Ultimate set up

What would be your ultimate wood burning setup?

Free standing stove?
Wood boiler, indoor? or outdoor?
Masonry (Russian) fireplace?
Wood furnace?
Any others?

If most of you are like me, your wood burning setup is a bit of an afterthought, and probably not ideal to your home or your desires. If you could redesign it/start all over, what would you have and why?

 

I would go with the masonry furnace. I've never seen one in person, but from the sound of it, that would be ideal.

 

I like my insert very well but if I had a different floor layout I would prefer a freestanding stove just for the radiant factor. I have a perfect set up for an outdoor burner with hot water natural gas boiler but I just do not want to go outside to feed the stove it's simple as that.

 

I think I'd like my IS Hybrid in the middle of my house versus the den where it is now. The problem is that the den is a converted garage that's on a slab with a cathedral ceiling. It's got 2 hvac vents but it's not enough to keep it warm. It's consistently colder than the main house. I'd still need supplemental heat in there. I've thought of maybe moving the stove to the living room which is at the center of the house, and putting a small gas stove from woodstock in the den, but I just put a new roof on last year and really don't want to mess that up.

I hear that boilers eat a lot of wood but my second ideal setup would be some sort of efficient boiler with in floor radiant heat. My dad has radiant heat in his kitchen. It's awesome. I really don't want to have to go thru 5 to 6 cords of wood a year though. I can heat my house with a wood stove on 3 cords currently.

 

I prefer warm common areas and cooler sleeping areas, so for me the wood stove wins. I also like the concept of the cat. stoves. More energy efficient and clean burns. I would want a cooking surface on the stove.

 

I would prefer an open floor plan house on one level with an interior tall chimney. On the hearth would be a Progress Hybrid. Maybe even some soapstone built into the hearth.

 

I like the concept of a large radiant thermal mass centrally located; I would like to try a massive soapstone/masonry heater. I love radiant heat and I love a simple design; this seems ideal to me.

 

Wonder how long it takes for that thing to throw heat?

 

It must be like a wave. Takes a while to come in and when it does you find out how big it is. Would love to hear from someone who has one of these to know how they really work.

 

A steeper roof and taller ceilings so I can have a taller chimney without stupid roof brackets.

I have no interest in any "thermal mass". Once you find a cat stove that can burn 30-40 hours without loading, the whole concept of thermal mass or storage is pointless. I did the soapstone thing and they look nice.

Now out in the shop I installed an NC30 a couple of years ago. It works okay but I have learned that it takes too much fussing with the damper to keep it burning hot, clean, and safely. In a shop you don't always want to sit there for the whole 4 hour burn cycle. I am now considering replacing it with a wood furnace mostly due to the automation of the burn process and the nice big blowers.

 

Having an nc30 1/2 way into a fireplace and wish it was fully exposed with an exposed chimney to the 20 ft peak of our A frame would be ideal. Wish my house was at ground level instead of entrance doors up 7 steps of a deck. (Lazy) then wish a person would bring wood in and set it next to the stove hah... i may go outdoor boiler in the future. Still undecided on that route tho becsuse i love coming home to a ripping stove in full view at my back door. Love coming home when its freezing out and seeing that knowing my couch 12 feet away is warm as all get out

 

Would have a freestanding cat stove in the middle of a house! Like others i enjoy common areas warm and bedrooms cooler. I love my stove now but see where it could be better and easier with a cat stove in a better location.

 

This is exactly what I would love along with a wide open floor plan. There are many factors to consider when building a home. Heating is one of the major considerations that most do not put much thought into. Instead they rely on the builder to decide how their home will be heated/cooled. There are plenty of building/heating techniques to consider when building a home.

Building techniques:

• Envelope.
• Passive heating based on amount of square foot per person.
• Post and Bean with SIP
• SIP alone.
• ICF
• Open floor plans.

Heating source options:

• Wood
• Geothermal
• Solar
• Oil
• Natural gas
• Propane
• Coal
• Electric

Heating methods:

• Forced hot air.
• Forced hot water.
• Radiant.
• Passive.
• Wood stove.
• Masonry heater.
• Fireplace.
• and much more.

I hope to have the opportunity to build my own home and design it with an open floor layout with a soapstone masonry heater like pictured above. The frame would be a post and beam house with SIP. It would incorporate envelope along with passive solar to reduce the overall heating needs. Finally the house would be sized according to the amount of people we expect to live with us. More than likely we'd go with a 1500 sqft foot print.

 

I like my OWB. I load it once a day and that's it. I have radiant floor heat in 90% of the house and HWBB in the bedrooms. It heats our house to 74 degrees all winter long. No mess inside the house which is important to a neat freak OCD wife like I have.

 

That does sound pretty ideal; I'd like to try that too ... in my next life I guess . What kind of OWB and how many cords/year?

 

A new house... In Arizona. Seriously, though, a new home with a centrally located chimney.

It would either be a Blaze King King in a well insulated, open floor plan home with a centrally located chimney, and/or a pellet add-on boiler with a big-azz hopper attached.