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We had a free standing wood stove in our last home and just love radiant heat. As a carpenter by craft I always brought home doug fir throughout the year and bought a cord of oak every Fall. We used it in combination of the house heater. The mess gets old after a while, but they do burn hot. We recently sold this house, and moved to Reno, NV.
We can't have a wood burner here where I live and had to sign off that we wouldn't. I put a 20,000 BTU natural gas stove in our bedroom. It's 9 degrees (it was minus 3 yesterday) this morning and the stove runs 24 hrs a day. We keep the house heater at 64 and it has come on a few times, but never runs very long. Our room is 75 degrees give or take a few and is our sanctuary.
Your idea of the insert is great and does reduce installation costs. Make sure and get a fan to blow the warm air out. IMHO, you don't use would to save money, but rather for the warmth. Forced air systems work okay, but can be costly vs heating a single area. You don't need a log splitter unless you plan on your own procurement. I was always able to buy split wood delivered to the house. Good luck in your search
I asked one of my acquaintance, he just had the wood burning stove insert to the existing fireplace, it cost around 5K, they still used the old chimney but with new flue and exhaust pipe inside.
So we wonder if it's costly like that, will it worth for money saving? Besides the wood burning stove installation, we need to buy log splitter (if you can get fire wood free) and a place to season the wood, or buy ready fire wood (about $200/cord).
$5K sounds like a lot to me if they only relined with SS but that really depends a lot on what work was done to the chimney. When you say new flue they built a whole new chimney? Relined old one with clay liner and then added a SS liner too? Chimneys aren't cheap but typically that's a once in a lifetime purchase. If that $5k included a chimney build/rebuild and a top of the line unit like Harman or Hitzer insert then it sounds right. If you buy a top of the line coal boiler it can cost as much as $9K on the pallet but that's a 50 or 60 year investment....
Initial investment aside which is going to be a factor in anything you buy wood is most certainly the cheapest fuel you can use if you don't have to pay anything for the wood and you don't want to consider your time as a cost. If you're going to pay market price for the fuel coal is going to be cheaper and a hell of lot easier to use but that only works if you're in the Northeast US.
I was raised in a home with the only heat coming from a cast iron pot belly wood stove as a child in the cold mountains of Ca. When I moved I had a Ben Franklin wood burning stove put in my home and had that for another 20 years. My next home had a fireplace--not nearly as efficient but sill nice to have. Now I live in a home with electric and propane heaters only and hate it. My friend has an old cast iron wood stove she has offered to me but I have no idea what it would cost to have it installed. We live where there is no shortage of wood--the wood is inexpensive if you do buy it but our neighbors own acres of wooded land and would be happy to let us take what we would like. Our home is built on a slab foundation so I would think that would make it less expensive for some of the installation. Any ideas about the cost of having this wood stove installed?
Any ideas about the cost of having this wood stove installed?
Do you have chimney and what kind of shape is it in? That is really the big cost and you have to be careful because there is lot of people out there pushing products you may not need.
For me for example I have an extra flue that I know is in excellent shape. Installation would be a matter of getting it down the basement steps and the cost of some flue pipe to hook it up. Other than having a qualified professional looking at the chimney this isn't rocket science as long as you do a little research. There is certain clearances for the flue pipe and the stove and certain material you will need to use if it's near combustible material.
I wish! Ha! No, we don't have anything here so we would have to have it all installed. You know--a hole put in the roof through the attic etc--the whole works unless I put it through the side of the house and up? Not even sure if it's done that way. It's probably all a dream anyhow--I so miss my wood burning with the smell and the comfort it brings. Also we have been having problems with our heater and I do not like to rely on electric or gas. My DH was recently diagnosed with ALS so anything that has to be done I will have to do it or hire someone to do it. Like I said--it's probably a dream but I thought I'd ask anyhow. Thanks.
We had a free standing wood stove in our last home and just love radiant heat. As a carpenter by craft I always brought home doug fir throughout the year and bought a cord of oak every Fall. We used it in combination of the house heater. The mess gets old after a while, but they do burn hot. We recently sold this house, and moved to Reno, NV.
We can't have a wood burner here where I live and had to sign off that we wouldn't. I put a 20,000 BTU natural gas stove in our bedroom. It's 9 degrees (it was minus 3 yesterday) this morning and the stove runs 24 hrs a day. We keep the house heater at 64 and it has come on a few times, but never runs very long. Our room is 75 degrees give or take a few and is our sanctuary.
Your idea of the insert is great and does reduce installation costs. Make sure and get a fan to blow the warm air out. IMHO, you don't use would to save money, but rather for the warmth. Forced air systems work okay, but can be costly vs heating a single area. You don't need a log splitter unless you plan on your own procurement. I was always able to buy split wood delivered to the house. Good luck in your search
It makes sense, too
Out house has electric heat pump, and we're in North East, so the winter is pretty cold.
We asked the store which they do business for fireplace, wood burning & pellet stoves, they said the same price (around 4K-5K), but if we use the old fireplace with the chimney, it can be less a couple hundred.
Some store here, they don't come to the house and give you free estimate unless you have the work done with them.
So dramatic I dont recall the OP stating they have asthma and your making wood stoves sound like the air indoors will be unbareable for someone that doesnt have it.
My stove rarely if ever gets smoke in the house, only if i open the door really fast. The ash dust can be a nouisance when cleaning out the stove but it doesnt affect my breathing and if you dust your house it will just be a minor inconvience.
With that said, I dont think I would recommend a wood stove to someone that has asthma, but again I dont think the OP ever stated they had it?
We're in PA, and have no health issues at all, in our area, no gas line and electric heat is expensive, so we want the wood burning stove insert to our fireplace for additional heat.
Is it complicate to install the wood stove with the flue through the fireplace or we need to hire the professional guy?
Have it installed professionally. It'll probably be $200-300 for labor. If you do it yourself and there's a fire issue, your insurance probably won't cover any damages.
Have it installed professionally. It'll probably be $200-300 for labor. If you do it yourself and there's a fire issue, your insurance probably won't cover any damages.
Good point. And, always call your insurance company so they can adjust your policy.
It depends on where you live and your home. If you live in Northern Michigan like where I grew up and your home is not modern and well insulated then it may not be worth burning wood. It can take anywhere from 10 face cord to 30 face cord depending on the winter and home you have. If you can't cut it its way too expensive to burn. Even if you cut it yourself its getting hard to find it. We burnt wood through the 70s and 80s and 90s, but the dutch elm bug killed off a lot of standing wood that people could cut on state land. Wood now is not as easy to get. You can not heat a home of any size on wood you bring home form the building site. Its pine and way too dry to do much more than give off a bit of heat and look nice for an hour or so.
When its 10 below or even 5 above the difference between your home inside at say 70 and outside is 80 degs. at 10 below. Thats a lot of pressure to keep warm at. It takes tending a fire all day and stoking it at night. Also you have to contend with high insurance or risk not being covered if you don't disclose your heat with wood.
Next is the mess. If you don't have an outside unit that pumps in hot water from the wood burning boiler than its smokes up the house. Wait till you take a few pictures off the wall and see what I mean.
Wood is not the end all to heating a home. Its not cheap anymore unless you own at least 10 to 20 acres of hard wood forest. I could get most of my years wood to heat a well insulated home off my 20 acres. There was enough dead fall each year to get seasoned hard wood to the tune of about 15 to 20 cord. I gave it up as it was too much work and trouble.
Now I live in Fla. where I don't worry about heat. hehehehe
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Thanks.
I dont recall the OP stating they have asthma and your making wood stoves sound like the air indoors will be unbareable for someone that doesnt have it. 
