Does anyone here have one? It's a large initial investment, but with the rising cost of energy and the option of preheating the hot water supply it seems that it would be worth it. Wood is cheap here, as in free if you want to take the clean ups from areas that have been logged & I already have chainsaws and a truck.
I'd like to hear from someone who has been living with one and hear pros and cons, things to consider before purchase, plumbing and planning a system, etc. There are a lot of them in use around here, but I don't know anyone personally who has one yet.
I know these things need a certain amount of electrical power when integrated into an existing forced air system and that's one of my worries. We get a lot of ice storms. If the furnace fan won't circulate the heat generated what then? Running a baseboard fin tube radiant option would be best, but economically not doable. I'd like to be able to keep both me and the plumbing from freezing if we have a power outage for any length of time.
I'm in the "Kicking this idea around" stage and as you can see, don't know a hell of a lot yet, so I'd like to hear any and all ideas related to this to move me along the learning curve a bit. Thanks.
