Start from scratch... wood stove or fireplace/insert?

[steve-in-kville]

I am in the end phase of negotiating the purchase of our future homestead. The house has an oil furnace. I would like to add another chimney at the other end of the house in the family room. If you were doing this from scratch, would you build a fireplace and use an insert? Or put the chimney in and use a wood/coal stove? Which would better heat the home?

[ericjeeper]

Just install a woodstove.. That fancy fireplace will cost you a lot of extra money.

[steve-in-kville]

Hmmm... good point. I would still have to put a fire-proof something on the wall behind the stove, plus tile the floor. Thanks for the thoughts.

[djberg]

ericjeeper is right. A fireplace will cost at least three times what a good wood stove, fireproof backing and tile floor will. And, the woodstove will be much more efficient at heating your home.

Don

[Nette]

I'm interested in this post because I want to put a small woodstove on my new sunporch. More for ambiance than for heat, I have to admit. Steve, are you going to do a real chimney or just a flue? (Am I asking that right?) What are you thinking about for the wall behind the stove, if you go that route?

[mtman]

we just finished putting in a fireplace with blower and glass doors it takes air from outside to burn
will heat 2500 sq. feet it was a lot of work but we love it

[Cabin Fever]

We have both a fireplace and a woodstove. You are going to get much more heat, especially without using a blower, from a woodstove. Our woodstove has only a 4.5" required clearance from combustibles.


Our fireplace is actually a woodstove built into a rock-faced plywood box (heatilator style). It will supply heat to the house via convection, but to get maximum heat we must use the blower. It uses outdoor air for combustion.

[bergere]

Wood stove!!!

Do not ever put in one those want'a be fireplace inserts. They are a pain in the backside and it costs lots of $$$ once they are in...to be able to put a wood stove in, instead.

Bought this house and I have no idea what the perivous owners were thinking putting a want'a be fireplace in a little country house.

I remember my Dad when he built houses, would make these rustic but very beautiful natural stone fireplaces. Always dreamed of having one of those to replace the we have now.

[steve-in-kville]

Originally Posted by Nette

Steve, are you going to do a real chimney or just a flue? (Am I asking that right?) What are you thinking about for the wall behind the stove, if you go that route?

Full blown brick chimney, not sure on the wall backing just yet. I'd brick it if there wasn't a basement underneath. Might try those lick-n-stick stone imatations. Whatever gives me some fire protection and makes the wife happy.

[Oldcountryboy]

I just got through hooking electricity up to a outdoor wood furnace that some people just added to their home. After I got the electric run and checked out, they made a fire in it and tried it out. I stuck around cause I wanted to see how well it works and after it got the new burned off it worked great. Nice warm heat throughout the whole house.

I got to get me one now.

[Freeholder]

Originally Posted by Oldcountryboy

I just got through hooking electricity up to a outdoor wood furnace that some people just added to their home. After I got the electric run and checked out, they made a fire in it and tried it out. I stuck around cause I wanted to see how well it works and after it got the new burned off it worked great. Nice warm heat throughout the whole house.

I got to get me one now.

How well will an outdoor furnace heat the house if the power goes out?

Kathleen

[Ross]

Not well at all but the power requirements are usually pretty small, a decent battery back up would power the works for a few days. Guess you could charge it by solar but it'd be cheaper to just have a battery bank and an ac charger. The boiler we have needs 1.5 amps to power the blower and damper, the circ pumps pull 10 amps each I think. (now we have three pumps, smaller units might only have one) We had an indoor PSG wood furnace that heated the house reasonably well with no power but it wasn't perfect. I have a stove inside now that we almost never use. The outdoor boiler just does a better job.

[mdharris68]

In our last house, I installed an antique, yet almost new ornate pot belly stove. I remember the heat would radiate from it and you could feel it across the room.

In this house, we have a buck stove insert in a masonry fireplace. You have to stand in front of it to feel the radiant heat. But it has a blower on it that has 3 or 4 speeds. As it heats up, it blows harder. It heats most of the house except the rooms farthest away from it. And it's not centrally located. It is at one end of the house.

Building a masonry fireplace to put in an insert doesn't make sense though.

If you were to build or hire someone to build a masonry fireplace, go with a Finnish style heater. We were disscusing them in this thread:

http://homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=289132

They are the cadillac of masonry heaters and you have to find someone who knows how to build them to get it done correctly. Oh, and they are priced accordingly.

[artificer]

What do you want from this heater? It sounds like you want a decorative stone facade as well. Cabin Fever's post is an excellent example of both styles.

Do you want this as a main source of heat? Decorative? Full time or occasional use?

Unless you were going to try and get some heat storage like a Finish/Swedish/Russian masonry heater, I would suggest doing like Cabin Fever did, and box in a metal flue. You get the best of both worlds... less expensive, don't need to go to the foundation, warmer, use whatever brick/stone you want ...

Michael

[haypoint]

An insert is a good way to get some heat from a fireplace, to remady a problem. Most fireplaces pull heat from the house.

A wood stove gives off heat from all six sides.

[steve-in-kville]

Great advice!! Keep the posts coming!!

[linda in se ny]

We put a fireplace insert with a blower in our added on room. So far it's all the heat we have in there. I like it but my husband insists we need to keep the blower on and our electric bill is taking quite a hit. It seems to still give quite a lot of heat w/o the blower. Is there any reason to keep the blower at all times when using it?

[salmonslayer]

Efel stoves are used very effectively here in the frozen north (diesel or wood burning). They are ornate and have electronic ignitions (diesel) and blowers but they can be started manually and still operate when the power goes out.

Fireplaces and inserts look nice but you lose a heck of a lot of efficiency and I would definitely go for the wood stove if you have ready access to wood and dont mind the labor.

Personally, I like the Efel diesel which is quiet, efficient, and looks great. If I had harvestable wood on my property, I would probably use wood burning.

[MELOC]

if i was building a totally new room, i would put a woodstove with a stone-cased masonry chimney in the center of a room and through the roof. i guess that is best suited for a great room or cathedral ceiling. you get awesome heat and one heck of a thermal mass to hold over during the night. the chimney stays warmer and creosote is less of an issue.

[Rocky Fields]

Hey.

The question: "If you were doing this from scratch, would you build a fireplace and use an insert? "

The answer: If I was doing it from scratch, I would put in a Russian fireplace. It is the ultimate solution if you can afford it or have the necessary masonry skills to build it yourself.

RF