I'm currently looking for plans for an add on wood furnace i can add to my forced air lp furnace my heat bill is nearly twice as much as last year's while using less lp, I can see no other way to cut my bill but add on wood. wood is cheap up here in the northwoods. the most expensive thing I foresee is the chimney. I still need to run b-vent through the roof (Approx 30') for the lp and the whatever is necessary for the wood furnace. I'm on a very tight budget so any safe money saving ides you may have would be greatly appreciated.
You might want to look at an outdoor wood burning furnace, something like this:
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There are many brands. I'm just using the one above as an example.
Local Laws: In my jurisdiction, local laws prohibit dual fuel (wood plus gas) heating. You can have gas only or wood only, but not both at the same time due to fire regulations. Also, the type of chimney required for wood is different from gas.
Insurance: Around here, your insurance policy gets cancelled rather quickly if you install wood heating.
In my jurisdiction, both the authorities and the insurance companies are happy if the outdoor wood burning furnace is at least 100 feet from any building. An outdoor furnace can be easily retrofitted into an existing forced air gas heating system as a suplimental heating source and does not require that you install a separate chimney for wood combustion.
Around here, one needs a zillion permits to install wood heating. It might be a good idea to get all the permits before you spend a penny on anything. It just takes one bureaucrat having a bad hair day to delay your plans indefinitely and, if your jurisdiction is anything like mine, you will be talking to bureaucrats for the next six months. Start early to be in time for next winter.
You can't run B-vent for the wood part. You need a triplewall steel flue of some sort, and make sure all the components come from the same company - this eliminates the finger-pointing if something goes wrong.
Have you considered an installed pre-fab fireplace with a heat exchanger (or two) rather than a wood fired furnace? Will be a whole lot easier to install and probably less money to buy (sales volume), and it has decorative functions also. We installed two as fireplaces, but didn't buy the heating fan kits for them. If we ever really need them for heat, we can get them.
Or if you already have masonry fireplaces, they make heat exchanger inserts that produce more useful heat than they suck up the flue. (Having a proper outside combustion air source helps with that.)
And use room ceiling fans to stir the heat you have, put them in CCW "Up" mode to get the heat off the ceiling and down where you can use it - especially valuable in rooms with cathedral ceilings. Also helps to distribute the fireplace heat between the rooms.
Set the gas furnace thermostat low, and if you don't get up and stoke the fire at 3 AM, it will kick in as a backup.
Carl , Don't have any plans but I have heated with wood for many years. It would depend on how your house is configured as to the best way to add a wood burner. A wood burner in a basement (daylights are best) is the best, as heat rises and all needed beyond the stove setup is a hi-low thermostat for your furnace that just runs the blower. That allows the heat to circulate around, no need to join directly into the furnace itself.
A wood stove in a main living area is very messy but nothing beats it for heat, if you go that route get a Vermont Casting or equal grade. I used an Ashley for many years and they are pretty good for a parlor type.
As for heating with wood on a budget look for a good used stove and set it up in the basement. A friend of mine heats a 3500 sq ft three story home with a barrel stove in the basement on just a couple of fires a day, he goes through maybe 10 cords a year. He has a fan on the top floor that is ducted to the basement to circulate the air. It's on a thermostat..
My insurance co wanted a signoff from the local fire dept before they would cover it. I did the install myself, don't burn green wood and keep the chimney clean. Good luck
thanks for all the concern about insurance and such. the b-vent I mentioned is for the LP furnace I have. As for the wood furnace that would be vented in a separate chimney. I apologize for any confusion. there is one brick chimney that has been used for a small pot belly stove. the interior is approx 12x12 and is unlined. I'm not so confident in it right now it needs tuck- pointing and of course a liner. as for Insurance I'm currently uninsured and local codes are kind of a joke in our rural area. That said, I still want it to be safe.
As for the outdoor boiler, those are in the $3-5k range and I'm in no position to pay that. The basement needs the heat most right now. the building is a fixer upper with a new foundation wall I don't want heaving back in.
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