Burning firewood.

[SundownWaterfowl]

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I do the same as you.

 

[Sandrachx]

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Is that the type of system that heats your water also? We've been seeing them advertised around here but don't actually know anyone who has one yet. We use propane but the price on that is climbing just like oil.

yes - my DH is finalizing the pex pipe installation this week. we/he researched it and spoke to several owners of these type furnaces and decided it was our best option to combat rising fuel costs. also, our 80 gallon water heater is electric, so using the woodburner for heating the water will help our electric bill as well. we had to install piping to reroute some of the water from the water tank and had to install an anti-scald valve to protect us from getting burned. our furnace room now looks like a commercial utility room - we just need to get fencing to keep us from bumping into hot pipes...

if you are researching furnaces, i would recommend you look at the central boiler brand and find out all you can about the distributor so you have good after care. also, the heavily promoted stainless steel furnaces are now found to have micro-cracking so you might want to steer clear of them. a small central boiler will more than heat our home (2,250 sqft) and sheds (met a man whose wood burning furnace is heating 4 homes of family members) but it was an investment - $8,000+ with my husband doing all the labor. add $2,000 for outside labor, depending on how far you will need to lay your trench for the piping. good luck!

 

[unclejoe]

Just came across this thread
I've been heating my shop with wood for 10 years and our house for 3. I have a small tree care business and over the years I've discovered that the type of wood you have makes a big difference in the drying time. Most woods, if split and stacked in spring or early summer, will be ready for the coming winter. Mulberry is very wet and takes longer.
Ash has a very low moisture content and will burn well in an existing fire even fresh cut although you probably won't be able to start a fire with it. Maple and walnut dry rather quickly. Oak, locust, and fruit wood will take longer. In general the more dense the wood the longer it takes to dry but it produces far more heat.
I use the lighter density wood in early and late winter and the heavier wood in the coldest part of the season.
I pulled the oil furnace out of the basement when it died, put the wood furnace in, tied in the existing duct work, and used the same chimney. Make sure it is clean! During a power outage I crack open a window in each of the upstairs rooms and let convection do the rest. We burn about 8 cord a season
We are always toasty warm now in our 100 year old farm house that has very little insulation and I love watching the oil truck pass us by.