High-efficiency gas (propane) vs. wood burning fireplace? (Bend, Redmond: house, water heater)

[darnselfly]

We're planning on putting in a fireplace and I'm wondering peoples' experience and opinions on whether to do gas (propane) vs. wood-burning? It would be a sealed high-efficiency unit, whichever way we go.

Any input would be appreciated!

[delta07]

Originally Posted by darnselfly

We're planning on putting in a fireplace and I'm wondering peoples' experience and opinions on whether to do gas (propane) vs. wood-burning? It would be a sealed high-efficiency unit, whichever way we go.

Any input would be appreciated!

Have you considered a pellet stove? We have a freestanding wood burning stove, and while it's quite efficient, it's a lot of work. We live in an all electric house, and rely on the wood burner for heat. My parents were out visiting last month from Colorado and they just moved to a place in the high country. They have opted to do a pellet stove there because of the cost and efficiency of them is pretty phenomenal. They are also a lot cleaner than wood burning stoves. My house is usually very dusty due to the ash & wood being carted in daily.

I don't know much about gas stoves, so I can't help you there.

[Coniferian]

We also lived in Colorado for many years and replaced a wood burning stove with a pellet stove because of my wife's asthma. They are expensive and can break down, but are clean and pretty reliable. We ran ours 24/7 for six months of the year. You need to have a place to store a couple tons of pellet bags. The main problem we experienced is that if you lose electric power (which we often did), you have no heat with a pellet stove. They use an induction fan, an augur motor and a circulating fan, all run by a small computer hooked to various heat sensors. We also had a small wood stove for backup in another room and a fireplace in the living room.

After over 30 years of dealing with firewood and pellets, we had a natural gas stove installed when we moved to Redmond. Push a button and you're done. No fuel storage and it works when the power is off.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I don't know much about heating with propane except that propane isn't cheap. It's probably the most expensive way to heat.

A wood stove depends entirely upon your source of wood. If you have a good source, it is good warm economical heat. If you have to buy wood one cord at a time from the woodchucks, it won't save you any money.

Propane is nearly hands off to run once it is set up. You can even get automatic delivery so you don't even have to check your fuel levels. Propane runs on a thermostat for temperature control.

Wood has to be split and carried. The fire has to be tended. Ashes and spilled bits of bark must be cleaned up. You must have a place to store firewood. You can't buy on demand because wood has to sit around and dry before you use it. You need to learn how to regulate temperature; not all that hard to do, but it isn't just setting a thermostat, either.

I much prefer wood heat. It is warm heat and warms you all the way to your bones. A wood fire is prettier to watch than a propane fire.

Personally, I don't like pellet stoves. They are running two fans and an auger so they are still using electricity. They are noisy. The cheaper pellets don't work well and the good quality pellets are expensive. They won't work when the power is out so you might be without heat during one of the winter storms ( if you decide on propane, make sure the stove will work without electricity. )

[delta07]

All excellent points. I love my woodstove but it is work. If you do consider a pellet stove, you can always get a generator like my parents have in the event of a power outage. Definitely something to consider though.

I think if I wasn't relying on something for heat alone & I didn't want to deal with the mess & work involved, I'd go with gas. It's a lot easier than wood.

With that said, I'm with oregonwoodsmoke. I still love my wood stove & prefer the heat from it than the other alternatives.

[supchick]

I have a pellet stove and love it! We had a wood stove as our only source of heat. We would have to stand no further than two feet away to even feel the heat. Our wood was dry, too. We were always cleaning up bark, wood chips, soot and chasing vinegaroons that came in with the wood. Splitting the wood. Vacuuming ash. Now we just dump pellets in the hopper, clean it every couple of weeks and dump a little fine ash. The best thing though, is that it heats our house and we aren't covered in quilts anymore. Pellet stoves can be a little work, but from our experience it has been worth it. Just don't buy the cheap pellets. They will mess up your stove and expensive repairs will be needed. Way more expensive than paying a couple extra dollars per bag of quality pellets.

[Coniferian]

I should mention that when we had a wood stove and a fireplace, I was living on property that had over an acre of trees, many dead from beetles. My only cost was my labor cutting them down and blocking and splitting and stacking...

I once tried running our pellet stove with a generator during a power outage, but the on-board computer didn't like the AC from the generator and wouldn't work. Probably more of a square wave than a sine wave coming out of the inverter. Your results may vary with a better generator than I used. Cheap pellets will jam the augur with sawdust eventually and you will sometimes get a nail in a bag of pellets that will cause the augur/motor clip pin to shear.

[darnselfly]

Thanks to all for their feedback! I knew I would get some good input.

I should have stated it won't be our only heat source -- supplementary heat for the main living space and ambiance. I hadn't thought about power outages though -- good thought. Between wood for the f/p and propane for the range at least we won't starve or freeze!

I had heard that propane was expensive (thanks, OWS) -- which is my main concern about going with that. The neighborhood isn't supplied with natural gas, so that isn't an option. But we'll have propane for the kitchen cooktop and maybe the water heater and IDK what else -- still early in design mode at this point.

In doing research yesterday on high-efficiency f/ps, I came across the Rumford design. Most of the high-efficiency fireplaces I had seen before looked like wood stoves installed in the wall -- a tiny window to view the actual fire. Rumfords are tall and shallow -- they burn hot and produce very little smoke and particulates. Not sure what is allowed by the forum rules so I won't post links, but if you search the web or YouTube for "renaissance rumford" that is what I'm thinking of. It's probably expensive, but I love how visible the fire is and how cleanly it burns.

[darnselfly]

Anyone know a source for kiln-dried firewood around Bend or Redmond?

[Lugnuts]

Much more efficient than a Rumford:

Rocket Mass Heaters