What to use for heat??

[freemotion]

We got new windows and doors and our heating bill was cut at least in half. Maybe 2/3 less, hard to tell yet as the winter was a bit mild. Then a bit cold. Then a bit mild. Then....you get the idea. But we are warm enough for the first time ever.

We chose wood because if worse comes to worse, we can forage for wood, but you can't forage for propane or oil, and pellet stoves need electricity to run. It was a good decision. After a freak October storm took many trees down, especially huge oaks because they retain their leaves the longest, the entire area was without power for many days. It was emphasized to us that the woodstove was the best choice. The only thing we bought after that experience to be ready for the next one was a fan that sits on the stove and runs via the heat of the stove, distributing the heat further throughout the house, and more small cast iron pans that will fit inside our stove for baking. I made pizza during that power outage to use up some stuff that we would lose if not eaten. (We lost NO food, most of my friends did.)

 

[Hinotori]

Installation manual for our stove says clearance is 6 inches on the sides, 4 inches at the back, and 3 feet in front. It's too big for our house, really. Meant to heat 1200 sq ft. We should have gotten the smaller one.

 

[Beekissed]

I nice little rocket mass heater built for that space would be a nice addition and may not require the clearance that a traditional stove would do, while also using small wood and smaller amounts of wood.

Or just a rocket stove, period....

 

[Denim Deb]

There are actually stoves made for tiny houses and/or boats. One of those might work well.

For cooling, I saw this on Facebook. You take a Styrofoam cooler, put a couple of short pieces of PVC pipe in to act as vents, fill it w/ice, then put a fan on it.

 

[Hinotori]

Ohh. We've looked at the tiny boat woodstoves. You're right that would probably work for them

 

[Bruce]

I like Bee's suggestion about the rocket mass heater. I've not used one but I've seen designs where the heater doubles as seating so no "wasted" space. But remember, with any wood burning heat, you'll need a proper chimney. I recently looked into moving my 25 year old triple wall chimney from running inside the house to out the back. They said 25 years is about the expected life of the chimney and it was going to cost about $4K . The length of chimney pipe would be about 25ft. I can't even imagine what a brick chimney would cost! They are going to power vent it instead, $1,500.

 

[Britesea]

If you are going to put in a RMS, especially one with a large mass for heat distribution (like seating), make sure the foundation is able to handle that much extra weight....

I have planted some dwarf fruit trees along the south wall of our house. The south facing wall will give the trees a small bit of extra warmth in winter. In the summer, when they are in full leaf, they should cool the rooms on that side of the house a good 10 degrees...

 

[Cynthiadoz12]

If you don't have a fireplace.....just for one room...for a real emergency, have these on hand. I have soooo many candles that I've picked up from yard sales for cheap. I just save them. So, I have light, and I could use the smaller ones for this idea I am going to post. I will leave the lids off of the scented candles, because I won't really want different smells all over while using for light.

 

[Denim Deb]

I've seen those. In fact someone on here made one B4.

 

[Britesea]

I have read they are only really useful for a small room. Also, be careful as the wax can catch fire I've heard