Anyone use fireplace as source of heating in winter?

[oneontheway]

I know its a ways off but with oil prices through the roof we are looking at alternatives for the winter. Does anyone use their fireplace (with insert) or wood burning stove as a primary way to heat the main floor?
We are considering having a wood insert put into our fireplace but they around $4000+
I'm wondering if anyone else has one of these? Do they keep at least a room or two nice and toasty in the winter? Do you use much wood? Do you clean them annually? What type of gate do you use to keep the little ones away?
Do you remember what it cost? Any suggestions for getting a deal????

TIA!!

[oneontheway]

Anyone? How about the Northeast mamas? Thanks!!

[wellyes]

There have been a few threads on the topic, maybe try a search?

I know a few people here use the wood burning fireplace with insert for heat, but I don't recall if it's the primary heat source. I don't think I'd consider it for $4000. That'd buy a whole lot of oil.

[khalloc]

I dont, But I have a gas fireplace. But I do live in Vermont and have many friends and family members who heat with wood burning stoves. I believe they supplement with oil/gas, but will primarily burn wood in a wood stove for heat during the winter months.

Also, for $4000k, even though the initial cost is pricey, that stove will last forever, you know? So yes, it would buy alot of oil, but I think you could easily spend $300 in oil for a month or so in the winter, right? So imagine like $1500 in oil if its a long cold winter. I am guessing here since I use natural gas and DH pays that bill. But heating with a wood stove is much more economical. My in-laws do it, and 2 sets of SIL/BILs. PLus many many friends.

[okinawama]

My parents do and it was that way when I was a child too. I have no idea how much it costs them, but I do know that for them, it's more economical. They do supplement with central heating, but they set the thermostat at 50, so it has to be pretty chilly to turn on (which it rarely does, I remember as a child getting really excited and running to the heating vents to sit on them, because having them turn on was such a rarity).

[Toba]

We used to, yes. We had the awesome wood stove that my BIL left here (Grandpa owned the house, rented to BIL and then we bought it about 14-1/2 years ago). I didn't use it during the day (it kind of scared/freaked me out to do it by myself), but when DH got home the first thing he did was start the wood stove. We have a two level house. Family room, playroom, laundry/utility room, guest bedroom and full bath on first floor. Three bedrooms, full bath, formal living room, dining room and kitchen on the second floor. It used to get so hot on the first floor that we'd have windows open. When we went to bed, the thermostat upstairs would read in the mid to high 80s. The furnace wouldn't turn on until at least 5 or 6 am. We have forced hot air with oil and it would take us more than two winters to go through our small tank. We'd buy wood early in the season (sometimes during the summer) which was cheaper. I really miss it. We had to rearrange our first floor when DS came ... our family room was in his playroom and now the family room is in this "great room" kind of thing where the wood stove was located. With furniture, TV and all that stuff, there was no room for the wood stove anymore.

[daisymommy]

My mom and step dad do. They go through several cords of wood each week! The only way they can do this is because they live in a heavily wooded area, and they cut up all the fallen trees, and then also cut some down. But if you had to buy that much wood....it would cost you an arm and a leg.
I know that they had to have their chimney rebuilt perfectly so that the air draft just right to draw out the smoke. Otherwise your house, clothes, and furniture begin to reek of smoke, and it causes asthma and bronchitis.

I would do it along with central heat, so that I could keep it turned down lower--but not as a primary source of heat.

[Moneypenny]

We looked into this a couple of years ago (we also considered a pellet stove), although we heat with natural gas and not heating oil. We did spreadsheets and everything. We determined that, if we had a free source of wood, it would make sense financially to heat with wood. If we had to pay for wood, it would run the same or more than heating with natural gas. Pellet stoves were the same.

My mom and her husband primarily heat their home with a wood stove, but they have a free source of wood (they live on a tree farm). They do spend a solid 4 weeks each year cutting wood, though, so it's very labor intensive. They can only do this since they are retired. If they were working they wouldn't have enough time to cut all the wood they need for an entire winter.

[elephantmeg]

my IL's did up until last winter. They had a woodstove that was pretty much their only source of heat (had some electic heat that they used occasionally). MIL was constantly sick with URI/sinus infections, their house was always super dusty and the bedrooms were cold/living room hot. It's really not ideal. I swore I would never do it as a primary heat source. We do have a small gas fireplace that we got at a yardsale and haven't hooked up or anything yet-we'll do that at some point for some extra heat/ambiance heating etc but not as a primary.

[bubbaray]

FYI, wood heat is really problematic for anyone with asthma or recurrent sinus infections.

[AbbysMom]

[QUOTE=Moneypenny;3206681]We looked into this a couple of years ago (we also considered a pellet stove), although we heat with natural gas and not heating oil. We did spreadsheets and everything. We determined that, if we had a free source of wood, it would make sense financially to heat with wood. If we had to pay for wood, it would run the same or more than heating with natural gas. Pellet stoves were the same.



Sorry to hijack but I had a question about pellet stoves. Did they really not save you much when you did the cost analysis?

We also heat with gas and my husband has been trying to talk me into a pellet stove for years! (I really just don't like the look of the one our friend has.) I saw online that if you bought the pellets in bulk, it'd cost about $600/year. We pay about $1800 for gas a year. The pellet stoves are closer to $2000 I think. So it seems like it might be a bit more cost effective in the long-run. Although I don't know if it has an affect on asthma/allergies.

[sewarsh]

What about a gas burning insert? Anyone have experience with these. Also cost the same $4k to install but wondering if it was save on heating costs. We are currently on electric heat with oil heat backup when it goes below 30 degrees.

Thansk.

[DebbieJ]

My dad uses a wood burning stove. He gets all kinds of scrap wood so he doesn't pay for any of it.

[khalloc]

What about a gas burning insert? Anyone have experience with these. Also cost the same $4k to install but wondering if it was save on heating costs. We are currently on electric heat with oil heat backup when it goes below 30 degrees.

Thansk.

I have a gas-burning fireplace. its for looks, not for heat. Some might be hotter than ours, but i dont think its something that you heat off of, its merely for the convenience of having a fire.

[zoestargrove]

we have a wood burning furnace that is tied into our heating system, so we can either burn wood or use oil. We used one tank of oil and approximately 5 cords of wood last year. Our heating system is forced hot air, so the wood heat is directly through the ducts into the entire house. It keeps the basement, the first floor and second floor really cozy. I love it.

We bought ours at lowes about 3 years ago. It wasn't very expensive.

[Moneypenny]

Sorry to hijack but I had a question about pellet stoves. Did they really not save you much when you did the cost analysis?

We also heat with gas and my husband has been trying to talk me into a pellet stove for years! (I really just don't like the look of the one our friend has.) I saw online that if you bought the pellets in bulk, it'd cost about $600/year. We pay about $1800 for gas a year. The pellet stoves are closer to $2000 I think. So it seems like it might be a bit more cost effective in the long-run. Although I don't know if it has an affect on asthma/allergies.

When we priced it out, pellets in our area (the cost does vary by region), even bought in bulk, were not cheap enough to make a difference. We don't spend as much as you on gas per year, so that factors in as well. We calculated that we really would break even heating with a pellet stove, and then taking into consideration that it wouldn't heat the whole house so the furnace would still need to run some, and you need to spend time each day filling the hopper and cleaning it out, and it just didn't make sense for us. I know there are people who are very happy with their pellet stoves and feel like they realize a good savings from them, but I think you need to do your own analysis.

I do think burning pellets is much better air-quality wise than burning wood. Burning wood is just awful for the air.

[AbbysMom]

Thanks Moneypenny. They do seem like more work with cleaning them, stocking them, etc.

[MontrealMum]

Before you go through the cost and trouble of installing/converting to wood, you may want to check the regulations your municipality has about wood burning stoves. They're banned in some places due to the particulate matter that they release into the atmosphere. It used to be a very popular way to heat or at least supplement in wintertime here in QC because wood was plentiful and cheap (now it's $$$), but because of the environmental impact (air quality) more and more places are banning them.

[oneontheway]

Thanks for all the great feedback from everyone!!! We go through at least 1000 gallons of oil a year and right now its about $3.60 a gallon and I'm guessing it will go up this winter. We can never keep the downstairs warm so I thought converting the fireplace might do the trick of keeping us warmer downstairs and cutting down on our oil consumption.
I hadn't thought about the wood not being good for sinuses but wouldn't the smoke need to come into the house? The inserts we are looking at have a very thick glass door so I didn't think that would be an issue. But is something we will certainly need to look into further.
They are supposed to be very effecient and there is a $300 federal tax credit on the models we are looking at so I would hope it wouldn't be harmful for the environment (I thought energy effeciency was the whole point of the federal rebates)?
The inserts are supposed to burn a few logs for between 8-14 hours depending on the model.
Unfortunetly we don't have gas where we live now and I'm not crazy about relying on pellets or propane but its not out of the questions.
Thanks again for the information and good points!

[dogmom]

We got one a few years ago and love it. The first year we will still getting used to starting the fire and getting it to run well. I've never managed to just load it up and let it burn. Are idea was to cut the wood from our land, but let's just say that my husband has not been as industrious as need be for that plan. lol.

We buy a cord or two a year at $250/cord wood from someone we trust. my husband's got at least another two cords cut this year, which will be more than we need together. I found that once oil gets above $3/gal you do save money. Plus a like the heat from the wood stove much more. But it does take a certain amount of work on your part and you will have to dust the place more.

We got a LOPI Freedom with a blower and it all cost us, with installation well under $3 K. I want to say it was just under $2000 for the stove + blower and $400 to install. The prices can go up if you need to work on your chimney. Also, I did find the installation prices vary, so shop around. We still need to use oil, for when we are away, etc.

Honestly if you just want to save money it would probably be worth more to have a professional person come in and do some more installation for the same price. But if you like the idea of heating with wood it is worth it. We can heat our whole house with it.

[ha98ed14]

We use our fireplace to heat our living room/ dining room area on really cold nights. We never use our furnace, but we live in Southern California, so it's not really the same. All the houses here have forced air gas furnaces and I think it's overkill. We never use ours.
ETA: We buy wood from a guy who has apple orchards. He sells it pretty cheap.

[oneontheway]

dogmom
We got a LOPI Freedom with a blower and it all cost us, with installation well under $3 K. I want to say it was just under $2000 for the stove + blower and $400 to install. The prices can go up if you need to work on your chimney. Also, I did find the installation prices vary, so shop around. We still need to use oil, for when we are away, etc.

Wow, what a great deal. We looked at that exact model and it was $2800 plus $300 for the blower and another $1300 for other parts (liner mostly) and installation.
How many square feet do you think it heats? I'm thinking because of cost we may go with a smaller model just to heat the two rooms. Can I expect a lot more dust? How do you keep the children away? Do you ever worry about being an additional fire hazard? Thank you SO much for the information, its great to know someone has an insert and likes it.