Year later

Almost a year later! To be honest I forgot I started those blog. Anyway,  I will back story how the stove worked last year and bring it up to it's current status.

Deciding on the furnace

I will spare you all of the back story, but I had narrowed it down to either a USSC 8500 Multi-fuel furnace or a Fahrenheit 50.  I was leaning towards the Fahrenheit as it was made in Holland, MI, about an hour and a half from where I live.  I figured, keep it local, right?  Comparing the two, the Fahrenheit seemed like the natural choice:


                       Fahrenheit                                    USSC
Thermostat          Yes                                             No  (Heat settings, etc)
Auto-Ignite          Yes                                             No
99% Burn Efficient  Yes                                        No (~80%)
Hopper Capacity   116#                                         240#

Those are just the highlights, seems like a no brainer, right?  Well,  here is the deal breaker,  the base price of the Fahrenheit was $3995, and I could get the USSC for $1999! We had to decide if the extra $2000 was worth it, and we decided it was not. The USSC 8500 it was.  So we went to our local farm store, and made the purchase!

Multi-Fuel Furnace

What has led up to this blog was our desire to either do away with, or greatly reduce our yearly propane bill.  For the 2013/2014 season our propane bill was ~$2800.00!  So we made the decision this fall to purchase a multi-fuel furnace.  Granted, it was a cold winter last year, but still, propane is one of the costliest ways to heat a home.

Everything involved with that decision I will share here. As well as our plans moving forward, growing our own fuel!  During our process I found information spotty at best, and much of the information was inconsistent, even from manufacturers.   Hopefully someone will benefit, and have their experience made just a little bit easier.