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Heating our house??

Started by Typhoon, October 05, 2003, 08:05:01 PM

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Typhoon

Ok just want some opinions here. My bride and I are building a log home next year on our 50 acre property. I have 30 acres of good timber, so I have a lifetime supply of good firewood. I have not been keeping up much with the latest and greatest types of fireplaces, or inserts, wood burners, etc. I know when I was little, my dad just had a regular ole fireplace. Then later the "inserts" became popular and he got one of those. Still has it. It has a fan in it and when the fire is good and hot he turns that fan on and it really heats the room. Anyways, I am wanting something as efficient as possible of course. So what should I do? The home is 2190 sq ft with a full basement and a loft. The 2190 does not include the basement. Just ground floor and loft. Just giving an  idea of how much space I will be heating. We have also pondered the geo-thermal units. Im open to suggestions about that as well. Thanks!!
-Brad
Brad Dawson, Anna IL (Southern tip)
Husky 346xpNE, Husky 357XP, Norwood Lumbermate2000

Paul_H

Valley Comfort

Try this link.We have the MP80 and it heats our house well.It is a forced air system that can be an add on to your existing furnace,or with electric or gas backup.It keeps the wood mess in the back of the house where it belongs.

You said that you are open to suggestions,and you mentioned your bride,so here goes.

If you are having a spat,or have done something really stupid and your wife isn't talking to you.leave the bedroom window open at night.This only works when it is really cold outside.

By morning,the need to snuggle for heat tends to make them forget what it was you did wrong ;)

Carla overheard me telling somebody this tip,and now closes the window at night :-/
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

ohsoloco

http://mha-net.org/

If I were building a new house, this is what I would like to install...maybe if I ever do a timber frame.  They're very efficient, and DanG pretty too  :)

breederman

We live in a log home heated with a wood/oil combo hot air furnace in the basement.You will find the log home easy to heat, I think due to the themal mass of the log walls.the biggest problem  we have is that unless we leave the utility room door open with a fan running , that room and the two bed rooms above it get too hot due to radiant heat from the furnace.An out door unit would solve that  but probably burn more wood?
Together we got this !

L. Wakefield

   Breederman, can I ask the brand on that combo? We had mulled this over in a thread or two last year and maybe before that. I have an old Longwood that never worked right and I keep shopping around for the eventual replacement. Thanks for any info!   lw
L. Wakefield, owner and operator of the beastly truck Heretik, that refuses to stay between the lines when parking

burlman

If you are building new ,than consider radiant heat floors. I'm finally at my new place, picked up the radiant hose today, install tomorrow ready for the cement slab to be poured over it. I chose this system which will be hooked up to a Tarm wood gasification boiler (woodboilers.com) due to the nice even heat where you want it at your feet. No noisy fans or dry dusty air blowing through the house as with the furnace coming on.I am also placing the boiler outside so we are not dragging dirty wood into the house.

breederman

It is a Kalamazoo, I'm not sure if they make them any more. It has been in over fifteen years with no problems,but we haven't used the oil burner in several years,never has had very much oil through it.Wakes me up at night when I hear money burning! :D
Together we got this !

SasquatchMan

Sounds like you're able to afford a fairly complicated heating system, but depending on the design of the house, a good quality wood stove right in the middle will heat a lot of space (minus the basement, naturally).  We have a gas furnace and a wood stove in the basement (1000 sq ft/floor bungalow) and with the stove on full bore, the furnace never comes on... I just had to cut some holes in the floor for airflow from the basement...  We see the stove as supplemental, but run it as a pretty major supplement, and if we were dedicated to heating only with wood, a forced air system attached to the burn box would have to be considered - it's tough to get the hot air where you want it unless you have a really open design.  


Senior Member?  That's funny.

SasquatchMan

Typhoon, I should maybe have added that it may pay off for you to have a heating system (supplemental or primary) that requires no power - I install lots of wood stoves for farmers/acreage owners who lost power for 3 days in a storm or something and don't want to be cold again.  I know that there are water-radiant/wood burning systems which utilize convection currents to keep the flow going, rather than a powered pump, and this may well be worth investigating.  Best of luck.
Senior Member?  That's funny.

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