Air Travel Through Existing Duct In A Rancher

[mellow]

I would follow fossil's advice. One other thing is figure out your budget, you can skimp on some things but not all things and still be safe. Also is this a DIY job or are you going to have someone come out and do it?

To get a rough idea on chimney pricing fill this out (broken link removed to http://www.selkirkcorp.com/installation-planners/supervent.aspx)

More than likely you will be using a 6", but again this depends on the stove.

Also one word of advice, any of the guys you see advertising on CL or in The Guide saying they have seasoned wood, its not. Since you are close enough if you want to use my moisture gauge to check out possible wood you are welcome to borrow it.

 

[woodgeek]

I'm thinking of placing the wood stove in the living room, against the bathroom wall, that distance is about 32' from the garage/kitchen wall. All 4 walls of the garage are insulated.

Will that keep my garage warm enough to prevent the water pipes and pump from freezing?
Worst case scenario...0 degrees outside and no electricity.

What wood stove would best provide this desired requirement?

I (and plenty of folks around here) are the 'type' to worry about winter heating emergencies...so you came to the right place....

That said, I think you're being totally unreasonable. I'm well inland of Philly, and haven't seen a power outage in below freezing weather, or even a temp below 5F, in five years. When I was a kid in MA in '78, that was another story....

Houses cool off fast when the heat goes out, but once they've dropped to earth temp, they slow down a lot, 'cuz the slab under your house weighs a lot and can give up a lot of heat (trying to cool below 50F). In your area, the average temp (over 24 hours) in the dead of winter (January 20) is probably about 30F. It will take a looong time for you to freeze your pipes at that outdoor temp.

So, your worst case is an motha ice storm (which we DO get around here but not so much further north) that knocks out your power for 3-7 days, and (24 hour) average outside temps of 25-30 F afterward (even that is conservative--ice storms hit early and late in the season, not in January). Frankly, even with no heat, I suspect that your house would take a week or more to get to freezing temps, if it ever got there due to your solar gain. If you had a wood stove in your central house, and left your garage door open/cracked, neither your house nor your garage would freeze.

If this is keeping you up at night, buy a cheap propane tent heater and dozen little 1 lb bottles (the kind with a shutoff sensor, rated for indoor use with a cracked window). If the worst happens, burn a bottle or two in your garage every day sitting next to your plumbing. In practice, you'll never need it, but you will sleep ok.

 

[fdegree]

I would follow fossil's advice. One other thing is figure out your budget, you can skimp on some things but not all things and still be safe. Also is this a DIY job or are you going to have someone come out and do it?

To get a rough idea on chimney pricing fill this out (broken link removed to http://www.selkirkcorp.com/installation-planners/supervent.aspx)

More than likely you will be using a 6", but again this depends on the stove.

Also one word of advice, any of the guys you see advertising on CL or in The Guide saying they have seasoned wood, its not. Since you are close enough if you want to use my moisture gauge to check out possible wood you are welcome to borrow it.

Thanks for the offer...I'll keep it in mind

As for the DIY...I'm not sure. At first this seemed like it would be rather simple, but after reading more about this stuff there seems to be a little more involved than I thought. Though, it does not appear to be outside my abilities...yet. I just need to be more educated.

 

[fdegree]

I'm thinking of placing the wood stove in the living room, against the bathroom wall, that distance is about 32' from the garage/kitchen wall. All 4 walls of the garage are insulated.

Will that keep my garage warm enough to prevent the water pipes and pump from freezing?
Worst case scenario...0 degrees outside and no electricity.

What wood stove would best provide this desired requirement?

I (and plenty of folks around here) are the 'type' to worry about winter heating emergencies...so you came to the right place....

That said, I think you're being totally unreasonable. I'm well inland of Philly, and haven't seen a power outage in below freezing weather, or even a temp below 5F, in five years. When I was a kid in MA in '78, that was another story....

Houses cool off fast when the heat goes out, but once they've dropped to earth temp, they slow down a lot, 'cuz the slab under your house weighs a lot and can give up a lot of heat (trying to cool below 50F). In your area, the average temp (over 24 hours) in the dead of winter (January 20) is probably about 30F. It will take a looong time for you to freeze your pipes at that outdoor temp.

So, your worst case is an motha ice storm (which we DO get around here but not so much further north) that knocks out your power for 3-7 days, and (24 hour) average outside temps of 25-30 F afterward (even that is conservative--ice storms hit early and late in the season, not in January). Frankly, even with no heat, I suspect that your house would take a week or more to get to freezing temps, if it ever got there due to your solar gain. If you had a wood stove in your central house, and left your garage door open/cracked, neither your house nor your garage would freeze.

If this is keeping you up at night, buy a cheap propane tent heater and dozen little 1 lb bottles (the kind with a shutoff sensor, rated for indoor use with a cracked window). If the worst happens, burn a bottle or two in your garage every day sitting next to your plumbing. In practice, you'll never need it, but you will sleep ok.

Thanks for the advice...I certainly appreciate everything everyone is saying...it all helps

 

[PapaDave]

As has already been mentioned, get some wood...........NOW! If you are actually going to do this, get your wood,....NOW!
OK, seriously, you can always sell the wood if you end up not going through with this whole deal, but if you don't already have any wood, get moving on that RIGHT NOW.
Trust me, our first year burning was with, oh, shall we say, less than ideal wood. Second year, not a whole lot better. Last year, better still, but not ideal.
I learned quickly that I needed drier wood, but it takes time and money and more time to get ahead so that your woodpile is dry and ready to burn.
This will be our 4th year, and I'm just now getting to the point where the wood will be about a year and 1/2 ahead (still not dry enough, ... I've checked).
As to the rest of the situation, I'm not qualified to give that much advice, except to say that you should really listen to these folks here.
They know what they're talking about.
These past 3 years, I've bought 30 cords of log length, and about 12 cord of c/s/d. The 12 cord is gone, the first 10 log length is almost gone, and 5 of the 20 cord log load is put up for next year. The 2010-11 season is being worked on as I have time, and I will continue c/s/s until I am at least 2-3 years ahead.

Sorry for the rant, but folks should come on here and do a little reading. They'd find VERY quickly that one of the first things you need is DRY wood. Forget the term "seasoned". Too vague.
Dry wood eliminates or at least greatly reduces tons of problems that folks have trying to burn firewood.

Oh, and I burn pine too, but it's DRY. ;-)

Dave