We heat with wood with propane back up. We haven't paid for cordwood for many years as there is always someone we know taking down trees. Fred will cut it up, load the truck, split it (with a splitter) and stack it. It keeps him warm several times before we burn it in the woodstove! The heat is like no other. 65 degrees on propane doesn't feel the same as wood fired. It's a lot of work but when the power is out it's a godsend.
My aunt and uncle heat their house with a pellet stove, which my uncle installed himself probably 10-15 years ago. It burns pellets made of wood (think particle board in the shape of food pellets you would give a rabbit, but larger), which they buy in bulk each fall and store in their garage. They keep the temperature in their house a bit lower than some, but that may be a conscious choice to use less fuel and keep costs down, and not a direct result of using a stove. They installed it because it was less expensive over the long-term than the heating system they previously relied on (which I think was propane). I know they have to clean the ash out of it, I think once a week, but at least there's no wood chopping involved.
My brother in law is a plumber. He built a wood boiler from scratch (1/4" steel) and we installed it next to the oil burner. In a nutshell when the thermostat upstairs called for heat the damper on the wood boiler opened, brought the water in the tubes up to temperature, pumped it through the oil furnace plumbing then circulated upstairs in the rooms. The guy was genius...
Not a consistent wood stove user, but we have one and we do use it. Mostly on really cold/windy days to help keep propane bills down and in case the power goes out. Which came in really handy last winter when we had a furnace issue over New Year's weekend...and it wasn't a simple fix. It took four days going back and forth between the furnace fixers and the propane company before they got it working again (because 1) Holiday and 2) Weekend). We were VERY glad to have the wood stove to keep the house comfortably warm for those 4 days.
We know someone here in town who heats exclusively with a wood stove all winter. That I couldn't imagine doing.
We heat with wood with propane back up. We haven't paid for cordwood for many years as there is always someone we know taking down trees. Fred will cut it up, load the truck, split it (with a splitter) and stack it. It keeps him warm several times before we burn it in the woodstove! The heat is like no other. 65 degrees on propane doesn't feel the same as wood fired. It's a lot of work but when the power is out it's a godsend.
Our pellet stove heats our house, furnace is just a back up for the rooms it doesn’t reach.
We have a pellet stove to heat our three-season porch. It's a LOT of work.
My aunt and uncle heat their house with a pellet stove, which my uncle installed himself probably 10-15 years ago. It burns pellets made of wood (think particle board in the shape of food pellets you would give a rabbit, but larger), which they buy in bulk each fall and store in their garage. They keep the temperature in their house a bit lower than some, but that may be a conscious choice to use less fuel and keep costs down, and not a direct result of using a stove. They installed it because it was less expensive over the long-term than the heating system they previously relied on (which I think was propane). I know they have to clean the ash out of it, I think once a week, but at least there's no wood chopping involved.
My brother in law is a plumber. He built a wood boiler from scratch (1/4" steel) and we installed it next to the oil burner. In a nutshell when the thermostat upstairs called for heat the damper on the wood boiler opened, brought the water in the tubes up to temperature, pumped it through the oil furnace plumbing then circulated upstairs in the rooms. The guy was genius...
Not a consistent wood stove user, but we have one and we do use it. Mostly on really cold/windy days to help keep propane bills down and in case the power goes out. Which came in really handy last winter when we had a furnace issue over New Year's weekend...and it wasn't a simple fix. It took four days going back and forth between the furnace fixers and the propane company before they got it working again (because 1) Holiday and 2) Weekend). We were VERY glad to have the wood stove to keep the house comfortably warm for those 4 days.
We know someone here in town who heats exclusively with a wood stove all winter. That I couldn't imagine doing.