Heating with wood

[Rob30]

I am looking for alternative ways of heating my house. We currently hat with wood. The stove is very effecient, but is on the main floor, with a masonry chimney. The upstairs is warm, and most of the main floor. However the floor is cold. Any the main floor can get cool on really cold nights.
I am looking at a moving the woodstove into basement at some point, but I have to build a new chimney. I am also looking into outdoor wood boilers. As well as some solar type heating systems to cut down on wood useage.
Anyone with experience or ideas?
Our winters do get cold in Northern Ontario.

[Rockin'B]

I'd do both. Wood stove in the basement too.

We have a woodstove upstairs that heats probably 65% of the upper floor and a fireplace insert downstairs.

The problem with a wood stove downstairs is the cost of the insulated pipe it takes to go up 2 floors. For the long term it will make sense though. Energy just doesn't get any cheaper.

[Ross]

Hey Rob, we use a wood stove in teh old farm house and it just happens to have access to the upstairs via a small attic so it does 80% of the whole house heating. My house was heated with a PSG 4000 wood furnace, and it worked reasonably well, but it has an oil furnace too. I would have prefered to just add the oil furnae component for the PSG, it's nice to have real back up when evryone has a cold or flu. We're just finishing up installing an Empyre 450 outdoor boiler. Nice system but there's an oil fired boiler to add onto it for the same reason as our PSG. There are plusses and minuses for all three options, the stove is likely the most eff, the furnace the easiest to feed, the outdoor boiler does the best over all job and does more than any one furnace or stove can do. It's cleaner and safer I'm sure but don't count on it being a labour saver. There's much less splitting but you're swapping wood splitting for weight lifting! It's not quite as eff but it IS very effective at converting garbage wood into usable heat. If I wasn't heating multiple buildings, I'd go with a PSG wood oil furnace, (If you have duct work alread) Like you say N Ontario is no place to take your heat for granted, I'd want a back up!

[Carol K]

Put a corn stove in the basement,no chimney, just get the pipe to ground level and then out the wall. It will heat your floors, be an alternate heat source and you don't have to cut more wood!

Carol

[Maura]

I second the maize burner. The price of corn is expected to go up, but you can always grow your own.

[RedneckPete]

If it's just a problem of getting the heat where you need it, why not try running your furnace blower to circulate the heat through the house. I'm assuming you at least have ducting and used to have a furnace.

I just put a backup furnace in after a four year no-backup stint. I like the backup and not waking up to a 13 C house when it's real cold outside.

Pete

[Rob30]

Corn is out here. No body grows corn here. The soil and season are not good enough. Corns for feed or eating.
I have duct work. I am thinking of an oil/wood combo or an out door wood furnace. We are in prime logging country. I can probably heat my house with the waste wood left by the loggers. We buy a truck load of maple, and scrounge some more. This year we have enough for this year, and at least next year. Now we have to find a better way to heat with it.

[george darby]

i vote for the outside wood furnaces no need for a new chimmney then and all the mess is outside and very efficient one of the best things i ever got

[ericjeeper]

and buying wood do not go hand in hand., OWBs are basically magic boxes.. a box you go outside and put lots of firewood into. and in a few hours taadah its gone.
You already know how much wood it takes a winter to currently heat your house. I would expect the amount to almost double.Mine eats well over a face cord a week.If I had to buy the wood for it.. I would almost be better off running my fuel oil boiler.

[Ross]

I would say our indoor furnace was more efficient with wood but the house did run hot and cold which is a pain. The outdoor burner keeps the heat regulated. The indoor furnace kept the house reasonably warm with no power for two weeks, they all have their advantages. My #1 complaint with the outdoor burner is cost, they are expensive to buy and install. No they are very expensive to buy and install.

[arbutus]

My great grandfather heated his house for MANY MANY years with an oil and wood combination forced air furnace in the basement. It was warm.

I heat with wood and use the propane furnace blower to circulate the air. The only return air grille is upstairs - where it gets the warmest. It is nice to have propane backup too.

J.

[henfruit]

i have an england stove works wood stove in the basment.it is tied in to the forced hot air system.the stove is in a sheet metal box and the blowers moves the warm air through the house keeping us quite warm.you just have to fill it every five to six hours.

If I had the money I would go with the outdoor wood boiler system. It would heat up your hot water to shower, wash clothes, dishes, etc. and use steam radiators throughout your house for warmth. I would also have a solar system to work with your grid for lightning and to operate the wood boiler when the grid is down.

[ericjeeper]

Cost much less, eat less wood. and do the same job. I am looking for one this coming season. Cause at 3 am when I had to go feed mine. It was cold as a well diggers bottom out there.

[agmantoo]

I have owned an outdoor boiler and I have installed 3 for others. I cannot wean myself from the upkeep of these I installed although the work was free. I am here to state that they are problemmatic. The ones that are not stainless rust and the life is about 10 to 12 years for the steel. The rust inhibitor sold to keep the interior rust in check is a major environmental hazard. The smoke emitted from the stack is offensive and a constant complaint if you have neighbors. The burn chamber is very inefficient in the units I am acquainted. Someone must be around to fire the unit or you must have an auxillary fuel system on the unit if you want to be away during the freezing season or the boiler and the lines to the house will freeze. The pump(s) for delivering the heated water are prone to fail. They are a few plus features but I will never own another that uses treated water or water for the transfer medium. Heat stored in sand and moved via vegatable oil may be a consideration for me but never another conventional one.