Author Topic: Wood Heater Questions  (Read 3133 times)

Offline RenKnitter

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Wood Heater Questions
« on: February 15, 2014, 04:23:47 PM »
I know that many of you here have mentioned heating your house with wood heaters.  After just coming off a terrible ice storm here in ATL, and another one 2 weeks ago, we have been talking of getting a wood heater.  We have a 3 bedroom brick ranch house with no fireplace.  We have a propane heater for emergency use, but want to do something else. 

What type do you have?  Do you like it?  Can you put a pot on it and heat up food?  We would have to buy wood, so this would be only for use a few times a year. We would not have to heat the whole house, because in an emergency we could camp in one room. We were fortunate not to lose power, but many many did, and those with fireplaces were still freezing. We have been researching them, but they are not to be found around here. 

Offline Cheryl

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Re: Wood Heater Questions
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2014, 06:03:05 AM »
We have an Ashley wood stove.  It's old (vintage  ;)) but it gets the job done.   Our house is small, around 1100 square feet, I think.  It was built in 1952 and we don't have an open floor plan so sometimes it's a little tricky heating the back of the house, but overall this heater does a great job.  I would love to replace it with something a little prettier but we only paid $35 for it so I'm going to use it until we can't.

We use ours all the time to heat up a pot of beans or soup.  That we do by just putting the pot on the top, but if I want to cook something, say fry bacon for example, we can remove the top and place the skillet directly on the firebox.  This works out great.
Cheryl in Alabama
Wife to Tony
Mother to Lana & Emily
Nana to Logan & Madilyn

Offline RenKnitter

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Re: Wood Heater Questions
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2014, 08:25:57 AM »
My husband looked online and asked at Home Depot, but no one carries or installs them around here.  Home Depot said that you can order them online and have them delivered to the store, but they do not install them or know of anyone who does.  I think that a fireplace installer might do it.  My parents and grandparents had wood heaters, and the room they were in would be hot, and the rest of the house cold.  We have an old type ranch house so I don't think that it would heat the whole house, but we would just be using it for emergencies. People here were burning wood picked up in the yard, furniture, anything they could find.  No one around here had enough firewood for several days continuous burning.  After this storm, there might be a large demand for wood heaters.


Offline Cheryl

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Re: Wood Heater Questions
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2014, 08:40:07 AM »
Do you have a Lowes near you?  I've seen them at our local one here in Alabama.  In fact, that's where we bought our stove pipe and everything we needed to install our heater.  My husband and dad installed ours.  I hope you can find one because they really do come in handy.  We have a small electric heater that we sometimes use in the back of the house but usually don't need it and like you said, in an emergency situation you could all camp out in one room.  We've had to do that before when we lived in a different house.
Cheryl in Alabama
Wife to Tony
Mother to Lana & Emily
Nana to Logan & Madilyn

Offline mooremama

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Re: Wood Heater Questions
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2014, 06:11:58 PM »
Our house is about as old as Cheryl's and about as big too. We heat with wood exclusively.  We have a Fisher Mama Bear.  We have a Fisher Baby Bear in Sams garage.

I normally cook a portion of our meal on our stove every day.

We have a gate around our stove since we have young children in the house and I hang our jeans, towels, hoodies, etc on it to dry. 

I love my woodstove.  :-*

Beth
« Last Edit: February 16, 2014, 06:27:36 PM by mooremama »
Beth in western NC
Wife of Sam for 27 years,
Mother of Aaron (26) and Caylon (24)
MIL to Bo
Nan to Lainey Beth (7), Stephen Holden (3) and Samuel Evan (2)
Furmama to Bonnie and Jake
Barnyard Mama to 2 goats, 3 turkeys and oodles of chickens.

Offline luv2bmom

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Re: Wood Heater Questions
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2014, 08:37:05 PM »
In 2005 we purchased from Lehmans the Regency freestanding small stove, model#F1100S.  It sure is a workhorse!  We chose a pedestal base and the add-on blower fan. 
Dh installed it by himself, we purchased the black stovepipe but as soon as it went through the attic it was the triple insulated stove pipe for the rest of the way.
I remember buying our stove pipe supplies from TSC Store, we ordered the collar for the roof top that matched the slant of our roof.
The main reason for this stove was it could be placed 14 inches from the wall.  We didn't have to do anything to the wall behind.  We did buy interlocking tiles to sit the stove on to protect our oak laminate.   
Then we called our insurance agent and he took pictures, compared & measured it all to the manufacturers recommendations for installation and we were spot on.  It didn't raise our home premium either. 
Good luck on deciding!  We took a couple of months and researched what would work for us.  I believe the total for everything was $1800 more or less!
Yes, I dry clothes near it, you certainly can cook on it!  It's a comfort knowing we have a constant heat in Ohio when many times we lose power!!
« Last Edit: February 16, 2014, 08:50:19 PM by luv2bmom »
Pixie, wife to Coby
mother to Megan, Amanda
and to our beloved late son Braden
Baboo to Mont, Ada, Brinly and Brielle
mil to Warren and Marcus

Offline RenKnitter

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Re: Wood Heater Questions
« Reply #6 on: February 20, 2014, 04:06:11 PM »
We are still in the process of researching wood heaters.  My husband visited a showroom today and talked with someone that sells Jotul heaters.  They told him that the heater would outlast us - we are 51 and 52!  The installation would be the most costly part - it is a very small stove and we would have to have wall and floor protection as well as pipe installation. 

My husband called the insurance company to ask about an increase in our homeowners policy, and they told him that sometimes it goes up, sometimes it doesn't.  They couldn't tell him what the criteria are, so they said they would call the company and see if they could nail it down. The secretary there said they had one a few years ago and their insurance went up several hundred dollars  year.

My husband is really wanting to get one now.  Thank all of you for your input.  I have shared your insight with him, and we would never have thought about insurance, etc.

 


Offline luv2bmom

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Re: Wood Heater Questions
« Reply #7 on: February 20, 2014, 04:57:15 PM »
I forgot to include the best part of our woodburner!!  Our home is a 1 1/2 story cape cod, 2000 sq ft.  Our furnace is gas as is our water heater and range.  My natural gas budget is only $43 a month.  Even through all this extremely record breaking cold weather this winter, my last reading only went to $68, I had a credit of $18 so my budget amount hasn't changed.  All because of our woodburner!!!!   It does take time to build our wood supply, I help dh with this.  We love our stove!!!
Pixie, wife to Coby
mother to Megan, Amanda
and to our beloved late son Braden
Baboo to Mont, Ada, Brinly and Brielle
mil to Warren and Marcus