Need to heat large home with wood efficiently...

[thirstyfox]

just purchased a 4,000 sq foot home in ohio built in 1948. has no insulation upstairs and am remodeling first floor and will insulate. will have insulated vinal siding around top floor, maybe that will help a bit. its concrete block 2 floors, pretty much a building.

point it it's going to cost me a fortune to heat it even once it's insulated so I'm interested in a wood furnace. seen a claymaster at tractor supply and like the idea of free fuel for heating the house but don't have a clue which furnace to get. I want it to hook up with the gas furnace so that the gas takes over if the wood fire dies down.

Looked online and run across charmaster and some others but don't know what's quality and whats not. want to be able to burn wood/coal and also have the gas furnace on the ready all tied into the same ductwork. I can spend over 2k for a good unit, too much more and I'm not getting insulation for the first floor yet.

is this a good idea and what brands/models would you guys recommend and why?

thanks a ton for any help!

 

[begreen]

It'll take more than insulated vinyl siding to keep that block from sucking up the heat. Invest in a serious, exterior insulation jacket for the outside of the building or it will take a serious woodlot feeding that furnace. It will be worth the investment in fuel saved and comfort, regardless of how it's heated.

 

[laynes69]

I would concentrate on more insulation before investing in a wood furnace. You will cut alot of wood trying to keep something that size warm w/o insulation. After you insulate, then look at your options. It would be money well spent. You can never go wrong with insulation, especially on a block building.

 

[thirstyfox]

ok guys good advise I'm sure, but whats an insulation 'jacket'? I'll put off the woodburner for now, but I'm not happy about it. ):

would love a wood stove also but I'm shooting for a wood furnace to heat the entire home, what do you mean by freezings?

thanks to all

 

[jebatty]

Best bang for the buck is a smaller house, preferably well built. Kind of an oxymoron to talk large and efficient in one sentence.

Second biggest bang for buck is insulation, first ceilings, second really bad windows and doors, then walls, etc., working top to bottom.

Doesn't make much sense to improve the heating system so you can heat the outside of the house.

 

[WoodNotOil]

Perhaps adding a wood unit sized for the house when it is fully insulated would at least offset some of the oil use until you can fully insulate the house. Until that point I agree you will have to heat as little of the house as possible. Just make sure pipes won't freeze. Close off a lot of the second floor and remodel/insulate it room by room, with the bathrooms and most used rooms first. My father has an old farmhouse built in 1900 with forced air and he heats it with an OWB. It is at least 3000 sq ft, but he closes off a lot of the second floor rooms in the winter. Very little insulation except for under the siding. He put in all new windows though and insulated the walls that the plaster had to come down from anyway. He will slowly insulate the whole house as his time and money allows, but it works for now.

I am not sure how large a BTU output or the efficiency of the forced air units. It would need to be fed constantly though I would think. If you are looking for efficiency, the way to go is a gasifier with heat storage and an heat exchange in the plenum. However, that would cost a lot more than 2k. Even if you get a unit for 2k there are probably installation costs beyond that no matter which route you go.

 

[mtnmizer]

Lots of interesting replys, and good advise.

For a time my wife and I rented the top floor apartment of an
old 1880's mansion, 12' ceilings, leaky single pane windows,
no insulation--in Montana.

Pretty neat place but like living in a barn in the winter.

I put a small airtight wood stove in an old fireplace and the
difference was amazing, we burned a lot of wood but stayed
warm, it was a live saver.

I saw a woodstove/chimney package on CL for $800
the other day pretty hard to beat for the money.

If I was in your situation I would look for a good airtight
stove to get by, finish the upgrades then add a nice
wood burner.. just my 2c worth. MM

 

[begreen]

By jacket, I mean completely wrapping the building with foam sheets before putting up the exterior cladding. Here's a great site to research solutions for insulating concrete block houses and building renovation issues in general.

http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-001-the-perfect-wall
(broken link removed to http://www.buildingscience.com/resources/homeowner_resources)

Given the huge size of the house perhaps consider zoning it off for summer only and all season use? Are there rooms or areas that could be made summer only to reduce the heating load? If so, a 3 cu ft wood stove may be able to cover most of the heating needs.

 

[begreen]

Good point. The unheated areas would either have no plumbing or they'd need a drainable plumbing system. The cellar (if there is one) is a separate issue and there are solutions to keep it above freezing like running the gas system once or twice a day with a heat dump in the cellar.

 

[DenaliChuck]

A major source of heat loss is air infiltration. Warm air rises and any leaky windows, electrical outlets or ceilings high up in the house allow the warm air to escape. This creates a chimney effect that draws air from any place it can. There is more pressure on the ceilings on the highest floor of the house than anywhere else; the lowest pressure is in the lowest floor so concentrate on the upper level(s).

The best bang for the buck is first plugging leaks, then insulation. Unfortunately it is often much easier to insulate than effectively plug leaks. Use a smoke stick, incense stick, or cigarette (anybody actually smoke these anymore?) to look for leaks on a windy or very cold day. Infra-red photography and video can also be a great tool to find the problem spots (leaks and poor insulation).

Insulating and tightening the house is money and effort spent once that pays off for decades.

 

[thirstyfox]

well not sure if it was a smart move or not but as the fear of freezing to death was setting in I ran off and bought a 95% efficient 2 stage 80k and 115k goodman gas furnace brand new. I've also discovered that the top floor does apparently have an insulation jacket under the siding and the walls upstairs have the pink insulation, though likely R-7 like between the joists between floors. bottom floor still nothing but cracked cement block so sealing cracks, filling holes and applying some sort of sealer on the in and outside is next step I think before building insulated walls down there. then I can finally get something that burns wood efficiently.

saw the boiler room you have going, looks kind of scary like the house could blow while I'm sleeping. what would something like tha cost total? how much space do you have to devote to it? I'm assuming you'd have to run water baseboard and or underflood pipes or something?

now that I have something to heat the house with I could use some advise on hooking it up. it's goodman gmv951155dx

I see where the hot air will come out but don't see where the return air can get back in. most importantly I could use any links and information about how to size and build the ductwork which my grandfather says must be done right or else.

I would like to build a zoned system but cannot find parts to build it (servo motors to adjust duct runs?) and dont know how to control the motors and such, any advise or links wouls be great.

THANKS TO ALL

why does everyone want a honeywell thermostat, I was sold something else and wondering if I should get a honeywell.