Which wood heater ?

[RWDitto]

Need suggestions for the best wood heater to heat 1100 sf. house. Would like one with fan and front glass. There are so many on the market, but I would like a suggestion from someone who lives with one.

 

[paul wheaton]

The masonry stoves typically heat with about one fifth the wood and typically cost $10,000 or more.

A rocket mass heater will typically heat with about one tenth the wood and cost about $400. I've heard of people building them for $20. I've seen about a dozen built where each was built in a weekend. I've seen some of the pebble style rocket mass heaters built in less than a day.

I have a pebble style rocket mass heater in my 3-bedroom home in montana. We heated this house last winter with 0.60 cords of wood.

I recently hosted the gathering of the world's leading rocket mass heater experts and we sat down and addressed an engineers doubts about "one tenth the wood":

 

[Miss Lydia]

Need suggestions for the best wood heater to heat 1100 sf. house. Would like one with fan and front glass. There are so many on the market, but I would like a suggestion from someone who lives with one.

We have a Dutch West by Vermont Casting and it heats our 1560sq ft house really nice it's our main source of heat. and if needed you can cook on it. an in it of course. Has a fan and glass front too. We had a Fisher Grandpa before this one and it was a really good wood burner too but they don't have fans but you could still probably find used ones for sale even though they don't make them anymore, we just used a circulating fan behind it to move the heat.

 

[elwood]

I am looking at outdoor wood furnaces myself and there are some that are super efficient. http://www.centralboiler.com/home.html

they claim that you load them once a day.....

 

[Joel_BC]

The masonry stoves typically heat with about one fifth the wood and typically cost $10,000 or more.

A rocket mass heater will typically heat with about one tenth the wood and cost about $400. I've heard of people building them for $20. I've seen about a dozen built where each was built in a weekend. I've seen some of the pebble style rocket mass heaters built in less than a day.

I have a pebble style rocket mass heater in my 3-bedroom home in montana. We heated this house last winter with 0.60 cords of wood.

I recently hosted the gathering of the world's leading rocket mass heater experts and we sat down and addressed an engineers doubts about "one tenth the wood":

Paul, your video furthers the effort to make a strong case for building rocket mass heaters. I assume you were reporting on that pretty-cold winter of '16/17. Some folks would be interested in more info relating to the .6 cords of firewood used to heat your three-bedroom house: house style & floor area; nature of the home's insulation; composition of the firewood used.

I look forward to learning more. Thanks for posting.

 

[Joel_BC]

I perused the recommended thread. Others here may find the detailed discussion valuable. To share with our SS members, in the thread indicated, Paul mentioned these things that spoke to the request I'd made (above) for a little more info:

"We will be using pine, fir and larch."
"I think we have speculated in the past that this place is about 1400 square feet. Maybe a little less."
"I have no idea how well insulated it [the house] is. Standard double-wide el-cheapo-lame-o insulation I expect."

 

[Britesea]

I don't have one, but I do have a suggestion to help with the heat... those little fans that fit in a doorway are a great way to move air (cool or warm) around the house.

 

[Amiga]

I have an Intrepid II, Vermont Casting (hi, ML!)

All that Miss Lydia said, above. The fan we use is powered by a thermocouple - the difference in temperature between the base and the top makes electricity (yes, really, you can look it up), and the fan turns once the stove top hits about 250˚F.

That said, I have discovered, through my Permaculture Design class, that there is a very old technology that I feel has been under-appreciated in the extreme in our cooler climate.

It goes by a number of names and there are some differences (some are less efficient).

Kachelofen, kang, pystyuuni or kaakeliuuni, masonry stove, masonry heater, ceramic stove, tile stove, steinofen, kakelugn, mass heater.

I just met a fellow - a stone mason - who built his own. Thirty years ago he built his own, it still runs fine. Uses a couple of armloads of firewood. A day. To heat his house. For 12 to 24 hours.

I want this!!

So we aim to visit his oven - I mean, him - and get the scoop. One of the first things he said was, "I can get you the plans, and you can hire someone to build it, but if the procedure is not followed to the letter each step of the way, it won't work."

I pass this sage advice along. They must be built properly. They will last for over a generation if done right. And if done right, no creosote. No charcoal. The fire chamber gets hot, hot hot. Then the heat flows through a chimney that goes back and forth and back and forth through the masonry, coming out when it is perhaps 100˚F. The heat is stored by the masonry, which is never too hot to touch.

His house is bigger than our 1100 sf, and his stove is about 2 ft wide, 5 ft long and I think 5 or 6 feet tall. Maybe just 4 feet tall.

 

[sumi]

That sounds great, Amiga. I'd love see pics and plans for something like this. The low fuel usage is VERY appealing! DH I spent an awful lot of time collecting, sawing and splitting wood for our wood burner in Ireland and it never got far with heating the house.

 

[Amiga]

I just found this from a web search - haven't even read the whole thing but I like the photo of the masonry heater.
http://www.shelterbuild.com/2010/03/intro-to-masonry-heaters.html

And this one is what I have in mind especially

http://www.motherearthnews.com/home...wood-burning-kitchen-stove.aspx#axzz36c9l5hB0