Is Wood Heating Right for You?
(Page 2 of 3)
March 31, 2008
By John Gulland
Consider the Options: Woodstoves, Boilers, Pellet Stoves and More
One of the first things you’ll have to decide is what kind of system to buy, because there are several different wood heating technologies, and all of them have pros and cons.
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The least expensive and most efficient way to heat with wood is with a woodstove located in the main living area of the home. Clean burning stoves certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) average around 70 percent fuel efficiency, and by putting your heater in the main living area you save energy because the warmth is concentrated where you spend most of your time, not in other areas such as bedrooms.
However, if you want to heat the whole house to an even temperature and keep fuel wood out of living areas, you could opt for a wood boiler or central furnace. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find efficient boilers and furnaces. The most efficient wood boilers are downdrafts, sometimes called gasifiers. If a forced-air furnace is more suitable for your house, you can look for one of the few that are EPA-certified. Although it may not be easy to find high efficiency, clean-burning wood furnaces and boilers, the effort is worthwhile because the difference in fuel consumption, convenience and maintenance costs between older conventional units and these advanced furnaces and boilers is large.
If you live in the city or suburbs, consider a pellet stove, furnace or boiler. The 40 pound plastic bags of pellets are neat and easy to store and all the processing work is already done for you. You can probably save some money by heating with pellets, but you won’t gain independence because you can’t make the fuel yourself and you won’t have security from power outages because pellet stoves need electricity to run their fuel auger, fans and controls.
