Alternative Heating and Cooling Equipment
There are ways to save energy in your home that require investments in auxiliary heating or cooling equipment. Some of those options are listed below.Wood -- a Renewable Fuel
Wood, of course, has been used as a heating fuel for as long as people have been on the earth. In the overall span of that time, only relatively recently have people sought to increase the benefit of wood's heat-producing ability by containing the burning process inside a metal enclosure.
A variety of high-efficiency wood-burning stoves, fireplaces, and fireplace inserts are currently on the market.
Wood can be used as a primary heat source but more often plays a supplementary role to a central heating furnace or boiler. And while burning wood can reduce our dependence on oil or gas, the fact remains that wood has to come from somewhere. You have to purchase it or cut it, split it, stack it, and store it yourself. But for those with access to an inexpensive or free supply of wood, installing and using a wood-burning stove or insert can make a dramatic difference in your utility bill.
Fireplaces -- Not So Efficient
Burning wood in an older, conventional fireplace is not the best way to generate heat; the wood burns uncontrollably and inefficiently. In fact, 90 percent of the heat energy produced goes up the flue, along with a lot of dirty smoke. Worse, this type of fire gobbles up a huge amount of room air that is used to help combust the fuel and convey it up the chimney. That air is drawn into the house from many different places: It leaks through and around windows and doors, and cracks and gaps in the exterior siding and foundation. It is possible to sit in a room that has a roaring fire blazing in an open fireplace, yet still feel a cold draft of air at your back as air rushes toward the fire.
Glass doors on the front of an open fireplace help increase the efficiency, but there is still a lot of heat going up the flue that could better be used to heat the house.
Fireplace Inserts
A cast iron or steel fireplace insert mounted inside an open fireplace provides many of the benefits of a wood-burning stove. The metal radiates heat into the room, an adjustable opening on the front of the insert allows control of the air going into the firebox for more efficient burning, and many inserts are available with glass panels in the doors, which provide a view of the fire. Nearly any open fireplace can be retrofitted with an insert, and the difference in the heat produced is well worth the effort and expense.
Woodstoves
Cast-iron, steel, or stone woodstoves can be both beautiful and efficient. Like fireplace inserts, the metal radiates heat in all directions, the burning of the fire is controlled by regulating the flow of air into the firebox, and many stoves come with glass panels that allow the fire to be seen. A surround made of masonry material can soak up heat while the fire is burning and later radiate it into the house, acting as a heat-storage device.
A drawback to woodstoves is that they take up space in the home and might not be easily added to an existing home. A metal or masonry flue has to be provided for safe venting of the hot combustion gases, so a clear path from the stove to the roof has to be available. Additionally, as with any wood-burning device, hauling wood in and out during the heating season can be messy and might introduce insects into the home.
Stand-Alone Wood Furnaces
Exterior wood furnaces hit the market some years ago, and their popularity continues to rise. A stand-alone unit consists of a small building outside the house that contains a large wood-burning stove. The stove heats a jacket filled with water, which is then pumped into the house through a set of underground pipes. The pipes enter the house and travel to a conventional air handler inside a furnace.
Inside the furnace the water passes through a heat exchanger unit that acts and looks much like the radiator on the front of a car. Water flowing through the heat ex-changer gives up its heat to the air, pushed by the blower fan in the furnace. The heat is then distributed throughout the house through the existing ductwork.
The advantages to such systems are many. They require fueling only once or twice a day and burn large logs that don't require much splitting or cutting. The combustion process takes place safely outside the home. And the mess of hauling, splitting, and storing wood is all confined to the outdoors. The only thing that enters the house from the system is the hot water traveling through the piping. Provided with a source of wood for the winter, a homeowner could heat his or her entire home with such a system instead of just a room or two, as is typical with a woodstove or insert. If retrofitted to an existing HVAC system, the original gas or oil burner can be left in place, providing a convenient backup if, for instance, the occupants are away for several days.
Corn and Pellet Stoves
In areas where field corn, usually used to feed livestock, is available inexpensively, corn stoves are another heating alternative. Corn stoves have a hopper on top or on the side into which bags or bushels of loose corn are deposited. A thermostatically controlled auger shuffles kernels of the corn into a small firebox a few at a time. Inside the firebox a clean, intense fire combusts the corn, turning it into heat that is moved around the room by a small fan.
Homeowners with access to a small field and the means to plant and harvest their own corn or access to inexpensive corn purchased directly from a farmer or grain elevator can generate their own heat economically with a corn stove. Venting the stove can be accomplished via a small fluepipe that can either penetrate the roof or exit through a sidewall of the house. The latter feature can make the installation of a corn stove easier than a woodstove, in some cases.
Bags of corn can be stored in a compact space, can be hauled easily, and don't require any further processing -- unlike the cutting and splitting necessary with wood. Because corn contains oil and ethanol, both of which burn cleanly, only a small amount of ash develops in the firebox. Some corn stoves draw combustion air from outside the house, eliminating the need for make-up air that otherwise would be drawn inside through holes and gaps in the building's exterior shell.
Corn stoves require electricity to operate and thus cannot run during a power outage. However, some have provisions for a backup battery that allows the stove to function in emergencies.
Some corn stoves can also burn pellets -- compressed nuggets of sawmill waste. There are also pellet stoves available, designed only for that use. Corn cannot be burned in pellet stoves. Pellets are available in bags from farm and feed stores, as well as from places that sell wood and pellet stoves. Pellet and corn stoves are also available in fireplace insert configurations.
Masonry Heaters
Unlike open fireplaces, masonry heaters burn wood in an enclosed firebox. The combustion gases travel through a maze of masonry passages where they release their heat. After the fire burns out, heat continues to radiate from the masonry for hours. Masonry heaters are often large and expensive, and some of the ones made with polished soapstone are architectural marvels. Most masonry heaters are built into new homes since placing a foundation under one in an existing home can be problematic. Because of its size, a room or an entire area usually must be designed around a masonry heater.
While many woodstoves restrict the air intake in order to make wood burn longer, masonry heaters are made to accommodate short, hot fires. The heat extracted from the wood is then transferred to the masonry, which then releases that stored heat to the house after the fire goes out.
Swamp Coolers
What if someone offered you the opportunity to purchase a device that would function similarly to an air conditioner at about half the price of a conventional A/C system and would run on a fraction of the electricity? Such a product exists. It's called a "swamp cooler" or "evaporative cooler."
Swamp coolers are designed to be used only in areas where the air is relatively dry, because they add moisture to the air. But in suitable climates, swamp coolers can reduce cooling costs dramatically.
In addition to lower initial costs, swamp coolers operate on less than a quarter of the electricity required by a conventional air-conditioning system. And they run on only 120 volts as opposed to 240 volts, which can cut installation costs further by eliminating the necessity for additional wiring or a possible electrical service upgrade.
Swamp coolers operate by blowing air through wet pads. The air emerges as much as 20 degrees cooler after it passes through the unit. Because particles of air pollutants remain behind on the wet surface of the pads, swamp coolers provide some air filtration as well.
The air is blown into the house, slightly humidified. At least one window must be open when using a swamp cooler in order to allow the air to be blown inside to escape somewhere. There are some window-mounted swamp coolers available, but the usual installation is a whole-house system that can tie into existing or new ductwork. Water can be supplied manually to a holding tank or automatically via a hose or piped connection; consumption averages between about 2-15 gallons per day. Systems can use a thermostat for control purposes, and 2- or 3-stage or variable-speed fans provide precise management of the cool air input.
