Wood Stove

[nate379]

I have been thinking of putting in a wood stove in my house and wondering what you guys think?

I found quite a few EPA approved 80% efficient in the $700-1000 range that qualify in the 30% tax credit. This winter we had several power outages, and while a gen set would fire my boiler, I was thinking it would be nice to just throw some logs in the stove instead.

I may sell the house in a few years and I think having a wood stove would be a selling point.

Just looking for you alls 2 cents on it.

Not really thinking of heating the whole house with it, but it would be nice supplemental heat.

I get wood $10 a cord, I have to cut, split and haul though.

 

[walrus]

I'd never live in a house in Maine that didn't have a woodstove in it. No power means no heat, generator runs the furnace at my house also but its a pain. I heat 80% or so with wood, using oil early and late. Nothing like wood heat when you've been outside in the cold all day.

 

[burleymike]

If you plan to keep your house for the long term I would look for a stove from one of the manufacturers that have been around a while and build them heavy. Our last house I put in a $700 stove. It worked fine but it was hard to control and the firebox was too small, no ash drawer, ETC.

In this house I found a 20 year old catalytic insert that is EPA certified on craigslist for $200. The guy I bought it from had just bought the house it was in and thought it was a pellet stove. He could not get it to burn pellets very well so he bought glass doors and wanted to get the $250 he spend on the doors out of it.

The top is 3/8" and the rest is 1/4" it is very beefy. The only ***** I have with it is the 200 CFM blower. It is like trying to watch TV with the vacuum running. The firebox is huge I can fit 7-8 21"L X 5"diameter long logs in it and it will burn more than 12 hours. We very rarely use the electric heat, only as backup.

The important thing is you get a stove that will fit your needs. Cheap if your not going to stay in your house long. A smaller stove if your not using it as your primary heat source or overnight burns. A big stove if you need big heat all night.

I get wood for about $10 a cord and two weekends of cutting/hauling/splitting we can keep the house at 73 all winter.

 

[babzog]

Love mine.. best reno I ever did! Regency was the brand I put in... awesome unit! They're a bit messy and hauling the wood down the basement stairs *****, but the heat you get is wonderful. Also, in a power outage, the woodstove will run while the geothermal sits quiet.

 

[nate379]

Think I'm going to run by the stove place this week and see what kind of prices I'm looking at with installation.

Would like to keep the house for a while, but I am in the Air Force so end up moving around a bunch.

Kinda thinking now if I rented the house, not sure if I'd really want the tenant messing with a stove. Granted having rented places with wood fireplaces before..

 

[Phuckin' Jim]

A few links for you.

My favorite brands:
http://pacificenergy.net/index.php
http://www.flame-intl.com/
http://www.drolet.ca/index.aspx
http://www.regency-fire.com/

Lots of info:
http://www.ec.gc.ca/cleanair-airpur/Campagne_chauffage_au_bois-WS69573E19-1_En.htm
http://www.woodheat.org/
http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewforum/2/

 

[BioHazard]

You live in AK and you get wood for $10/cord...and you DON'T have a wood stove?

40 degrees is cold here, I love the wood stove in my shop, though my firewood cost about 15 times more. Still a hell of a lot cheaper than electricity/oil.

I would have one in the house too, but it just wouldn't fit well and I'm not sure it would even be allowed...and I have natural gas so it's relatively cheap.

 

[Phuckin' Jim]

I use wood heat, And I wouldn't want to be without it. Use the links posted above to reserch. Best to look for a stove with close installation clearances if you don't have a lot of room.

 

[nate379]

The $10 a cord is a special deal. They are doing tons of land clearing on base, so we are allowed to get a permit for 3 cords per family at $10 a cord.

If I bought wood, it goes for $150-200 a cord.

The wood we have up here is **** though. Mainly poplar/cottonwood. The "good" stuff is birch.

My friend has a fire place so I have been helping him haul wood. Even gave him 3 cords I cut off my land last summer. (I didn't have room to put it, yard was being bulldozed)

 

[NUTTSGT]

Having a wood stove/fireplace is cheap heat. Get some good exercise while preparing for winter. The wood stove is the only heat I have in my garage for all winter.

 

[p1mlb03]

I've had a wood stove insert for 20 years and love it. I get a local tree guy to bring me big oak logs to me every spring. He brings them for free, he tells me to call anytime I need more. I cut it, split and stack it in the Spring and by fall it is season ready to go.
Gives free heat and as others have said, it's great as a backup during utility outages. If you sell the house just take it with you, dont think it will add value, most people dont wan't to mess with all the work that comes with operating a wood stove.

 

[nate379]

I'm not sure I agree full with that. Looking at some of the houses up for sale right now a fireplace or stove seems to be a selling point. I know it was something I looked at for sure and the only option for this place was a gas fireplace @ $2000 extra which defeats the whole alternate heat source thing.

When I move I am only allowed 10,000lbs so it's not like I can pack the kitchen sink and cupboard doors!... It's usually a fight for them to move my toolbox even

 

[nate379]

Went to the stove place today and quite a bit more than I was planning.

Stove I'm interested in, Blaze King, is roughly $2200. Piping for it would be around $1600, install ~$750-1000.

Then I need to build a hearth pad, probably $100-150 in materials.

Still thinking about it but I dunno...

Pipe is way more than I expected... I was figuring around $500-600 at most.

If I sell one of my cars (I have 6 right now) I may use that $$ for a stove instead of buying another.

 

[BioHazard]

Good freaking god. I was mad that I had to buy $24 worth of single wall stovepipe for my shop. And I needed a damper too...that was like six bucks!

I guess that's what happens when the EPA starts regulating wood stoves...

 

[hetkind]

not EPA, insurance companies...I spent over $1,000 just on pipe and such to install the wood stove in the shop, and the insurance companies don't like wood stoves...one company wanted an extra 2k a year in insurance to have a wood stove in the house.

Howard

 

[nate379]

Single wall pipe isn't something that is used in homes. This is "Metalbestos" pipe, about $60 a foot. After the pipe, stuff to go through the roof and the cap, it adds up!

I guess it's worth spending $$ on good pipe vs burning down a 220k house though!

hetkind, wow $2000 a year! That is about 5x what my home insurance is! I talked to my insurance people and they said it wouldn't change my rates as long as the stove was pro-installed.

 

[ironman70]

a second recommendation for www.hearth.com

they are great over there...

 

[travisd]

I have a Regency 3100 and love it - great heat, burns nicely. The salesguy actually talked us out of the ash drawer option - said it's more problem that it's worth. It really isn't that difficult to shovel out the ashes into a bucket. We also got the optional blower fan and top heat exchanger (sits on top of the stove and causes the blower air to pass along the top surface of the stove before being dispersed to the room).

The multi-burn tech is neat - we see little to no smoke while burning, and the way they pass the hot gasses across the door makes it somewhat self cleaning.

Now I just need to get out and start cutting more for next winter...

 

[jamesemery728]

I know this is not what you are looking for and this guy is a nut, but check out this video, it's kinda interesting.

 

[nate379]

I have watched most of his videos.

They carry the Regency stoves at the place I went too, but I don't like the non-auto damper and also non-catalytic. They have burn bans in Fairbanks, and rumors about doing that here... non-catalytic stove = can't use it.

The Regency plain jane model and the Blaze King Princess are about the same price.

Guy at the stove place was talking up soap stone stoves, but at a $3000-3400 price tag... ouch!

 

[alex211]

I have watched almost all of dave's videos, he is a clever guy.

 

[nate379]

He sure is interesting that's for sure.

I would so bang the snot out of the Natasha and Jen chicks...

 

[skinanbones]

Becarefull about going after something with a catalitic conveter, can be very expense to replace. The Blaze king is a differant kind of stove it will not ever do the 30 hr burns that they claim. It might hold red coals that long but it won't produce usable heat that long. I would look at Pacific Energy the super 27 sell for just under $1700 and will heat 2000 square feet and will produce usable heat for 7-8 hours. I've used one for 8 years now and love it.

 

[nate379]

I'm going to go with Blaze King since that is what the stove place stocks and installs. Price is $2925 for the stove with stainless door and pedistal, outside air kit and fan blower system.

The cat is $300 to replace and has a 6 yr warranty. Stove can be used without it as well.

I don't think any stove can do 30hr burn. I don't know what the Blaze King says, but I have a few friends with them and they say they throw wood in the AM before work and when get home it's still going enough to be able to just throw more wood in.

 

[6768rogues]

I have a very tight insulated house and I was burning 10 to 12 face cords per winter. When my free wood ran out, I put in a high efficiency gas furnace. My heat bill is about $100 per month for cold winter months. Unless gas goes up dramatically, I will not go back to wood. I still have the central wood furnace in the basement, though it is no longer ducted and only heats the basement. If I score some free wood, I use it and save a little in case the gas furnace craps the bed.

 

[Racecarl]

If I read the Cap and Trade(steal) law correctly, the Feds want to ban any wood stove with effeciency less than 80%. Might be worth checking into...

 

[cowboyjosh]

I love my woodstove in my house, despite prior mis fortune. When I was 18 I bought a mobile home on acreage that was heated with a wood stove, keep in mind I had little to no idea on how to own or operate a wood stove. One cold night I woke up to add more wood to the stove and left the damper wide open, the stove over heated, chimney caught on fire and my mobile home burnt down! Now I am much more careful and for my 2200 sq foot is comfortable all winter long, nothing like heat from a wood stove.

 

[nate379]

That doesn't even make sense. How big is your house and what kind of wood where you burning?

My parent's place is a little bit smaller than mine and they heat their home 100% on wood and burn about 2.5-3 cords a winter. They live in Northern Maine which is colder than here (temps more like Fairbanks). They do burn good hardwood, not like the **** we have here, but even it it was just birch and poplar, still would be maybe 5 cords.

My gas bill was as high was $275/month this winter. Summer is around $40-50 (boiler runs for domestic hot water and my oven is gas too)

Short term no wood is not cheaper. After I buy the stove, wood, etc it would take many years to recoup.

Benefit is ... heat when there is no power. Having a 2nd source of heat in case boiler goes down, natural gas runs out, etc (yes they are worried about "brownouts" for the gas, where when it's real cold there is more demand than the pipes can flow)

Also if I sell my place in a few years, the stove will be a good selling point for many people.

I have a very tight insulated house and I was burning 10 to 12 face cords per winter. When my free wood ran out, I put in a high efficiency gas furnace. My heat bill is about $100 per month for cold winter months. Unless gas goes up dramatically, I will not go back to wood. I still have the central wood furnace in the basement, though it is no longer ducted and only heats the basement. If I score some free wood, I use it and save a little in case the gas furnace craps the bed.

 

[WVBrady]

That doesn't even make sense. How big is your house and what kind of wood where you burning?

My parent's place is a little bit smaller than mine and they heat their home 100% on wood and burn about 2.5-3 cords a winter. They live in Northern Maine which is colder than here (temps more like Fairbanks). They do burn good hardwood, not like the **** we have here, but even it it was just birch and poplar, still would be maybe 5 cords...

I think you are confusing cord with "face cord"

"Other terms, such as face cord, stove cord or furnace cord are sometimes used to describe a stack of wood measuring 4 ft. high, 8 ft. long with a piece length shorter than 4 ft. A common firewood piece length is 16 in., or one-third of a full cord, but other lengths are also available. "

http://www.woodheat.org/firewood/cord.htm

 

[trunk monkey]

I put in a wood stove in, in March. All I can say is I wished I did this 4 years ago! What a difference. I put in a Harman TL300, I was going to build a masonary chimney, but opted for triple wall stainless. Just due to speed of putting it up. I would not recomend getting a stove that is on the cheap side. You get what you pay for. Do alot of reaserch. I paid $2,800 for the stove, $1,300 for the chimney, and around $600 for the hearth. I built the hearth out of Porclin tile. All of these prices were for me doing all of the work.

I would recomend looking at

Harman Stoves they are made in USA

Pacific Energy Made in Canada

Hearth Stone

Blaze king

I would stay away from the made in China ****. Good luck

 

[nate379]

I didn't even see "face cords"

Face cord is about 1/3 a real cord, so 3-4 cords a year, that is not bad at all!

I think you are confusing cord with "face cord"

"Other terms, such as face cord, stove cord or furnace cord are sometimes used to describe a stack of wood measuring 4 ft. high, 8 ft. long with a piece length shorter than 4 ft. A common firewood piece length is 16 in., or one-third of a full cord, but other lengths are also available. "

http://www.woodheat.org/firewood/cord.htm

 

[cre73]

I will not try to talk you away from the Blaze king because I have read nothing but good about them, but I have an Englander NC-30 which is a very respected stove. It is not the prettiest thing out there but bang for the buck it can't be beat. My install including stove ended right at 1400.00, and paid for itself in a year. I have never looked back and have not used an ounce of fuel oil in two years.

 

[nate379]

They carry those as well, but what I like about the Blaze King it it's almost "Set and forget" with the automatic damper control.

I mean I can go buy a $600 reg stove at the local lumber yard if I wanted to as well, and it would work just fine but with the Blaze King, the idea is to keep a fire going 24/7.

 

[Bigrhamr]

I'm on my second Blaze King. The first one was the smaller "Princess"
model which somebody liked well enough to steal.
That was 20 years ago and I replaced it with a "King".

When the temp is mild like 40 degree nights I can choke it down and fill every 24 hours. Most of the winter it is on a 12 hour refill schedule and only during sub zero weather does it get cranked up to where it needs filled every 8 hours. That's with good quality bone dry hardwood or Tamarack.

With the catalyst the only thing is if you are keeping it choked down you need to open it up and let it rip once a day to keep the chimney from loading up.

I would buy another one in a heartbeat even at twice the price of some other
stoves.

 

[MScott]

I haven't noticed anyone mention the Jotul. I have one of these Norwegian stoves (I think they have a manufacturing plant in Oregon) in my house and I love it. Great heat, long burn and good looking. I also have a Pacific Energy in my cottage and it is also an excellent stove. I will be building a new home soon and am considering using an outside wood furnace. I intend to use in-floor heat in both the basement and my garage/workshop. Has anyone used one of these?

 

[Phuckin' Jim]

I will be building a new home soon and am considering using an outside wood furnace. I intend to use in-floor heat in both the basement and my garage/workshop. Has anyone used one of these?

Better check with your Municipality first. A lot of them don't allow OWB's

P.S. The Jotuls are nice stoves!

 

[MScott]

Better check with your Municipality first. A lot of them don't allow OWB's

P.S. The Jotuls are nice stoves!

Not a problem here (Eastern Ontario.) The property is rural so no neighbours to object either. I am more concerned about longevity and/or any problems that people have had.

 

[nate379]

I know they were all the rage a few years ago where my folks live and now not too many people are using them anymore.

 

[Phuckin' Jim]

I'm sure you've seen these sites, but I'll post 'em anyway...
Lots of good info.

http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewforum/21/
http://www.woodheat.org/
http://www.greenwoodusa.com/aspen-series-outdoor-wood-furnace.php
http://www.profab.org/products/profabproducts/proseries/index.html

That should keep you busy for a while.

 

[MScott]

Thanks for the links. The one I have been looking at is at:

http://www.centralboiler.com/products.php