Our Spaceship Heater, Do-it-yourself

My husband just installed our new Spaceship.... uh... I mean, heater. I've been teasing him that it looks Spaceship-esque, with all the silver tubing and the tall pipe. But I have to give a big kudos to my husband. He did all the engineering and research to get this all figured out. If it was up to me, we'd just be wearing 10 layers of clothing every day and running laps around the house to stay warm.

When we came back from deer hunting (that should be a blog post, but probably won't ever materialize...) in early November, we brought back with us his grandma's old wood-burning furnace that wasn't being used anymore. Jeff made a little house for it (see the brown metal paneling), and added the tubes and smoke stack up. The silver tube on the right guides the heat into the house, and the tube on the left vents air out. 

Jeff installed a thermostat inside the house that hooks up to the furnace outside, but we're still trying to get it regulated. The first day with it on, we were all wearing shorts around the house. ;-)

But the idea is to help us cut costs. Wood that we gather ourselves doesn't cost anything, but buying gas to heat a house that is not insulated costs a lot. And since we're not going to be able to insulate in any way, this was the best option, especially since we're not sure exactly how long we're going to be in this dwelling place. But we sure like it here, living in the country, less than five miles from the church!

This is the side that the door to the furnace is on. Yes, we'll have to come outside to put wood in the stove. But hey, anything to save a buck or several hundred. ;-)