In my old house, that is how we heated all winter and I paid very, very little for the actual furnace needs. In fact it rarely turned on as we kept the wood burning almost 24/7.Last night we fired up the wood stove for the first time and had a nice fire going for the evening. I had been thinking of having the stove part taken out, and having a plain old fireplace. But I discovered that there is a sort of built in fan that will warm the whole house when wood is burning. This could save on heating bills, I'm hoping.
Sheena and Zoey stayed clear at first, but as the fire died down they cautiously explored the hearth.