Does Anyone Here Just Heat with Wood?

[Ken45]

Okay guys, those that say 100% wood, what do you do in mild weather, say 55-60 degree days?

I tried to keep the wood furnace (Hotblast) going last spring on mild days and ended up with the connector pipe blocked with creosote

Normally we would use the heat pump on mild days (that's pretty inexpensive) but the blower motor went out months ago and I'm waiting on a rebuild ($700-900 to replace the stupid motor!)

We use a pellet stove for mild weather and to hold the temp if the wood stove isn't set right (like last night ) Other than the pellet stove, we are burning the new PE Summit full time.

Ken

 

[CowboyAndy]

Okay guys, those that say 100% wood, what do you do in mild weather, say 55-60 degree days?

I tried to keep the wood furnace (Hotblast) going last spring on mild days and ended up with the connector pipe blocked with creosote

Normally we would use the heat pump on mild days (that's pretty inexpensive) but the blower motor went out months ago and I'm waiting on a rebuild ($700-900 to replace the stupid motor!)

We use a pellet stove for mild weather and to hold the temp if the wood stove isn't set right (like last night ) Other than the pellet stove, we are burning the new PE Summit full time.

Ken

We just had morning and evening fires. with temps in the 50's, if we got a decent fire going in the evening it was still warm by the am.

 

[raybonz]

We primarily heat with wood.. Last week my wife and I were on a Caribbean cruise and I heated with oil cuz the kids were home and they do not know how to operate the stove.. The oldest one home is 22 but I feel safer using the furnace.. Gotta say it was a temperature shock going from the 80's and 90's for highs and ~70 for lows to 15 degrees the next day!! The stove sure felt great getting the house to 75 to ease the shock

Ray

 

[bsa0021]

Or basement has a small gas heater just to keep the pipes thawed out.
Other than that, yeah 100% wood heat.
Gotta love it!

Brad

Hmm, I don't have any heat in my basement and I've never had frozen pipes. It stays about 55 - 60 all winter.

How cold does it get where you are from?
I dont think i could get away with no heat in the basement.

Middle of winter we see 20s during the day teens at night with a week or two of bitter cold (5-10 day, -5-0 night).
In NE Ohio, most basements are 5-6' under ground where the temp. is a constant 50-55. If I had an above grade basement I'd have a problem. Also frost line is 18" here. If yours is greater than 18" it may be a bit chilly for the pipes.

 

[RedRanger]

[quote author="Ken45" date="1228758621"]Okay guys, those that say 100% wood, what do you do in mild weather, say 55-60 degree days?

Now, you did have to go and throw that in there didn`t you??

Well, I know that BG uses his heat pump--and I don`t, cause I don`t have one, and at my age is not capital recoverable to do so.

So wood heat is King here in the PNW from late Sept. till end of April. But you know that the six cords of softwood burned is so sweet, nice heat, and nothing compares to it. And now that I have the DW in the habit of migrating downstairs to the insert--all is well in this little piece of paridise.

 

[savageactor7]

In mild weather like Ken is asking we fire up the propane...a stove fire can be a nuisance then. But then again in the past there have been cold days in July that we've fire up the stove and it felt great...it depends.

With the coin we save burning wood I'm not intimidated to fire the propane stove up on mild days. For one thing on mild days propane will keep as comfortably warm...it won't do that economically when it's cold. Also we have to use some propane or will lose the huge tank they put in.

 

[rdrcr56]

This is our second year of 24/7 with no back up, the beginning of last winter was kind of sketchy knowing it was the stove and nothing else (dead furnace). But after a few weeks we found out the only problem was we couldn't go any place overnight, other than that it's no problem. I think everyone should try a winter with no back up to appreciate what our grand parents went through their whole lives, and especially with little to no insulation in the house.

 

[Ithaca]

24/7 with a homestead in a lower than average insulated 1500 sqft. house.

This is my first year and loving it so far. The wood pile is shrinking slower than I had planned so I think I'll be good to spring.

Only burned oil during Thanksgiving visiting relatives. Wish I would of just stayed home and fed the fire. Or fed the relatives to the fire.

Hope the Homestead holds up when winter really hits.

 

[leaf4952]

Well, I only have 1000 sqft to heat - of which most is the Great Room (kitchen,living room, & loft). The only rooms the wood stoves full blast heat does does not reach is the small bathroom and the 2 bedrooms (1st floor) somewhat. If I leave the bedroom doors open and utilize my house fans on low and keep the stove cranking there is really no need to turn on the electric baseboard in these bedrooms unless it gets down into the teens. Deep dry fluffy snow sems to create an insulation on the house, but if it's a week of alternating bitter cold with ice storms alternating with a wet melt and throw in some wind....then it takes some electric back-up in these bedrooms. Now that I've mastered firestarting and am getting better at overnight burns my kids are asking far less often if they can turn the electric heat on in their rooms. Each year I get better. And now I have a compact stacked Maytag Energy Star washer/dryer our water & electric usage has gone down. My next move is to get rid of my electric water tank & install an on-demand tankless propane hot water heater. I use propane to cook and it only costs me $90 twice a year.

 

[shoehorny]

Heating oil? What's that?

:coolsmile:

 

[Techstuf]

Wood/Solar only. Double Barreled Vogelzang in the basement. On the mild days, passive solar alone usually takes care of it.


Of course, with 5 kids, there's the gas heat contingent during my wife's bean soup phases.


TS

 

[FWWARDEN]

Almost 100% this year, oil has only kicked on when i made it do so for excersise, and when I went away for the weekend.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

i heat completely with pellet, house had baseboard heat (OMG thats expensive) the pellets stove does the entire house , i have a backup generator which easily runs half the house stove included so yeah , im 100% off the baseboard

 

[leaf4952]

I'd like people to mention square footage and house configuration when stating they're fuel consumption. I mean afterall it's all meaningless to compare if one home's 800 sqft and another is 1800 sqft. One house is 2 story and another is 1 or 3 story. No one is mentioning square footage or # of levels! It really is critical information when comparing fuel consumption.

 

[Sealcove]

I have been heating 99% with wood for a good 15+ years (there were a few more years scattered in before that). The first five were in a rental property and the last ten in my own home. 99% for me means that I have alternate heat available, but it is only used if I need to go away and there is no house sitter available to run the stove. There was a time about eight years ago that I had a really bad flu, and since I was living alone I said to hell with the stove and burned LP for about two weeks. Other than that the thermostats are actually switched off. This season is a big test having more than doubled the size of our house and changed stoves. I had been betting on six cords, but it has been so mild this fall I might get by with 4-5.

 

[Danno77]

Doh, which option do I need to pick? I burn maybe like two cords of wood a year. and it's mainly to heat our main living room (almost no heat without the fireplace) which accounts for 300 sq ft of our 2200+sq ft house. The open spaces next to the living room are heated by the fireplace too, that's probably another 100sq ft. There's about 450sq ft that's heated by electrical, another 200sq ft that is heated by furnace and supplemented with electrical. Gad, it's a freaking mess at my place when I look at it on paper/screen.

400/2200sq ft is 18% (wood)
450/2200 is 20% (electric)
200/2200 is 9% (electric+NG)
1150/2200 is 52% (NG)

Of course, none of those different areas is kept the same temp, so it's not a split by amount of energy used. Most of the electrically heated space is up on the "third floor" (finished attic) and it's kept MUCH cooler because we don't use it much. The wood heats that 400% almost alone, but then I'm sure the heat drifts around the house some too.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I'm in the 90% club

 

[Jags]

I'm in the 20/7 club. Away for too many hours a day, sometimes the furnace has to help. (not to mention that it is a much more exclusive club than the 90% club)

 

[wellbuilt home]

I have a 3000+ sq f house and i am 100% wood .I have not turned the heat on in a long time .

 

[drizler]

100% pellets or corn depending on which is cheaper. About all I use the oil boiler for is heating hot water these days. I will keep buying my diesel 6 gallons at a time until its under $2.00 before buying the first drop since 2006. They can drink the stuff for all of me. If its so valuable they can soak their turbins and 10 gallon hats in the stuff.

 

[Whimfield]

We heat with 100% wood--no back-up whatsover. Our house is only 1000sf and our Blaze King Princess does the trick. In future we plan to install a couple of baseboard heaters to appease the insurance companies, but we haven't done that yet.

I interviewed a couple of 100% wood burners from this site, and I wrote an article about people who heat with wood only if anyone's interested in reading it.

Plus, for fun, here's pictures of our recent install.

Heating with 100% wood is great fun...and the odd time that you think it's a hassle is more than worth it when you can avoid paying for any kind of heat.

 

[beau5278]

For the fellow that asked about SF,we heat an 1800sf,story and a half,poorly insulated,it was built in the 50s as a combination gas station/store.I have a pre epa stove in the basement,almost dead center,chimney goes up through the center of the house,it's also a very open floorplan,the only non connected rooms are 1 bedroom and the bathroom but the bathroom is right over the warmest part of the basement,with ceramic tile floor which tends to warm up very nice,we also get some extra heat from the chimney.My second woodburner is on an enclosed front porch,that I built into a room a few years ago,that wood burner usually only burns a few months of the year,when temperatures go below 30 or 35 or it's windy,that room can also be closed off if we aren't running that stove.For the fellow that wondered about burning on warmer fall and spring days,the stove in the basement is our primary heat,when it's warmer out,I don't usually burn during the day but if conditions are right,I can usually catch the previous nights burn if I can start a new fire around noon or 1:00 in the afternoon,then about 5:00 or 6:00 when temps start to fall,I'll fire harder until I load it for overnight.If for some reason the temperatures are to high in the house,I'll open the outside basement door or a window in the basement to let the basement cool for a bit.If it's still to warm in the house,I'll open a window or 2 upstairs,but wood doesn't cost me anything but time.

 

[techieguy]

Well this is my first year with a wood stove, and thus far i love it! The last two months our power bill is $60 a month less than last year and its been 4 degrees colder and the house has been warmer than ever before! We use to keep the house at 69 during the day and 60 at night. Now the house is mid to upper 70's most days. We have to feed the stove twice a day and clean the ash out once a week. The only thing we use the heat pump for now is to move air thoughout the house! I can't wait to see how our power bill looks at the end of December and January when it been the highest for us (all electric and on a well) I belive that I won't even use all the wood I set aside last year (maybe 3 cord)

 

[Techstuf]

Congrats TG! And welcome to the 'dark ages'.....They're brighter than we were told, in some ways!



TS

 

[njkev]

This is my first year of wood-burning with newly installed Heatilator Constitution (Hi-Efficiency Fireplace) that replaced a conventional Superior fireplace. I have been burning wood 24/7 here in Sussex County, New Jersey, and have only used the oil burner perhaps 3 or 4 times for only about an hour on each occasion. My house is a 2300 sq.ft center hall colonial with an open floor plan and two story foyer that allows the heat to rise to the upstairs bedrooms. The dual 160 cfm fans of the fireplace really move the air nicely too.

Kev