We have been using our new wood stove for a week now. It is wonderful. Initially I am worried that since we put it in the basement the heat will not travel up the main floor. It does take a long time for the heat to travel up the stairs but eventually it is warm (about 20 ºC). The trick is that the wood stove has to be hot and the basement is warm enough before the hot air rises up. It is very comfortable in the basement so sometimes we would sit there and talk or sing hymns together.
Burning wood is a lot of work and I can’t believe the amount of wood we burn everyday. If we want to heat the whole house we need at least 20 pieces of wood (16″ in length and 3-4″ across). Nevertheless, it is cheaper than oil and the kids like watching the fire. If there is a power outage, we know we are not left in the cold.