I think the article was not well worded in its comparison of insulated vs uninsulated basement walls... what it should have said that the amount of wood that you burn simply to account for the heat loss through your basement walls could be reduced by nearly 95%. The amount you burn to heat your house would not change, but due to the insulation, the overall amount that you burn in a season would be greatly decreased. For the total amount burned to decrease from 4 cords to 1/4 cord, that would assume no heat loss through the ceiling of the basement. No heat loss would mean and that the floor above the basement received zero heat which is of course completely against the reason one would put a stove in a basement. One would want maximum heat transfer through the ceiling and minimum heat loss to the outside of the building envelope. I think what would have made their message clearer is saying that one who burns 8 cords a year and needs to keep their basement at 70° to heat their house could reduce their fuel burn to 4 1/4 cords per year simply by insulating their basement walls... that’s a number that I think I could find more believable...
My ideal steel is in our basement, i load it at 3:45am and get home around 5:30. I burn coals down for a hour or so then reload. 2 loads a day. I love everything about heating with wood. From the start of processing to loading the stove. If I was you I would take the offer up on checking out a new stove. 3 walls of my basement are Uninsulated concrete. It takes a coupe days of burning to get it up to temp but then I’m set.
Going back and re reading the posts, I have a hard time seeing that you say that you've not seen a newer wood stove that " really throws the heat" are you sure that those people that have those stoves are using dry wood? Also, since you've mentioned OWB's, there's also outdoor wood burning furnaces that can be installed that are not boilers and don't use hydronics.
I've inspected a lot of wood stoves, pellet stoves, inserts, etc as part of my job. Even though we tell them not to operate them until the permit is signed off, a lot of people have them running when I'm there. I've seen quite a few brands and models, all new. The wood they had stored looked pretty seasoned, and the houses are usually in the 68-70ish temp range on the level the stove is on. Its possible they aren't pushing them hard, but some of the days we're talking 0 degree weather.
Very very similar experience and setup here. I am approx 2000 sq ft 2 story colonial. I keep my thermostat on 66 and it will sometimes turn on once or twice early morning if it's super cold out. I load up at night and again in the morning before work as well. My wife works part time and home often during the day and will feed the insert if needed but most often if I load her pretty good before work she's still going when I get home. We've had a really pretty mild winter so far so the house has been on warmer side and I've actually had some stretches where I stopped burning. I will admit I do cheat with heaters in the kids rooms so we can keep their doors closed at night. Am in the 2 - 3 cords a year range. I was on a budget with my natural gas bill for $141 last year, then it dropped to $121, 2 months back I saw I had a 450+ credit on it.............So we got off the budget and I haven't paid a gas bill just yet. Burning wood has saved us some money for sure. I know its not nearly the savings compared to electric or oil heat but it helps. And I am sure some of that savings in going to the Electric company. House has never been warmer, I enjoy it, and enjoy processing wood when I have the time. O and it keeps me in shape.
We have a 2,700 sq.ft. 2 story house with the stove in the basement. I made some improvements that helped a lot with heating. The heat pump / electric furnace still kicks on some, but the bulk of the heating is done by the woodstove. I know the USS stoves get some bad press, but it does kick out some serious heat when it's up on the pipe, dry hardwoods, ah yes... Our electric bill is comperable to our neighbors that heat with gas. I would love a gasifier boiler or true wood burning furnace, but this set up does pretty good and we are right at 6 cords a year typically. We had a smoke dragon in there before (large 80's air tight), that threw about the same heat, but used 14 cords a year... I'm liking the 6 cords a year much better... WAY better... All this was done pretty much on the cheap. HF temperature gun to see where the heat is, incense sticks to see where the air is moving, black paint, silver faced bubble insulating reflector, and foil duct tape. A little experimentation goes a long way to making nice gains and is very fun as well. see the link below for what I went through and figured out. Relflecting the heat back into the house
Vozelgang and USS have both made some duds and despite/because of Hecho en China, but hey, so has Vermont Castings and I really don't think when it comes down to it there is a manufacturer that hasn't. Maybe not to the box stove extreme but still ... lemons abound.
I haven't read all of the posts in the thread yet but it's interesting reading about how others run their stoves. I'm in a similar situation where the house is unoccupied for 12 hours a day, in the past I used to leave the oil heating switched off completely when out at work and would only use it for an hour in the morning to take the chill off. I would then get home from work and light the stove; it would take quite a while to get things warmed up as the house is not well insulated and often it would just be getting comfortable before it was time for bed. Nowadays, I leave the thermostat for the oil boiler set at 54f and with this setting, the stove room rarely drops below 59f which makes it much easier to get the place comfortable using the stove when I get back from work. It does not take a lot for the oil boiler to maintain this temperature and additonally keeps the condensation under control. I still like to burn wood even though I often have to buy it in beacuse the heat is much more pleasant and I think it'd cost more get the same comfort levels with oil*. When we're at home all day, the stove is lit all the time and you just cannot beat the heat which warms all of the furtniture in the room as well as gently circulating to other areas in the house. *We last had the oil tank filled in late Dec '18 and based on the the current exchange rate, 264 gallons was $666. Not sure what home heating oil consists of in the states but over here it's generally 28 sec kerosene.
iirc, our Home Heating Oil is closer to your 35 second kerosene/red diesel. Home Heating oil here is pretty much the same as Over The Road diesel, especially now that sulfur contents have been mandated so low. I don't know what lubricity/anti-gelling additives they add to over the road diesel any more since ULSD if any. You'll get different answers from over the road drivers and that may depend on what part of the country they traverse and time of year.
Just like they ruined gasoline with ethanol, they are ruining heating oil with biofuel. I'm all for "better for the environment", but the products have way too many negative issues with older equipment not designed to run on it. It can be very irritating.
There's a farm ( here in Ma somewhere I think ) that is growing rapeseed(canola) for the express purpose of fueling the farm's tractors. For like $1.75/gallon. They invested in the cold press and equipment to make it.
Eh, ethanol hasn't ruined gasoline. If anything it had reduced the amount of gasoline that we have used as a country. As our vehicles have gotten better over the decades by using less fuel, now some don't even use fuel, and we're not as dependant on foreign oil as well. Planned obsolescence has been more of an issue in today's society than any other factor. Ethanol has been a pretty good scapegoat though.
I guess I'm a little hardcore , I set my thermostat at 56F in my house. I have a SMALL 1,100sqft house. It's mostly a brick rectangle as it used to be a one room school house back in the 1800's. It's got an addition on the back for bathroom and kitchen. I let the furnace keep er' at 56 while I'm gone during the day at work. Come home after work and fire up the stove and before work if I'm lounging around. Weekends it's going basically all day while if I'm off work. Windows are old and house generally is not that well insulated so it loses heat fast. But hell every winter I only go through about 275 gallons of oil for the entire heating season with my wood habits. Still a lot maybe to some, but I can't imagine if I didn't use wood. While I'm home with the fire going the furnace never runs, unless it's -20 to -30F air temps outside. I know my oil company couldn't believe I went through so little oil, until they see my wood piles outside.
If you have a newer engine designed with materials that are not affected by the specific corrosion attributes of ethanol, NBFD. If you have an older engine, however ... Plus there's that whole ethanol and methanol absorb water from the air problem which becomes a storage and use issue. Add people and habits to the mix ... And then go where it's forbidden, add politics to the above, LOL. Now there's another can of worms. Vermont, not Ma. Sheesh, seven years ago, time flies: Home - VT Bioenergy Connects Local Farming + Energy
Mendon...what a city slicker lol. I enjoy my dragons. That said, it is so interesting to hear perspectives about the cost of fuel. I did not pay under $3.00 a gallon for gasoline until my 3rd/4th year driving so I have always viewed oil products as a big expense in my life time. Now being a home owner I'm thrilled with $2.50 oil after coming from a $400-500 a month propane bill in our previous rental to keep the heat at 62*. I imagine the stove would be loaded more than 2-3 times a day if home heating oil got over $3 a gallon though.
It's about the same distance to Boston, Providence, and Worcester. An hour to the Cape Cod canal, and just over 3hrs up to the White mtns. We like it. But, not the taxes. Oh well.
