Wood stoves???

[Redeemed98]

Ok, I live In the south. One of the things I have rarely ever thought about is the need for a wood stove or fireplace. All of this freezing weather and ice storms have caused me to see the need for some type of back up heat if the power goes off. I only have electric heat as of now. I'm considering a wood stove of some sort but know little about them. Can anyone recommend a decent stove without spending a fortune on one. It will probably get little use. My other question has to do with heating your whole home with one. How do you heat rooms other than the room that the stove is in? Or is this possible? Thanks

[simi-steading]

A decent stove is gonna cost you... You might also check with your home owners insurance too, Some don' like them at all...

Heat rises, so a two story is a little easier to heat above, but to do other rooms on the same floor, you have to put out a lot of heat and have some way to move air around the house from the stove room.

[Tango]

Vogelzang makes a little EPA exempt cast iron stove that is the cheapest I have seen. Here is a link to one size http://www.harborfreight.com/cast-ir...ove-32058.html they have other sizes too. There are many that say the stoves are not air tight and leak but this little model has been around for a long time so I think most of them are sound. Stoves are rated by btu's and recommended area size so you have a good idea if it will work in your home. Remote rooms are a problem that can be dealt with, with fans or blowers. My last one never heated my log home satisfactorily. I think maybe because of the cathedral ceiling that opened to the second floor- all the heat went up. I ended up running propane to the two lower bedrooms.

[chickenista]

I got that little Vogelzang to hold us over until we could find a better stove.
You have bout 4 hours of burn time before it is ice cold..inside and out.
That will mean many a cold morning.
And the stove cement in the joints cracked out in the first week.
We had an old Vogelzang when I was a kid and it was great.
These new ones from China are very thin, don't hold heat etc..

Look on Craigslist.
Or on the local 'yard sale/For sale etc.. site on Facebook.
There are woodstoves like crazy on those sites.
We got our Fisher, great stove.. one of the best, on craigslist for $125 several years ago.
Great shape and keeps the house warm all night! No freezing mornings.

[MichaelZ]

The cast iron stove might be OK if you are very far south, but the one I have in my shop is very inefficient - I am considering replacing it with the old barrel stove I had. If you are mid-south and get some cold weather I would recommend a fairly small decorative free-standing fireplace that is energy efficient. You can pick one up for a little over $600 at a big box store. To heat the whole home, put the stove in the basement if you have a family room - the heat will distribute through the floor and heat much of your house. We can pretty much heat our whole home to near 60 in near zero degree weather with our fairly small fireplace in the basement.

[Tango]

That's good to know about Vogelzang. I asked before about a small stove and they've been recommended- was gonna install one this year but maybe need to wait for a better stove. Thanks for the input

[ET1 SS]

We have a Vogelzang two-barrel. We use it to heat water, that circulates through a thermal-bank and through our radiant floors. The system stores heat and evenly spreads it out to every corner of our house.

That is the primary heat source for our 2400 sq ft house here in Maine. We go through around 3 1/2 cords of firewood each year.

The stove and stove-pipe complete ran me around $400.

The copper-tubing to heat water, water recirc pumps, PEX tubing, etc, was around $500.

[logbuilder]

If you are really just looking for something to use during short emergencies, you might want to consider this device. It attaches to the top of a propane tank.

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-Sing.../dp/B004W7SIUG

[COWS]

Be careful with a propane stove that is not vented. My understanding is that they burn up the oxygen in a room. Get some expert advice before using.

COWS

[haypoint]

A barrel and a barrel stove kit will get you a wood stove that will heat a house. Warm air rises, cool drops. The whole house will get warm, hottest close to the stove. If you don't expect to use it, except in an emergency, I'd leave the stove in the barn or somewhere out of the way. Haul it in just on the rare time you need it. Store up firewood, too.
But if you don't have a chimney, that'll cost you more than a stove.

[CurtisWilliams]

I'm sure that I'm gonna get some flack for this,(again) but after three years of using them, I recommend vent free blue flame propane heaters. I have five ProCom heaters in my house. They cost anywhere from $60.00(Amazon) to $200.00 (local hardware store). They can be run from a 20 lb tank, but the pressure regulator may freeze up. A 100 lb tank is recommended as a minimum. A 500 gallon tank is MUCH more economical for the long term. I use my wood stove as a primary heat source and use the propane heaters as zone heating. This years propane prices not withstanding, vent free heaters are very inexpensive to use.

I recommend that you educate yourself on the potential risks inherent to such a heating system.

[Harry Chickpea]

I have a Federal airtight wood/coal stove with catalytic top sitting outside under a tarp that I haven't got around to messing with. It takes three strong guys to move it and would need the insulated pipe, which is also costly. I guess I might let it go for $500 cash to offset what I know are going to be high propane and electric bills this winter. I'm not eager enough to deal with Craigslist and all the scammers.

[JoePa]

If you are talking of only using a emergency heat source to be used very little - I don't think a wood stove is the thing for you - you may just want to get a couple Big Buddy propane heaters - they use the smaller cylinders and can be used inside - you can hook them up to a larger cylinder but when you do that they recommend that the cylinder be outside - and you run a hose to the inside heater - with a wood stove you have a lot of additional work and installation costs - and they take up more room because of size and distance required from a combustable surface - you can get these propane heater anywhere including Amazon -

[Harry Chickpea]

I use a dual tank top propane heater in my shop. It can go through propane pretty fast but is good for doing a quick heat-up. The Buddy heaters have an o2 depletion sensor IIRC, so might be a slightly safer choice for a home. Wall mount unvented propane heaters aren't too expensive. I like the ceramic better than blue flame (slightly less incomplete combustion and a nice conversion of the combustion to a radiant heat that doesn't immediately pool at the ceiling), but either will do.

[jeeper55]

I have owned a Craft stove which i liked ,heated 14 hundred sq. feet with no problem and airtight but the one i liked best was a baby bear wood stove made by fisher . If you can find either one in good shape you will be happy but they are selling a bout the same price now as what i paid 20 years ago for a new one. if i can find a baby bear i want one for my 12 by 24 work shed.

[Roadking]

I picked up a wonderwood (2941) for $40 on craigslist for my shop (675 sq. feet). It's supposed to cover 2000 sq. ft., but soon we'll see. As soon as I finish the insulation it's going in.

Matt

[farmerscotty]

little off topic, but an outdoor unit can keep the mess outside. check my signature!
Scott