New! Please help me figure out what stove/insert/hearthmount to get and how to get a good installer

[Grisu]

Grisu, she's at the library.

Depends how their computer is set up. In our library I could download the pics to the desktop, upload them from there into the forum software and then delete them again from the desktop. Uploading them directly from a memory stick may also work. She would also not need a faster connection if she will reduce the pics' file size to a moderate level e. g. by using Windows Paint: http://www.wikihow.com/Resize-an-Image-in-Microsoft-Paint

 

[becasunshine]

"My son and I have allergy-like issues and are sensitive to outgassing, so something that does not create smoking paint or smoke into the room, fumes, odors, etc., would be very important."

" wood seems to put out a less toxic smoke (at least if done right) from the pov of allergies and chemical intolerances than other combustible fuels--including pellets. -While inside an area heated with a pellet stove has sometimes seemed okay, (though not always) the outside has often seemed very polluted by them, esp. in this area where smoke tends to hang around and not rise up and blow away. Even the pellets themselves as they are when being stored seem sort of toxic/outgassy sort of like particleboard is."

I personally have three friends who will not have a wood stove inside the house secondary to allergy issues. One person had and used a wood stove and had to get rid of it because of allergies. Another friend's allergy doctor told her flat out that she'd spend any money she saved with a wood stove in his office getting her allergies treated. A third person is not allergic to the burning wood itself but he is allergic to the dust generated by the ash, enough that he cannot use a wood stove in the house. His family heats with a outdoor wood boiler.

If you and your son have allergies that are triggered by wood products outgassing, then burning wood in any form could be a problem.

I could be wrong, but it was my understanding that pellet stoves are more efficient burners than cord wood burning stoves, and thus produced less particulate emissions.

An EPA rated stove will produce less emissions overall, if this is one of your criteria.

All stoves will go through a heat induced finish curing on the first few burns.

If particulate emissions and allergies are a factor for you, perhaps you could consider a gas stove that can be run on propane or natural gas, if that's available in your area. Alternately, your fireplace could be converted to a gas fireplace with gas logs. These gas appliances could be used during a power outage. I don't know about cooking on them (never tried, never investigated it) but perhaps it's possible, I don't know.

 

[OregonMom]

You are trying to upload them directly from your mail account. Put them first on your computer, then upload them into the forum software.

Could you please explain more exactly what to do? I had already left library by the time your message was sent, but I could be figuring out what to do between now and next try. Especially how do I "upload into the forum software"? I'm still partly back in the 20th Century!

 

[OregonMom]

Depends how their computer is set up. In our library I could download the pics to the desktop, upload them from there into the forum software and then delete them again from the desktop. Uploading them directly from a memory stick may also work. She would also not need a faster connection if she will reduce the pics' file size to a moderate level e. g. by using Windows Paint: http://www.wikihow.com/Resize-an-Image-in-Microsoft-Paint

I am using Mac at home, Windows when at library btw. Not sure if that is relevant. I got a kind offer from someone else to post for me if I email the pics, which I plan to accept with gratitude, but I would still like to know how to upload pics myself! In part when I am at library I have limited time and so cannot play around trying to figure it out.

 

[Dix]

If you stored your pics on a site like http://photobucket.com/ you could up load the these forums from there.

 

[OregonMom]

"My son and I have allergy-like issues and are sensitive to outgassing, so something that does not create smoking paint or smoke into the room, fumes, odors, etc., would be very important."

" wood seems to put out a less toxic smoke (at least if done right) from the pov of allergies and chemical intolerances than other combustible fuels--including pellets. -While inside an area heated with a pellet stove has sometimes seemed okay, (though not always) the outside has often seemed very polluted by them, esp. in this area where smoke tends to hang around and not rise up and blow away. Even the pellets themselves as they are when being stored seem sort of toxic/outgassy sort of like particleboard is."

I personally have three friends who will not have a wood stove inside the house secondary to allergy issues. One person had and used a wood stove and had to get rid of it because of allergies. Another friend's allergy doctor told her flat out that she'd spend any money she saved with a wood stove in his office getting her allergies treated. A third person is not allergic to the burning wood itself but he is allergic to the dust generated by the ash, enough that he cannot use a wood stove in the house. His family heats with a outdoor wood boiler.

If you and your son have allergies that are triggered by wood products outgassing, then burning wood in any form could be a problem.

I could be wrong, but it was my understanding that pellet stoves are more efficient burners than cord wood burning stoves, and thus produced less particulate emissions.

An EPA rated stove will produce less emissions overall, if this is one of your criteria.

All stoves will go through a heat induced finish curing on the first few burns.

If particulate emissions and allergies are a factor for you, perhaps you could consider a gas stove that can be run on propane or natural gas, if that's available in your area. Alternately, your fireplace could be converted to a gas fireplace with gas logs. These gas appliances could be used during a power outage. I don't know about cooking on them (never tried, never investigated it) but perhaps it's possible, I don't know.

Chemical stuff is more of a problem than anything else, so gas not an option for us. There is no natural gas here, and propane tanks are out.

The comments about wood problems though are important. I had seen one situation where someone had managed to have a wood stove in an attached sunroom which then somehow heated the house, I think by heating up a concrete wall which radiated into the house, and or with openings for warmer air to flow into the house, but the ash and all was dealt with from the sunroom side, not the house side. I'm not sure how I could set something like that up given my floor plan, probably I can't. You got me thinking about it though!

But thinking through how ash and all could be managed sounds extremely important. I've never been in someone's house while they were dealing with the ash. Only when the stove was closed and running, or closed and not running.

Also, one of the stoves I am interested in, the HearthStone, seems to have a lot of complaints about its ash pan. I am not sure how that would apply. I am not even clear what the problem with the ash pan is.

Could ash be vacuumed into a vacuum with a Hepa filter?

 

[firefighterjake]

I have an actual ash vacuum . . . and even with that I never vacuum the ash right from the firebox unless it's Spring time and the stove has been stone cold dead for more than a week . . . to me it's too easy to vacuum up an errant coal. I do however use the ash vac from time to time to clean up the ash around the hearth.

 

[Cynnergy]

If you are burning dry fir, you will have very little ash. My dad runs his stove entirely on dry fir 24/7 for 8 months a year and he empties his ashes once or twice a year. Other species will have more ash, but again, if you're not running 24/7 you shouldn't need to empty the ash all that often.

 

[Grisu]

I am using Mac at home, Windows when at library btw. Not sure if that is relevant. I got a kind offer from someone else to post for me if I email the pics, which I plan to accept with gratitude, but I would still like to know how to upload pics myself! In part when I am at library I have limited time and so cannot play around trying to figure it out.

When writing your next reply take a look at the lower right corner underneath the reply box. There is a button "Upload a File" (next to "Post Reply"). Click on it and search for the location of the file/picture you want to upload. Doubleclick on the file, wait until it is uploaded. It will ask you if you want a thumbnail or full image. Click thumbnail as I assume your picture size is quite large. Finish writing and posting your reply as usual.

Chemical stuff is more of a problem than anything else, so gas not an option for us. There is no natural gas here, and propane tanks are out.

I am not sure what you mean with "chemical stuff"? NG and propane are some of the cleanest burning heat sources around. Way better than wood. If propane is not an option than wood is certainly out except maybe for an outdoor wood boiler. Ever thought of heatpump mini-splits?

 

[becasunshine]

"Ever thought of heatpump mini-splits?"

I was thinking along the same lines. About the only HVAC heating plant that doesn't involve onsite combustion of some flammable substance is electric. If combustibles are used in the generation of that electricity (coal) it's done elsewhere.

Otherwise, you are burning something in your house to generate heat, and "chemicals" will be introduced either in the combustible itself or in the burning of it.

An outdoor wood burner, either cord wood or pellet, puts the burning outside. I don't know how clean the pellet furnaces burn but based on the efficiency of pellet stoves, they are probably pretty clean. Just a guess. A catalytic cord wood burner/boiler will reduce the emissions in a cord wood burner. Depending on where OregonMom is in Oregon, she may be vulnerable to burn bans for cord wood boilers or pellet boilers secondary to thermal inversions, catalytic combustor equipped or not. I'd hate to sink a chunk of change into the main heating plant for my house and not be permitted to use it when I wanted to use it because of burn bans. (I am not knowledgeable about the areas affected by burn restrictions secondary to thermal inversions but I suspect that Oregon may have some areas like this due to the terrain.)

Coastal Oregon's climate is not so cold as to preclude heat pumps and mini-splits at least for most of the year, if I recall correctly.

OregonMom, how do you heat your house now, and why are you seeking an alternative heating method? Could addressing the insulation and air leaks in your house work better for you than changing or adding a heat plant? What is your objective here? Are you trying to heat a house that seems inadequately heated with your current heating system? Are you trying to save money? Are you trying to move to a sustainable heat source? Knowing why you are seeking to make this rather large change, especially in the presence of allergy and sensitivity factors, may help guide your decision making process.