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If you want to heat your home with wood, should you choose a woodburning furnace or boiler rather than a woodstove? Woodstoves generally cost less and have better overall efficiency and lower emissions, but sometimes stoves just aren't practical as the sole heat source in homes with many rooms. Some people also prefer a furnace to keep the associated mess or potential hazard out of the main living space.
Central wood heaters and boilers, normally installed in the basement or a utility room, distribute their heat with forcedhot-air or circulating hot-water systems, and can heat any home. If you have a ready supply of firewood and you enjoy handling wood, a wood furnace or boiler may be a good choice.
The best modern wood-fired furnaces are designed to achieve extremely hot fires that create a lot of usable heat and leave little in the way of emissions to go up the stack. Except for the handling of the firewood, these heaters tend to function more or less like their oil- or gas-fired competitors and are generally controlled by a standard thermostat. When your home is warm enough, the thermostat causes the damper to close, and the fire burns at a reduced level. When more heat is called for, the damper automatically opens again and the fire comes back to a higher temperature.
Click on one of the manufacturers to the right to view our current line of Wood and Wood-Combo Furnaces.
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PSG
Thermo-Control
United State Stove Company
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