Fireplace inserts are pretty effective. Pretty ones are pricey. Tent stoves are smaller and cheaper, could work similarly, and run on wood scraps, corrugated cardboard, or newspapers. My brother built his own fireplace insert out of a 40 gallon water heater tank, figuring that the further it stuck out of the fireplace, the more effcient it would be in heating the room. Efficient? Yes. Attractive? Not so much. But a smaller version of this, with a 3-6" galvanized flue stuck up the chimney, might be more efficient and be easier to fuel than an open fireplace. haven't tried it, beyond the water heater fiasco.

I agree, if you have the fuel available, even an improvised insert will be more efficient than a masonry fireplace.

But: I've seen some dampers that would make it really hard to get a pipe up the flue. Best to check before relying on it.

If the pipe fits, some fibreglass insulation to pack around the pipe and seal off the rest of the flue would be highly worthwhile.

A couple of random thoughts.

1) "Stoves" are hugely more efficient than "fireplaces". So, if gas turns out to be a nonstarter for some reason, consider replacing your existing wood fireplace with a wood stove. Vermont Castings (no affiliation) has some very efficient ones. I've used their wood stoves as well and found them to be great units.

1a) Getting the smallest, high efficiency wood stove you can, potentially will allow you to stretch your wood supplies.

2) If you switch to gas, or if you plan on improvising heating in some way, get some carbon monoxide alarms. You can get combo fire alarm carbon monoxide alarms to replace existing fire alarms, as well as stand along units. You can also get combo gas / carbon monoxide detectors.

-john

We've been going over this currently for our new house.

Our thoughts are this.

The house has a wood stove currently, and enough fire wood on the property awaiting splitting for maybe 2 winters (were in CA so ~5mo winters). We want something that we can 'set' too... so our thoughts.

1. Propane stove that works w/out electricity (less efficient) but will heat the bottom floor none the less w/out a blower motor. (Cost: $1500-$2500 for a nice unit)

2. Pellet stove. Requires very little electricity. 2000w honda generator can run ~15hrs on 1 fuel tank (<2g I believe) and is almost silent. (Cost: $1500-$2500 for a nice unit + $800-1200 for a generator and electrics).

3. Central AC/Heat plumbed to bottom story only (2 rooms, great room and kitchen). We don't need AC but the AC/heat units don't cost much more to add AC. I haven't checked efficiency compared to a propane stove but this may be another option as it can easily be installed on a roof.

4. Keep the Wood stove and get a small/cheap propane ventless high efficient 24,000 BTU "fire place". These are <$500 and may provide great additional heat, and probably enough to keep entire house comfortable (Where we are it doesn't get colder than mid/low 20s most of time high 20's low 30's at night). These are currently not for sale in CA so I would have to arrange importing one.

Ideally I`d love to have a pellet stove next to a wood stove but 2 stoves may look very funny. This way I could use the pellet 99% of the time and the other 1% for power outages I could use wood or run the 1000w honda. It would probably be pretty easy to tie the exhaust vent into both too.

There's more options but those are what we've looked at so far.

In general:
If there is someone in the area that makes them, a custom insert can be built to match the fireplace. If it were to be the main source of heat, get one with a fan. No modifications required especially if there is a blower system already around the fireplace (heatalator(sp?)). It can be rewired to power the stove blower.

If the fireplace draws well, effective isn't the word for a good one. A good load of wood before bed will give you coals in the morning. I don't remember if we stoked it in the morning or after I got in from school. You just have to close the lower vents and almost close the sliding damper that should be built into the top of the insert. Not closing the vents/damper will have you sitting on the porch with the front door open (once it is lit, they burn HOT).

Specific to the question
What are the association rules regarding propane tanks? Is gas service readily available or do you already have gas?

Ventless gas logs have five primary advantages over wood: You don't have to deal with getting a wood pile built up for the season (and store it). No mess from hauling in a handcart of wood a day (this is if it were your main heat source like ours). No wood ashes to clean out (frequency depends on type of wood, size of fire, & design of fire place). The chimney can be sealed such that no heat is lost.

I've lived with all three (fireplace with heatalator(sp?), same fireplace w/ custom built insert, & gas logs) and a free standing stove. Even though I miss having the fireplace with the insert, It doesn't beat not having the associated mess or having to get wood in on a regular basis. Modifying the existing fireplace to run a stove may change the way it draws. The one I've had experience with drew poorly. I think it was because it had a long flat section between the stove & the wall. It can make the difference between lighting large split wood with newspaper & a few scraps of wood and getting frustrated & using a propane torch.

Agreed.


No disagreement here but I'll bet the person with the questionable/forbidden fuel would be very popular during an event where heat was needed, to the point that unwelcome guests would likely need to be turned away.

Face it, in the eyes of the unprepared, we're all dangerous nut cases until something bad happens, like the guy played by Michael Gross in Tremors.

Quadra-Fire has a high-end pellet stove with 12v hookup for power outages that has my attention now Wish it was cheaper.

Hi: From Saskatchewan, Canada. Work in heavy construction and do the safety planning for remote areas. We can get down to -50degrees celcuis, and deadly with wind up. Blizzard in 2007 was a good wakeup call for us, as we had men out in it. As a result, every vehicle has cold weather survivial gear such as the hand and foot warmers, body warmers. I carry and the one pound propane heaters. Propane has a tendency to gell at such cold temperatures, so would need to ensure you fire up before it gets to bottom temperature range. The little gel stoves that backpackers use is a good source of heat, inexpenseive, and lasts for about 12 hours per can. The pccket warmers can be stuck in sleeping bags, and if you put them back into an airtight bag, may be able to deactivate them and reuse. (provided they are air-activated). A portable generator is a good idea, provided it is quiet and you vent the fumes outside, perhaps by using something similar to a dryer vent, like mechanic shops use. CO dector good idea in any case. Our Canadian tire stores sell battery packs that you can run a heater from, (electric plug in). It is pre-charged and kept on standby to run computer equipment and applicances. Would do the trick until it ran out of jpower, though some can be recharged using solar panels.
I have kids, so I make sure that we have plenty of different heat sources int he event of emergency, and we do have alot of heat emergencies these days. A cigeratte plug blanket is also good, and you can use a "power box" type of set up very safely when required. Works great for the car and in emergency road situations. I also used the kerosense heater last year, and smelled really bad. Need to vent windows, and someone awake to monitor.
Bottom line is, carry a bit of everything. It really hurts to be very cold, and even bags of tea lights can help to prevent cold weather emergencies from taking you down.
By the way, tea lights are pretty good too, provided you take the proper percautions. Everything takes planning, though it all definitely worth the work! Good luck, I am doing the same thing here now. I am looking for as many sources of heating my home as safely as possible.

Hey, brodie, welcome aboard, and greetings from an Alberta neighbour.

Looking forward to more details about your safety planning for remote construction crews. 'Boots on the ground' stories carry a lot of weight around here.

Cheers,
Doug

Welcome to the boards, Brodie!

Jeez, -50C sure separates the wheat from the chaff, doesn't it?

I don't think there's much better than multiple options. Backup to your backups, as a certain monster fighter said.

Sue