Another “this stove vs that stove”

[babybart]

We have a handful of power outages every year. A lot of times it is for a couple 2-4 days. Id prefer a stove that could still heat without having to use a blower.

Heck, I would be shopping for a standby generator as well!

 

[U&A]

Heck, I would be shopping for a standby generator as well!

I use my 15,000 watt engine drive welder for power outages.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Ever considered an OWB? Not for everyone but I sure enjoy not dealing with wood mess/smoke in the house.

 

[Streblerm]

I would always choose a bigger stove over a smaller one within reason. You can always build a smaller fire.

A woodstove is a poor choice if you want an even temperature over your entire house. That said we have discovered that we like cooler bedrooms. From the bedrooms at the ends of the house to the stove in the living room it can be as much as 20 degrees difference but that is livable for us. Even in a power outage the stove will keep the pipes from freezing.

Initially I put in the woodstove to supplement my furnace. I now use the furnace to supplement the stove.

I have found minimal success in using the ductwork to distribute the stove’s heat using the furnace fan. What is working is closing down the dampers in the furnace ductwork near the stove. The furnace thermostat is in one of the cooler rooms. In essence I have a stove zone and a furnace zone. Cold air returns are all open which takes advantage of the warm air near the stove as much as I can.

 

[Cody]

I would always choose a bigger stove over a smaller one within reason. You can always build a smaller fire.

A woodstove is a poor choice if you want an even temperature over your entire house. That said we have discovered that we like cooler bedrooms. From the bedrooms at the ends of the house to the stove in the living room it can be as much as 20 degrees difference but that is livable for us. Even in a power outage the stove will keep the pipes from freezing.

Initially I put in the woodstove to supplement my furnace. I now use the furnace to supplement the stove.

I have found minimal success in using the ductwork to distribute the stove’s heat using the furnace fan. What is working is closing down the dampers in the furnace ductwork near the stove. The furnace thermostat is in one of the cooler rooms. In essence I have a stove zone and a furnace zone. Cold air returns are all open which takes advantage of the warm air near the stove as much as I can.

We found out that we liked cooler bedrooms as well. We have two bedrooms on one end of the house, and our bedroom/bathroom on the other end, kitchen and living area in the middle as an open concept. We usually leave the vents in the middle of the house closed so it circulates air through the house, back to the furnace. Works really good with the A/C, not so much with the heat but it kept the house evenly heated, whereas in the summer time the bedrooms stay cooler that way. We do the same with the woodstove, bedroom doors stay closed during the day. The two bedroom doors on the end of the house get opened up when we're home at night but our bedroom door stays closed, I like it 60-62 F to sleep. I'll leave the door open or cracked though once I go to bed. It's nice having it cool to go to sleep, but warm when you wake up.

 

[U&A]

Just got off the phone with my insurance company and to my suprise the are NOT going to raise our insurance when we install a wood stove.

Wow. AWSOME!

 

[Streblerm]

Many insurance companies don’t have a problem with wood fired heating as long as you have another source of heat. They are more concerned about water damage from frozen pipes in the event you can’t load the stove than they are about burning your house down.

A friend of mine has a log home with a woodstove for heat. He couldn’t get insurance. He put in half a dozen small electric baseboard heaters. They aren’t even close to meeting the heat demands of the house but they satisfied the insurance requirements.