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Hi NY! I'm not familiar with anything but electric heat/air. I've been noticing on realtor.com that heat sources can be oil, gas, electric, or even a mixture? Can someone teach me the ropes? I appreciate it!
Ok here is the heat breakdown. Electric heat tends to be very expensive. Oil heat competes with gas heat for price and they seem to, over the years, seem comparable in cost but oil has a little more hassle because it requires oil deliveries. Gas, if you live in a populated area is piped in and you don't have to worry about running out. Now there is another gas option if you do live in an area that doesn't have gas piped in, and that is propane, it is stored in a tank outside your home and the costs seem to be often cheaper than the others. Wood is great, but unless your ready to rough it in the deep forest no one uses wood as there only heat source. In other words wood is great but you should always have a central heating system. Now if you do plan on using wood to either heat your home or as a secondary heating source you will want to look for an airtight stove. Fireplaces are beautiful, but bare in mind they don't throw off as much heat as a stove and they are not as efficient. Since you don't have control of the oxygen intake you will burn wood as fast as it can burn. When using an air tight wood stove you will control the amount of oxygen that goes to the fire and allows you to burn slowly and through the night. I am a wood burning enthusiast and I feel that no matter how well your heat system is there is nothing like sitting infront of a wood fire on a cold winter night. Glen
I am digesting all that (after reading it four or five times) and I have follow up questions- If that's o.k.? Firstly, what the heck is forced hot air? Next, (and I hope you don't laugh) isn't it a tad bit dangerous to have a wood stove burning and gas/oil/propane in the vicinity? What I mean is, couldn't something explode? Lastly, if oil is kind of a pain because of deliveries and such, isn't propane a bother as well? On a side note- GlenNY, if you don't mind- what do you use for you primary/central heat source. I think a wood stove sounds perfect! Thank you everyone!
Pioneer, Forced hot air is the method of distributing the heat through the house not the fuel. The furnace heats up air and distributes the hot air through ducts to each room in the house. Many central air conditining systems are tied into this system for the same purpose, except it is cold air in the summer. It is frequently used with gas heat and is known to be very efficient. Most new home will have this type of heat. My new home has that system, but I have not moved there yet. My current home has oil heat and it is a steam system(method of distributing the heat) That is; the fuel is oil and the furnace heats water until it turns in to steam and then it circulates through the house via pipes and cast iron radiators. This is an old fashion system however I am very happy with it. I also have a "vermont castings" wood stove in the den which my wife loves, the heat can be so intense. We have a wood fireplace in the living room which is beautiful but serves more for asthetics than heat. As for any danger with burning wood with gas or oil in the house, no problem at all. The gas is in an air tight system and leaks or explosions are very rare and not even a real concern. I tell those who are afraid to have gas in there homes because of risk od explosion to bare in mind that almost every highrise building in Manhattan has gas into every single apartment, that is millions of people using gas every day and we don't hear of problems too often. Incidently many houses with gas heat have gas stoves, dryers and gas fireplaces. Hope that answers some of your questions. The final comment about a woodstove is there is a bit of work involved, there is stacking, splitting, carrying wood in, the mess, the ash- you have to really be into it, if not just put in a fireplace and enjoy a nice open fire when your in the mood. There are many other types of stoves such as coal, pellet and gas, some are very pretty and all require work except gas. Good luck
Very likely to be laughed at by the mainstream in ignorance, but if you are interested in efficient and sustainable heating (and cheap to build), Google 'rocket mass heaters.' It's what I'm going to be building into my house (as well as maximizing what passive solar NY has to offer). Obviously not easy to build into an existing house, unless maybe the house has a slab-on-grade floor, but for small, owner-builder construction on the cheap I doubt you could beat it for cost and efficiency. One of the links via google will take you to a downloadable version of the new book on building a rocket stove.
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rocket stove
