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Old 03-04-2009, 09:30 AM
 
Location: Bergen co.
563 posts, read 1,284,752 times
Reputation: 220

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My last 2 invoices from PSE&G were $350 & $370, 90% of which is for gas. I am seriously thinking of switching to a diffenrent heating system utilizing wood or wood pellets. I grew up with woodburning stoves ( a long time ago) and remember it being pretty chilly in the morning until someone lights the stove... but one gets used to it.
Is anybody using wood burning furnaces and how are the experiences?
thanks
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Old 03-04-2009, 10:13 AM
 
786 posts, read 2,659,527 times
Reputation: 234
Quote:
Originally Posted by 86Sebring View Post
My last 2 invoices from PSE&G were $350 & $370, 90% of which is for gas. I am seriously thinking of switching to a diffenrent heating system utilizing wood or wood pellets. I grew up with woodburning stoves ( a long time ago) and remember it being pretty chilly in the morning until someone lights the stove... but one gets used to it.
Is anybody using wood burning furnaces and how are the experiences?
thanks
No personal experience with it, but it certainly is something to consider because of its cost advantage and renewable nature.

Here's a website that does a comparison between the different kinds.

http://www.demesne.info/Improve-Your...ood-Stoves.htm

Here's the organization that promotes wood pellets:

Pellet Fuels Institute (http://www.pelletheat.org/2/index/index.html - broken link)

And a wikipedia article on wood pellets:

Wood pellet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 03-04-2009, 10:35 AM
 
5,616 posts, read 15,494,187 times
Reputation: 2823
we had a fire place insert in an old drafty house in Hillsdale. It worked great , for example the bills before the insert were 450 a month in winter, probably would be more now that was 2 years ago. With the fireplace insert (woodstove) had a blower with a fan the bills were reduced to 200 a month. Now thats a big difference. It really is a great way to save money. Problem is you need a good cord of wood that is not priced at 250. We got wood that was crap for 175. Then sometimes get great wood for 200 acord. We burned one year 6 cords of wood!!!! So adding the price of wood each month, it really adds up to be expensive too. If you have a cheap source for wood, its a great idea. But wood is not cheap anymore either.
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Old 03-04-2009, 11:37 AM
 
Location: High Bridge, NJ
3,859 posts, read 9,956,872 times
Reputation: 3399
Quote:
Originally Posted by 86Sebring View Post
My last 2 invoices from PSE&G were $350 & $370, 90% of which is for gas. I am seriously thinking of switching to a diffenrent heating system utilizing wood or wood pellets. I grew up with woodburning stoves ( a long time ago) and remember it being pretty chilly in the morning until someone lights the stove... but one gets used to it.
Is anybody using wood burning furnaces and how are the experiences?
thanks
Going with a woodburning stove, boiler, furnace, etc...doesn't mean that you have to be cold in the morning. If you have forced air heat there are a number of "add-on" wood furnaces on the market which will tie into your existing ductwork and utilize it to get warm air to all areas of your home. Also, wood furnaces have much larger fireboxes and you can get overnight or near overnight burns depending on what kind of wood you're burning. You definitely want to check out Hearth.com - Information on Gas Fireplaces, Wood Stoves, Gas Logs, Pellet Stoves, Fireplaces, Chimneys and Hearth Products if you're serious about burning wood.
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Old 03-15-2009, 05:47 PM
 
1 posts, read 3,123 times
Reputation: 10
Hi I put an add on woodburning furnace in this year. It is a top of the line unit. But the biggest problem is a fine white ash on everything in the house.The only unit I would ever consider again would be outdoors or a boiler type. My eyes always burn and when light beams in the house there is like a fine smog. Reconsider Gas or propane.
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Old 03-16-2009, 09:09 AM
 
Location: Bergen co.
563 posts, read 1,284,752 times
Reputation: 220
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gregory j View Post
Hi I put an add on woodburning furnace in this year. It is a top of the line unit. But the biggest problem is a fine white ash on everything in the house.The only unit I would ever consider again would be outdoors or a boiler type. My eyes always burn and when light beams in the house there is like a fine smog. Reconsider Gas or propane.
Thanks for the info. It sounds like there might be a problem with your unit. How does the heat get circulated? Is it by ductwork? Then you might have a leaking heatexchanger. You should not have a layer of ash inside your house.
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Old 03-16-2009, 09:59 AM
 
Location: High Bridge, NJ
3,859 posts, read 9,956,872 times
Reputation: 3399
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gregory j View Post
Hi I put an add on woodburning furnace in this year. It is a top of the line unit. But the biggest problem is a fine white ash on everything in the house.The only unit I would ever consider again would be outdoors or a boiler type. My eyes always burn and when light beams in the house there is like a fine smog. Reconsider Gas or propane.
You definitely have either a malfunctioning stove, an improper installation, or both and should stop using the stove immediately. If you have that much smoke in the house as well as ash you likely have high levels of CO as well-do you have a working CO detector in the house?
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