3-4 years ago I had a wood stove installed in our home. At the time she was emphatic that it look pretty so instead of paying $400-$500 for a used one online we bought one new for $2K. The chimney was another $2000 and the install was around $1000. So for $5K I got a stove that required a lot of labor, finding seasoned wood and testing it for moisture, paying $800-$1000yr for wood, sweeping the chimney a few times a season, replacing the gasketing once or twice a year, etc. I can do it but it's time consuming and just a pain in the ass for us. Plus it's messy as we can't store the wood anywhere near the stove so it tracks in all the bark pieces and wood chips throughout the house.

Recently someone suggested I look into gas due to how cheap it is and pretty much labor free. Well back when I was shopping for the wood stove I actually did check into gas. The person on the other end must have had their head up their ass because I was told it would be $3K for the install unless I got a gas furnace...not a heating stove...a furnace. This is what forced us to go with wood in the first place...because gas was so expensive to have as an option. Well today I was told "oh yeah, you have a gas line right in your front yard....that install is going to be free!!" I almost fell out of my chair!!

Then I called the stove shop to ask about the equipment for the install. Turns out all you need is $200-$300 worth of venting. No new chimney or anything else...just a vent pipe!!

Then I went on CL and looked for a stove...$125-$500 for nice used stoves.

So depending on how much an installer will charge to solder/insert the gas line and punch a hole in the brick and run the vent, this could be a <$1000 solution.

I figure that since we paid for it, I'll cap off the thimble and just keep the chimney in place and then put the stove down the basement so that if anything does happen to the gas line I can bring it up and reconnect it fairly easily.

As for blowing $5K+ on the wood stove setup initially, well it's a good backup and the gas company is mainly to blame there...but live and learn!

The only thing I have left to do is get an estimate on monthly expense to heat the home 100% by the gas stove. But I figure if it's cost-effective it'll be far less labor and maintenance and will still let us heat the home, water, cook food, etc. even if the power goes out.

Anyone use a gas stove to heat their home?

-Emt1581

I use wood heat exclusively. Have been doing this for about 25 years. Gas would be nice but it isn't available so I'll stick with wood.

I wouldn't trade our wood stove for anything. But I live on wooded acres. I have 4-5 years worth of wood cut split stacked seasoned... If I had to BUY fuel, and gas was available, I probably would choose that. But you might ask around how people did in your area this winter, I know propane prices went through the roof..

if you have gas at your home, screw the stove, just put in a furnace.

If I had nat gas available to me I would probably use it or have the ability to.  But its no where even remotely close to me and probably never will be so my only other choices would be fuel/ propane/ electric.  Fuel and propane are not cheap.  I have electric but only as backup heat or for when we are gone a while.  At this point I heat with wood exclusively.  But I have a walk out tiled basement where my wood stove is so its easy.  Plus I live on my own 40+ acres that is primarily wooded so I am able to obtain all my own firewood from my property.  Only cost me time, gas, upkeep for my saws, splitter and ATV.  I use the ATVs for plowing, hunting, and fun so firewood is not their sole purpose.

My previous house had a woodstove on the main story in the living room so I feel your pain for "tracking" firewood through your house.

Heated solely with wood for 14 years now.

Wood stove- fuel literally grows on trees, a supply you could control yourself to a great extent.

Gas stove- fuel must come from a supplier and subject to failures of a distribution chain.

Not sure where the rationale to switch is coming from.

Course I don't understand what a thousand dollar chimney looks like either, and can't fathom paying "$800." for wood...

Three wood stoves in our house, cheapest one was $1,200. sixteen years ago. The Vermont Bunbaker with soapstone was the newest one, purchased about 2 years ago for around $3K

May wanna consider  http://www.rinnai.us/direct-vent-wall-furnace

I got both

Well, yet another idea gone to shit.  I spoke to an installer today and did some more homework.  

I figured it'd be a pretty easy swap in regard to finding a larger one to heat our whole house like the wood stove does.  NOPE!  Turns out they don't put out near the heat that a wood stove does.  My VC 2 in 1 Encore is rated at 65,000 BTU.  He said the largest gas stove is between 30K-40K BTU's.  So basically we'd have to put one upstairs and one downstairs and the way our house is laid out it just wouldn't work.

So I'm going to do a little more homework on maybe some things I'm doing wrong with the wood stove because as everyone else talks about it, it's a walk in the park and little to no maintenance required.  Plus I'm going to start hunting for wood with my trailer and processing most of it myself, which I was planning to do anyway.  It's just a hell of a lot of work compared to flipping a switch with gas/LP.

-Emt1581

 

Thanks. I've always wondered if you could just buy a load of logs from a logger like that.

Some of the stuff you see folks getting timbered around here HAS to be pulpwood. Lots of nasty looking swamp oaks, curled and mangled up. I don't think you could cut 4' of straight lumber from some of it.

But the wood pellet deal has gotten big the last couple years, it's probably going to places that make them.

My baby brother down in Texas has been heating with wood for the last 5 years. He and his wife are able to scrounge enough wood to keep their house as warm in the winter as in the summer. They honestly go through as much or more wood than we do. And they don't own a tree or buy firewood.

Oh, and Lowdown.. it's very common in the N.E. to buy a load of log lengths for processing.. Buddy of mine up in N.Y. gets a load every year.

We got one of these for our top floor as a backup to our backup with propane fuel and the electric run from the inverter.  We have a woodstove in the basement that's our main heat, but I did hear that thing upstairs kick on a few nights this winter when it was < -15 outside.  We keep it set at 66*F so the kids don't freeze up there.



We have geothermal, but honestly it sucks for heating if it's < 20*F outside.  it'll run forever and cost a fortune.  



 

I agree, I've been burning 4 years and only replaced the gasket once. I've had to re-stick my gasket a couple times but they really don't need replaced that often.

Also, regarding some of your other issues. If you're burning dry wood in a modern EPA rated stove there is no reason you should have to clean your chimney 2 times/yr. I have been burning 4 years, inspected my chimney 4 times the first year, twice the second, and now I only inspect once/yr. I have never cleaned my chimney; it doesn't need it because it burns so cleanly...

Regarding wood storage and bits of bark etc, we use a large rubber-maid tote on a cart to bring wood inside. This keeps all the bits & pieces contained in the area of the wood-storage rack where you actually transfer from the tote to the rack.

Also, I don't think anybody said burning wood isn't hard work, because it is. It's more-so a question of whether or not you embrace and enjoy the work. Yes, there are times that it's tedious, or I don't have time and I just wish I could flip the switch for the heat on. But I suck it up and get it done. Other times, I really enjoy the work and it is good for me (I have a desk-job).

I wish I had a wood stove.  Wood is in abundance here.  Gas has to be paid for and it's not cheap.

In regard to the gasket, the only one I'm referencing is the griddle/top.  Because we put a humidifying pot on top and use it pretty much exclusively to load the wood, it compresses pretty easily.  Now the other gaskets around the door and ash pan...those have yet to need replacing. Just wanted to clarify.

-Emt1581

Thanks. Haven't had the need to buy wood in a long long time. Bought some when we first moved when it became quickly evident that the small stack I had put up from trimming here and there wasn't going to last 1/4 as long as I thought it would.

What I ended up paying for was green sticks and twigs, including a boatload of crap that was too long. So I got on cutting myself and never looked back.

This, Here are some 95% efficient forced air nat gas furnaces. 2 stage burners are nice if you can swing it.

ETA: These high efficiency furnaces vent to the outside nowdays via just a 2" PVC pipe, as the exhaust is low temperature.

Goodman are nice, I've installed many of them. Great warranty too.

Personally I'll deal with the hassles of wood such as cutting, hauling,unloading,splitting,stacking,hauling indoors etc and the mess. Been doing it 20yrs and its well worth it. As a matter of fact we are adding a woodstive in addition to our LP boiler and wood boiler.  But I'm able to cut wood next door or my buddys farm son its no biggy. I have bought wood before, $300 for 5 full cords unsplit logs delivered. Well worth it.

Does your desire to abandon wood heat have to do with your chimney fire calamity this year?

Part of it...but mostly the labor, cost, and inconvenience.  

-Emt1581

I'm on forced air natural gas.  I don't have a gas  stove (as in woodstove type appliance) yet, but love the gas.  A relatively small generator easily runs the minor fan and electronic loads, so even with the power out, I can still run the heat up in the house.  Ditto for hot water.  Let me tell you, when the power is out for four days and the wimmen are still having hot showers, this fella is a superhero!  Yah, there are supply issues but ask yourself this:  How often do power outages occur and how often do complete supply chain breakdowns occur?

My option:  I heat with NG, and use the woodstove as back up.  The NG is cheap and easy and labor free, while I store a full season worth of decent seasoned firewood.  Stored correctly, it lasts years.  So, I have the convenience of NG, but the security of wood.

If you go for NG, think of the following:  A NG kitchen  stove (again, one little generator and some switching and I can run everything). and when they are installing, consider having a pipe run to a BBQ grill.  Or at least running the line, valve, and capping it.  Makes for a cheapo install later if you go that way.

I'd keep the wood stove in place and supplement it with propane wall units like this:


I have a propane fireplace that we use for primary heat in the winter. I'd like pull that out and replace it with a wood stove and those wall units.
Wood is "free" here. Propane got expensive this last winter. When my tank ran almost dry I switched to electric heat. Will refill the tank this summer when the price goes back to normal.

I don't know what your btu/hr heat load is, but there are sharp looking vent free gas fireplaces that do not require electricity that you could easily do this with.  I think they generally top out around 30k btu/hr.
Or put in a furnace.

ETA - see the vent free one above, radiant or blue flame, you might be able to find them in the clearance section of TSC or Home Depot this time of year, or for another $200 or so you can get one that looks more like a traditional fireplace.

No offense OP, but you're doing it wrong.

Sounds like you need to get better at burning wood and then enjoy the independence and cost efficiency.

Initial cost aside, you should be spending far less per year.

Testing for moisture?

Gaskets every year?

$1000/yr for wood?

Cleaning the chimney twice a season is about the only thing we have in common, but I pretreat with a creosote log so it all just falls down.

Outside of chainsaw gas and truck fuel($300ish in total), I have zero costs.

Yes, I have maybe 12 full days a year invested into the labor, but it keeps me in shape and I really enjoy the independence and quality of heat .

Mess can be mitigated through organization.

Testing for moisture? that's easy... if it doesn't want to burn, it's wet.

been burning 6-7 months a year for 4 years now, on the original gasket.

All our wood is from local farmers asking us, or allowing us to clean out deadfalls, and fence lines.

my father and I burn about 20 cord/yr and about the only wood we don't keep for burning is boxelder or any of the pines.

This year I used Maple, oak, elm, basswood, poplar, birch, and a small amount of apple even.

$10 says this is where his problem lies, along with probably, poor wood stove fire management.  He's buying logs or wood from a dealer and it isn't seasoned and it doesn't get seasoned before trying to burn it.  If its a good hardwood like oak or hickory, it can take up to three years or more, to fully season.  Burning unseasoned wood is an exercise in futility.  If the OP is buying and burning the same wood in the same year, it's probably unseasoned wood.

This, along with probably poor wood stove fire management, is leading to the creosote cleaning twice a year- which is ridiculous.  With seasoned wood, a good insulated Class A chimney and good fire management, once per season should be more than enough.  A lot of people go several years, but these are usually the hard core burners with a long term and long lived "3 year plan" in execution.

OP. go to Hearth.com, they are the arfcom of wood burning.

Good luck!