Happy To Turn On the Heat | Oh My Aching Debts

Happy To Turn on the Heat!

Posted on October 18, 2008
Filed Under Homesteading, frugal living |

Greenwood Aspen Wood Furnace

Most people shudder when the weather gets cool enough to turn on the heat. High fuel and electric prices are making the winter months a challenge to almost every budget. I am happy to turn on the heat because it not only provides free heat but also free hot water. Our electric bill will plummet by over 75% during the fall and winter months.

If you are asking how this is possible, I can tell you that it isn’t a solution for everyone but if you live in an area where you have access to free firewood, you can save quite a bit on your heating and hot water bills. Most people do not want the smoke and fire risk of having a wood stove in their home. Wood stoves are dangerous, risky and can create quite a mess in your home while hauling in wood and hauling out ashes.

An outdoor wood furnace solves all of these issues. If you live in a rural area you may have seen these furnaces in backyards. They look like a large dog house with a smoke stack attached. I had been aware of them but never really understood how they worked so getting the furnace ready for heating season has been an education for me.

The wood furnaces are actually a boiler fueled by wood, wood pellets, corn cobs or coal. The hot water is heated to around 200 degrees and circulates through pipes into a coil in the house. A small furnace fan then blows over the heated coil and circulates heat throughout the house. As an added plus, you can also have a coil in the furnace that supplies hot water to the house. You can see a diagram of how the heaters work here.

The air that comes out is warm and not dry as a regular furnace. It’s like taking the benefits of hot water heat and adding forced air to it. There is no flame inside the house so the risk of fire is minimal to none. The fan runs off of 110 and costs pennies to operate per day.

Does it seem like it’s too good to be true? There are drawbacks. Someone has to provide wood. This means either purchasing it or cutting and stacking it. If you live in the country, this is not a huge problem as firewood is usually available to either purchase or cut. We are lucky enough to have 10 acres of woods. There are always downed trees that need to be cut up and hauled out so other than a little hard work and sweat, our primary heat is free. All we need to do is put wood into the furnace several times a day. When it’s loaded at night, it will still be hot and burning the next morning.

There is also maintenance on the furnace itself. Although the heat transfer tubing is steel, eventually it will develop leaks and they have to be mended. There are also electrical parts such as the fans and pump that need to be maintained, repaired and replaced eventually however, these are no more expensive than maintaining a normal furnace.

This isn’t a solution for everyone but in our rural area, they are becoming more and more popular as fuel oil costs soar to $400 per month or more. If you are interested in learning more, the furnace pictured above is a Greenwood Aspen. You can get more information about it here. The diagram in the link above is the Free Heat Machine. There are many brands and models available if you search on Wood Furnace.

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Comments

One Response to “Happy To Turn on the Heat!”

Denise (15 comments.) on October 18th, 2008 11:51 pm

A few years ago I went to a home with an outdoor wood furnace and boy, was that home warm! I was surprised at how well the thing heated. The owner of the house showed us just how it worked and if we ever have another home of our own we’ll more than likely build an outdoor wood furnace. Soon we’ll move into a rent house that has no central heat or air but has a small electric stove in the living room that apparently heats most of the house. Winter is coming and though it doesn’t get too cold in this part of Texas I sure hope that little stove works well. Thanks for this entry. I enjoyed reading it.

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