Farmall Cub

I recently go a good size Nashua woodstove and have a lot of firewood, so have decided to take the pellet stove out of the shop and convert to wood heat. I have several sections of Selkirk metalbestos pipe so will use that for a chimney. Of course I have to but a thimble, a tee and some other brckets, total for the parts I need just over $ 400.00 a pretty good deal for the whole project. Love that wood heat.

At least Joe's family will be warm this winter.... fuel oil stays stubbornly high and I failed to convert to gas this summer....

Joe:

I agree, I love my wood heat. Inexpensive, warm,moist heat that keeps you all snugly warm in winter. There is nothing that compares to it. Forced air is great in the house, but a wood stove is the queen of them all - grew up with a kitchen stove and a parlour stove at my grandparents. Nothing quite like it. I like my Selkirk as well. Very good and a very safe chimney. Beats others by a mile.

In the shop though, I have electric. Insurance won't cover any other type of heat in a cabinet shop. Electric construction heater in the pole barn. Got it for free so can't complain.

We are building a house right now, and even though fireplaces are expensive, I intend to have a functioning fireplace with a wood insert/stove of some sort. Haven't picked out exactly what we want yet, but will decide soon. We won't depend on it for all our heating, but will use it for supplementary heat and in case we ever lose power in the winter.

There is something very relaxing about a nice fire in the wintertime, even in our relatively mild climate.

Al

I converted the houses to gas a few years back can't beat it. Still like to supplement in the house with the wood have two stoves set up.

OK veering of topic a bit. The old house we live in now is heated with propane. I HATE it when the bill comes, buying propane around here is as big a ripoff as buying gasoline. Yes, the house is not insulated that well, but the last bill was nearly $700 to fill it up, that should go about 2 months. In the summertime, our electric bill running the ac has never been over $225 and I keep it cool (my wife says cold) in the house. But I read somewhere today that gas heat is cheaper/more efficient in the long run than a heat pump. What do you think? My notion is to use the wood stove/fireplace as supplementary heat, maybe put the heat pump intake close to the living room so it will pull some of the warmer air from the fireplace into the reat of the house.

Al

I understand the cost of propane I am lucky to have natural gas in the street. Along with my own woodnotes in the backyard

One of the reasons why I scrapped the propane in both the shop and the house was cost. Propane is very expensive. Much more expensive than natural gas. Also, there is a higher probability of leaks developing. We had leakage problems which they refused to fix and after losing at least two 1,000 litre tanks of gas to thin air, we told em to come pick em up or they could pick em up from the middle of the road. Got rid of it real quick. Converted over to electric back-up in the house - 20kw's. However in the 7 or 8 years since we have only used the electric twice -- aside from test days. The shop has 10kw electric furnace.

Now to answer the question:

Super A wrote:But I read somewhere today that gas heat is cheaper/more efficient in the long run than a heat pump.

My wife's aunt had a traditional heat pump - electric costs were more than anticipated and it took 15 years to break even on the cost of the heat pump. My brother-in-law has installed 2 mini-splits which are essentially upgraded heat pumps. They are very efficient both in winter and summer. His house was finished and they moved in last December - so the house really hasn't dried out yet, however his monthly costs were far less than expected. If I was building a new home and did not have a wood lot, then the mini-split is probably the option of first choice. Very nice - and very economical. Pay back is expected to be in about 5-6 years. Based on last year's bills, Ray thinks maybe 4 will do it

Al,
Since you are building the house, consider skipping the masonry chimney expense and go with a QuadraFire 7100 Fireplace.
http://www.quadrafire.com/Products/7100-Wood-Fireplace.aspx

When we built our house I paid for a traditional masonry chimney/fireplace with three (3) flues, one for the oil furnace, one for a basement wood stove, and one for the fireplace. My brother did a stone facing on the fireplace. Unfortunately the mason that build the fireplace did not follow my drawings so we ended up with a worthless modern firebrick lined cavity in the wall that just burns up wood without providing any heat. 3 years ago we put in a QuadraFire Medium Insert and love it.

If you are set on a masonry fireplace and then an insert, I would consider building a Rumford Fireplace and then use a freestanding wood stove. That way if you ever decide to move the wood stove someplace else it will leave you with a "real" fireplace.

Between the two stoves we burn about 6 cords of wood in a typically cold New England winter along with one tank of oil. If we just heated with oil, we would use at least 5 tanks of oil. Our stoves paid for themselves in one winter.

Joe - sorry to hijack your thread. Downside of Pellets are you have to buy them and you need electricity to run the stove. Upside is you scoop a small bucket of pellets, fill the bin, and let the auger move the pellets to the burn pot. Other than unloading the pellets into a dry storage area, not much work to it. Free wood and exercise to split and stack it keeps you sane and in shape!

Peter

Heating oil here,,,wish I had gas..I burn wood to supplement,,well I burn when I can....House gets to 72 degrees in 4 hours...Its in the basement so the basement heats up first.Nice to get out and spilt ,stack...Yep,,,that will keep ya sane...I like the woodburner...no eletric needed.Kevin