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groingo
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# Posted: 27 Sep 2013 13:46 - Edited by: groingo
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Well, the Propane has worked out so well that originally I had planned to pull the wood stove out in the Spring now decided to pull it now since using it as a backup heat source is no longer required with my Propane Heat.
No more soot, no more skinned knuckles and shins or slivers, chain saw or constantly cleaning the carpet, no more opening the windows at 3 in the morning because the fire woke up and no more cold spot in the living area because the stove is turned off (they radiate cold when not used) and mostly, NO MORE STUBBING MY TOE on the heat pad which resulted in many new words!
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Kudzu
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# Posted: 27 Sep 2013 17:03
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We built and both agreed no inside wood burning. Why, because I can not breath, it smokes everything up inside, you have to go get the firewood and bring it in, you always have someone poking it, etc., and we have electricity. However, not thirty feet out the back door is a stone fire ring that keeps a fire during the cold days and nights. Nothing like sitting around a nice comfy campfire.
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 27 Sep 2013 20:44
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How large is your cabin, how well insulated, how cold does it get, and how much propane do you use when it's cold outside?
When you first arrive at the cabin when the building is dead cold, how much propane you figure it takes to warm the building?
I planned to have a woodstove with propane backup for overnight and fall and spring when it's not that cold. Now you're making me re-think...
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 27 Sep 2013 22:31 - Edited by: MtnDon
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Quoting: bldginsp When you first arrive at the cabin when the building is dead cold, how much propane you figure it takes to warm the building?
While our propane wall heater can keep the interior livably warm, it alone struggles to warm up a cold cabin by itself. A second heater would make the warm up easier. However, with the abundance of firewood on site, for us, it makes complete sense to have a wood burner stove as well. Even though they have similar BTU/hr output ratings the wood stove beats the propane. Together we can gain an easy 20 F per hour average.
For us having both is ideal. Propane for when it is only cool and we just need a small warm up. Wood for when we have colder weather. I have found that a well insulated cabin helps a lot. Even in the midst of winter we do not generally need to try to carry a fire over through the night. It might drop to 58 or so inside but a new fire is easy to kindle an hour before we want to actually climb out of bed. We may leave the propane thermostat set to come on if the interior temp drops below 58-60.
I just hate the idea of spending $$ for LP when the fire wood is so plentiful. We will have wood to burn for as long as we care to. And I credit the felling, the gathering, the splitting, stacking, etc. as one of the reasons that at age 67 I can still do all that sort of physical labor without the aches and pains that some of my friends experience when they come up to gather some firewood for their own use.
Quoting: bldginsp I planned to have a woodstove with propane backup for overnight and fall and spring when it's not that cold. Now you're making me re-think...
I still think both together is a great plan for a rural location, with a cheap supply of wood. And speaking for our own installation, we are almost never bothered by an interior smoke smell, or a cold spot by the unfired stove. Maybe we are lucky? Maybe the fresh air inlet helps? I have found that there is a right way and a wrong way to open the door on our stove when a fire is going or nearly out. The wrong way will give us a puff of smoke rolling out the door. The right way does not. For those times I screw up we have a HEPA air filter we run for an hour and the smoke smell is gone.
We solved the cleaning the rug problem by not having rugs except for a small mat on each side of the bed. The entire floor is tile and sweeps and washes up easy. No fear about tracking in anything.
Different strokes for different folks as we used to say....
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 27 Sep 2013 23:04
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A cabin isnt a cabin unless it has a wood stove. In fact, my woodstove and stone work is the center piece or main focal point in my cabin.
Heck, I had a woodstove installed into my home (residence) and I have a high efficiency natural gas furnace. I did it for the cozy look on a snowy day, or the warmth during a power outage, or emergency heat etc. But that is just my personal opinion.
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davey25
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# Posted: 27 Sep 2013 23:30
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Ya nothing beats a wood stove warmth..propane heat just isn't as nice
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groingo
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# Posted: 28 Sep 2013 01:07 - Edited by: groingo
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I live here full time for the third season now in my massive 195 square foot mansion.
The place is insulated adequate and the carpeted floor adds greatly to the insulation value being on the milder Western side of Washington.
Typically I have been using 4 gallons of Propane every two months
for both cooking and heat using my own designed and developed Heater/Cooker which I began using full time last April.
To warm the place in the morning to 72 degrees usually takes about 30 minutes.
In my case Propane and my Heater/Cooker work very well and thanks to the low propane use I only need to keep 1 backup 5 gallon bottle of Propane.
Larger cabins will use more of course.
I truly love my wood stove too, took me a long time to find my Waterford stove but with space at a premium in my case anything that does not contribute has no place.
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MJW
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# Posted: 28 Sep 2013 09:41
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Our fireplace is the focal point of our place and our primary heat source.
While I did install a propane wall heater as a back up heating source, the fireplace is what we will be using 90% of the time.
With over 14 acres (we just bought the 4 acre parcel next to us) of recently logged property, there is a huge supply of already downed trees and such to supply us with wood to burn for quite some time.
I can't imagine having a place like this without a wood fire burning on cold, snowy nights.
It does, however, take up a lot of real estate in a small place.
7 cords we split & stacked last weekend
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Our fireplace
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 28 Sep 2013 11:00
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With Groingo's small place I'm sure he's sick of stubbing his toes against the hearth at 3AM searching for the poker in dim light. My 300 ft is probably just large enough to tolerate the space taken by a small stove. I agree w/ Mt. Don, who confirmed my original thinking. The propane will be a backup to the woodstove because 24 hr comfort is priority one for the ladies, and myself, for that matter.
I already have a huge pile of oak waiting, and I don't even have a cabin yet.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 28 Sep 2013 11:00
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Quoting: MJW 7 cords we split & stacked last weekend
Maybe it's because we are in a dry and thus wildfire prone area I don't like seeing that much firewood in one place. There was a fire adjacent to our property May 2009. It came right up to 5 or 6 cords we had stacked in a long row. Most of that went up in a huge fire. Scorched and killed 75 foot pine tree tops. Now we have a small ready use woodshed near the barn, but not too close. Plus several stacks scattered around. Old corrugated roofing tin makes a good top cover... helps keep some rain/snow off the wood. Just a thought for the next wood you cut/stack.
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groingo
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# Posted: 28 Sep 2013 11:50 - Edited by: groingo
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When I saw all that wood my back started to hurt but like Don I too tend to spread the wood out, not so much for fire protection but I typically am cutting up a fallen tree as I only burn downed or standing deadwood trees so I just stash it in place till needed.
I had a main supply which is several months worth then I have a ready supply (2 month) which is stored in a separate insulated shed close to the cabin with dry lighted splitting area while the rest is stashed under plastic corrugated panels till needed (squirrels like it too), good dry cover for them.
My wood use is typically just shy of a cord of wood per season.
This fall I gave the wood to neighbors with efficient stoves (funny that way) as I no longer need it but don't like seeing it wasted either.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 28 Sep 2013 15:09
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Quoting: groingo 195 square foot
If I had that much (that little  ) space to work with I don't think I'd want the wood burner either. They do take up a lot of space and in a small space are easy to overfire.
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MJW
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# Posted: 28 Sep 2013 15:48
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Our woodpile is probably 100 - 150 ft from our actual house.
Don't think forest fires are a problem here but I guess there is always a first time.
My back hurts, too, groingo. Don't think we will be doing that much at one time again any time soon.
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groingo
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# Posted: 28 Sep 2013 18:11 - Edited by: groingo
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Quoting: MtnDon If I had that much (that little ) space to work with I don't think I'd want the wood burner either. They do take up a lot of space and in a small space are easy to overfire.
Combine that with a blind cat (Mr. D) and it can get interesting.
Heat control was the BIG winner over the wood, stoke too late and you are up in the wee hours opening windows, now with the propane I can control heat right till I hit the sack then get up the next morning with one match light the heater and go back to bed till it warms up, that alone is worth it!
Quoting: MJW My back hurts, too, groingo. Don't think we will be doing that much at one time again any time soon.
Bet dinner never tasted so good after all that chopping though!
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rockies
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# Posted: 7 Oct 2013 21:19
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I am thinking about using an indoor wood furnace that can heat several buildings at once (Profab 100). It can be located inside a small outbuilding and it also can heat all your domestic hot water at the same time. The cabin will be heated with radiant tubing in the floor, plus there is no mess, soot, ash, or cleanup from having the stove inside the cabin. You can tend the fire comfortably during a blizzard because it's inside the small outbuilding, and you don't have to use up floor space in the cabin or blast the cabin with un-needed heat in the summer when you just want hot water. There is also an electric backup for the furnace so that you can keep the water hot while you are away for a few days. I may use solar for the domestic water during the summer so that I don't have to fire up the furnace at all.
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 7 Oct 2013 21:29
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Sounds like a good setup, rockies. How much will it cost?
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