floor plan pretty open, and have a masonary stove put in.

 

[laynes69]

We would never heat this old house with a wood stove. Its too big and there are too many rooms to have to worry about distributing the heat. We have a wood furnace, and it keeps an even heat through the home. I would say if you have a home thats laid out properly and is insulated and sealed well I would go with a woodstove. I would love to have a stove, but just not practical. Down the road if we ever build a new home, I will design the home around wood heat and incorporate a stove in the design. Wood furnaces get a bad rep because of their dirty burns and short burns. But now things are changing and there are some nice units out there that burn clean and long.

 

[Nuzzy]

Our furnace has a procedure listed for power outages; says to only fill box half full and fully open all house vents. It's nice to know we don't have to shut it down during an outage. That being said, luckily we don't loose power often.


I do keep meaning to get a generator one of these days though. Not a whole house, as we're not THAT worried about it and actually like the "power outage activities" as a fun change of pace, but just something big enough to run the fridge, well pump, and furnace blower. Lights, computer, and the like be damned!

 

[reaperman]

When I built my home 4 years ago I put in a wood furnace because the wife didnt want the mess of a stove upstairs like in our previous home. One thing nobody touched on is a wood furnace will take much more wood than a stove. I'm not familiar with some of the newer epa furnaces. I have a walkout so getting wood in the basement isnt a problem. I'd hate to lug firewood down steps to feed the beast. I do miss a woodstove and its radiant heat, but with a stove upstairs, I'd have a hard time heating the basement and thats home to my 60" lcd tv, surround sound setup, and man cave in general. In a perfect world, I'd have my furnace downstairs and a small woodstove upstairs for spring and fall to take out the chill when its not quite cold enough to start burning 24/7

 

[daoud]

I just past the last year asking me the same question and shopping for both!

I ended up chosing the third option!

We bought a new fireplace ( the new epa fireplace).

It work like a furnace (blow heated air with a turbine fan) + the radiant heat+the convection heat.

I plugged a thermo switch(no fan until the case is properly heated) to the case and wired it to a thermostat on the first floor. The blower only start when we achive the desire heat level at first floor and send the extra heat in the basement. Blower stop when their is no more heat to send or the first floor get cold (pretty rare!)

I could not be happier! I got both of my desire solve. Efficient heat gestion + more rustic and plesant installation. For me it's even better than a furnace. Except that you have to deal with firewood on the first floor.

Coupling all this to progammables thermostats is luxury. Another fan start at 5 in the morning and bring heat to the bathroom so I walk on hot ceramic to the shower!



Also, consider resale value of the house. A fireplace is a nice +, furnace = bof...

Hope this help

(Forgot to mention something! It WILL be more expensive than a stove... Heating duct, fan, installation, thermostat, thermo-switch, electric wire, etc.)

 

[Taxmantoo]

My furnace will heat my house to the lower 60's when it's in the teens outside with no blower .. it just gets damn hot in the basement !

I would guess it's some sort of convection (?) but I get a small amount of warm air from vents when there's no power.

My wood boiler in the basement can drive you out of the house, even with no electricity. Lock the solenoid valves open and the hot water goes up to the baseboard units, cools, and goes back down to the boiler. Seems to circulate as well as when the pump is running.

 

[kstill361]

A Furnace in the basement keeps the floors warm and provides even heat throughout the house. My Energy King furnaces have a gravity fed draft that needs power to operate so if the power fails the draft closes and the fire dies down. If you are worried about power failure, put a fuseable heat dump in the plenum.