99% here unless we are away. Going to visit my parents In Florida inFebruary. I will turn the furnace to 55. I guess the boy might keep it going if he wants it warmer than that.
100% wood only when the temp falls below 30. gas furnace as a backup or when it's over 30 degrees. Stove will sweat you out of the house if you try and run it when it's any warmer, just wasting wood.
Like you, also from SC PA, and keep house 68-70. 95% rely on wood, fireplace insert, oil furnace only on when we go away for a few days. Burnt about 2.5 cords so far.
We're into our 42nd year with 100% wood heat and we do not have a furnace at all. We've been asked many times if this is a problem but so far, it has never been a problem. We expect that to continue. We also use wood from our own place so do not buy any nor do we have to haul it home; it's already home! In addition, and many know this, but we also keep our home around 80 degrees all winter long and love it.
I think Chvymn99 has more experience in how warm we keep the house. lol But I still like Darrin's remarks the best but DexterDay came very close with his remarks. But I remember how he kept saying he wanted to be warmed with a Fireview stove!
Great thread! We use the wood stove as our main source of heat, probably 95% of the time, although there are times when working a little later, the oil might kick on for an hour if it's cold enough outside, which is set for 62°. During this after work period, I may kick on the pellet stove so the oil shuts off and until the wood stove gets up to temp.
Rather than an outhouse, why not treat yourself to a composting toilet. We have an outhouse currently (only one in the neighborhood), & had to use one at Grandma's house growing up. There are better ways now, even without sewer or septic.
90%, with gas boiler thermostat set to 60° for the cat, when we are not here, or I fall asleep out of the correct cycle and decide to stay in bed when reloading is needed. Old stone house with poor insulation prevents higher % and warmer temps.
Probably 30-40% if I'm lucky. Folks who built this house didn't have a clue about things like keeping a house heated. They installed a, admittedly quite nice, Heatilator Constitution in a chase on the outside of the house. Flue is in the chase also. Fairly certain more than half the heat bleeds to the outside. Running full bore it's hard to keep the house above 70* when its in the 20s outside. Just barely makes 8 hours stuffed to the gills and damped all the way down. When I burn this thing out I hope to be able to bump out the chase to make a stone alcove for a larger, free standing stove, open the chase above to expose the flue pipe to the inside of the house, and likely sooner than that, run a duct and efficient fan to pull hot air from up in the cathedral ceiling down to the basement on the other end of the house. I figure if I can manage that I'll be able to get much closer to 100% wood, and using a small generator to run the fan, be able to keep the house heated with the power out, which is the goal. 3.5 ton air to air package unit heat pump bears the brunt of keeping us warm now.
Do you think its that low? With the heat that the stove continues to throw off...and the fact that the walls and home contents are probably warmed to a higher temp than what the heat pump would make/keep them...maybe there is more residual heat there than you think?
I strive for 100% during most weather for the first and 2nd floor. Basement room is off the propane boiler, as is the 2nd floor when it gets down single digits or below. Hot water keeps the boiler cycling somewhat regularly anyway.
Maybe a bit more. My wood stove isn’t freestanding. It’s a Buck 75 used as an insert. That blower cools it off pretty quick when it’s not loaded up. When we get in single digits I’ll load it up before I leave at 7:00 am for work. But not when it’s 20f or above. I’m also in a split level home, stove in lower level. 2400 sf. Hard to ask a room heater to heat the whole house unless it’s 30f or above
100% wood except if we are out of town. Working on the 3 year plan. Mainly burn ash and cherry. We have a lot of oak that will be great a few years down the road once it seasons and dries.
As much as we can. I am like blackwood and like a warm house. We do have a fuel oil but very little use. We have many projects on the list butthis is a cinder block house with little if any insulation. On list. So when it gets really gets cold out I might kick the furnace to help the stove out.
