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Hello, We will be building a new house in about a year or so. It will be in southern Kentucky. There is no natural gas and we don't want propane. We do have electric but I'm not crazy about electric heat. I will have a propane oven tho.
I have been looking into wood fired furnaces that use steam to heat the house. Does anyone have any experiences with these?
I don't know if this is what you're talking about. I know someone whose heating system (of all things) I was just thinking about a few days ago. When he built his house several years ago he put up a little house our back several yards from the house and inside was something where he had to load logs for heating. Somehow the heat ran underground to the house and heated up the coils under the first floor coils. It was wonderful. His family loves to go barefoot or wear just socks even in winter.
The heat rises with the cathedral ceiling to the second floor to heat those rooms too.
His idea was the small house and high ceiling was most efficient.
The hard part was going out in the snow and rain to put those logs in. But this was a small farm and they were up and out early anyway.
Yep That's exactly what we are talking about. Like you said the only problem is stoking the fire. But we'll be outside anyway taking care of animals. We were just wondering how it really worked. Seems almost too good to be true.
Those boilers are called "hydronic." They do work, but at least in the interior of Alaska they put out a huge amount of stinky smoke. However, if you burn well-seasoned wood they run a lot cleaner. Some home owners near one of the local schools were ordered by the city to stop using the hydronic boilers because there was a cloud of water vapor and smoke over the school.
A better alternative would be an EPA approved stove, or a pellet stove. Check in your area to see if wood pellets are readily available first. Pellet stoves still need a little electricity to run a fan and the pellet auger, but are very efficient. For hot water and slab or baseboard heating, you can have a natural gas or propane boiler. These are the most efficient, and take a very small space in your garage or utility room in the house. Are direct-vented through the back wall.
One word, anthracite coal. (oops that two words isn't it) In Kentucky you're probably looking at about $330 per ton but you'll have to call around to make sure you can find a supplier and the rates. There is a few listed here:
EFM boiler in operation, note this does domestic hot water too. Wood pellets and corn can be used but the manufacture recommends it be mixed with coal.
Coal from Kentucky is going to be significantly less, probably in the $60/ton range however you need a unit made for soft coal and that comes with it's own issues. The biggest two being soot and sulfur smell. Anthracite on the other hand can be used even in town.
Another vote for pellet. I had a large pellet insert in my fireplace at my house in PA. If we hadn't moved to FL, I was going to be installing a pellet furnace downstairs which would have been tied into the existing ductwork to heat the entire house.
One of my coworkers has a multi-fuel oil/wood stove. Its hooked up to his existing duct work which makes it good at distributing the heat. Since your building a house it would be a good time to install a unit like this. If you don't feel like using the wood you can always just burn oil, if you feel like saving money you can burn wood.
We burn wood in a wood stove. the benefits of it are I like having the stove in our living room, the radiant heat is hard to beat and the view of the fire is excellent. it heats our entire house pretty good but the further you are from the stove the colder it gets. not a uniform heat.
The nice thing about wood is that with a little hard work and some basic equipment you can virtually get it for free.
I don't know if this is what you're talking about. I know someone whose heating system (of all things) I was just thinking about a few days ago. When he built his house several years ago he put up a little house our back several yards from the house and inside was something where he had to load logs for heating. Somehow the heat ran underground to the house and heated up the coils under the first floor coils. It was wonderful. His family loves to go barefoot or wear just socks even in winter.
The heat rises with the cathedral ceiling to the second floor to heat those rooms too.
His idea was the small house and high ceiling was most efficient.
The hard part was going out in the snow and rain to put those logs in. But this was a small farm and they were up and out early anyway.
Immediately after selling my Minnesota dairy farm to my son, he installed an outside boiler. VERY COMMON in MN.
Since the house was already heated with a new gas boiler ( hot water heat with registers" the underground hot water lines tied into the existing water lines in the basement.
He only has to add wood to the boiler about twice a day as the burn box is big.
Most places will not allow outside boilers inside the city limits of a town due to smoke issues.
Outside boilers are not connected to a masonary chimney but only have a short metal pipe extending upwards.
I like the outside boiler.
I never cared for any wood stove inside a house because they are unhealthy.
Regardless how careful you are when adding firewood, every time you open that door on the stove a little smoke enters your house. Multiply that by several times a day x every day you need heat.
I like the outside boiler.
I never cared for any wood stove inside a house because they are unhealthy.
Regardless how careful you are when adding firewood, every time you open that door on the stove a little smoke enters your house. Multiply that by several times a day x every day you need heat.
You are probably more likely to get smoke infiltration into your house from having an outdoor wood boiler next to your house spewing smoke out of its short inadequate chimney, burning unseasoned wood (as most do in outdoor wood boilers) vs. having a properly installed EPA (catalytic or re-burn) wood stove Inside your house burning seasoned wood.. But whatever helps you sleep at night.
edit, my stove NEVER lets smoke inside the house unless I open the door as fast as humanly possible with poor draft because of high outdoor temperatures and low temperature stove... which has happened about 2x since I have had it..
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