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I've heard some comments made concerning heating with wood, that it's messy and time consuming and that it makes your house smell like smoke. Yet when I did the research on the new wood stoves they made it seem like none of that is an issue. I have no problems with mild smokey odor and messy and time consuming is in the eye of the beholder, I guess, but I would love some opinions from people who have newer wood stoves........ There's so much wood in Maine, it's a shame not to take advantage of a renewable resource!
I'm with you on this one. I was raised on wood heat (mainly as a supplement to oil). We did have a brief stretch of a few years where my father built a wood boiler using University of Maine Professor Dick Hill's first design (in the 70's). It was great because he put in a huge hot water holding tank downstairs and once we burned it for a few days, the hot water never ended. The downside was that it would tend to smoke the house a bit too much, so he had to do some modifications to the draft. After a while he grew tired of dealing with 3 - 4 foot logs, so we went back to oil with a woodstove in the living room.
I remember one winter in the 70's when half of my friends were planted at my house for most of nearly two weeks when the power was out. We were all sitting there one day, when my buddy up the street flung open the door, ran full-tilt into the room, yelled on the top of her lungs "HEAT!!!!!" and flung herself nearly on top of the woodstove. She was such a drama queen. Needless to say, 3 weeks later, her mother had a woodstove put into the basement.
This year, we burnt about 3 cords of wood in our stove. We need to invest in less of a "cadillac" stove and more into one that will sustain longer, but it certainly helped with the oil bill. Yes, it's major pain #1 to put up wood, but IMO it's very worth it. It also teaches the kids that a little manual labor really and truly won't kill them.
Last edited by cebdark; 05-29-2009 at 10:50 AM..
Reason: fixed sentence
The oil burner man just left here after evaluating our situation for installing a new boiler. We're looking at about $14,000 to $16,000 for a new boiler, double bottom oil tank (now the law) and chimney repairs. He also told me we have to remove our kitchen woodstove as it is on the same flue as the oil burner and they won't install a new boiler on a shared flue. That is not going to make DW happy as the whole kitchen is designed around the old woodstove and we paid $1500 for the hearth it sits on! For $14,000 I think we can repair the old burner about 1000 times. We'll have to think long and hard about this move.
I've heard some comments made concerning heating with wood, that it's messy and time consuming and that it makes your house smell like smoke. Yet when I did the research on the new wood stoves they made it seem like none of that is an issue. I have no problems with mild smokey odor and messy and time consuming is in the eye of the beholder, I guess, but I would love some opinions from people who have newer wood stoves........ There's so much wood in Maine, it's a shame not to take advantage of a renewable resource!
After 30 years I'm throwing in the towel on wood heat. My previous houses were geared to wood heat with large stoves, conveniently located and good storage for the wood. In this house we put a small woodstove on a winterized porch. It did the job and there's nothing like wood heat. No smell. But after five years of wheeling small quantities across the yard in a wheelbarrow, lugging it by armloads across the porch to fill the wood ring and stoking, stoking, stoking and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning up the mess - I' ve had it. We're replacing the jotul wood stove with a jotul propane stove next week. Yes, I feel a little guilty but I guess I'll get over it. If I was still in one of those built-for-wood-heat homes I'd soldier on. I don't want to spend my time like that anymore.
After 30 years I'm throwing in the towel on wood heat. My previous houses were geared to wood heat with large stoves, conveniently located and good storage for the wood. In this house we put a small woodstove on a winterized porch. It did the job and there's nothing like wood heat. No smell. But after five years of wheeling small quantities across the yard in a wheelbarrow, lugging it by armloads across the porch to fill the wood ring and stoking, stoking, stoking and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning up the mess - I' ve had it. We're replacing the jotul wood stove with a jotul propane stove next week. Yes, I feel a little guilty but I guess I'll get over it. If I was still in one of those built-for-wood-heat homes I'd soldier on. I don't want to spend my time like that anymore.
Who can blame you! We heated with wood for years when we were first married. It was a big chore. Now that it's supplemental we don't NEED to run it unless we want to. Last winter with oil so high the need outweighed the necessity so we gave in and put in a nice airtight soapstone stove. We really enjoyed the heat but you're right about constantly having to clean up and lug wood. The airtight stove takes some getting used to. Once we figured it out we could keep it going for weeks at a time without it going out. No stoking, absolutely no smoke smell and just have to remove ash about once a week or so. The only time I let it go all the way out was when I wanted to clean the glass on it. It does get smoky when you light it from dead cold but only until the flue heats up enough for it to draw. Keeping it running alleviates this completely. If oil could be depended on to stay down around $2.00 a gallon we'd run just the oil burner and forget the wood. Unfortunately I don't think oil will stay that low for very long and wood will be necessary to make heating affordable.
Forest, my brother has a boat shed that's plastic covered, like a greenhouse, and he used it to store and dry three cords of green wood this past winter and spring. Worked like a charm. Ventilation is important to carry the moisture out, but bro was so pleased with the result he's loading the shed up again this summer with next winter's wood.
The oil burner man just left here after evaluating our situation for installing a new boiler. We're looking at about $14,000 to $16,000 for a new boiler, double bottom oil tank (now the law) and chimney repairs. He also told me we have to remove our kitchen woodstove as it is on the same flue as the oil burner and they won't install a new boiler on a shared flue. That is not going to make DW happy as the whole kitchen is designed around the old woodstove and we paid $1500 for the hearth it sits on! For $14,000 I think we can repair the old burner about 1000 times. We'll have to think long and hard about this move.
Wow! Maineah, I can't emphasize enough that you need to call in a few more companies for estimates. We had to replace our old furnace seven years ago, and I got five estimates for the job. And I let every one of them know that I was getting bids from other people, without telling them who the other bidders were. We have baseboard hot water heat (in addition to the woodstove), and we got a new, high-efficiency oil furnace and boiler for a LOT less than I originally thought, about $4,000 as I recall. Our oil usage dropped by 30 percent right away. The furnace paid for itself in the first four years.
Ummm.... Yeah, I second that. That is as much as I was quoted for a complete solar system to replace 1000 gal of fuel per year. Are you replacing every component in the house???
By the way, they are working on removing the requirement that you only have one appliance per chimney. Can't remember the exact details, you may want to check with Dick Hill on that one.
Wow! Maineah, I can't emphasize enough that you need to call in a few more companies for estimates. We had to replace our old furnace seven years ago, and I got five estimates for the job. And I let every one of them know that I was getting bids from other people, without telling them who the other bidders were. We have baseboard hot water heat (in addition to the woodstove), and we got a new, high-efficiency oil furnace and boiler for a LOT less than I originally thought, about $4,000 as I recall. Our oil usage dropped by 30 percent right away. The furnace paid for itself in the first four years.
We have a chimney issue that will cost us $4000-$6000 to repair. The boiler installed is around $8000 and the rest is for a double bottomed oil tank for about $2000. I'll get more estimates though so far everyone seems to be in tha same ballpark.
Trailmonkey is correct on that one. Like the urban legend about plastic gasoline containers, the two fuels into one flue is policy with some oil dealers and furnace guys, but any mention of a law is not based on fact. It is a superstition; nothing more than company policy. If your burner guy won't install a new furnace into a flue that services a wood stove, get a different burner guy.
hope this isn't off topic...it's kind of about "wood," but more about "etc.," really -
Going to build a new 18X20 story & 1/2. Planning to have an average woodstove inside, which I will do the majority of my heating with. But not sure what the backup source should be. Obviously, it will be a small space. The plan is to insulate the walls with foam & roof with high R fglass. I don't know what size "Monitor" or ? I should be looking at.
I'm also debating between oil/kero & propane. Would like propane for the kitchen. Gas pig would have to go outside the house, while oil/kero tank could go below decks, out of sight.
I like it that folks are talking about heating now...in May, almost June. I'm thinking now about heating later, too! So, thank you!!!
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I have no problems with mild smokey odor and messy and time consuming is in the eye of the beholder, I guess, but I would love some opinions from people who have newer wood stoves........
There's so much wood in Maine, it's a shame not to take advantage of a renewable resource!
I was raised on wood heat (mainly as a supplement to oil). We did have a brief stretch of a few years where my father built a wood boiler using University of Maine Professor Dick Hill's first design (in the 70's). It was great because he put in a huge hot water holding tank downstairs and once we burned it for a few days, the hot water never ended. 
She was such a drama queen.
Needless to say, 3 weeks later, her mother had a woodstove put into the basement. 
