Woodstove owner? Convert it to a water heater. Save big!

I live in upstate New York. Not everyone is lucky enough to live in rural America. This is a suggestion for those who do.

I have two stoves I use with varying regularity for heat. In the basement is my corn pellet stove. My wood stove is in the living room.

Until last year, the only purpose for these stoves was to heat the house. Then I found a website, www.hilkoil.com, offering a new kind of water-heater. Instead of using oil or gas or electricity, it uses the heat from a stove. Any kind of stove. I decided to install the water-heater in my woodstove, since that's the one I use the most.

They call it a "Thermo-Bilt Coil", and it's a loop of stainless steel. It actually mounts inside the stove. I just cut two holes in the side, near the stovetop, with the hole-saw bit included in the kit. I think the whole kit cost me less than $150. If you're not the handy type, your regular handiman should also have an easy time installing it. Thermo-Bilt provides a good set of instructions (which are written in the U.S.A.)!

This doesn't mean I am abandoning my regular water heater. When I'm not using the stove, I just turn on the circuit breaker for my hot water tank. If instead I use my woodstove, the hot water goes straight from there, into the regular (turned off, electric) hot water tank.

The stainless steel coil heats my water to the same hot temp as my electric tank. It easily paid for itself the first winter. Now, for six months out of the year, I can stop paying the electric company for all my hot water.