Wood heat + central air in large house

[brenndatomu]

http://www.nationalstoveworks.com/m.index.html

Interesting...I hadn't heard of them before. Looks like they have some innovative stuff...not just another "me too" version of the forest eaters

 

[Marshy]

IMO if you want a free standing type of stove with the ability to hook into a homemade thermal storage then this ranks pretty high on my list. They are made relatively local to me too.

 

[Locust Cutter]

Subbed.

 

[axs]

Thanks for the continued suggestions everyone. And agreed, National Stove Works looks interesting.

Sorry if I confused things a little. On our main floor we have an outdoor kitchen that is enclosed with cinder block and concrete. The exact same construction is just beneath that and it is all attached to the house. All we have to do is drill/cut two holes for ducting and we have a nice setup for installing a wood furnace. Because this is an "indoor" setup that is accessed from the outside it makes sorta like an outdoor furnace.

As for the three heat sources, we're going to utilize the fans within the HVAC ducting to push the heat, from the wood furnace, around. So, we're hoping to not have to engage the propane portion of the system while the wood provides the base heating and our electric heat pumps carry any additional load.

Gotta call Kuuma today. The contractor I was working with just hit me a little too hard. Time to do some of my own contracting.

 

[Marshy]

@axs, do you have thermal storage tank(s)?

 

[axs]

@axs, do you have thermal storage tank(s)?

No.

 

[Marshy]

So your propane heating unit is a forced air furnace? How do you use the heat pumps, do they have a heat exchanger in the forced air unit?

 

[axs]

So your propane heating unit is a forced air furnace? How do you use the heat pumps, do they have a heat exchanger in the forced air unit?

Yes, the propane is forced air central heating over 4 zones with 2 furnaces. We added 3 heat pumps last year and simply set the propane temps a few degrees lower than the heat pumps'. It all works together very well and is damn simple! When the weather drops below 0 (which was nearly 6 weeks straight last winter) the heat pumps can only hold temps around 63-68 degrees, so the propane kicks in to boost things up to 70-72ish, or wherever we want it.

 

[axs]

Soooooo, basically what we're now looking to do is to take advantage of the fans that push the propane heat around to move the wood furnace heat through the house. We'll keep the propane off unless we absolutely need it (or become lazy on throwing logs into the furnace), but think the heat pumps can now become the backup heat source....assuming our theories are correct.

Paired with a 81 panel solar system this should put our annual utility bills into the less than $200 territory

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Maybe "it's just me", but is it not crazy to try to be off the grid, worried about costs, and "sticking it to the man" all the while being in a small mansion?

The shop is somewhere around 6000Sq ft, some areas with 20ft tall ceilings. It's a chore to keep warm.... burn a good 30 cords a winter and still sometimes the water pipes freeze.

 

[axs]

Maybe "it's just me", but is it not crazy to try to be off the grid, worried about costs, and "sticking it to the man" all the while being in a small mansion?

I only want to stick it to the propane company. They're rapists.

 

[Locust Cutter]

I think I would look at Kuuma and the actual outdoor boilers as you're talking about a lot of demand and that may be more than than the stove is designed for. It's better to have more supply than demand any day from a consumption and reliability standpoint if you want the wood heat to be the primary heat source.

Another way, for a chore truck anything from an S-10 or Ranger to a 1/2 ton truck with a small-block can be an excellent tool. Once you're talking about carrying a lot of weight routinely, that's when people tend to go to big-block or diesel trucks from 0.75-1.75 ton.