Who heats or has heated their home with a wood burner?

[Rot Box]

I've lived in my house for a couple years now but never tried out the wood burner until today. Its nothing fancy (no glass or mantle ect....) just a steel box with a steel door sitting on the floor with with a chimney. Anyway I'm down here tinkering with the dirt bikes thinking this might be the coziest I've ever been in my house lol

Anyway who here heats with wood?

 

[TJDukit]

Occasionally I will. I have a stove in the basement which is awesome and an open fireplace upstairs.

 

[Rot Box]

Cool! I'd really like a fireplace one day. Any tips on keeping the smoke out haha? I think I did something wrong because it got pretty smokey in here for a little while... Oops :0

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Cool! I'd really like a fireplace one day. Any tips on keeping the smoke out haha? I think I did something wrong because it got pretty smokey in here for a little while... Oops :0

Did you make sure there was no creosote built up and no birds were living(or dead) in the chimney? Some flues can be temperamental as well.

 

[TJDukit]

If your flue is clogged or shut it will allow smoke in. I would get it cleaned if you plan on using it. Also as your flue heats up it will suck the smoke up and out.

 

[Rot Box]

Thanks guy's I'm pretty sure I have it figured out now. I accidently had the flue valve nearly closed off and the stove was pretty full of wood (smoke had to go somewhere). Now that its open its smoke free down here...

Funny how the dogs, the cat, wife and daughter all of the sudden REALLY like the basement

 

[DOSS]

I heat my house with my wood stove probably 40% of the time. I would say that if you want to keep the smoke out make sure you get a hot flame build up quick to heat up all the air in the chimney to get the airflow going.. I like to have a couple pieces of loose crumpled newspaper on top of my wood stack, light that first then the starter below, this gets a good amount of heat to blast up the chimney and I have nill for smoke that comes into the house

 

[jackjoh]

The only problem we had with wood was the fact that it would only heat one room. It sure was nice at night gathering around the stove to keep warm and just talking together and then changing into pajamas and running to the bed and jumping between cold sheets.

 

[Chevycrew]

I grew up in a pretty big house with only a wood stove for heat. No complaints, worked good and heated the whole house. Floorplan and stove size are a major key. Fireplaces suck for heating compared to a stove.

 

[Rot Box]

I have a split entry home and the downstairs is ALWAYS much cooler than the upstairs. Because of the design/floor plan there is nothing to keep the hot air downstairs, and most of the furnace vents are upstairs anyway. We are upstairs 95% of the time in the winter for this reason...

With the wood burner, the basement (lower level) is now really warm and the upstairs is just right. My furnace hasn't kicked on once since I fired this up and every room is really comfortable. I guess what I'm trying to say is the stove seems to distribute the heat through the house very well I don't know how practical it is for long term use yet, but I have a TON of wood to use up in the meantime.

 

[mesha]

We heated our house with wood this year till mid December. Every year we make it a little longer. Our stove heats our house easily to 70. That will require the room with the stove to be about 80-85 though.

We have a swing out BBQ grill that hooks to the side of the stove and we can BBQ steaks right in the living room. It is the best. Get the coals nice and hot throw on the steaks and dump a hand full of hickory chips on the fire.

We heat the house with the furnace and supplement with the stove. Our gas bill for November was 17 bucks this Year. Strictly wood. Last year it was triple that.

You will want to keep a large pot of water boiling on top or your family will get a lot of nose bleeds from dry air.

 

[Rot Box]

You will want to keep a large pot of water boiling on top or your family will get a lot of nose bleeds from dry air.

Great! I get nose bleeds a lot in the winter so thats good to know thanks for the info

 

[eddie d]

all i use is a wood stove iv had lots of them over years its always a good idea to get a good one or they will burn lots of wood and u need to let the insur know u put one in

 

[Bart]

Heated a house with wood only for 3 years and it was great, except for getting and splitting the wood. Cleaned the chimney about once a month and it was needed. If it's not clean it will (not could) be a major source of fire. Had a heatilator inside with a fan that circulated the heat through the upstairs, it was great.

 

[eddie d]

u get lots of heat out of wood cutting it loading unloading taken it in the house cleanen chim and getting the ash out and cleaning the ash dust but its all worth it

 

[ricsrx]

years ago i had a connection for coal, smells up the house, gets the walls all black, but you cant beat the BTU output.

 

[pELYgroso]

I just put a stove into my house in October, and I love it! I only use it at nights after work. My wife is here all day so she just has the furnace turned up, but I try and keep it going at night and I turn down the furnace. My gas bill for November was $100 less than last year because of the stove! It's also kinda fun to tinker with the fire every 30 or so minutes. I just like the ambiance of a room w/ a fire going. Make sure that your stove's tolerances are met in regards to the distance it needs to be from a wall! Some stoves need up to 36"! We learned about this when shopping for our stove and had to spend a little more $$ to get one with a better rating so that we could tuck it into the corner of our family room.

 

[Rot Box]

Great info thanks you guy's Realistically how often do you think I should have the chimney cleaned out?

 

[skippy]

My parents do theirs every 5 years or so. Some people say thats to often, but better to be safe than sorry when it comes to fires

 

[pELYgroso]

the owner's manual for my stove says every 1-2 months during the winter season! you can get logs that burn out all of the crud that builds up. Not sure how effective they are....