Hi,

I want to change my heating source from electric to either wood or
pellet.

I've been looking around for stoves and there are different kinds.

On the specs they all have a btu amount which I believe is the max heat
output the stove will do.

My question is, how do I calculate the amount of heat needed for my
house to run an efficient stove?

1 get someone to do a load calculation. 2 figure what btu you output
with present electric system and run time by kwh cost for heat in
winter. Wood and pellet are going to give off soot and smell. have you
compared the costs of Ng, oil and propane to electric and wood. For me
Ng is cheapest, unless my wood is free.

wrote:
Hi,

I want to change my heating source from electric to either wood or
pellet.

I've been looking around for stoves and there are different kinds.

On the specs they all have a btu amount which I believe is the max
heat output the stove will do.

My question is, how do I calculate the amount of heat needed for my
house to run an efficient stove?

If you are looking to save money, don't assume it will be cheaper to
heat with wood or pellets. For most people it will be more expensive unless
they have a source of very cheap or free fuel.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I want to change my heating source from electric to either wood or
pellet.

I've been looking around for stoves and there are different kinds.

On the specs they all have a btu amount which I believe is the max heat
output the stove will do.

My question is, how do I calculate the amount of heat needed for my
house to run an efficient stove?

There is more to ch anging over th an just putting in a h eater.

To determine your needs, you can do calculations that take into
consideration the construction, insulation etc. You could get a rough idea
by adding up the wattage of all the heaters in the house.

OK, now that we know we need XXX Btu, do you buy that sized pellet or wood
stove? You must also consider heat distribution either by air or water.
That is going to be a major installation. Just plopping a big hater in one
room does not mean you will have either economy or comfort through the
house. With wood, thee are also consideration of what to do in mild weather
when you don't need more than taking off the morning chill. The electric may
be good backup for that. Do a lot of research before you buy.

Thanks for the replies.

What I would like to know is how to calculate the heating needs for my
house.

I run electrical heat, but I dont run it at confortable settings to
save on hydro.
If I did that my costs in the winter would probably double.

Pellet stove would definetly be cheaper than hydro for me.
On all the calculators that I found out there pellet stove would be
cheaper.

That is not my concern, what I need to find is the ideal range in btu
for my stove to properly heat the area.
Is a 30000btu enough or do I need a 70000Btu for my house??
That is what I am trying to find.

How do I calculate that?

What do you mean "save on Hydro" , what is your Kwh cost, location, and
size of house.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for the replies.

What I would like to know is how to calculate the heating needs for my
house.

That is not my concern, what I need to find is the ideal range in btu
for my stove to properly heat the area.
Is a 30000btu enough or do I need a 70000Btu for my house??
That is what I am trying to find.

How do I calculate that?

Here is a start http://www.acca.org/tech/manualj/addenda/addendumA.pdf

You can buy a program http://mrhvac.com/products/software/elc/elc_qa.htm

Try this: http://www.natresnet.org/conference/...ons/Storer.pdf

"m Ransley" wrote in message
...
What do you mean "save on Hydro" , what is your Kwh cost, location, and
size of house.


The poster discussing "Hydro" is in eastern Canada, probably Quebec
Province, though possibly eastern Ontario.

"Hydro" is a local slang term for "electricity", whch is in those locations
produced primarily by "Hydro Quebec", hence "Hydro".

"save on Hydro" means "save on electricity".



--
Jim McLaughlin

Reply address is deliberately munged.
If you really need to reply directly, try:
jimdotmclaughlinatcomcastdotcom

And you know it is a dotnet not a dotcom
address.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for the replies.

What I would like to know is how to calculate the heating needs for my
house.

That is not my concern, what I need to find is the ideal range in btu
for my stove to properly heat the area.
Is a 30000btu enough or do I need a 70000Btu for my house??
That is what I am trying to find.

How do I calculate that?

I would start with knowing the capacity of your present electrical
system?

Do you know it in BTU/Hr or in kW?

Mark

this link takes you to get CONVERT freeware and you can mathematically
convert all your electrical heaters to BTU.

http://www.joshmadison.com/software/

Heating Degree Day - A form of degree day used to estimate the required
energy for heating. One heating degree day occurs for each degree the
daily mean temperature is below 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

now if your rooms are always comfortable in all seasons, this should
mean that there is sufficient heat available to you in each room.
looking at the electric heat bill can tell you how many KWH you bought
in the coldest month. if you have individual room heaters check their
electrical plates for the information you need. NOAA national weather
service posts degree days by date and month, use this data to compare
the cold weather month of billing to the degree days information and be
sure to use actual not calculated or estimated billings. remember that
simple electric heat is 100% efficient. compare the energy inefficiency
of a wood vented device [perhaps at 70% ? find out]and know before you
buy input and output btu comparison info. you can also read the
electric meter daily and compare to the degree days for daily
factoring.

example of buffalo climate info at:
http://www.wunderground.com/history/....html#calendar

lots of degree day months and cities at:
http://www.nrcc.cornell.edu/ccd/nrmhdd.html

or for your area search google for degree days climate nws noaa city

So far as a wood stove, I figure I can build a large fire or a small fire in
the largest model, but can only build a small fire in the small model.

So I got the largest model, and this has worked out just fine. Small fires
on warmer days, larger fires on cold days.

And a woodstove is about the furthest thing from being scientific (BTU's,
etc) you can find. Heat output would differ depending on type of wood
burning, how much wood burning, size of pieces of wood burning, etc.

But they do give BTU ratings for various models.

" wrote on 29 Nov 2005:

What I would like to know is how to calculate the heating needs
for my house.

It's a fairly complicated calculation, for which you'll need lots
of data unique to your house.

This article will describe generally how a heat loss calculation
works:

http://www.dougboulter.com/repair/plumbing.htm#heatloss

--
Doug Boulter

To reply by e-mail, remove the obvious word from the e-mail address

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 17:26:01 -0800, "Jim McLaughlin" jim.mclaughlin
wrote (with possible editing):

"m Ransley" wrote in message
...
What do you mean "save on Hydro" , what is your Kwh cost, location, and
size of house.


The poster discussing "Hydro" is in eastern Canada, probably Quebec
Province, though possibly eastern Ontario.

"Hydro" is a local slang term for "electricity", whch is in those locations
produced primarily by "Hydro Quebec", hence "Hydro".

"save on Hydro" means "save on electricity".

Wow, I'm in northern NH where we pay 13 cents per kwh, but just 10
miles north in Hereford, Quebec, they pay 2 1/2 cents per kwh. Hard
to imagine saving any money at that price.
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

You say in Hereford Quebec its 0.025 kwh-canadian or US, either way I
wonder if I could run an extension cord up there, at 2.5 its only
cheaper if you cut wood yourself.

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:01:35 -0600, (m Ransley)
wrote (with possible editing):

You say in Hereford Quebec its 0.025 kwh-canadian or US, either way I
wonder if I could run an extension cord up there, at 2.5 its only
cheaper if you cut wood yourself.

Actually, that's US$ 0.025.

Darn right. Years ago, the New Hampshire Electric Co-op (our power
supplier) guaranteed a loan for $100,000,000.00 to PSNH for Seabrook
(nuclear plant). I and a bunch of others, protested, saying that
instead for less money the company could tie into Quebec Hydro. At
the time PSNH said the plant would generate power at $0.045/kwh.
Obviously wholesale power was much cheaper from the folks up north.
PSNH argued that they wanted to keep power supplies domestic. We
argued that Quebec needed us as much as we needed them. We lost, but
history proved us right and PSNH wrong. (Seabrook only got 1/2 built
and PSNH has been through bankruptcy twice and NHEC once)

I believe that's called a "Pyhrric Victory"... Oh well.
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com