Wood Burning Stove Information (how much, fireplaces, heaters, stoves)
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My husband and I are contemplating buying a wood burning stove and having it installed to help with our heating costs this year (we have electric heat.) We do not have a basement and would need to place it in the living room. If you have one, can you shed some light on the pros/cons? I am just not sure if it makes sense financially after buying it and paying for the installation.
Will you cut your own wood? Or will you buy it? Do you know how much you wil pay for it? A couple things to consider are that you have to get well-seasoned wood or it doesn't burn well and it's hard to keep it lit. I had a really hard time finding well seasoned wood. Your best bet is to get it in the summer or stock up at the end of the season and then you'll know it's seasoned.
You probably will not have to use your regular heat at all if you use a wood stove. We got down comforters for ourselves and the kids and everyone is toasty warm at night when the fire is not roaring. Our stove was in our living room as well (in our old house). Another down side is that the wood (if you don't have a good wood box) ends up shedding little bits all over the place. It about drove me crazy. I recently saw a house that had a wood box built in to the fireplace. It could be loaded from the garage so the wood never had to come in the house.
All that said, I LOVED my wood stove. It's so cozy and warm and cheerful on a cold, dark day. It's a big investment, so you'll have to run the numbers to see if it's worth it to you. You might consider that they are calling for a colder winter with more precipitation than normal. Your woodstove will keep you warm if your electricity goes out. We had the kind that had a burner on top and we could also boil water and cook some things on it. We usually kept a little pot of cloves on it as well.
My husband and I are contemplating buying a wood burning stove and having it installed to help with our heating costs this year (we have electric heat.) We do not have a basement and would need to place it in the living room. If you have one, can you shed some light on the pros/cons? I am just not sure if it makes sense financially after buying it and paying for the installation.
Well, I don't live in North Carolina, so my experiences may differ. As one of the other posters mentioned, it can cause problems with your insurance carrier. I would certainly talk this over with them to find out how it will impact your premium.Here in Missouri, there are a lot of silly rules governing wood stoves. For something that has existed for a long, long time, insurance companies are very "hinky" about them. Their point of view is the fire potential, but where i live, faulty Christmas tree lights burn down more houses than wood stoves do, and you don't see insurance companies forbidding them.Personally, I live in a mobile home and I cannot get insurance with a wood stove so we have one sitting unused in our shed. I would love to have one, because wood heat is just so darn NICE, but it is not an option for us.Just make sure it is professionally installed and that the fire department comes out and inspects it and that it has an UL sticker on it. Make sure you hire someone who knows what they are doing when they put in the stove pipe. 20yrsinBranson
I can't imagine it would be a problem with the insurance around here. So many houses even in Cary are built with wood burning fireplaces. What's the difference between that and a wood stove?
I have 2 friends up North who heat 100 percent with wood (one with coal and wood).
I slept next to a coal stove at one of the homes a couple nights, and it was very irritating to my throat.
The other, who heats with wood in a new stove, says everything gets very dusty very quickly, and it can be a pain dragging wood in all the time, especially in the early morning when the last thing you want to do is go outside.
We have gas heat and also use a couple of electric heaters encased in a fake stove with fake flames. I love them.
I searched craigslist and found an old wood stove for my garage. I absolutely LOVE it. So far I have enough wood to hold me over for a couple of years and know of some sources for more wood if I need it later.
I've had it for most of the year now and it does a great job of heating up the garage.
I would imagine that if I had this thing in my house it would heat the whole thing, no problem. Also, once the stove is hot, it radiates heat without needing to add lots of wood to keep it warm.
You might also consider a pellet stove. As far as insurance goes, get permit(s) needed and inspection. I've heard of one case here where the homeowner didn't and had a fire. His insurance company refused to pay because it could have been installed incorrectly and caused the fire.
vcs_wharvey, Not trying to be a nag, but you shouldn't burn painted, stained or treated wood in a wood stove. Not good for the stove, chimey and the odor can irritate you or your neighbors. The rule is only burn seasoned wood.
I've burned wood for most of my life, and yes it can be messy. However you cannot beat the steady, slow bake type heat from a wood stove. I always cut my own wood and typically burned 4-5 cords per year.
Our house had a heat-pump with electric resistance back up, so it made a huge difference in our bill.
Now we live in Montana (used to live in West Virginia) and our house has EBB but a propane fireplace insert and a propane woodstove - looking device in the basement. More than likely I will convert the basement to a pellet stove becuase we have no chimney. At some point I may build a chimney or install a metal one in our upstairs living room and remove the propane fireplace.
I miss burning wood, but is convenient as hell to turn up the dial and get heat!
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