Wood Stoves: what's new in the world of wood heat.

[madeouttaglass]

Originally Posted by Sasquatch

I am still at the considering point. These are questions that need to be answered. I know the pellet stove can be turned down so it is not so hot, but ti may still be a deal breaker.

I cut our own wood here on our property, so I know what my costs are. (My time is cheap.)
I've always wondered what kind of payback there was with buying a pellet stove, pipe, and pellets at whatever the market may charge. I assume they all go out if the power does? Considering you still have the labor of buying, hauling, stacking, and loading the pellets, is it really worth it? I't's certainly less work than what I do. Just wondering...

[Dave]

Originally Posted by madeouttaglass

I'd think twice about that too. The heat from our woodstove has popped the seals on our skylights twice.

Huh. My Jotul 3 sits in the mouth of my fireplace, and my Sharp LCD big screen sits above the mantle. I regularly have both fired up without any problems at all.
Granted, I don't run the stove full blast. If I did, the room would get uncomfortably warm. I also have a ceiling fan in the room which I usually turn on low to help distribute the heat to other rooms.

The TV will probably take the heat better than you believe it will. I've watched TV with the temps well into the 90s in the summer, and it was OK. My living room doesn't get nearly that hot in the winter with the stove on.

[Sasquatch]

I live in a city, while there is wood in the national forests, I would have to buy a truck or a trailer to tow behind the SUV. 100 mile round trip to get to the good wood, then finding a place to stack, cover, dry, etc., the wood on property, as well as keeping the stove stocked when we may be away for long periods.

Pellet stoves are kind of a set and forget situation. Fill them up every now and then. Pellets come in nice, easy to manage bags and can be stored one ton at a time in a corner of the garage. Power is a concern, but we do have generator backup. For us (that being the key factor) it is a better solution to wood. If I lived in the woods, not so much.

I seem to remember pellets going for around $100/ton. No idea how long that lasts, but our power bill was $280 last month and most of that was electric heat. So I want to investigate if it will work for us and do something by next winter.

[Sasquatch]

Originally Posted by Dave

Huh. My Jotul 3 sits in the mouth of my fireplace, and my Sharp LCD big screen sits above the mantle. I regularly have both fired up without any problems at all.
Granted, I don't run the stove full blast. If I did, the room would get uncomfortably warm. I also have a ceiling fan in the room which I usually turn on low to help distribute the heat to other rooms.

The TV will probably take the heat better than you believe it will. I've watched TV with the temps well into the 90s in the summer, and it was OK. My living room doesn't get nearly that hot in the winter with the stove on.

Thanks for that. It would be exactly the same situation in our home.

[madeouttaglass]

$280/ month for electric! I understand much better now.
I see Dave's point about the TV. I guess that I'd have to agree. Besides, our skylights can be -20 on one side and probably 100 only 1/2 inch away. That's asking a lot of a seal that's stuck in the sun everyday. I'm not saying 100 in the room, but near that up in the skylight well above the stove. Our ceiling fan doesn't move the air in there too much.

[Sasquatch]

I have another option I just looked at and that would be a projector. Went by the theater store and they are pretty cost effective up against the larger LCD or Plasma TV's, and I can build my own screen with drywall and special paint. Then it does not matter how hot the stove was, within reason.

Pretty impressed with the picture quality on a $2k projector and a 110" screen.

[Nailhead]

Originally Posted by madeouttaglass

I assume they all go out if the power does?

Sure enough; no power, no pellet feed to the combustion chamber, no heat. This and the availability of firewood was a deal-breaker for me.

[Manuel Garcia O'Kely]

Originally Posted by Nailhead

Sure enough; no power, no pellet feed to the combustion chamber, no heat. This and the availability of firewood was a deal-breaker for me.

We don't get free wood, and even heat circulation is an issue, so we now go both ways. Wood stove and pellet stove. Each has advantages, and if you buy fuel, the pellet is working out to about a buck a day, maybe buck fifty tops. I bought 11 - 40 lb bags of pellets Dec 6 and I have burned 7 bags since then. In roughly the same period, burned not quite a cord of stove wood, pine mostly. It's been a mild winter.

When the power goes out (has not happened yet this year) wood stove wins hands down. And, our wood stove is twice as powerful as the pellet stove, so when real heat is needed, well, you know who to call on.

Wood heat is really nice to use, and our cabin is much warmer than our big house with a central furnace.

[Maggot12]

You can run a pellet stove on a 300 watt genny.

I have both a pellet and wood stove. I'll burn maybe 45-50 bags of pellets and about 3 cords of wood. Neither are going full time, more like when I get home from work at 4pm and all weekend. I'll still spend a 1000 bucks in electricity during winter.

in Nova Scotia wood is 250 for a hardwood chord, pellets are 5 bucks+15% sales tax, and electricity is over 13 cents per KWH.

[red450]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

I don't think its a great stove. I've had it chock full and it barely heats up the down stairs.

Is your firewood seasoned properly? From the looks of the "glass", it either has a high moisture content or you're letting the fire smolder.

Pick up a moisture meter ($10 @ HF) if you don't have one. Split a piece of wood and see if it's below 20% mc. A stove top thermometer helps a lot too. If you have any questions, PM me.

I struggled with our wood stove the first year because of unseasoned wood.


Here's our Century stove with a small fire. I had just refinished it and had to cure the paint.

[gremor]

I started using these this winter and it cuts down on the amount or fire wood I have burned so far.

2/3 firewood 1/3 bioblocks

[red450]

Originally Posted by gremor

I started using these this winter and it cuts down on the amount or fire wood I have burned so far.

2/3 firewood 1/3 bioblocks

How's the heat output on those? I haven't seen the biologs for sale around here, are they worth the cash?

[gremor]

Originally Posted by red450

How's the heat output on those? I haven't seen the biologs for sale around here, are they worth the cash?

Heat output is better than the firewood and burns to nothing as far as ash.

I get them for $160.00 a ton (I pick-up) and have gone thru about 1/3rd of them so far.

They work good to "bank" a fire overnight til morning.

[red450]

Originally Posted by gremor

Heat output is better than the firewood and burns to nothing as far as ash.

I get them for $160.00 a ton (I pick-up) and have gone thru about 1/3rd of them so far.

They work good to "bank" a fire overnight til morning.

Nice, looks like I have some shopping to do! I put a few pieces from oak pallets (about 4"x4") in the back of stove, it leaves me a nice coal bed for the morning.

[Tobz]

I found my Vermont Castings on craigslist years ago. It had definitely seen better days..



It got dismantled , sandblasted, and repainted. Needed a few replacment parts, but they were easy to find.



I've run a LOT of wood through it since!