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I have a fireplace insert with a blower and they're wonderful, but you're correct in that I do have to tend to the fire so to speak. I did put a thermostat on the the blower last year as otherwise it'll run you out of the house.
As for pellet stoves, are the pellets more economical than firewood? Is there a rule of thumb for how long a 50# bag of pellets will burn? Also how much is a bag? Please forgive my ignorance but this concept is new to me not being from the area.
One last question, when you say a "forced hot air system," I assume that is what we refer to as Central Heat & Air. Am I correct?
Our heat is propane and it is central. Forced hot air through the ducts. We don't have central AC but it would be easy to add with the ducts.
A wood stove or pellet stove would not do much to cut our heating bill as we do not have a centralized place to put one or an open floor plan. Our house is a traditional colonial. I have some friends with contemporary colonials with open floor plans who have really cut their oil or propane bill by using a wood/pellet stove...
ok, speaking of heating methods... we were looking at a duplex last weekend that used propane heat (supplemented by pellet/woodstoves which had all been removed). I've never really encountered propane heat before, but there were things.. things.. in a couple rooms I'd like to know more about.
The bathrooms and the downstairs living room had these wallmounted units with a grill and knobs. I'm assuming it had something to do with the propane heat. I've never seen anything like these wall units! Is this how propane usually works??
That sounds like propane/natural gas units you would have seen in bathrooms in the south back in the 60s or very early 70s. Today in the southern areas you can't tell propane systems from natural gas and most everything down here is all centeral heat and air, where the is a master unit in a closet or attic, and heated or cooled air is vented throughout the house with duct work. There there will be a centrally located thermostat that controlls when the unit kicks on and off.
As for pellet stoves, are the pellets more economical than firewood? Is there a rule of thumb for how long a 50# bag of pellets will burn? Also how much is a bag? Please forgive my ignorance but this concept is new to me not being from the area.
currently pellets are almost impossible to get - the factories can't keep up with pre-sold orders over the summer
a ton ranges from $270 - $340, depending on where you find it. Last year, it was $199/ton. 50 bags total - approximately 1 bag per day
forced hot air may not include air conditioning - in older homes it was a series of duct work sending the hot air from the furnace through registers in various parts of the house
If you would like to get an idea of heating cost for various fuels in New Hampshire or if you are planning to buy, replace your heating oil or natural gas furnace you should visit this heating cost calculator at:
"http://www.nhclimateaudit.org/calculators.php"
This calculator gives you side by side, unbiased comparisons of the most common heating fuels in New Hampshire and lets you know how to get the most bang for your BTU. You simply enter in the cost of each of the fuels available in your area.
It is well worth exploring before you put many thousands of dollars into a furnace or heating fuel change.
I'm a chemical engineer, and I spend a lot of time researching sustainable and/or off-grid living (it's kind of a dream of mine). If I were to build a new house, I'd look at a radiant floor system for sure. Forced air systems are most wasteful by far. The cool thing about radiant floors is that you can have geothermal or a propane heated system. Or, if you wanted to go all electric and not use water, there are vendors that sell electric panels you can put under your carpet or tile. Usually they're set up so that your house is split up into zones. Each zone is controlled by its own thermostat, so you can program them for more efficient heating.
The wood stove is a good idea too, I think. Or, if I were building a new house, I'd make it so that the fireplace or stove wasn't on an outside wall. That way more of the heat stays inside, rather than just radiate directly through the wall and then outside. The temperature difference between the inside and outside is greatest, and that's where the heat will try to flow fastest.
Upgrading windows and insulation in an old house is probably the first step, like other people said. If it were a newly built house, I'd look into alternative materials for the walls. They use aerated concrete in Sweeden for a lot of new construction. It's very lightweight and has much higher insulative value than the walls we use here.
I have to say I really like the pellet stove - it burns ultra clean and is extremely efficient. My neighbor just put in a woodstove, but the smoke is awful.
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