Wood Burners

[Belo]

I grew up in a log cabin that for the first 15 years of my life that was heated solely by a big ass free standing Bullard iron stove. My wife and I have lived in 2 homes with gas fireplaces and 2 with wood. Our current is an insert, you know the type that probably sucks more warm air out your house than it does heat, but is nice and warm on the weekend. We probably only burn 2 face cords a year. I love a good wood fire. 

We're designing our new fireplace at our new spot and we are putting in a wood stove for added cost and it comes with the same basic insert. We have an option at cost to upgrade to more of a "heater". We are in no shortage of wood at our place so I like the idea of reducing energy costs on cold ass weekends.

Has anyone installed or used one of the newer stoves? I was surprised to see the features where you can actually pipe 2 ducts to different parts of your house with electric fans at the register to help distribute the heat. There are more expensive models that even have a digital thermostat. It doesn't have to be this make and model, just wondering if anyone has anything like this and what your thoughts are

https://www.heatilator.com/fireplaces/wood/constitution-wood-fireplace

[mowin]

7 minutes ago, Belo said:

I grew up in a log cabin that for the first 15 years of my life that was heated solely by a big ass free standing Bullard iron stove. My wife and I have lived in 2 homes with gas fireplaces and 2 with wood. Our current is an insert, you know the type that probably sucks more warm air out your house than it does heat, but is nice and warm on the weekend. We probably only burn 2 face cords a year. I love a good wood fire. 

We're designing our new fireplace at our new spot and we are putting in a wood stove for added cost and it comes with the same basic insert. We have an option at cost to upgrade to more of a "heater". We are in no shortage of wood at our place so I like the idea of reducing energy costs on cold ass weekends.

Has anyone installed or used one of the newer stoves? I was surprised to see the features where you can actually pipe 2 ducts to different parts of your house with electric fans at the register to help distribute the heat. There are more expensive models that even have a digital thermostat. It doesn't have to be this make and model, just wondering if anyone has anything like this and what your thoughts are

https://www.heatilator.com/fireplaces/wood/constitution-wood-fireplace

That's the way I would go.  Couple buddies have similar and like them a lot. Another swapped his out with a pellet insert and has been very happy with it. 

I also grew up heating with wood.  Our last house I installed a wood master 4400 outdoor boiler.  Loved that thing. But house was inefficient and we used 12+ cord a yr.  When we we looking for our current house, I told my wife, I'm not cutting firewood.   Installed a pellet stove upstairs and it heats the house nicely. 

Good luck with your choice. 

[Belo]

1 hour ago, mowin said:

That's the way I would go.  Couple buddies have similar and like them a lot. Another swapped his out with a pellet insert and has been very happy with it. 

I also grew up heating with wood.  Our last house I installed a wood master 4400 outdoor boiler.  Loved that thing. But house was inefficient and we used 12+ cord a yr.  When we we looking for our current house, I told my wife, I'm not cutting firewood.   Installed a pellet stove upstairs and it heats the house nicely. 

Good luck with your choice. 

thanks. I should have added that we're doing geothermal for hvac, and wood is simply supplemental/emergency use. 

[Otto]

We installed this wood burning insert with the available ductwork ports at our cottage.  We didn't end up using them because the runs were too long to the bedrooms to be effective.  If you're planning on that feature, be sure the rooms you want to heat are not too far away. 

The stove itself is great, heats up the whole place very easily. 

Edited January 6 by Otto

[mowin]

26 minutes ago, Belo said:

thanks. I should have added that we're doing geothermal for hvac, and wood is simply supplemental/emergency use. 

I had a client that has geothermal.  Absolutely loves it.  He does say it's more efficient in the summer, doesn't need additional AC to keep the house comfortable, but in the winter, he likes it warmer than the geothermal max temp.  His system is probably 20+ yrs old, so there might be more/better technology in the newer systems. 

[Belo]

58 minutes ago, Otto said:

We installed this wood burning insert with the available ductwork ports at our cottage.  We didn't end up using them because the runs were too long to the bedrooms to be effective.  If you're planning on that feature, be sure the rooms you want to heat are not too far away. 

The stove itself is great, heats up the whole place very easily. 

thank you, looks beautiful! And yes reading the installation guide we're limited to 40' or less and like 3 or so 90* bends iirc. 

[Belo]

43 minutes ago, mowin said:

I had a client that has geothermal.  Absolutely loves it.  He does say it's more efficient in the summer, doesn't need additional AC to keep the house comfortable, but in the winter, he likes it warmer than the geothermal max temp.  His system is probably 20+ yrs old, so there might be more/better technology in the newer systems. 

yeah I'm still a little nervous about it, but I think it's the way to go with the uncertainty around gas. The upfront installation cost is pretty insane, but it should pay for itself in like 7 years which I can handle. Combined with some good ceiling fans and maybe solar on the barn I'm hoping to have a very small utility bill. Will see... 

[mowin]

3 minutes ago, Belo said:

yeah I'm still a little nervous about it, but I think it's the way to go with the uncertainty around gas. The upfront installation cost is pretty insane, but it should pay for itself in like 7 years which I can handle. Combined with some good ceiling fans and maybe solar on the barn I'm hoping to have a very small utility bill. Will see... 

7 yr on ROI seems well worth it IMO.  

[dbHunterNY]

i'm not sure the brand but my parents at the farm house put in this "insert" style or what was called a zero clearance fireplace. they've got a fan controller dial on the wall that turns on the ecm fan motors. a must to pull more heat out of it. they didn't use the ducts but it'd recommend using them for adjacent rooms that need heat with a electronic damper installed close to the fire box that's controlled from that other room. also the stack gives off a lot of heat. there's backs up to a couple closets but if location works have it on a shared wall to an adjacent room. put barrier aimed to an access panel transfer grill with to vent the heat into that other adjacent room. we boxed it out with plywood and used the "cultured"/manufactured stone the the facade around it. then there's a maple slab dad cut with the bandsaw mill that came from a tree on the farm.

it's super efficient and in my very strong opinion a very smart option. i'd rather spend a little more money and put in multiple of these in a house compared to one hungry SOB of an outdoor boiler.

[sbuff]

We grew up with a wood stove , a buck stove to be specific. I was the 5hp gas  log splitter as a youth  before they became available.  Now we have a gas insert and I'd never go back . Fug that !!!!!

Edited January 6 by sbuff

[dbHunterNY]

with geothermal i'm not sure how it's done residentially but i always thought it was very odd and not cost friendly to drop the pipe down the hole and then fill the hole with concrete for a heat sink. if something goes wrong you basically abandon the well though.

[dbHunterNY]

2 minutes ago, sbuff said:

We grew up with a wood stove , a buck stove to be specific. I was the 5hp has  log splitter as a youth  before they became available.  Now we have a gas insert and I'd never go back . Fug that !!!!!

i still bale hay and cut wood when i can for my parents. i hated it growing up but now it's a means to get at least some exercise and it's a nostalgia thing. do mind it nearly as much.

[Belo]

18 hours ago, dbHunterNY said:

with geothermal i'm not sure how it's done residentially but i always thought it was very odd and not cost friendly to drop the pipe down the hole and then fill the hole with concrete for a heat sink. if something goes wrong you basically abandon the well though.

I'm not familiar with that method. We have a lot of land, what they do is dig a 6' deep trench and a few hundred feet of "coil" is zigagged around your yard back to the heat pump. Use the ground's heat for the winter and use the ground's coolness in the summer to cool. They're rated at 50 years minimum, so that helps. 

Edited January 7 by Belo

[dbHunterNY]

17 hours ago, Belo said:

I'm not familiar with that method. We have a lot of land, what they do is dig a 6' deep trench and a few hundred feet of "coil" is zigagged around your yard back to the heat pump. Use the grounds heat for the winter and use the grounds coolness in the winter to cool. They're rated at 50 years minimum, so that helps. 

That seems better. I think wells are done likely for capacity whether cooking [cooling] or heat as their commercial installs for things like libraries and larger commercial or municipal bldgs.

Edited January 7 by dbHunterNY

[ZAG]

2 hours ago, Belo said:

thanks. I should have added that we're doing geothermal for hvac, and wood is simply supplemental/emergency use. 

Id take that geo and stick it. Ain’t worth the overloaded price imo. It was stupid numbers when we looked at it 2yrs ago. It was in the neighborhood of $35-$40k before govt tax credits.

We are looking at radiant heat with pellet stove for our new joint.