OUR $100 WOOD-BURNING FURNACE SAVES US $1,200 A YEAR!

(Page 5 of 5)

November/December 1975
By the Mother Earth News editors 
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An 18" X 18" hole was then cut into the other side of our new furnace's air jacket and a duct was run from that "outlet" into the heating chamber on the LP burner.

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By making these connections, of course, we hoped that the fan of the old furnace—set on "continuous" instead of "automatic"—would force returning cold air (from the living areas of our house) into the jacket of the new wood-burner. Once it had been warmed there, according to our theory, the heated air would circulate through the old LP furnace and be distributed by that heater's warm air ducts back to our home's living space. On most days, the woodburner alone would add enough Btu's to the air to heat the upstairs. And, on the days when it couldn't handle the job, the old gas furnace would automatically kick in just enough to make up the difference.

Does it work? You betcha! Our gas furnace hasn't been on more than twice in the year and a half since we built and installed the wood-burner. Our formerly unbeatable house is now comfortable right through the winter . . . even if I do have to put two cords of good, dry wood through the new furnace during really frigid weather.

Yeah, that's a lot of wood . . . but the $200 worth of gas we used to buy every month was a lot of gas too. And how much would I have to earn (at a job I didn't like) to clear that $200 . . . after taxes and the expense of driving back and forth to work? Besides, the firewood we currently burn is more or less "free", since it comes from the tops of trees I cut into lumber in my own sawmill.

All in all, then, we figure that the $100 wood-burning furnace which now saves us $1,200 a year is a pretty good deal.

Keep warm.

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