Thinking of Heating With Wood! Watch This First Before You Buy. Wood Stove, Fireplace, Wood Burner 

I grew up in Northwestern PA. We only had one wood pot belly stove to heat our house. Hey when I was a kid I thought 50 degrees inside was warm. Sometimes we would wake up with little snow drifts inside the house where the air leaks where. That was back in the 1970s when we were all taught in school that global cooling was going to kill us all. That and global thermal nuclear war.

When I was about 7 years old, my mom taught us to LOVE a wood fire! Every time the power went out, we were so excited: we busted out the oil lamps and settled down in front of the fire place, mom taught us to cook simple meals & we all sat together eating & talking until it was time for bed. As we got older, she got a cast iron insert with a blower that allowed her to heat the house, but it was harder to see the fire....we eventually got rid of that. Now I live in a condo, but i'd give anything to have that experience again.

Since I work for an HVAC company I highly recommend a regular free standing wood stove in the house. Boilers are complex = expensive to repair and replace!! Everyone should have a 2nd backup heating system that can run without electricity.

I grew up in the mid-west and we heated out house with wood. We had 70 acres and lots of woods. It is not free. Every fall was cutting trees, spitting wood and building wood piles for the winter. It help to build that farm boy work ethic. It was a blessing to live on a farm.

My woodstove was made in 1902. Played $200 4 years ago for it. I'm 57, been heating with wood most of my life. I have always cut n split my own wood. My issues are that I don't want to denude my 25 acres so will start buying firewood. Also that due to my health I can no longer split wood by hand. And ... Bothers me that it takes 100 years to grow a tree, but only a few minutes to cut it down. I plant several trees for each tree I cut down.

This fire pit is one of a few covered pits that is on the list ru-vid.comUgkxAU9pOCSV9Y5JprooHvfxTpOrt4hx8uRM of approved products for Disney Fort Wilderness. The product served its purpose well and provided excellent fires throughout the evening. We were able to open the door and do s'mores, but I had to be careful because the handle was a bit hot on occasions. Additionally, I wish they had replaced some of the standard nuts with lock nuts in some places. We lost the door handle after just a couple of days of usage. Not a deal breaker, just a recommendation. I still give it 5 stars.

I just had an insert installed and night and day difference. Best thing I have done to be able to have the comfort of knowing I can heat my entire house now!

A good video. I would also note that before you install a wood stove, have a proper load bearing floor to handle the weight. Cast iron wood stoves are exyeremely heavy. Also, add stone tile flooring and walls (up to a certain height) because they are important and greatly reduce a potentil fire issue. While most wood stoves are built with double walls, they do emit heat, that could ignite certain wall and floor materials. You can cook from a woodstove.

We have a woodstock soapstone. Been using it for 10 years, it makes winter bearable. Wouldn’t be without one. Highly recommend! Woodstock Soapstone Co.

We have had several wood stoves inserts in various houses we lived in NE USA. We have a Blaze King now and at first used it as our others for heat and ambiance. It burns so efficiently it’s best at almost a smolder with a nice glow and occasional ignition of the off gasses. I appreciate your thorough guidance.

Whew getting ready to purchase wood burner freestanding and there you were! Thanks so much for your wisdom and information Bless you!

Mom and dad as well as family have had wood stoves and wood fireplaces all through me growing up. That giant stone fireplace you mentioned is my favorite part of the family cabin. I’m buying my first home (rented it for years) and that’s one of the first things I intend to do is install a wood stove to help with heat costs. With gas prices as they are, I could pay off the incurred costs within 3 years and then have nearly free heat (I love wood cutting so it’s not even a chore for me). Like the video, nice job

I had the exact same stove that you're sitting rather kneeling beside and it worked miracles. In the early 1980s it cost about 1200 dollars I managed to drop my gas heating bill up in Indianapolis Indiana from about $150 down to $32 in the middle of winter so it was definitely worth it. At the time it still was quite expensive but I got it was never disappointed that it was airtight I could adjust the flame which I did and of course if you use hardwood good hardwood and your justifying you can make the fire last all night. In a previous house I had a wood burning fireplace small and it was used not for heating but for the ambience and for romance. When I got the wood stove it was incredible I was able to open up the front and have basically a fireplace if I wanted it I could close it it would be airtight and also attach a blower system to it cuz it had that tubes that went through. Also the pipe inside my house from the stove up to the chip insulated pipe was single wall so it dissipated heat into the atmosphere at my house too

This was the most informative video on wood burning fireplaces that I have found, especially about the HO insurance, I never would have known this, this is the first thing people should check into before anything else. Thank you very much.

There is really nothing that compares to heat from a stove. It's just different... In a great way!

I use my woodstove as a supplemental heat source. I absolutely love it

I have fond memories of curling up by the wood stove in the early mornings as a kid. Looking to replace my propane fireplace with a wood stove. Propane isn't cheap anymore!

Wood moisture is an audible characteristics. You can listen for tone when you bang it. It can be burned sooner if stored and dried properly, not under a tarp as he showed. Air circulation is critical.

Sat down with my State Farm agent this morning. Provided him with documentation concerning the stove that I want to purchase, plus information concerning the dealership that’s working with me, and who will also be responsible for the installation. Two things were very positive to him; the fact that the stove will be my secondary source of heat, and it’s being professionally installed. He was perfectly fine with the project. He did specify that they require protective flooring around the stove. Otherwise, State Farm was ok with what I’m doing. He did say that he’ll need to inspect the project upon completion. I’m in south Mississippi.

Fantastic informative video, only thing is that you didn’t mention is the more pipe/chimney inside your home the more heat you get

Great video. Very clear and simple to understand for new wood users. One observation is that most, if not all the new 2020 EPA certified stoves do not have a rear vent application. But a lot of products allow a minimum rise of 2 feet off the stove top before exiting the home. This allows you to have a clean out on the outside of the house. Rule of thumb is to use 2 x 45 degree elbows instead of a 90 degree elbow. Also make sure your outside chimney is well insulated. New stoves are so efficient they leave very little heat to warm the chimney system. So a good well insulated chase is more efficient and a lot better looking. Great video keep up the good work.

Thanks Chad. We have been heating with wood the last two years. You are right, there is nothing like it! Keep up the good work my friend.

Actually very nice job. One of the most complete wood heat videos I’ve seen on RU-vid. I’ll share this video with anyone that asks me.

growing up in the sixties we had a wood cook stove in the kitchen and a larger wood burning stove in the living room. after doing chores at night i would open the oven door, put a piece of fire wood in it, put my feet on it , and read a book. life was good.

I love heating with wood, my uncle used to heat with wood when I was a kid. Hell I loved splitting and hauling the wood also. Something about the smell and visual effects that always calmed the psychy.

We are in the UK and have reverted from a gas fire back to an open hearth. One thing that's been forcibly brought to my attention is the high moisture content of Elm- rivalled only by Larch, Spruce, Pine- (which you wouldn't really bother to burn) It really needs seasoning for twice as long as the other hardwood i've been using......finding a standing long-dead Elm that has been murdered by Dutch Elm Disease is actually an advantage in this respect, as you can fell it in the knowledge that it's already dried to a certain extent. Elm spits like a bastard if it's still too moist, not good even with a spark guard- some of them were finding their way through the guard in our case.

I have a Woodstove stool that I made from a rip cut piece of black cherry when I was 19, 13 years later I still sit on the stool I made every evening and morning to stoke the fire. Very calming

I think you should come to Finland to see how fireplaces should be done...

Excellent info! Your videos are SO helpful...especially for those of us preparing to move out of the cities. Sharing your channel with friends.

Great video! I plan on installing a mid-20th century Husqvarna 3026 wood-fired stove eventually, as that fits age-wise with the house and I want a non-electric backup with our increasingly unstable electrical grid, and its house heating capabilities are a nice bonus. In addition to that I'll have an insert in the old, open fireplace to increase efficiency, safety, and tidiness. In a place like semi-rural Sweden, wood burning makes a lot of sense

I really like my 30,000 BTU Mr Heater. I have 2 propane small tanks on a regulator that will switch back and forth. My floors are warm my chair is it warm my cables alarm everything is warm was just the pilot light even when I have a pretty cold outside to use because the house is insulated pretty good and it’s a ventless system and there was already a kerosene fireplace in the house when I bought it and we changed it to Propane it’s working really great I don’t have to do anything but carry these and exchange them at the local grocery store they cost about $19 and some change to replace here in Texas really really like it oh the whole thing cost under $200 and I’ve had them on two weeks and you can’t even tell that the propane. Oh it hasn’t lost hardly anything in the tank. It’s very efficient. It has an oxygen sensor to shut it off if any issues arise. And I don’t have to buy wood or have the spiders or mud in the house walking in and outside to add wood at inopportune times. Also no cleaning out the Wood Stove. I really like the warm Heat

Excellent video very informative answered a lot of questions we had thank you so much.

Been heating with wood 50 years the wood stove we use we can also cook on in case of a power outage and it's an osburn stand alone

Good video thanks. I would add one point to the exhaust pipe mentioned at the end : yes it's more practical to clean when it's outside, but thermally it's more efficient to have it inside, as it also contributes to heating up the room

Great video and information! We have heated our home (exclusively) in northern Utah with a Blaze King woodstove for the last 18 years. We have a furnace but haven't used it in all that time and we currently use a Blaze King, King 40 woodstove. Our home is 2 story at 2200 square feet. We cut our on firewood from public land, burn apprx 6.5 cords from mid Oct thru mid May and our costs for heating our home annually is around $300. During waking hours the house temps are 72 to 77 degrees downstairs (hotter upstairs) and when we wake in the morning the temp is usually no less than 67 degrees in January. We load our stove full of wood around 9 pm and get 12 to 16 hrs of burn time depending on time of year. So we only have to load our woodstove twice a day. The main negatives are: more dust in house from burning and our house gets a little messy from bringing in firewood which is stored outside.

Great tutorial! Lots of very important things to know and how to make an educated purchase and set up.

Great video with useful information. We have a Buck stove and love it. I built a brick pizza oven some years ago which is fired with wood so some of our cooking is done in the brick oven.

I am thinking about either a wood fireplace insert or wood stove. Thanks for your input! I learned alot.

Man you really cover a lot of bases. Great video, thanks

We bought an old farmhouse this year that used to have 3 pot-belly stoves for heat. They had been taken out and a fuel-oil furnace was installed in the 80’s. We figured the cost with prices so high this year that we would be spending $800-$1200 per month to heat out home. That’s just way too much. Bought a wood burning stove and put double-walled pipe up the old chimney. We have 5 acres with plenty of free firewood. Thank God took care of that problem.

What an excellent presentation!

Out of all the videos I have looked at so far you were the easiest to understand and touch a lot of major issues. Thanks 👌🏽

Excellent information, Chad. Thank you for doing these videos. There is just enough info for us to move forward with.

I went over 20 year without having to clean my stove pipe. Just always burn a hot fire. Now you will have to replace stove pipe about every 15 to 20 years. But that was also burning everyday from October to April every year. I burned over a cord a month of wood.

Very informative video. Many things I would have never thought about before making a move to getting a wood stove installed in my home.

One advantage of a wood stove is that you have a "hot spot" in the house where you can warm up after being outdoors in the cold. Hang your wet mittens/gloves above it and put your wet boots on the floor next to it.

Summer and I’m watching this lol! One important point is that you should have a carbon monoxide alarm (AND smoke alarms) installed if you have any combustion occurring in your home. A few weeks ago our carbon monoxide alarm stated beeping so I went to change the battery and discovered it was supposed to be changed at the latest by 2019, so our wonderful landlord promptly bought and installed a new one even though there is no rush since we will not use our stoves for a few months now.

Menard sells a creosote spray bottle you spray the inside of the interior of your stove or the wood your using and it flakes the creosote off the pipes real well.

Great video, very informative straight to the point and well done.

Thank you for the excellent video. I really enjoyed. I been contemplating getting a wood stove for many years now and never pulled the trigger first because of how expensive the whole installation process is, second because I didn't want to make the investment into mobile home that I currently live in, and I been in for the last 6 years. This year I made the realization that me moving into a better home worth of the investment of a wood stove is going to take a little longer. So, instead of waiting for the perfect situation, I have decided that I want to enjoy the experience now. I find it funny that when you are young you always postponing for the future, but when you start to get old, you realize what every you don't get to enjoy in the immediate future, you won't get to enjoy it later so your sense of urgency changes drastically. I live in the south with very mild winters so I won't get out of it the use that most people do up north, but still, we go through a good 60 days here of cold temperatures and it will be really nice to be able to enjoy the experience. I can only afford an entry level stove like the one you have, but the money required for the chimney is what is holding me back, I can't believe that those pipes and the celling kit are so expensive. Looking forward to the experience. I will be doing most of the work myself, although I am thinking of hiring someone to do the roof stuff. It is a shame because I just put a brand-new metal roof and now, I am going to cut a hole in it. Let the shopping begin. If anyone know of any good deals and the best place to buy online everything that is needed, please comment on a reply.

Wood heat warms you TWICE, you get very warm when you cut, split and stack it and then when you burn it.

If you decide to go with a wood stove, just buy the Blaze King. I was skeptical of their clams before I bought it - not any more. You will burn 1/3 less wood for the same amount of head in a Blaze King. Let me repeat that, 1/3 less hauling, stacking and seasoning of wood to heat your home. Another advantage of the Blaze King is when you place a log in the stove, it goes way down inside the stove. The advantage here is you won't have ash spilling out of your stove after burning for a few days. Yes, a Blaze King will cost more - because they're more than worth it.

Fantastic video! So many things I had not even considered! Thanks a ton.

I have a Serra 2200 that I had bought in 1982, still working, we heat with wood, got ride of our oil heat because we weren’t using it, bought a heat pump in 2019, used it a few times in 2019, haven’t used it since. Only for back up😎

Have been heating with wood off and on since 1992 and in that time the most important thing in wood heat is having the densest hardwoods at no more than 20 percent moisture wet wood will creosote build up and could cause a chimney fire always clean your chimney once a year...and as well being able to source it yourself is where you will save the most these days local hardware stores are charging $150 plus tax for a facecord which is ridiculous have plenty of red oak and birds maple on the property is what I burn most of the time and bit soft wood on the days that are warmer than 20 Fahrenheit either way good video

Your right life doesn't get any better than that! 🔥🔥

This is a fantastic primer. I sort of inherited my Fisher stove, and had to give it a lot of TLC before it was ready to burn. I never imagined the chimney would cost as much as it did!

I am new to this channel. I have heated with wood for 40 years. The fellow is generally informed (and well intended) however he is not completely correct on all points. FYI. Modern "cookstoves" have much larger fireboxes. I have no less that 12 stoves around the farm, and cabin. ...woodburners, cookstoves, coal, wood...etc. I know these things inside and out. Insurance regs will be be mandated by federal govt to make older ones "outlawed" ...just a matter of time

There was a book back in the 1970s, I don't recall the name of it But it covers everything, even kinds of stoves, nicely illustrated, easy to use, I ddf love to find a copy of that book.

Jotul 121 if you can find one on marketplace or eBay it's old school no nonsense no fire bricks and 12+hrs on a load isn't unheard of. Great stove we had one in our lake cottage that thing worked amazing even on the below 0 days. My advice is find one of those clean them up and refurbish them if they havent been already and go that route.

In Ireland we call it a range. Used for Donkeys years. Cook food, heat home, heat water all at once

I'm in the UK and last year we decommissioned our gas boiler and went over to a woodburning stove due to the cost of natural gas...our house has never been so warm ...yes it's takes work to clean and tend the fire but for us wood is free ....takes me back to the day's growing up on the farm ... My mum and dad still use they're Rayburn and morso squirrel every day for cooking and heating...this whole debacle with Russia means woodburner's are in incredible demand this year.

We had a fireplace when we lived in Texas, near the coast. When the February storm hit back in 2021 we had a hard time keeping just the living room above 50 degrees, we hung blankets over the doors to the rest of the house to keep the heat concentrated. Here, now, in Colorado we built a small house (910 sf) and installed the smallest "real" wood stove that we could find and it will roast us out if we put too much wood in it. It was 6 degrees yesterday morning and it was 60 degrees after an entire night without adding but one log. I got a fire going that morning and let it go for the rest of the day and the stove was still warm that afternoon. Nothing beats a wood stove for output.

On the farm we have a wood burning cooking stove, it was lit when my dad woke up at 5am, before he went to milk the cows, when he was finished he would come in to a cooked breakfast, mum used it to cook lunch and dinner that night so it kept the house warm all day, if I was to buy a wood burning heater again it has to be a double burning heater, Im happy to have my reverse cycle air conditioner.

Grest video. My wife and I just purchased 2 Drolet 1800 Escape stoves. Can't wait to get them installed and say goodbye to my gas company and monthly bills. Plus, we have a well and septic so we also will not have any more water and sewer bills which increased every year in NJ. We finally made the move partially off the grid into northeast PA. I only regret that I didn't do it sooner.

Thank you so much for this great info. Love it. I'm new and looking for a wood stove and this video helped me a lot.

Excellent presentation… Thank you! If you can explain the flue and draft concept would be great… I personally want to have a larger flue pipe so it can allow for soot not to catch fire. And also to radiate heat.

I feel a wood stove is by far the best. And you can get oven attachments as well. I've had my current one since 2001. I had ones before, but they were thin metal which burns out quick. My two I have now, at the time I bought one for my business as well.. They are made of cast iron. And it was one of the best investments I've ever made. I routine have the sides cherry red. I've also have burned oil in them. They are fantastic. Back to the oven options. 1. you can use a Dutch oven on top or in them..I've done both. 2. you can buy oven attachments that go right on top, or around stove pipe. 3. you can make a oven out of sheet metal ( only use steel, DO NOT USE GALVANIZED) GALVANIZED Can put off toxic chemicals. As in my case because I burn very hot fires. it would be 100% putting of that green smoke which is toxic. Also never buy a GALVANIZED Wood stove. Or use GALVANIZED stove pipe for a wood stove.

As I see it the two best options for heating your house with wood is either a big and heavy masonry heater placed centrally in the house or a indoor wood boiler placed inside the house in a dedicated space with a separate entrance. You can also include a heat exchanger for water to the masonry heater.

Loved this. Great info. I never thought about insurance or manufactured homes when it comes to wood stove!

I had my gas fire disconnected which was in front of the chimney breast for flue purposes. A plumber friend advised me to smoke bomb my chimney & then check out my attic for an smoke that might leak from the chimney. I had to repoint the brick work to the chimney in places then repeated the smoke test again, then had the chimney swept. I built an ornamental brick fireplace with heat resistant fireplace tiles & then got myself a cast iron multi fuel stove. There's nothing better than having a real fire, even if it's confined within a stove, bellissimo 😜

Amazing thank you for breaking that down with a homestead minded break down

Really enjoyed the video! You should tag stuff like this for the tiny house movment. Stuff like tiny house, off grid. Much information could also be used for those living off grid in tiny houses and could help grow your channel. Channels like "living big in a tiny house" have many viewers that this kind of info could really help.

Thank you for the insurance information. I had no idea about this. Very informative video.

Living north of canada , wood stove is a must! I heat my house only with my drolet ht-3000. Cost me 700$/year for a 30×32 house and basement.

installed mine with the drop and super easy cleaning. however, did go up inside the house about five feet first to capture that heat.

Thanks for the video Wouldn't you have more creosote buildup on the inside of the pipe if it was running outside most of the way up? Wouldn't the hot pipe out in the cold air cause moisture that would cause the foot to stick to the inside of the pipe? Another thing is if the stovepipe is outside you don't get all that heat from the stove pipes that you get when it's going up in the house. If you live in a cold climate it's going to take a lot of wood to heat your house people need to be prepared for that and have a place to store the wood and have the ability to get it.

Thank you, just starting out and found some good right to the point info

I added extra length to the pipe outside back in april, because I wasn't getting a good enough draft, so now its above the roof line

Thank you for this, it was very helpful! We are hoping to have a wood stove in the near future and we didn’t know about several of the points you made. We are fairly new subscribers, and are really enjoying your content!

Check out our Patreon page www.patreon.com/healthandhomestead If you want to see the wood stove or the moisture meter look up above in the description. Multiple people have asked me about my wood stove.

My parents were back to nature folks in the 80s. Too late to be hippies and too early for the modern off grid. When I hear people talking about wanting to live off the land, homesteading, etc the wood stove is the first thing I bring up. Do you want to drag wood up to the house when it’s freezing and there’s a foot of snow? Do you like getting a full nights sleep or do you want to mind a fire all night? And you can apply that to every aspect of life, just increase the time and hassle of maintaining the property by 3 to 10 times for everything.

"Lopi Endeavor" I was going to do what you did, go to Home Depot/Lowe's buy one of those big box store wood stoves. Then old school Craigslist came to mind. I ended up purchasing a very well maintained Lopi Endeavor wood stove for $600. That stove brand new costs around $3,000. I was fortunate to purchase a pristine high-end wood stove at a fraction of the cost, this Lopi will outlive me= I will be able to pass it on to the next generation.

Been running a wood stove for 20 years as my sole source of heat. We're on 34 forested acres now so no lack of fuel. I've been spacing the trees and burning up tge unwanted trees for my firewood source. It's a win win!

11:50 Depends. We burn predominantly lodgepole, doug fir and ponderosa (CO). If split and stacked between rows of trees with lots of sun and wind exposure, in a low humidity climate, those splits dry to 20% or less in around 3 months.

Thank you excellent video and I appreciate having the info about the wood cookstoves with boiler option. Putting that on my list.

We always cut our firewood in August or early September. Split and stack, come middle to late October it was dry. Good to go. Never had any problems.

You missed one - the wood burning furnace!! I have all 4. Wood furnace, fireplace, Woodstove and we have an old outdoor boiler out by the barn

Awesome info for someone that knows nothing about this subject...like me. Thank you for making this video.😊

I raised my family, wife and three kids. Ranch style home, on a wood burning stove. Plenty of wood available. We all stayed warm. Side loader made in Austria , four bedrooms home. Wish I had that stove now, kids grew up moved away, divorced and let the stove go with the home.

You don't have to use an insert with a fireplace. You can also use a free-standing stove if the opening is closed off and stove pipe passed through into the chimney.

Love that book that you started off with

Thank you very much for this very informative video. It was very helpful to us. Greetings from Canada.

These stoves have their place, but a real game changer is the side by side wood furnace. You burn wood but have a electric heat backup. The best thing about this set up is that one central fan distributes heat from either system using the same furnace ducts. The firebox also preheats the water before it moves on to the water heater. My house is over three thousand square feet and we keep it nice and toasty. I know I am saving at least two thousand a year on heating costs - probably more.

Finnish we heat the sauna with wood basically a woodstove surrounded by rocks. In the house we use a pellet stove mostly because a pellet stove will run for several days/filling.

May God Bless you and your family for this information!

I have natural gas heat and keep my temp control set at 60° to keep my bill low, so 67° sounds toasty warm to me.

If as back up heat I’d not let them know. If place burns down sucks but I’ll take my chances. Sucks it’s about survival.

Nice stove looks like a Napoleon 1100, I've installed those for a long time but actually switched over to installing blaze Kings

Thank you! Please continue uploading your videos!