Not a fireplace.....Free standing wood burner. I'm thinking of buying one and using. Pointer/Thoughts from those of you that have in the past.

I'm thinking insurance agent will have to be notified - augggggg

 

Hey Bud,
I have two wood burners , Fisher type stoves - such as you describe waiting on me . Wish I had both tonight. After years of family owning such I can't remember having to notify anyone... Just make sure the chimney exceeds the roofline by a coupla feet.

 

I feel the need to go back in time......If you know what i'm talking about, plus the energy cost - i can get wood cheap.

Had them growing up, even the wood stove. I guess it also brings in the outdoors - i love to sit around a fire and.........

 

3bronco,
I lived in the NC mtns for 5 years & used a free-standing woodstove as my only heat. I have never been warmer!

I rented, living in a garage/shop that had been converted into two apts, so insurance wasn't an issue. I was religious about the 3' space around the stove, though & there was a quasi-reflective piece of sheet metal against the wall behind the stove. The original stove was a Wood Chief, (small firebox surrounded by fancy sheetmetal). It wasn't airtight & I couldn't get a fire to last 8 hours unattended.

I traded an old guitar for a locally-built 1/4" steel stove. It was a purely functional stove, no pretty doors to see the fire thru. I could bank the fire on Friday, come home Sunday night, open the taps & she'd roar back to life with the addition of a little kindling. I had a source for free coal, so I could burn green wood with the coal, if need be. I could have heated both apts with that stove, about 1800 sf. A damper in your stove pipe makes a big difference. My landlord had built the chimney-fluepipe surrounded by cinderblock, on the outside of the house. In the heart of winter, the chimney got cleaned monthly.

If I had it to do over, I'd do the following:
1. Have another stove like that built. It was quite long, and could handle logs up to about 22" long with no problem. At the time (1987 or so), you could get one built by a local machine shop for $350. Didn't look anything like those high-dollar Fisher/Buck stoves. Now, I have a friend who welds & I'd get with him & draw it up.

2. Use some sort of draft blower/ventilation system combo to keep the smoke from getting into the house. I have a touch of asthma now, & I can't help but wonder if it was due to the woodstove. Don't know exactly I'd keep the smoke from coming out. Need some way to create lower pressure in the stove so it draws the smoke inside, rather than letting it into the room when you open the door. I haven't looked at anything store-bought, so I don't know what's out there.

3. If it's against a wall, you can used stone, brick or sheet metal. The advantage of stone-acts like a reservoir to hold heat. The sheet metal just reflects some of the heat away from the combustible wall. I'd probably have an inch or so of airspace between the wall & whatever I used as extra insulation.

4. It's probably in the building code, but you have to have a heat-resistant thimble where the stovepipe passes thru a combustible wall or ceiling. I have an old '97 codebook that could give you a general idea of the clearance requirements. The code calls it a "fireplace stove" and considers it an "unlisted heating appliance". Don't know if the store-bough stoves are listed.

5. You'll need a source of moisture, as wood heat is so dry. I used an enameled pan; I've seen fancy crockery used. I'd probably use an old enameled canner - cheap, deep & available at a thrift store near you!

Hope this helps-

 

We use a wood burning heater in our "fabrication" shop. We weld, grind, drink beer get cold and than stand by the heater and than we go back to work again.

Jacob

 

ladyfire, thanks for the great tips.

jacob, i think i have a room in my house that i'm wanting to do that, would be a push but it could happen

 

I had a Fisher wood burning stove in my home when I lived in Tn. a few years ago and loved it. The room it was in stayed a little too warm, so I tapped into the return air duct (in the hall) and extended it into the ceiling of the den (opposite end of the house) and added a filter box . During the winter I would block the hall filter vent and put the filter in the new filter vent box in the den ceiling, switch the heat at the thermostat to "off" and switch the fan to "on". Was able to draw the heat out of the den and pump it all over the house. Heated the entire house for a fraction of the cost of electric heat.

 

Huntsmen, thanks for the idea!! i've got one return in my den that i think i can use to distribute the heat to the other part of the house.

Thanks

 

Bronco, Keeping the furnace blower fan "ON" all the time will circulate the heat thruout the whole house. I live in a tri-level, which is completely open from the slab to the ceiling of the second floor. The only way to keep the downstairs warm is to close off the stairwell (big fleece blanket), which keeps the warmer air from rushing back upstairs, and then run the blower fan all the time to even things out.

Just speculating, if you wanted to get fancy, you could probably add a T-stat in the room with the stove and/or a cold part of the house. Then wire T-stat(s) to the fan so that when the stove room gets too warm, or the cold room gets to cold, the blower fan will kick on, and then go off when the temp is right.

 

I had an old wood burner when I lived in Carrollton. I was built locally by a place downtown by the old depot. Think it was W&P or something. It came with a house we bought and was in the basement. When I got it going, it would put out some heat.
I'm in Columbus now, and have a wood stove insert in my house here. I didn't use it this year but since my house is all elec, I might fire it up next winter.

 

Try this link: http://www.woodheat.org

I have used wood heat in both fireplace and a stove. I much prefer the wood stove! This site has alot of great info...

 

Thanks for the site!