What’s that thing in your yard?

When we get visitors to the ranch, it doesn’t take long for them to ask about the metal thing in the middle of our yard. It takes us a little bit longer to explain that is how we heat our house in the winter.

Let me explain, before you think we moved off grid or into the 1800s. When we bought our almost 4000-square-foot farm house, it came with all the modern luxuries we expected — electricity, A/C, gas furnace… indoor plumbing, etc. It also came with farm luxuries, like our own pond, many acres to play on, and a Hardy Heater.

This outdoor wood-burning furnace consists of a stainless-steel tank filled with water surrounding a fire box. It works by burning wood to the heat water. The heated water is circulated through insulated underground pipes to the house where they connect to our water heater through a heat exchanger.

Since moving to the ranch, we have learned about many of the benefits of using the Hardy Heater instead of the gas furnace.

1. Inexpensive Heat
   For us, using the gas furnace is not the best option. Other than electricity, we do not have access to city utilities like natural gas and water. Instead we have a 250-gallon propane tank that has to be filled regularly. In the middle of a Missouri winter, to keep our three-story house warm, we would go through all 250 gallons of propone in a matter of weeks, making our heating bill higher than $1000 a month.
   
   Instead, we either cut our own or purchase wood from an entrepreneurial teenager, and just pay for the electricity required to run the blower and circulating pump in the Hardy Heater. All in all, this adds up to a fraction of what our propane bill would be.
2. More Than Just Heat
   Our Hardy Heater is hooked up to heat more than just the air in the house. It is also hooked up to the gas water heater. This means when we’re using it, specifically in the winter, we can turn the gas off and just use the wood burner to heat the water. This gives us hot water on demand, whenever we want it. With teenagers in the house, this sure makes getting ready in the morning a lot more enjoyable – no one uses up all the hot water!
3. Autonomy
   When we bought the ranch, we moved to the country not off grid. But, it sure is nice to not have to rely on a utility company and rising fuel costs to keep warm. Eventually, I would love to move us to self-generated power and convert to solar; but, we’re not ready for that yet.
   

Don’t Get Me Wrong, There are Some Cons

Saving money and having access to hot water 24/7 is great, but there are some negative aspects of relying on the Hardy Heater each winter. To start, collecting wood is hard work and a year-round job. Each summer, we cut, gather, and try to store enough wood to get through a Missouri winter. To heat a our house, we need multiple cords of wood. A standard, full cord of wood is a volume of 128 cubic feet, measured as a pile 8 feet long, 4 feet high and 4 feet wide.

The other downside is when we’re using the heater – in the winter, when it’s uncomfortably cold, we have to go outside at least twice a day to stoke the fire. Keeping the house warm is one of many chores we didn’t have in our past, suburban life. But, for us, the trade-off for the life we live today is well worth it.