# Wood Stove vs Wood Furnace,food dehydrator, electricity back up



## HTWannabee (Jan 19, 2007)

We are on our new homestead. It is smaller acreage than I wanted but a step in the right direction. We have an existing oil fired central heat system which we do not want to use, electric hot water and well. I am pushing for a wood stove that will heat water and be used to cook if needed. DH is thinking maybe just replace the furnace with a wood burning option. I am planning on digging my heels in on this one but wanted feedback from the experts here! Also, what is the stove of choice here.

Also, I am researching the best fod dehydration methods. In winter with a stove I can use that but what about now? We have funds set aside for preps so I want to spend them wisely. 

Lastly, what about electricity back up. Solar or generator ? We are in MA so bad winters can knock out electric or if TSHTF I want a plan B. DH thinks solar is way too expensive and I am thinking about it more as a route to self sufficiency. We are putting a new roof on and DH company sells solar shingles (or something like that) but they are very expensive. Thoughts or tips?


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## timfromohio (Jun 19, 2007)

Go for a good woodburning stove or cookstove, not woodburning furnace if the power goes out frequently. Check out www.woodstoves.net and www.lehmans.com for stoves - both have a selection of cookstoves. 

I'd go for a generator before solar, especially if the power is prone to go out in the winter. Unless you have a battery bank the solar will be useless when the sun is not shining.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

Okay, I'm sort of your neighbor, well a ways North but...our power goes out a lot!

We have HWBB for heat and hot water using #2 fuel oil. We use about 200 gallons a year for hot water mostly...electric hot water is expensive. (5 member family)

My wood stove nothing fancy but a good/efficient heater was about $700 brand new its a simple steel stove rectangular in shape made by Shenandoah...my husband sells them at the plumbing and heating place he works at...we have a gas Coleman generator that was $500....3-5000 watts I think. It will run the water pump and washing machine or the furnace or all the fridge/freezers (4 total)....so we switch off between appliances and tasks if needed...gas can be siphoned from vehicles if necessary...

I have a 1000w inverter that will run off my car battery if needed (the car is quieter than the generator!). I have a 15w solar panel($90) and a xantrex 600HD powerstation($90) the powerstation is great for short outages...a 7w CFL will at least let you read and it has its own radio/alarm clock

The wood stove uses about 5 cord of wood a year in a 1700 sq ft house and we like it HOT....77.7F is my favorite temp. I use a desk top fan to push the wood stove heat and dry all my laundry by the stove/fan setup....eliminates need and expense of a dryer!

I will caution you though, you must have a separate flue/ chimney for your wood stove and furnace or your homeowners ins. policy will be null and void...

I also have a baby cook stove with metal triple wall chimney...the stove was $70 (at auction) but the chimney cost $400....


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

We have a 70s/80s era Lopi woodstove, works great in our house. It works great to heat water on big stock pots upon, when the eletricity goes out, which I use for dishes and bathing, no big deal. IN fact I would have no problem living that way. BUT the top of that stove is only good for simmering stewy things which preferably you've brought up to speed on another burner otherwise it takes FOREVER for a pot of stew to heat up and cook(we have a propane BBQ with a burner outside, also use that for cooking when the power goes out)--however warming leftovers is fine cuz you're not cooking it, just make sure it gets HOT enough. Or making jerky. The top does not get a pan hot enough to fry/saute unless you get the stove SUPER hot, then it's just dangerous. 

If you want to cook with a variety of techniques, you need a wood COOKSTOVE, which has a small firebox, and depending on your house set up and winter temps this may or may not heat the whole house very well, usually people who use a wood cookstove ALSO have a wood stove. A wood cookstove is a wonderful thing tho .

My husband wants to get a generator, but realistically this would be to run the pump(good, we store water in the winter for when the power goes out, and load up before a storm), and the tv/computer (fluff ). We have been out of power for almost two weeks at the most, and usually we get about a week stretch each winter. 

Food dehyration--we've made jerky on top of the woodstove(it's got a double layer baffling design which is why the top is not hot enough to cook on--we don't put the meat right on top, we put it in a cast iron pot with the lid ajar, it does not burn). ALso I would like to make some hanging racks for above the woodstove, it's perfect above the stove to dry things quick and fast. Otherwise you can plan to dry things on a super hot day(if you want to do it non electric)

YIKES! Massachussets, I'd have to make a prediction that wood stoves are not long for this world in that state, or probably any dense state. so keep on top of that!

FOr backup when the power goes out, I don't know your needs. I know for us we have the routine and stuff to use and change our habits so that when the power goes out it's not a big fat hairy deal. I kinda like it!!! The only thing that would be really nice to have is power to the well so we can have running water and can flush (we got out in the woods), ha or an outhouse, that would be great too.


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## HTWannabee (Jan 19, 2007)

"YIKES! Massachussets, I'd have to make a prediction that wood stoves are not long for this world in that state, or probably any dense state. so keep on top of that!"

Yikes Ma is right! I wanted out of here but it was not to be. We lucked out in that we sold our house close to the city and went farther from it so we bought for less than we sold:dance: We were afraid the banks would continue to crash and we would never get out of out burbs so we ran as fast as we could! Not sure why stoves are not long for MA? Just a lack of wood you think or will the liberal zombies tax my smoke?

BTW I also support Ted Nugent for the executive branch! I have also never voted for Barney Frank Just a side note.


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

Well, dont' know much about MA, but I do know it's a really liberal state, also it's very urban--there may be pockets of not so urban--but it has WAAAAAAY more urban than rural, so your scales are tipped. At least faster then mine here in Oregon, fer sure. It's a given only outlaws will be using woodstoves in a handful of years, I am willing to bet on that.

(And yeah, I know Oregon "is" a blue state, but that is all concentrated along the I-5 corridor in a handful of cities, the rest of it is very RED-blooded, and the southeast quadrant of the state has waaaay more antelope, or maybe even mustangs, than people  Uncle Ted LOVES it here, ha when I saw him in concert he commented how he LOVES our gun laws, he could bring and brandish anything he wanted  oh my was that a night, Uncle Ted under the stars, a bonfire woulda made it perfect!)

PS, not knowing the tree population there in MA, but given its urbanity I could see trees being Loraxed...


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Our wood furnace kept the house warm everywhere through convection using the ducts with no power. My brother had a nice hot spot and some plumbing damaging cold spots using his stove with no power. I couldn't cook on my furnace he could on his stove. I suspect I could have rigged up some way to cook on the furnace, there wasn't really anyway to duct the stove (which is usually illegal anyhow) Anyhow either could work if its not going to be banned it kinda depends on your house.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

i say stove i run a quadrafire 3100 step top , why step top because it was the previos years modle it was the showroom stove and have been used they sold it to me for 995 it sells for 1900 new , but about the most efficient stove i could find it does a goos job of heating the house we kept our old fule oil furnace the same i let the stove burn out each night loading it before i go to bed and cleaning it out and building a new fire when i wake up , it is nice to have the fule oil furnace keep the house at 63 tillt he stove is going again , wouldn't be nessacary if A)my hundred year old house was much better insulated , working on that or B) it wasn't below zero for so much of last winter.since your high efficency wood stove prodused roufly the same amount of gree house gass as the wood decomposing in the forest i can't be blamed for any sort of global warming.

as for hot water that is were i would go solar , they are said to pay for them selves in 2-3 years were solar electric is still out around 10 years.
for now i actualy suffer along with the electric hot water heater


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

You can save alot on your electric hot water bills just by installing a timer. Ours comes on at 8 am...off at 4pm. Still plenty of hot water to do dishes and take evening shower. Times can be set to accomadate your familys' schedule. If I'm doing alot of canning,for instance, I can flip it back on for continuous water although I've found it less costly to use tea kettle on my propane stove which has no electricity...a Y2K purchase! The timer actually saves us almost as much on our electric bill as when we are using the outdoor wood boiler to heat our water.

Out door furnaces can use electricity; ours is hot water baseboard heat and has small pump to circulate the water. It also heats all our domestic water; which is a definite plus and saves about $30 a month on our electric bill. We also have an indoor Wonderwood stove into stainless steel chimmney-required by the insurance company. The top can be opened and you can cook on the cast iron box quite effeciently.

Have generator that runs off the tractor for pumping water from deep well and runs a few lights and the pump on the furnace although the wood stove in the house can keep us plenty warm. Rare winter that we don't have ice storm and no power for several days and in some parts of MO/ARK weeks. DEE


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

The problem with solar in New England is winter....you still need a back up so unless you have deep pockets buying one thing that will serve your need is good/cheaper....a solar shower through the summer is a good cheap solution for that part of the year.

Get your wood stove in ASAP to avoid legislation....they'll either "grandfather" or give you some time/incentive. Personally I would consider it an invasion of privacy and greet them with a loaded gun....

A wood stove and wood will get you through any power outage....we went 11 days(Jan.98) in the last ice storm just with wood stove and candles....thats when we decided to get a genny and other power sources...as our finances allowed..

We have come to enjoy a power outage for a couple days...


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## HTWannabee (Jan 19, 2007)

Thanks everyone! What about food dehydrators? Anyone use one? I am leaning toward an Excalibur but only becasue it seems like the biggest-best one. I know it uses a lot of electricity but less than an electric stove, which is what we have now and apparently the sun is NEVER coming out here again so solar is out of the question!


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