info on a wood stove

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Hey everyone. So we are quickly approaching the time of year when i have to turn on the heat. Our heat is natural gas and the company is amazingly inept. 4 times now we've made payments and were provided a confirmation number to be sent a letter saying we didnt oay. So then i call and have been told the confirmation number doesnt exist ect. They suck. So I'm weighing the options on installing a wood stove. My house is 1200 square feet so it wouldn't need anything fancy to heat the place. Anybody have one? If so how do you like it? How hard is an install. Please fill me in thanks everyone.
 
Have you considered a pellet stove? Way easier to use, maintain, and install. A pellet stove needs electricity, but, the smallest Honda will run it for a long time if the power goes out. Wood stoves do make sense if you can get cheap or free wood. For your own safety, do a neat, professional install. Some homeowners insurance companies want to inspect the installation first, before they will insure your home. Good luck :)
 
No i haven't not familiar with a pellet stove. But will look into it right now.
 
We had a wood stove installed a couple years ago when propane prices went through the roof.

There are a lot of things to consider.

First, check with your city. They may have restrictions or even a ban on solid fuel burning appliances. Also, they will almost certainly require a permit for the installation.

Check with your insurance company. Most will have specific installation requirements. Some will require the installation be done by a licensed contractor. Some will not allow any solid fuel burning appliances at all. Your premiums will likely increase.

Do you have access to firewood to feed the stove? How about a place to store large amounts of firewood? You can't just go cut down some trees and burn them. The wood needs to be split and stacked for at least 1-2 years before it's dry enough to burn. Oak can take even longer.

For lots of great information on wood and pellet stoves, check out the forums at www.hearth.com
 
I LOVE my Harman XXV pellet stove. If you do end up purchasing one, stick to either Harman, Quadrafire, or Lopi. Those three also make quality wood stoves.
 
We have been burning wood for ten years at our current home. Growing up, my Dad split and burned wood in our home also. My home and my parents home both have a wood insert. They are nice..but if I had my pick, I would do an outside unit.
This is for two reasons:
1.) wood, and more specifically ash, are messy. It's best to keep both outside since they both can cause extra headaches when trying to keep a clean house.
2.) better heat circulation. Inserts can easily heat the area of the home where they are located. Problem is they will have trouble heating rooms away from the unit. Unless you have an open floor plan, you're going to have hot and cold spots in the home.

Make sure you have someone competent do the install to ensure proper fitting, draft and flue size.
Also, make sure you get your flue cleaned at least once a year. Preferably at the very end or beginning of the season. If you burn a lot of wood that hasn't been down long, then I would think about two cleanings in a season.

I noticed pellet stoves were mentioned. If you intend for the unit to be your primary heating source, I would steer away from pellets. I can burn between 10-12 ricks of wood in season. I can't imagine how many bags of pellets that would translate into.
 
We have a 20 x 20 extension room on our house. It was built in 1976. We had 2 wood stoves in the 25 years that followed. Wood heat is work intensive..ashes, bringing in wood/bugs. Its dusty and a kingsize PIA. We went with Propane 15 years abo and never looked back.

I don't recommend it at all.
 
Don't run your wood stove in the same flue as anything else unless your code specifically allows it.

Your insurance company might balk at a non type-accepted stove, eg, Vozelgang.

Hearth.com is the BITOG of wood stoves.

But I would stay on the gas company first. They must have an office somewhere. Bring your cancelled checks.
 
Utility companies have to get approval from the PUC (public utility commission) before they can raise rates. The PUC looks at all complaints that were filed with it before it OK's any rate hike. Therefore utility companies have people who do the best they can to handle any PUC complaint so they can have something to counter each PUC complaint when it comes time to get a rate hike approved by the PUC.

So if you want the utility company to really treat you good call them up and tell them your problem and ask them how to get in touch with the PUC to file a complaint. If the person you speak to at the utility company is any good at their job they will bring your problem to the attention of who ever is incharge and help you out any way they can.

If you do decide to install any stove with a metal chimney you probably will want to also get proper lightning protection installed. This requires lightning protection for the entire house, and that can be expensive.
 
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Are you using a check or credit card to pay the utility company? That is easy proof of payment no one can argue with.

Alternative heat makes no sense in this case to avoid the provider or your errors?

Wood heat requires:
1) lined chimney
2) work
3) $1200 minimum installed for decent stove.
4) appropriate clearance and approval from fire department for insurance
 
Paid by debit card i sent them bank statements the confirmation number they always say "well we didnt receive the money" theyre terrible and if i can get away from and be greener I'm all for it.
 
Visit your bank and tell them you're contesting the debit charges because you didn't receive services for them. The bank will launch an investigation as to where the money went, and the "other end" that cashed it will have to prove it went somewhere.
 
The bank will sort them out. After it gets fixed you should simply pay in person with a check and leave with a receipt. A lot of places haven't moved into this century yet. Easier than installing new heating.
 
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Our house has municipal natural gas heat (80% efficient furnace). We also have a wood stove - one of the EPA-approved air injecting ones.

Last winter we bought and burned 3 face cords of wood ($275 delivered), which allowed us to use very little gas heat during the months of November, January and February. We didn't use the wood stove in December because it's in the same room as our Christmas tree, and we ran out of wood maybe a week before the end of February.

Wood stoves provide a very cozy feel, but that's about the only positive of it. We would have saved about $75 to $100 by using natural gas heat alone.

It's a good amount of work lighting the fire every morning and bringing in wood, and we had a bug infestation in our garage this spring because of the wood that had been in there.

There were also a couple times when for some reason there was a cold draft coming down the chimney when I was starting the fire, which pushed smoke into our house. That was not fun at all.

Finally, whether or not a wood stove is "green" is up for debate. Sure, it's a renewable energy source, but it's not as efficient as natural gas (in terms of BTUs wasted) and wood obviously burns a lot less cleanly than natural gas.

So by all means buy a wood stove. Just don't think it'll save you time or money.
 
We heat with wood, just had our first couple fires this weekend. With the low price of natural gas though, its not worth installing a stove if you have to buy your wood.
Most houses aren't setup for a woodstove either.
Our place is pretty much ideal with an open concept first floor and with a good woodstove, and dry wood, its not really a big deal, but if we had N.G. available, I could see just getting lazy and not using the woodstove as much.
I would figure out what's going on with your payments as it will be a lot less work.
 
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