I have a propane furnace but haven't started it in 7 years. All I burn is wood I cut, haul, split and stack myself. I live in one of the coldest spots in the country and would never pay some a-hole for propane to heat my house. I have 80+ acres of hardwood but I buy a firewood cutting permit from the national forest and cut all the wood I want for the $20 permit. By the time I pay for gas for the truck to haul the wood & the chainsaw I have less than $200 in my home heat for the year. It's good exercise cutting, splitting and carrying the wood too. I just have one wood stove in my living room with 3 ceiling fans in the house to move the air. Nothing beats wood heat on a cold -40 degree night!!!

You can also pay a trucker to bring you a semi-load of wood to your yard you could cut yourself. Or, people will deliver firewood ready to burn to your home also. Wood is a renewable resource and so much goes to waste in the national forests it's unbelievable! Because the tree-huggers protest the logging contracts up here millions and millions of trees are just wasting away falling over dead after they become over mature. They never get their asses off their office chair to see what's really happening in nature believing that it's taboo to cut a damn tree. Our national forests are becoming an over-mature ecosystem that are unable to support wildlife like a newly logged or burned forest can. You will not see deer, elk, bear, wolves, or grouse in a mature forest. They need a younger forest for food and cover. There's a bumper sticker seen often up here that says; Against logging, then wipe your ass with a plastic bag!

TREE HUGGERS SUCK!

Amen Brother!
 

I have a outdoor burner and love the heat and the warmth from the wood and the work that I did to get it there.

MD,

Thanks for the detailed response! (Long time no talk by the way...I'm still alive but my house + work are sucking all my free time).

I did forget to mention that I have a wood stove (1960s) in my finished basement. I have a raised ranch (not my ideal house style-wise but fuctionally it works very well for me). Do you think the heat would rise through the floor/ceiling between the basement and main living floor, or would I need to cut a hole in the floor?

The only issue is that the 'box' of the stove is about ~20" in depth by about 12" in width. I don't think most logs would fit in there, would they?

Chris

Can't you just burn dried cow pats :nanana:

LOL We do not have a cow manure furnace. But you can burn corn...which is silly right now with Corn Futures through the roof. ;)