How many of you guys/gals rely on your stove 100%?

[KindredSpiritzz]

100% here with Austral on a 1600 sq ft house. I have a wood furnace in the basement as a back up on the really cold days and then theres the gas furnace backing all that up if im out of town for a few days. My bi level house is laid out perfect for heat circulation. Stoves in the den at the lowest part of the house, the heat rises up the nearest set of stairs and filters out into the rest of the house and circulates back down a 2nd set of stairs back to the den. the bedrooms remain a bit cooler if we keep the doors closed which is perfect for sleeping. I couldnt be happier. My gas bill is the nominal $10 a month and my electric is about $160 a month. I have to replace that electric water heater with gas so i can get that bill down some.
On a 20 degree days outside i can keep the house about 72, course the den itself is about 95

 

[Bassmantweed]

But my favorite is: 2 - we put in a small duct and duct fan (separate from the furnace/AC) that is controlled by a variable speed switch behind the wood stove. This duct pulls cool air from two floor vents (they look just like the furnace/AC floor vents).

I did this same thing but can't find any good duct fans. What are you using?

 

[Charles1981]

Heat 2100 square feet ranch with a medium sized stove in the mostly insulated basement.

Right now it is about 85 in the basement and 68 upstairs and it is 13 degrees outside, snowing, with a windchill of -5.

If it gets to -10 degrees and -30 wind chills its a bit much and the upstairs temp drops to about 63 but it is still within reason for us.

We have baseboard electric heat but never turn it on unless we are leaving town. House is all electric and the bill never budges from about 85-95$ a month.

Figure wood heat costs me 400-500$ a heating year as I get my wood at 100$ a cord and we use 4-5 cords. 3.5 for a mild winter. almost 5 cords last winter.

 

[firefighterjake]

Nothing wrong with your plan . . . then again, nothing wrong with using heating oil, propane, natural gas, etc. to also heat the home. This site isn't how to be 100% self sufficient or how to only be environmental . . . some folks heat 100% with wood and some folks only have an occasional fire with many folks in between the two groups.

Me . . . I heat 90-95% with wood. Thermostats are set to kick on at 60 degrees and will do so if I am lazy, it's wicked cold out or we go away for an extended period of time. I never sweat it too much when I hear the boiler kick on since a little "exercise" isn't necessarily a bad thing. Oh yeah, I also run a couple of electric space heaters -- one in the master bathroom and another in the boiler room to keep the boiler warm . . . and I use an electric blanket on the bed.

 

[Hawkeye]

I did this same thing but can't find any good duct fans. What are you using?

I can't recall exactly - it's been 2 years since we built it......but I think it was this....just mounted it in 8" round duct that runs beneath the floor from one end of the house to the other. It has 2 intakes (look like regular floor vents) and one outlet that just looks like normal outlet but is behind the wood stove......it doesn't draw much current - especially when we run it on low, but sure does move air but without being drafty like ceiling fans, etc.


Fantech Plastic Centrifugal In-Line Duct Fan 8"
The quietest, most powerful duct fans available.
• Great for radon gas mitigation.
• Housing manufactured of UV protected GE Noryl plastic.
• 115V. Variable speed motor.

Our Price: $336.55/EA
Quantity:

 

[Bassmantweed]

I can't recall exactly - it's been 2 years since we built it......but I think it was this....just mounted it in 8" round duct that runs beneath the floor from one end of the house to the other. It has 2 intakes (look like regular floor vents) and one outlet that just looks like normal outlet but is behind the wood stove......it doesn't draw much current - especially when we run it on low, but sure does move air but without being drafty like ceiling fans, etc.


Fantech Plastic Centrifugal In-Line Duct Fan 8"
The quietest, most powerful duct fans available.
• Great for radon gas mitigation.
• Housing manufactured of UV protected GE Noryl plastic.
• 115V. Variable speed motor.

Our Price: $336.55/EA
Quantity:

So you found it better to bring the cold air down rather than bring the hot air up?

This is what I am wrestling with now. Mon one end of the room I put a duct fan to bring cool air downstairs. And on the other end I put a kitchen vent hood over my woodstove and hooked it to a floor vent upstairs. I don't really feel like it is making much of a difference heat wise. It pulls up a ton of air, it's like a hurricane if you stand over the vent but the difference between the basement and the 2nd floor is about 19 degrees.

 

[michoujordan76]

My stove supplements my central heating system which is an electric forced-air furnace. I have two usable chimneys in the house, one connects upstairs and the other in the basement. I have an old stove sitting down there but my insurance company condemned it because it has an 8" pipe with a 6" reducer. I eventually want to put a different stove in the basement to cut down on electric bill.

 

[Hawkeye]

So you found it better to bring the cold air down rather than bring the hot air up?

This is what I am wrestling with now. Mon one end of the room I put a duct fan to bring cool air downstairs. And on the other end I put a kitchen vent hood over my woodstove and hooked it to a floor vent upstairs. I don't really feel like it is making much of a difference heat wise. It pulls up a ton of air, it's like a hurricane if you stand over the vent but the difference between the basement and the 2nd floor is about 19 degrees.

We are only moving the air across the first floor. It goes up to the second floor OK on its own. Yep, found it works better to pull the cool air from the far side of the house and discharge it behind the wood stove to heat it and let the heated air move away from the wood stove to the far side of the house. And by keeping the air moving through the first floor, I find it keeps less of it from going upstairs - as we do not get any "hot" pockets or other parts that want to just move up the stairs. The upstairs still warms up, but the heat is more distributed and the second floor isn't hotter than the first.

I was lucky to have learned a lesson on our previous house. We had a wood stove with a cold-air return above the stove. I had installed a duct fan in the return that helped move air all the time from the wood stove into the furnace duct work. But it would drive me nuts to sit in front of the wood stove and feel a cold draft on the back of my neck. Plus, I never felt like we were really spreading heat around as effectively. And there the second floor was always a sauna.

So, when we built the new house we put in this duct and it was the best thing we ever did. Figured if it didn't work effectively I could turn the duct fan around and reverse it - but it works really well this way. Not all that different than if a guy put a fan on the stove - but in this case instead of having the fan just move air around the stove it also pulls the heat to the intakes at the far side of the house, and pulls the cold air to the wood stove.

Have you just tried running the fan from upstairs to pull heat down? Not sure you need the hood over the wood stove - my thoughts are the air shouldn't need much if any mechanical assistance to move the hot air up.

 

[velvetfoot]

I have a fantech 14 watt fan for radon, and it's been running more than 8 years NONSTOP.

 

[Papa-Yankee-Romeo-Oscar]

100% Wood heat here. Our LP furnace quit a good 9-10 years ago and I never really felt a need to repair/replace it. We were heating with corn at that time then prices went through the roof so we started burning pellets. After the pellet stove started falling apart I decided to put in a wood stove, never looked back.

Our pup seems to like it.

 

[cheechblu]

Our house is 75% wood stove, 24% coal furnace in basement, and 1% oil.
When the high temp is 30* or less, we go coal, ducted to all rooms. Over 30* is strictly wood from our Jotul in living room. Open floor plan and ceiling fans circulate the heat nicely.
My log home is 2400sq.ft., and the wife & kids like it 71*. So I do nothing here except burn whatever I get my hands on.
Oil is just way too expensive up here in NY.
This is my passion, hobby, and necessity!
And every year I get better at it because of this forum.
Oil is for the few over nites away. Lay it at 55*. Soft and low.

 

[Laurent Cyr]

We heat 75% with the wood stove, and the rest is forced air electric furnace. Last year I used the fan from the forced air furnace to try to distribut the air around the house. That idea didn`t word. Our stove is in the basement, and the ducts totally screwed up the air circulation in the house. I couldn`t get the cold air down and the warm air up. So now I only rely on a fan at the bottom of the stairs pointed towards the stove to get the circulation going. It works well for us.

 

[NHcpa]

3200 sq ft open concept. Keep oil fired hot air at 62d week days at work and supplement with wood or pellet when wife home 2 days each week. Weekends it's all wood and no oil.

 

[Dix]

100% wood heat.

5 years now that I haven't seen the oil truck or a bill for oil. Added an electric HWH, the electric went up $40 a month (showers and dishes).

Way ahead of the game.

 

[nvanhar]

First winter with the stove here...hoping to be at least 70/30 with wood being our primary heat and will keep thermostats (propane baseboard heat) set at 60 for when we are at work or asleep.

 

[Chuck the Canuck]

So now I only rely on a fan at the bottom of the stairs pointed towards the stove to get the circulation going. It works well for us.

I've got the same set up, and handle it the same way with outstanding success! I'm shooting for 100% wood heat this year, but I have a feeling the heat pump is realistically going to gobble up anywhere from 10% - 15% of the heat load....

 

[WiscWoody]

Sometimes I need to let the stove coals burn out so I can dump the ash into the pan. This might mean running my 94% LP furnace at times.

 

[BradleyW]

If you have the right stove for the house and good wood, I actually think it's easier to heat 100% with wood than to figure out some balance between the two. But maybe I just have an abnormal dislike for cold starting. We exercise the furnace occasionally, but other than that it's all wood.

 

[dougstove]

We are ~100% woodstove heat, about 1 cord/y scrounged, ~1-2 cord/y purchased.
But I have base heat from 2 freezers, an electric stove that is heavily used, a thermal solar water heater, a dehumidifier and electronics.
Contrary to other posters, we have better luck moving warm air from the top of our stove room, ducted down to 2 rooms on a lower level at the other end of the house.
We tried the reverse, moving cold air up, but have more even distribution moving the warm air down.
Toasting my toes in front of the fire as I write. Luxury beyond price.

 

[Hunker Down]

First winter with the stove here...hoping to be at least 70/30 with wood being our primary heat and will keep thermostats (propane baseboard heat) set at 60 for when we are at work or asleep.

That's is the exact plan we have. Have you estimated how many cords you are going to need. I don't ave a clue. I have a chord and a1/2 of not so seasoned wood. But I am learning to deal

 

[Paulywalnut]

Yep I have hot water baseboard oil best. I supplement with wood. I do pretty good. A few times the oil guy has pulled that 100 ft hose out to the house to fill the tank and he get 60 gal. in the tank . Rolled eyes and shaking his head leaving

 

[Dix]

That's is the exact plan we have. Have you estimated how many cords you are going to need. I don't ave a clue. I have a chord and a1/2 of not so seasoned wood. But I am learning to deal

You are going to need more, my friend.

 

[Badger]

I always start out saying I'm going to burn as efficient as possible and just enjoy the savings. Then the darn furnace exhaust fan kicks in with its high squeal laughing at me as it sucks my dollars out of the propane tank.

Next thing I know I have the stove cranked and I'm looking at the weather forecast overnight to see how hard I need to run it to keep the blasted furnace from turning on again.

 

[Hunker Down]

You are going to need more, my friend.

Than you for the response. It's nice to see fellow Long Islanders on the site. I am in patchogue, how many chords do you think I may need? How many do you use, and how do you heat? I hope I am not hijacking the thread. Just a newbie, with a lot of questions.

 

[Dix]

Than you for the response. It's nice to see fellow Long Islanders on the site. I am in patchogue, how many chords do you think I may need? How many do you use, and how do you heat? I hope I am not hijacking the thread. Just a newbie, with a lot of questions.

Probably best to start your own thread ... us LI'ers will come out of the wood work.

You'll get a ton of good advice ( and maybe some bad *cackles quietly*) !

There are quite a few of us here , trust me