I bought a new house that is out of town finally and will for sure want to help heat it with wood and was wondering if anybody had experience with a add on wood furnace. Growing up we had a insert wood burner that we always had going in the winter to help heat the house so I have saws and a splitter from my dad but the house I am buying does not have a existing fireplace. The house has a old wood furnace like the link below and the duct work and chimney is all in place for this style of wood burner but the old one is in bad shape so I would replace it with a new unit. The basement has cellar doors that the people in the past threw wood in so there wouldn't be any wood in the house so to speak and the basement is limestone so there is no way I will ever want to finish it so I am not worried about the mess. I am just wanting info from anybody that has used these and the pros and cons of them. I know about the outdoor boilers and that would be nice but financially it isn't in the books for a while and also I guess I like the fact that if I don't burn wood for a week the propane furnace will just take over.

menards

Central Boiler here love it paid for itself in the first 6 years. I heat the house and the fur shed with it no flame in the house (furnace) during the winter months wall radiators in the fur shed to keep it cozy. I pull the exchanger out in the summer to not block the A/C flow so it blows freely.

I have a wood furnace like the one in the link you posted. We love it. Our house is about 2300 sq.ft and we can keep the house toasty all winter on about 5 or 6 cords of wood. We have forced air propane backup and we only fill our 500 gallon LP tank once a year, and that includes heating water and cooking with LP. Furnace heats well and saves us money.

Depending on house size, Woodstove and run a pipe up and out. (it's not hard... or expensive if you have it done).

It heats my whole house. BUT I really like the feel of wood heat IN the house.

To each his own.

My wife wants the wood stove in the living room but the house is 2500sq ft so I thought the fan of the furnace would distribute the heat better

Pros and cons I guess. Mines in my living room and I love it, but depends on your layout I guess. I get plenty of heat up my stairs into the bedrooms (split level) but the basement gets cold. Some people just run the forced air fan without the heat to distribute the heat throughout the house better, too.

Well they say that most space in a house is un used. Depends on where one spends their time...especially during the winter.

i ran an add on in a 2500 sq ft farmhouse that was insulated,,2 story and a basement and it didnt come even close to heating it. It was like those big tsc add ons

If you hook it up too the ducts it should heat the whole house.

mine was and didnt..not even close...was installed professionally into heat exchanger on furnace that went into all ducts. I just didnt get it. It wasnt a small add on either. Wood stove was much better

wood stove

calvin and west river, is this the style of stove your talking about?

I have a 6048 aint bought a drop of oil in 3 years. Heats domistic hot water year round too.

West river rouge I had a customer had the same problem as you. I was checking the water temperature at the heat exchanger and it was only 151 degrees and the out door wood boiler said it was 180 degrees. checked the temperature coming out of the boiler and it was only 154 degrees. It turned out that the boilers temperature probe is hinged. During shipping they are installed upside down so they swing back and forth and damage it. The sensor was up in the steam and thought it was putting out 180 degree water. I removed the two screws holding the sensor. Spun it over the hinge in the arm dropped and started reading the water temperature. The water temperature was now reading only 156 degrees and the boiler fired up to 180 degree water and they had plenty of heat. Maybe that's the problem with yours. Is your duct work insulated if it's in the attic.

ductwork wasnt in attic,,i dont own that house anymore...sold the farm..thx for the ideas.

Hey Farmboy,

I have a wood burning furnace like the one in your link. Mine was from Tractor Supply and I have had it about ten years. It came with two small fans on the back of it that sucked the air off the floor and I hooked a vent to the top of it and to my heat vents. My house was 820 square feet and it would run us out of the house! I torn down my house and moved another bigger house there. It's about 2400 square foot ranch. It does not keep up when it is below 15 degree F. I went to a furnace friend who sold me a fan out of a furnace. I cut the back out of the wood burner and put that big fan on the back of it them I made a box around it so I could hook the return to it so it sucked air out of the return and blew it out into the house vents. It was a huge improvement but my wife is a city girl and she likes it 70 degrees in every corner of the house. As you probably know when the wind blows the side of the house being hit by the wind is the cold one so we use the regular furnace when it gets real cold still. Our regular furnace costs me about $500.00 a month to heat the house. The wood burner right now is costing be $100.00 for my whole electric bill. Positives- save $$$$, heats the basement good and warm so the floor is warm, the smell of the wood in the basement. Negatives- the bark and trash in the house, the smell of the wood in the basement. Poplar smells the best. I'm in central IL. Hope this helps. I gotta run for now. PM me if you want some picture and I will get some for you- Larry

PS - might want two of them. One for the basement and one of the decorative ones for the living room. We are getting one for the living room this summer.

I run a brunko wood/coal in the basement. i'm about 1800sf and its all I heat with now. I use the propane furnace as a backup or when it gets real cold.

Yes, Farmboy...I'm not familiar with that EXACT model but, yes. I have a Quadra Fire step-top 4300 in my house and a Drolet Austral in my shop. They are both good stoves, IMO.

BUT here's the big thing when choosing a stove: Don't go by what's rated for your house. Always go bigger if you can. The only real difference is the size of the wood box. A bigger box allows you to toss in bigger/longer logs. This equates to a longer burn at night or when you leave. It's also a lot easier when gathering wood as you don't have to cut everything down to kindling size stuff. Nobody says you have to fill it up...and you rarely do. Some wood boxes are just too small to be practical is all. If you can, go look at the unit, get down, open the door and look inside. Compare a few and you'll see what I mean.

Another thing is get the add on fan. Most decent sized units come with a fan, anyhow. The fan allows you to regulate the temp much better....and allows you to heat your house up a LOT faster when you want it quick.

One thing you don't need to spend extra money on is the ash tray under the grate. I have them and never use them. Waste of money.