Wife scared of woodburner

I'd bet you are right on that guess. But I would also suggest that it is because many many more people heat with gas furnaces than with wood stoves these days.

I think when you really boil it down it's hard to disagree that an indoor wood stove is not as safe as gas heat. Now I'm not saying that to dissuade anyone from heating with wood, but there is more room for operator error and the consequences of poor maintenance are larger. Just the nature of the beast. Now the upside is no gas bill, heat without electric power, and self-sustainability. You gotta decide for yourself if that's worth it.

An outside wood burner is a viable option, but they are 2-3 times as expensive as a normal wood stove installed, use a lot more wood, and need electricity to run. They do have some other benefits: the mess stays outside, you can burn junk wood that a stove couldn't, the house will be heated evenly, can heat outbuildings, etc. You will have to weigh these factors against the wood stove and gas heat to make your decision.

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This is my reason for not having a woodstove. DH wants one, but I'm just not comfortable having one in our 165 year old wood house. Is it irrational? I don't really know, but it worries me too much to consider it.

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Beth ~ Old Church, VA
3 Nigerian Dwarf goats, 4 cats, 3 Pekin ducks and 7 chickens. One very patient husband~

We heat with wood and coal and use a propane wall heater for back up. I feel safer with the wood than the gas but that is me. We have ample room between the walls and heater and triple wall pipe going out through the wall. Also the heater sits on a concrete pad. Our chimney is 3 ft from the house and is heavy wall {1/4in thick} and 6 in dia. This old house was built in 1930 and has always had wood or coal heat. We did add a lot of insulation when we remodled and with a couple fans mounted on the ceiling it stays warm all through the house and comfy upstairs as well. We did insulate the downstairs ceilings to help keep all the heat from going upstairs. The stairs are in the same room as the heater and it lets the heat go up. Good luck with your heating. Sam

Install it according to the expert instruction you've received in previous posts. Then promise your wife you won't use it unless absolutely necessary. Put in a good supply of wood in the meantime.

Then patiently wait for a power outage during cold weather. She'll be carrying in wood for you and asking you to start that puppy up immediately! We currently live in a home with NO wood stove, NO fireplace and just electrical heat. If the power goes out we'll just turn into popsicles, period. I personally worry about the electrical lines in this old place (parts of the house predate electricity) than I would if we were burning wood for heat...

I checked into a woodstove this year and BIL (who is my insurance agent) sent me all the requirements for a woodstove to be covered in the event of a fire.

The stove had to be installed by a certified installer and to the insurance company's specs or it would not be covered if there was a fire. And there were a bunch of requirements - came with a diagram of what I could, could not do, where to put it all that.

In addition, BIL really tried to talk me out of it since he has been a volunteer fireman for over 20 years and has seen a lot of woodstove fires.

I grew up with a woodstove and am comfortable around them - BUT, I don't want screwed if there is a fire and the insurance company comes back to me with some detail that doesn't cover us.

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