Oldman47
Minister of Fire
I will chime in with zero personal experience. I think that Squirrel has it right. You know what it took to heat your home in terms of KW so convert that to BTUs and look at the BTU contents of various woods. If you find a stove that can burn that fast and have enough wood to feed it for your worst month this year you will basically be able to go off grid for heat. Don't forget that the stove will only be about 75% efficient so whatever you spent on electricity BTUs will be about 25% less than you need to burn in wood. I have done this calculation for my well insulated and air tight home and came to the conclusion that my stove will never pay for itself. That brings me to my second point. You will get back more per dollar spent making that house tight and well insulated than you ever will by installing a wood burner. I held an average 40F delta temp on my unfinished new build for just over $100 per month average. What would it cost to add insulation and air flow barriers compared to your extra $1000 per month. The upgrade would easily pay for itself the first year. After that, if you like a wood fire, get a wood burner. I do like a wood burner so I am installing one for "emergency" power failures and general ambiance. I look at that as a nice enhancement that may pay off in a crisis but I am not dollars ahead doing it.