Milo, do your research as overall it is a costly exercise.

We live in a 100 year old small house (2 bedroom) that has a double fireplace (one side to the lounge, one to the kitchen) and a very sound chimney.

When Shirley moved in mid-1980 the lounge had a very old gas heater and in the kitchen a very old combustion stove that was virtually unusable as it was rotted out.

In the early 1990's we replaced the gas heater in the lounge, no flue required, as the old heater barely warmed the lounge let alone the rest of the house. This newer Rinnai heater would warm half the house.  In 2004 we replaced the rotted out combustion stove with a Nectre Bakers Oven which is a cross between a combustion stove and a Pot Belly Stove. We did not get the model that can also heat water as plumbing costs would have been just too much.

We recently replaced the lounge gas heater with a new Rinnai Sapphire heater (remote controlled) which is very efficient and does warm the whole house. Again we did not need a flue to be fitted as the chimney is still very sound.

Now returning to the wood heater, the Nectre Bakers Oven, which required a flue to get the air draw, is great. It does warm the whole house plus you can cook both in the oven and on the top of the unit.  When loaded up it will burn overnight keeping away that morning chill from all rooms.

 However there is a downside to the wood burning stove, if you live in the suburbs and dont have access to wood. 

Over the last eight years the price of Redgum firewood in our area has risen to near $300 per tonne and we use around 3 tonne per winter when we are home. Then there is also an $80 cost each year to get the Flue cleaned of the deposits that build up which is a necessary ongoing cost as the fire is just not efficient if the flue is even partially blocked, fully blocked it is R/S.

Another aspect is the wood supply. We installed a large shed to store the wood.  We used a few different wood suppliers and here was quite a difference in how full the shed was when ordering 2 tonne of wood??  The wood is delivered to the nature strip and whilst in the process of moving outback to the shed, which takes the best part of a day, we have had a number of cars stop and look over the wood and ask if we wanted it??  So we certainly would not leave the wood out there overnight.  Our fire box is pretty standard i.e. 12"x12"x12", but at least 1/4  to a 1/3 of the wood delivered needs to be either cut or split to fit into the firebox, which is OK as we have a chainsaw and splitter but this still takes the best part of another day.

We love our Pot Belly stove, and whilst able will continue to use it as for us nothing beats a wood fire. However we got the new gas fire as it is certainly easier to use and probably over all more economical when considering the cost/work involved with the wood supply. Last year we managed to source wood around the neighbourhood, trees being cut down, fences removed, etc. which after drying out the felled trees filled our wood shed and should see us through this winter for only the cost of my time and effort.

BTW our house is too low to the ground for gas ducted heating which I prefer, and we are not sure a slit system reverse cycle air con (heating) would achieve the results we now get with the Pot Belly or the new Gas heater.