I have a free or cheap supply of wood, but it sounds like I can get efficiency out of a woodburning fireplace, is that true?
Not entirely, while most woodburning fireplaces are relatively innefficient (around 30%), there are high efficiency woodburning fireplaces which can either heat an entire house, or provide extremely efficient zone heating. We use Napoleon Fireplaces NZ6000, NZ3000, and NZ26 high efficiency wood burning fireplaces, and offer a full line of wood stoves and inserts from them as well. The thing is you need to expect to pay a steep entry price to get into these units, but if you have a good supply of wood, they will pay for themselves over time.
