Whole Houser heating Without Oil, Gas, or electric.

[Adirondack case guy]

This will be the third year that the wife and I have heated without petro products. The last two years we were very confortable with a "Fireplace Extrodinair" and a "Harman P61 Hybrid" wood pellet stove. The hybrid portion of the Harman is copper coils that I fabed up on the sides of the stove to supplement my radient heating system. For the last two years they have kept us very confortable in our 2380sq.ft. single story ranch with 1800 sq.ft cellar. The other 580sq ft is on an insulated sand ballast heated by passive solar. Our domestic hot water is heated by an evacuated tube solar collector system tied into the radient heating system with a dual coil water storage tank, and thermo controls built into the Differential control unit of the solar system . My electric is suplimented, with a Mariah VAT that I installed. Oct 21, 2010(should have put up a Skystream 3.7)
This year I installed a new Bugarus Boiler in a home that had a "Royall" combo wood/coal addon boiler hooked to a leaking "Utica" boiler. Customer wanted it all gone. I took the Royall home and tied it into my radient heating system in my home. I set it up in my 1152 sq.ft. Fab, and tractor shop. Thus far the Harman hasn't had to run at all, and my shop will be heated full time for the first winter since it was built in 92. We have lit the fireplace on occasion, and have burned the Royall about every other day, as we are able to build up enough thermo mass to carry us a day without adding heat. That will change when cold weather sets in for the winter,
I'm kinda lazy and would rather build a gizmo to work for me than do the work myself so to get wood to my Fireplace from the cellar to the first floor where the fire place is I built a Dumb waiter. It is constructed from overhead door track and rollers and an 1100# HF 120V winch mounted in reinforced trusses in the ceiling adjacent the fireplace. To get the wood from the stack in the end of the cellar to the dumb waiter I stripped down an old electric feed cart and made the "wood transporter cart". It also works well to go out onto the blacktop driveway and get wood off the piles out side.













 

[Adirondack case guy]

Sorry about spelling error in sub. new location for compuker, and I got fat fingers.
 

[JayinNY]

That's great acg, my brother, father and I all have thermo control wood boilers, built in cobleskill, the stove heats the water just like the oil boiler would. I don't use hardly any oil either! My brother dosent even have any oil in his tanks,, It feels good to not buy oil. Plus we can use the woodstove top as a cooking source.
 

[Walt Davies]

I went an all pellet heat a few years ago I ha e to clean twice a year and hall out about a half of a bucket of ashes. Dump the clinker pan now an then. I burn a bag of pellets on real cold days and mostly one every two or three days in the winter.
Best thing is the hardest work is getting the bags from the barn to house but I have side by side for that.
Wouldn't go back to wood for anything.
Walt
 

[onefarmer]

It takes between 5 and 10gal of gas to heat my house, Along with a gal or two of oil and some elec to blow it around. And don't forget some diesel and elbow grease. ;~D
 

[johndeeregene]

ok lets look at it this way also. how much fuel an oil did you burn cutting all that wood? how much fuel did you burn running your splitter? next how fuel did you burn hauling the wood? how many hours did it take you to cut all that wood? i am not saying its a bad thing, i just dont see how it pencils out, i know how much fuel my saws burn. they are not what you would call fuel squeezers.
 

[onefarmer]

I think I'm doing pretty good. See below plus, instead of dealing with fields, I deal with the woods,
 

[Lou from Wi.]

Adirondack case guy,enjoyed the pictures and the post.That's quite a ingenious operation,work smarter,not harder. Keep warm,
Regards, LOU
 

[Adirondack case guy]

Ok you have a point there, but Before i installed this heating system I was spending $1200 bucks a year for the oil to heat this house, @ $239/gal.Today fuel is $3.89/gal. I spent about a $100 bucks for fuel to power the saw, splitter, tractor, and PU truck to cut this wood. You do the Math!. I am retired and enjoy cutting wood. I also cut it for two of my uncles, as they own most of the land that I cut dieing and damaged timber on within a half mile of our houses.
As for the solar and Wind units, In am a retired dealer/installer, and aquired the equipment at cost, less state and federal tax credits. The thermo hot water system is well on schedule to a 5yr payoff, and unfortunatly the Mariah wind turbine may never, since they went bankrupt this year. It is supplying about 11% of my electric consumption. The Skystreams that I installed are producing 4000=6500KWHs per year around here. The Hybrid PV/Wind systems are doubling that output.
If the power and all lifelines were to fail for all winter, I can survive very confortably, as our pantries and freezers are full from the garden also, plus I have a full tank of two year old heating oil to power my Yanmar diesel gen set.
Can you last that long????
Loren the Acg.
 

[CenTex Farmall]

None of this is as good as an Amish Miracle Heater!

Your worries are over when you see the horse and buggy coming down the drive to deliver the miracle heater and hand-crafted Mantle made from old growth timber.
 

[JOB]

I like your fireplace looks nice. That dumb waiter is another good idea. You have quite the wood operation going there. A little more organized than mine. I will burn 800 gallons of oil a year if I do not use wood. Burning wood means a little more money in your pocket than in the oil company's. Great Job
 

[Traditional Farmer]

I heat with wood have a Fisher Papa Bear stove in the basement I bought new in 1977 and bring the wood in with an Amish built kid's wagon,so I don't have to carry the wood at all.Also that stacking looks like a lot of unnecessary work,I load the wood on a trailer and leave it there unitl I load the small wagon and wheel it in the basement.Provides heat and a good place to cook during power outages in the Winter.Also have a tank beside the stove that's in the water line before the water goes to the water heater and that saves me $$$$ also.
 

[Trkr]

Very nice,I heat with wood entirely,have a heat pump for a backup,but never use it.Do you have any problems with bugs keeping the wood racked that close to your house?
 

[mkirsch]

Everyone keeps telling me that solar and wind energy are no good because the sun doesn't always shine, and the wind doesn't always blow...
 

[IaGary]

I may not be able to last that long but I can leave for vacation and not have to have someone baby sit my wood stove while I'm gone.

Your stuck to the house much the same as a daity farmer stuck to the barn.

If you don't travel what I just said doesn't mather.

Gary