Efficient wood stoves
While
I'm on the subject of more efficient stoves, I wanted to do some
research into efficient wood stoves for space heating. Our exterior wood stove
is a good choice for heat on our farm since wood is a renewable
resource (and is cheaper than most other options), but I'm still
concerned about the pollution that comes out the chimney.
Luckily, scientists have been plugging away at building a better wood
stove and have developed models that can eliminate 90% of the smoke and
use only about half the wood.
The new,
energy-efficient stoves come in two categories. The first, shown
to the right, is a non-catalytic stove that increases its combustion
efficiency using firebox insulation, a large baffle that extends the
gas flow path, and pre-heated combustion air (which is actually a lot
like the reasoning behind the design of the rocket stove.)
Wood stoves with
catalytic converters (shown on the left) can cut emissions of even the
most efficient non-catalytic stove in half, but they don't seem to use
less wood. Although I'd love to be polluting less, catalytic wood
stoves aren't the best choice for most homesteaders. The $100 to
$200 catalytic converter wears out within two to six years, and you
need to be relatively adept at tinkering to keep it in prime operating
condition. The startup costs are also higher
So how much does a new,
energy-efficient wood stove cost? From what I can find online, it
seems like new non-catalytic wood
stoves start around $1,200 and go as expensive as you can
imagine. In 2009 and 2010, there's a 30% tax credit in effect for
buying wood stoves with at least 75% efficiency, which is a great deal
if you can use it. If you buy and burn a lot of wood, a more
efficient wood stove might pay for itself even without the tax credit
--- I estimate that we'd start saving money after about 4 years if we
bought the cheapest model.
Although efficient wood
stoves seem like a good idea, I'm still not ready to take the
plunge. I'm very curious about whether our current wood stove
could be retrofitted to increase its efficiency. Has anyone tried
that out?
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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$450 a cord?! Wow! I guess wood heat isn't really an option there. I'll have to check out woodheat.org.
I just read the Mother Earth News today and was shocked! Talk about great minds think alike?!?!
Look into masonry furnaces. Compared to wood stoves, they make your house more comfortable, use less wood, require less attention, never need a chimney cleaned if operated properly, are less likely to burn your house down, last longer, are allow ashes to be removed from the basement, if planned that way, and let you have a wood fired oven, if you want.
They are more expensive, require a mason to install/build, and will stay with the house if you move, since they are part of an interior wall.