I have access to an unlimited amount of kiln-dried hardwood cut-offs. Should I be thinking about wood heat for my home?
Our current house won’t be our permanent home, but for our next house: how much expense and effort would I be looking at for the retrofit, and then for the operation of a wood furnace?
Fine Homebuilding Recommended Products
The New Carbon Architecture: Building to Cool the Climate
With this book, architect Bruce King changes the conversation around what it means to build a green home. Take everything you thought you knew about the topic, and just set it aside and let Bruce explain why embodied carbon trumps the rest of what is undoubtedly important.
Nitrile Work Gloves
Do yourself a favor and protect your hands while you work. These lightweight, breathable work gloves will keep your hands safe while cutting and fitting.
Standard Marking Chalk
We like white chalk because it’s non-permanent and wears off easily — this is especially helpful when marks are exposed and need to disappear.
BOSCH Compact Router (PR20)
This router is well made, comfortable, and features a clear baseplate with a hole that provides a clear line of sight.
All New Kitchen Ideas that Work
Kitchens are one of the most important rooms in the house. It's where we pack in the most function and spend the most money, so you want something that's convenient and inspiring — this book will help you get there.
Replies
Will this wood always be there? I have several buddies who have installed Wood furnaces and they seem very happy.
Jake
The supply should not disappear for the forseeable future.
I repair people's houses and then I burn them.
Been burning wood for 30 years. Main source of heat. We're on our 2nd Vermont Casting Defiant, this one has a catalytic converter. I burn hardwood (split logs) generally however, hold your breath, I supplement this with construction waste. Generally this is not painted wood but often plywood, siding cut offs, , 2x waste,trim scraps, particle board. This really cuts down on the amount of hardwood I have to have delivered. If I burn anything like cardboard, colored newspaper, anything with glue....then I bypass the catalytic converter as it would becomed clogged and destroyed. Anyway this type of work lends itself to wood burning. I think pellet stoves have a lot to offer( for example, direct vent similar to a clothes dryer), I just prepared a site for an installation but if you have alot of wood waste that you want to keep out of wastestream and landfills and heat your house at the same time, I (in Western Mass) recommend a woodstove connected per manufacturare's installation instructions with specified clearances to a tile lined chimney.... If your stove has a catalytic converter the chimney will need to be monthly looked up for creosote deposits but will rarely need cleaning. Wood stoves (cast iron) wll run 1500 to 2500.... you might get a contractor's discount. They need a seperate flue from a funace. Yes you have to clean ashes, yes they are messy, but there is a place to go to get warm. Best wood to burn: it doesn't come from the middle east.
Generally this is not painted wood but often plywood, siding cut offs, , 2x waste,trim scraps, particle board.
If you're burning plywood and particleboard - or anything other than natural wood - you're putting dioxins into the air. Dioxins are perhaps the most toxic substance created by man (what we used to defoliate Vietnam and is still killing both Vietnamese and US veterans).
Riversong HouseWright
Design * * Build * * Renovate * * ConsultSolar & Super-Insulated Healthy Homes
all right, how do you know there are dioxins in plywood or particleboard? And what are they?
and are they destroyed by high temperature burning facilities that burn trash and turn it into stream .... which is where I would be taking it if I wasn't burning it?
It's long been known that residential and building site trash burning puts dioxins into the air (as well as many other toxic pollutants), and open burning has been banned in VT and NH and elsewhere. Except for CCA and Penta-treated wood, it's possible to burn construction/demolition debris in power plants that have sophisticated emission controls, but I doubt that a home woodstove would qualify.
According to his flier, a study determined that household trash burning from one house can put more dioxin into the air than a commercial incinerator:
http://www.deq.state.mi.us/documents/deq-ess-caap-BuilderBurning.pdf
This is from an Environment Canada report:"...several researchers have shown that the combustion of “urban wood wastes” and wood-basedproduct residues, such as plywood, hardboard or treated wood, produces much higher dioxinemissions than the combustion of clean “natural” wood or bark...Nakao et al. [2002] have shown that the amount of dioxins formed in open-airincineration of wood scrap are 10 to 230 times greater than those formed in burning naturalwood in a forest fire. Schatowitz et al. [1994] also showed that the combustion of waste woodchips from building demolition produced dioxin emissions that were 82 to 216 times thoseproduced by burning natural wood chips or even uncoated chipboard chips in a wood furnace.Kolenda et al. [1994] showed that the combustion of plywood (hardened with (NH4)2SO4, withor without a PVC coating) or plywood and untreated wood mixtures in seven large (>1 MW)wood burning facilities produced dioxin emissions 5 to 70 times those from combustion ofuntreated pine wood alone."
Edited 3/3/2008 6:03 pm ET by Riversong
BiffLoman,
There is a lot of work in keep wood fires burning, the ash cleaned out etc.. especially since you cannot expect to toss a couple of big log chunks on the fire and walk away for hours..
However it is wonderful supplemental heat when you are hunkered down watching the tube or reading etc.. You'll develop your own rhythm, read a bit toss a piece on the fire, watch a bit toss a piece.. etc..
Do be aware though that tests using fireplaces indicate that the room the fireplace is in warms up nicely while the other rooms suffer because of the fireplace. (proven on Mythbusters)
The problem is that a fireplace burns a lot of air plus it sends even more warm air up the chimney.. that air has to come from someplace since Mother nature hates a vacuum. So she causes all sorts of little leaks of cold outside air to come in to replace the warm air that went up the chimney. A really modern fireplace will have some way of allowing make up air into it. I've seen the ash pit provide that, I've seen seperate metal fresh air supply's formed into the firepit. etc.
In addition putting a fireplace on an outside wall is like leaving a window open all winter.
No way to insulate the fireplace since stone and brick are lousy insulators a significant portion of the heat will go outside and when there isn't a fire burning cold will seep right thru those stone or brick and come inside.
My old house had a fireplace on an interior wall and that meant all the heat created remained inside the heat envelope so it was relatively efficent (especiall once I built a steel make up air outlet right in the fire pit. Just below the glass doors.. that way cold air kept the glass free from smoke as well as providing make up air.. so I could open the doors and toss in wood without getting any smoke into the room.
As supplemental heat I'd say either and exterior wood furnace (no I don't personally like them) or better yet a masonry heater in the basement.
The masonry heater is rather expensive to say the least but...
You light one fire a day and tend it for less than an hour ,then receive heat for up to twenty four.
They are simple, beautiful, and efficient.
Costly tho.
We had a wood furnace in our last home. It was connected to the ductwork so it distributed the heat throughout the house. It had a big burning box so you could load it it up maybe twice a day when it was cold. You set the furnace fan to "fan only" to distrubute the air.
We had acess to hardwood but I had to do everything. No help from chainsaw work to cleaning out the ashes. It's really a job that everyone in the house should be part of. That's how it used to be. kids are great for collecting small kindling and stuff.
Wood stove, masonry heater, wood boiler or wood furnace. All options to consider if you have a reliable supply of KD hardwood.
Advantages of boiler or furnace are in heat distribution and option for multi-fuel.
Disadvantages of both are that they stop working when the power is out.
If the house is very well insulated and tight, then a small wood stove centrally located with a dedicated combustion air supply might be sufficient.
Masonry heaters are expensive to build, but incredibly efficient and can be an elegant centerpiece (even a structural element) of the house. Can also incorporate a cookstove.
View Image
Solar & Super-Insulated Healthy Homes
That is exactly what I am looking to have laid up, I have the rocks from the previous FP ( all nicely chiseled Limestone) and the foundation poured. I have yet to locate a mason here in Cent. Ky, that has aclue how to build one tho'.
Don't think I want to risk doing my self, wood is pretty much my element.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
I've put up a couple of kits.
Not that different from a fireplace.
The ones I built were down draft, simple and effective way to make them very efficient.
I wouldn't be to intimidated about having one built they are not that complicated.
Well, Dedubya from here, lives over the mtns. in VA, I think I can wrangle him into it..I'd just prefer a real mason , rather than mess up trying my hand at it.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
yeah I hear you.
From what I've read of you I don't think you would have any
problems tho.
Except time maybe.
LOL..ayup. And thanks for the vote of confidence. <G>
Need a good plan drawing , I guess I could do that part.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
>>>I have access to an unlimited amount of kiln-dried hardwood cut-offs. Should I be thinking about wood heat for my home?
Pfffttt..... no, no, no. Send it all to me. Really.
The hardest part of wood heat, for most people, is all the driving, bucking, hauling, stacking, splitting, and more hauling. Unlimited access to pre-cut KD hardwood is every wood burner's dream. Go for it, whether you choose a wood stove, wood furnace, or insert. I've got a neighbor with a wood/electric furnace. It works very well.
Scott.
Edited 3/5/2008 1:23 am by Scott