New furnace - A Tale of Two Winters

[August]

Wood stove is the way i'd go, especially down there in Texas when you only need heat a few weeks a year. We keep one stoked in the basement and my oil furnace has hardly come on all winter. Also wood is, at it's most expensive, still half the cost of home heating oil. Usually you can get good burnable wood for free.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by longam

There both convection heaters, the oilers just have to heat up the oil inside the unit before the heat transfers to the outside. Once this is up to temperature it is a more steady heat source. I always run mine at 600W, it does the same thing just more lag time to heat the room.

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Yes, more lag time but very good once the oil is warmed. Then it starts the cycle. The oil holds the heat for a good long time thus shutting down the heating elements. It is very safe as well.

Well by the time you've paid the charge for the 'lag time' my room is already well heated and at a lot lower cost than you'll have to pay.

It's quite simple really.....wire the bugga up to the street lighting beyond your garden wall.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Well by the time you've paid the charge for the 'lag time' my room is already well heated and at a lot lower cost than you'll have to pay.

It's quite simple really.....wire the bugga up to the street lighting beyond your garden wall.

The deal is once the oil is warm and the lag time over you keep the heater on. Attempting to reheat the room over and over will kill you for sure. Get it up to temp and let it keep a constant temp. One may turn it down when they go out but turning it off is not wise. It will have to work hard to get it back to a comfortable temp. Keep it on, this is were it works well. However, plugging up to the neighbors or the street lamps is a great idea!

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

The deal is once the oil is warm and the lag time over you keep the heater on. Attempting to reheat the room over and over will kill you for sure. Get it up to temp and let it keep a constant temp. One may turn it down when they go out but turning it off is not wise. It will have to work hard to get it back to a comfortable temp. Keep it on, this is were it works well. However, plugging up to the neighbors or the street lamps is a great idea!

That is what the thermostat is for.

Besides...I'm a pensioner ya know and every little helps

[longam]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

The deal is once the oil is warm and the lag time over you keep the heater on. Attempting to reheat the room over and over will kill you for sure. Get it up to temp and let it keep a constant temp. One may turn it down when they go out but turning it off is not wise. It will have to work hard to get it back to a comfortable temp. Keep it on, this is were it works well. However, plugging up to the neighbors or the street lamps is a great idea!

I'd say its a wash because when you turn off the unit it still keeps heating with the stored heated oil. 600watts - most PC's consume that much power.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

It's quite simple really.....wire the bugga up to the street lighting beyond your garden wall.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by August

Wood stove is the way i'd go, especially down there in Texas when you only need heat a few weeks a year. We keep one stoked in the basement and my oil furnace has hardly come on all winter. Also wood is, at it's most expensive, still half the cost of home heating oil. Usually you can get good burnable wood for free.

Yeah wood is good

We have an airtight in the basement, and burn about 2-3 cords a year. Mainly on weekends, some evenings and holidays ( it was on 24\7 over Christmas ).
Even at that it makes a difference. Oil is our main source. For now anyway.

[August]

Originally Posted by reallydedpoet

Yeah wood is good

We have an airtight in the basement, and burn about 2-3 cords a year. Mainly on weekends, some evenings and holidays ( it was on 24\7 over Christmas ).
Even at that it makes a difference. Oil is our main source. For now anyway.

This is my first winter in the house but i'm figuring on burning about 4-5 cords over the season pretty much 24/7 and keep us down to only one tank of oil. That's the plan anyways.

For those who don't know much about it there are a few more things I'm finding I like about wood heat.

It's labor intensive. I get a good 20 minute workout once per week filling the basement wood bunker. And it gets me up out of the lazyboy once an hour at night to stoke the fire.

It's cheap. A cord of seasoned hardwood delivered is running about $250 but if you own a decent chainsaw and are willing to do your own cutting and splitting (another source of some good exercise) the cost goes down to literally nothing.

I love the smell of wood smoke. The scent of it pervades the house and it's so cheery I find myself looking forward to coming home every night. It kinda reminds me of camping which is something else I love to do.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by August

It's labor intensive. I get a good 20 minute workout once per week filling the basement wood bunker. And it gets me up out of the lazyboy once an hour at night to stoke the fire.

It's cheap. A cord of seasoned hardwood delivered is running about $250 but if you own a decent chainsaw and are willing to do your own cutting and splitting (another source of some good exercise) the cost goes down to literally nothing.

I love the smell of wood smoke. The scent of it pervades the house and it's so cheery I find myself looking forward to coming home every night. It kinda reminds me of camping which is something else I love to do.

All good points

Plus I just like the look of a nice fire, it really adds to the feel of a room\house.

Also, this year two of my boys helped me pack it in the garage, we had a great time ( well they complained a little ). Memories they will carry with them forever.

[August]

Originally Posted by reallydedpoet

All good points

Plus I just like the look of a nice fire, it really adds to the feel of a room\house.

Also, this year two of my boys helped me pack it in the garage, we had a great time ( well they complained a little ). Memories they will carry with them forever.

You're right, they will and so will you. I still remember as a youngster helping my Grandfather split kindling for his kitchen stove over 40 years ago. He didn't speak English and I didn't speak German but we both had a great time.

[longam]

@Neal - considering your climate glad you found a cheaper solution.

For those who operate live fire, a word of warning. It's dangerous. Every year we have instances where usually older wooden houses burn down or people succumb to carbon poisoning. Take good care of the fire place, the pipe and all the compartments and area around the fire place.

That's all, carry on.

[MothBalls]

Originally Posted by August

It's labor intensive. I get a good 20 minute workout once per week filling the basement wood bunker. And it gets me up out of the lazyboy once an hour at night to stoke the fire.

Once an hour? That's quite often unless you have an open fireplace.

In my cabin I'd toss a couple pieces of hardwood in the insert and they would last 5-6 hours (after already having a nice bed of coals). I went from burning 4 cords a season to a little more than 1. Mine also came with fans and ducts around it and it put out some serious heat. There were times when it got so hot at night I had to open a window.

@Neal, glad to hear you got this fixed. Might as well start stashing money for the air conditioner which will go out right before the next heatwave.

[August]

Originally Posted by MothBalls

Once an hour? That's quite often unless you have an open fireplace.

In my cabin I'd toss a couple pieces of hardwood in the insert and they would last 5-6 hours (after already having a nice bed of coals). I went from burning 4 cords a season to a little more than 1. Mine also came with fans and ducts around it and it put out some serious heat. There were times when it got so hot at night I had to open a window.

@Neal, glad to hear you got this fixed. Might as well start stashing money for the air conditioner which will go out right before the next heatwave.

I actually don't have to throw wood into the stove every hour, I just like doing it . Properly stoked and loaded it will last through the night. It's a 70's vintage stove though so it's probably not as efficient as your modern insert.

[Platapus]

Maybe we can all chip in and buy Neal a Snuggie?

https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next