I am trying to figure out alternate, affordable heating sources for this winter. Gas prices are up and don't want to pay a fortune to heat. Have a fireplace that could be converted to a wood stove. Any thoughts/opinions on Wood Stove vs. Gas Stove vs. Gas Fireplace vs. any other options would be appreciated! (have found that stove installation would be close to $3k)
Since fireplaces are rather inefficient it is almost sure to be the most expensive option.
Gas stove is likely to also be more expensive than any modern furnace.
Wood stove might save you some money, at the expense of convenience, smoke and safety. That is IF you get the fire wood free or almost so.
Today's furnaces are really good products. They are hard to beat.
Really, waaaaaay too late to have many good options for THIS winter. You may get lucky.
Some modern gas stoves are quite efficient, and many are really beautiful. Small thru-wall venting. (I'm thinking Jotul.)
Anything allowing free flow through fireplace is useless for heating.
If the flue is in good shape, there are lots of simple ways to tightly couple the flue to smokepipe from woodstove. Maybe with sheet-metal cover over over front of fireplace, or sheet metal fitted to throat up inside (and "jacked" up against masonry.) Smokepipe attached to welded ring framing hole. Smokepipe as long as possible (for efficiency), up to 8', gentlest bends possible.
$3k for stove installation sounds over the top for an existing flue, unless you're including a stove like a Danish Rais.
HTH, J
Look into a wood burning fireplace insert. Amazing how much heat they produce. Side benefit is still having heat when the electricity goes out. Not to mention supply disruptions of gas and oil.
What about a pellet stove, or a corn stove the fuel is cheap, not much maintance.
Tom
I missed that installation cost. That seems high, but it does depend on what they are doing.
Cheap is relative. Depends on where you are, but in the Northeast pellets are in short supply this year, and corn seems non-existant. Otherwise I agree, and I heat with wood pellets myself. Pellets are at $250/ton even at Walmart, so maybe I won't worry a lot if I have to use the electric.
Pellets are up mostly due to shipping costs. The only ones I can find around here (CT) are from western Canada. The US Gov't has imposed a 32% import tax on softwood products from Canada. That doesn't apply to pellet prices directly, but it severely impacts the supply of sawdust as raw material, so the shortage is very real. I see pellets advertised as high as $6/bag, but that doesn't mean I can find them anywhere. Home Depot, Lowes, Agway, Walmart ... they're all out and can't say when/if they'll get more. Our local guy has the western pellets I mentioned, and he's not rationing them yet. I'll get my four tons this week, and hope that it's neither a long or severe winter.
Try Ct Hardwood Group in Enfield CT. He gets his from Maine. In fact, he sends his sawdust to the plant for pelletizing.
The key to a wood stove is being able to get low cost wood.
Other than that, solar if you have sunshine.
Or a new very efficient natural gas furnace.
If you have plenty of land, maybe a ground source heat pump.
And then you can insulate the heck out of everything, buy new "Energy Star" appliances, etc. Energy saving info at following link...
Thanks for all the replies. I spoke to someone who is a buildier in the N.East. He said that we should be able to just do a pipe up the chimney with insulation. I am in the S.East so I am wondering if there's a lack of knowledge or if these people are just trying to get the most money out of us that they can. Mostly concerned with heating cost and electric outages.
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