Home Improvement Today?

where I am there is no natural gas so electric boilers / hot water tanks are the norm . With the air to water heat pump system for hydronic heat , the domestic preheat is free harvest off the heating fluid in a separate tank with a heat exchanger coil

 

Oh, that could be.

 

I wonder how a cord correlates to a gallon of heating oil. I have a wood burner in my house as well and it burns hot. An open fireplace's heat probably dissipates quickly, so that if you are standing close to it, you feel it, but not so much as you stand further away. Two of the guys who live on my road have one of those wood burning sheds (for lack of a better descriptor), where it heats a container of water, which then distributes hot steam throughout their house.

 

My step son and his wife live in a house with a wood burning furnace. They have about 10 acres of wooded property. So between his property and that of friends and neighbors, his wood is free, except for the chainsaw and hauling costs. He does have a very good chain saw, given how much he uses it. He is relatively young (40 years old) and is constantly cutting wood for the winter. Like me, he lives on a road with no natural gas. He told me recently his next furnace will be a propane one because of all the work to cut, gather haul, stoke and keep burning, and the clean up.

 

One of these years,, I already have been thinking about it, I will have to change the way I get my heat (and some exercise).It will have been a great run for the last 35+ years.
My son thinks I am nuts, as he is a HVAC worker and small HVAC business owner. His new home is super insulated (foamed with two types of foam Closed and open cell) with installed heat coils in the concrete floor. He has used coils a bit with the heat source being Solar, but he needs more solar panels to do the job completely. Till then he has a surplus propane furnace hooked up to the forced air ducted system. I tried to talk him into a wood boiler, but he stated that he would not have the time to get the wood to feed it. He has built in the versatility to go different ways with his heating and cooling needs. We have been working there doing tileing and wood trim.
When I do "retire" from the wood burning tasks I have his knowledge, skills, and access to HVAC stuff at wholesale prices to fall back on. Till then we still love the "warmth" of wood heat, even though it may not be the best - BTU wise. And dam, when that day comes I'll feel "old" -heck I am only 73

 

Doing some off the cuff math with that chart, you'd need about 145 gallons of heating oil to get the same BTUs as a cord of wood.

Put a different way a gallon of heating oil is roughly equivalent to a cubic foot of wood (~.9) or 11 board feet.

I have absolutely no idea how the efficiency of oil heat compares to wood heat as far as usable heat you get out of each BTU.

 

Some people we know have a wood fired water boiler furnace system...it works good but takes a ton of wood to keep their house warm, the old man died a few years ago and the wife and one of her daugters lives with mom, i know their wood bill is expensive...and a pia to keep getting wood every year...

 

My parents have a wood boiler at their house. Usually takes about 6-7 cords a year. 13 acres of woods so never had to pay for it, just spent spare time growing up splitting wood haha.

 

I have a pellet stove, runs 24/7 only shuts down for cleaning (Once per ton) and warm days. About 3 tons per year to heat to 71/72F. Recently found a place nearby that will deliver for free and we tip well so the guy puts a little more care in stacking it for us.

 

I had a pellet stove in the last house I rented in NM. I burned around 1.5 tons per year, but I shut it down when I left for the day.

 

Hot damn that is a lot of pellets and work to keep the hopper filled. My grandparents had wood heat only. They had a huge wood shed next to the house. I remember when I was really young my dad and grandpa cutting down trees, filling the pickup bed with logs and all the work that went into splitting and stacking. In the later years they ordered cords but still, at their age hauling the wood into the house.

It does make me appreciate natural gas. click heat on the wall mounted tablet and it's on. No maintenance required. No labor required.

 

Oh I definitely agree with that.

BTW, I just watched the New Hope again and I understand your handle now.

 

I've been using a woodburner a lot recently so it's probably my favorite feature now. As far as I don`t have a fireplace at home, it`s been a great substitute. I kept the LP furnace, but the quality of heat, the flickering light, and the sound (or lack thereof, compared to the furnace fan) from the stove make for such a cozy space.
The stove that I have is the smallest one, and it has been awesome. It features a secondary combustion system that makes for a clean, efficient, and controllable burn. Definitely on the spendy side, but I'm a wood stove geek, so it was worth it for me. A woodburner actually will keep you warm for the whole night without adding stoves every hour-few hours even. Just checked and probably there are ones that are a bit on the pricey side
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/fireplaces/21018204/all-about-pellet-stoves
https://houseweather.org/best-pellet-stove/ (really small ones) but again, I highly recommend installing it! Def best home impov
As for those who prefer gas - you probably don`t think about the environment..

 

Don’t start with your politics and the environment in here. It’s the quickest way to shut down a thread.

 

I leave it burning. I trust it not to burn down the house.

It paid for itself in less than two years with the savings over LP heat. So the extra work is worth it.

 

Sorry, iPhone 7 and USCellular. Need I say more?

 

When you forget to change # of copies on the print screen feature.

 

It was entertaining.

 

I wasn't worried about it burning down the house. Being single there was no reason to leave it burning to heat an empty house.