For those of you with woodstoves, have you ever had any safety problems? I would love to have one and think that I could save a ton on oil and be far more "sustainable" by just heating my main living area with wood (possibly also biobricks or the like), but I'm concerned about safety. I remember reading about someone having a scary chimney fire a while ago, but can't remember if it was in connection with a woodstove . . .
My main concern is a fire, especially at night or while away from the house (by the way, around here, people do not "put out" the fire in their woodstove upon leaving the house, is that the norm, is that safe?) Most of the house and the part where the stove would most likely be, is made of wood and has wood floors and wood "beadboard" walls. I know you put a "fireguard" panel over the floor and walls under/behind the stove but I'm still concerned it would catch fire from the heat transfer.
Smoke/carbon dioxide - My house leaks like a sieve in terms of airflow and I also have a full hard-wired smoke and CO2 alarm system. So, danger of some sort of middle-of-the-night smoke/CO2 problem very low, right?
Chimney fire - When we moved in, previous person had a gas stove (not a cooking stove, but a heating-type) that shared a chimney and flue with the oil heater. Heard this is dangerous and don't plan to put stove in the same location anyway, so would likely have one of those metal chimneys just for the wood stove. Any issues there? How often do you have to clean it and is there something about what type of wood you use that makes a difference in whether you are prone to a chimney fire?
Kiddos/pets - My main concern about the kids had been when they were still more in a toddler stage, that they might touch it or fall on it. Any other concerns to think about re: kids or pets?
How do you right size it to your space?
Any thoughts much appreciated.