Heating with a Wood Stove or pellet????????????????

[Beekissed]

I can get anywhere from 12-72 hours of heat time with my wood stove fully banked up and dampered down. Just the other day I left on a Thursday evening and returned home on a Sunday evening to find I still had a warm house and some usable coals left in the stove.

If you can't bank it up, damper it down and leave for any length of time it is either time to review your stove quality or your wood quality. Pellets are expensive and can draw dampness if not stored properly, rendering them useless. For sustainability and dependability, I would choose wood every time. It may be messier but the savings and good, nothing-like-it heating is a good trade off.

You can also find cheap wood at local lumber yards...ask about their 'seconds' lumber. I can buy a whole bundle for $20 at my local lumber mill. It takes three trips to get it home in my truck~a bundle is BIG~ but it's easy to cut up, clean to use and burns well.

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Wood is not real plentiful in E. Montana and what is available is mostly cottonwood, therefore, we chose to go with a pellet furnace. Why less mess then wood and heats just as nicely. I love wood heat over the propane.

You need to look at how accessible wood and or pellets are in your area, and consider the dust situation.

We went with the Harman Pellet Furnace....Made in the USA even!

http://www.harmanstoves.com/products/details.asp?cat=central-heating&prd=forced-air&f=FURPF100

It is also easy to run off a generator if the power is of.

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

We have used an outside wood boiler for 6 years or more (love it!). Before that we had an indoor wood stove (for 20 years). I always removed ashes slowly and emptied them into a galvinized pail with a lid, which helped a bit.

I remember seeing plans for a covered metal ash container that reduced dust. It was rectangular in shape with 2 closed sides and a top with a handle. The small ends were open at the top two-thirds. It worked by holding the partially opened end in front of your stove. You reached through the other opening with your shovel and scooped the ashes. When you pulled your arm back you would empty the shovelful of ashes into the container. I am not sure how well this would work, especially if you are scooping hot coals and ash (oven mit?), but it might be something to Google

ETA: I just saw something called an Ash Dragon that you might want to look at.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
My husband has back issues and it's easier to handle 40 lb bags of pellets rather than deal with hauling and cutting whole trees. Pellet stoves burn nice and steady and we had a few kinks to work out in the beginning, but we've learned. Keeps the house nice and warm and yes, we have a generator for backup.

We use an ash vacuum that we got for about $50 at TSC. It's metal so if there happens to be a live coal that gets sucked up, it's not the end of the world although we usually cool the stove for a few hours before vacuuming.

 

[Herb 307]

We use Propane with wood as propane is about $ 3.00 a gallon . i burn mostly spruce with aspen but given the low temps I have to run the furnace as well other wise the master bed room washroom freezes. Last weeks -40 we burnt some propane !!!



Herb

 

[Turkeyrangler]

We are burning red oak that was just at the right stage of dead to have no bark, but still had not gotten punky. Good solid wood. I've found that without the bark it burns really clean with very little ash. Haven't had to empty out the stove yet this year. When I do though I have the shopvac right with me running the whole time and try to get as much of the dusk as I scoop the ash out.

 

[dkosh]

We have a pellet stove in the house and I love the ease of care, no lugging in wood. We also have an outdoor wood furnace that heats the house and the green houses. That is nice too and all the wood mess is outside. A generator is an excellent addition to any home too.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Our wood stove does spread dust everywhere when I shovel out the ashes. I just dust more frequently.

I do not want a pellet stove either in case the power goes out- we have really been miserable in past years with no wood stove and the power out.

 

[vtgirls]

Yes there is much dust (and plenty of physical labor) but we can't find any other heat source so warm as our wood stove. We have several acres so finding wood is not a problem. We have radiant floor heat off an oil burner and I can say for sure the wood stove keeps the house sooooooooooo much warmer than the radiant. Our little red enameled Vermont Castings was rated for only 600 square feet but keeps our WHOLE house (1500 square feet) a toasty 70 or more (and baby its COLD outside - like 20 below) - yes our home is well insulated and very new but its our 4th house and we've had everything from propane to oil - we would take wood over anything. My only do over might be a bigger stove - runs so much longer between fills - but since this one is small its even comfy in the same room when its burning at 600....
edited to add: also wanted to remember to say we love the wood ash for the garden - helps build the soil right along with that chicken poo....

 

[tobin123]

THanks alot for all the information,it is nice to hear that you all are trying to get away from the PROPANE companies to.We have had the dust issues forever but see the stove we have right now is in the Kitchen and guess what my kitchen is all WHITE so I see dust more but we are thinking of getting an newer stove to put in the living room this summer.
We tried to use the propane for a couple of days and we were cold BC we are use to the different heat and just for an day and half was almost $30.
I am going to try the shop vac while I am cleaning out the stove and get a bigger bucket with a lid.