School me on woodstoves
- Thread starter ARGuy
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^ looking forward to replies as well. Only one I'm familar with is a Jotul from New England days.
I had a soapstone stove that I loved. Couldn't use it when I moved the stove to another place in the room, but I like it a lot. From the Woodstock Stove Company.
Heated my home with a 2 Hole cast iron for 3 years. First you must decide on how efficient you want. Mine was very cheap and inefficient but the fuel was free and delivered.
Find someone to build you a good "papa bear" with 1/4 steel plate, or find one at an auction or classifieds. Expensive and heavy, but will last longer than you. I don't know about where you live, but around here, used ones are fairly common in some of the local classified papers. Heat from one of these is all we had growing up - never had central heat/air till college. Out Our house is +1800 square feet with full basement, and mine can have you stripping down to your underwear within an hour of getting it going good when its 20 degrees outside. This won't be a good option though if you don't have good access to plentiful amounts of hardwood.
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You live in a 1800 SF out house. LOL how many seats does that thing have?
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LOL good catch - I fixed it.
Funny story though - back when I was little, a few neighbors within a mile or so of us still had/used an outhouse because they never had an inside toilet installed. Us kids got a kick out using them anytime we were outside playing because it was "ole timey". But we mainly always used the same one because it was a "two-seater", and therefore higher class than the one-holers LOL. Those were the good ole days.
when I was younger and even though my grandpa and grandma had indoor plumbing I enjoyed using the old outhouse just because of the same reason. Had to watch of critters but didn't care. Climbed in an old tobacco barn and shot up old appliances in my latter yrs.
I use a home made unit I was given years ago in my basement like railsplitter pictured above with good success. I have a roll up door in my basement thats unfinshed so just load a small trailer and back it near stove and burn off it and works great. Be warned wood heat if you never had it can be messy if it is in a finshed area being my basement is unfinshed and a man cave of sorts its not a problem for me but can remember mom complaining about it growing up since stove was in dining room area then. I have free source for wood so probably not the best at giving you best stove advice for low wood use but I use it alot in winter paired with my electric heat pump and at times the heat pump won’t come on for long periods from the stove if I keep the fire up. I just left basement door open for heat to rise from basement till I had young kids now I just split a door in half and leave top half open and I have a air return near top of steps and let the heat pump fan run constant. Use 3-4 cords a year depending on temps. But that low power bill and no gas bill is what I like plus it is cozy having stove near your office on cold days.
Slacker
Liquor and Whores...
Fyi, the Fisher bear series is not UL listed.
House fire, insurance wont pay.
Awsome stove though. I have had several.
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What's a UL listing?
LOL The pic of the Fisher was just a pic off the internet I used. Seriously though, is it the same with all insurance companies? I know mine asked if I had a solid fuel heating stove, but they've never asked if it was UL listed or not. I'd wager that every papa bear within 40 miles of here was custom built, many of them by my dad in the 80's.
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Slacker
Liquor and Whores...
What's a UL listing?
That pic you posted is a mama bear.
The Pappa bear has two doors.
Here is a pic of my baby bear.
Love this little stove.
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Exspiravit
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I have a soapstone as well. It's been our only heat source for about 5 years until this winter when I broke down and had a ductless system put in.
They are more expensive and take longer to warm up than metal stoves, but stay hot once they get going and you don't have to worry about rust or the metal thinning out over the years. You have to be diligent about warming them up slow and getting moisture out the first use of the season though or the stones could crack.
They also look nice. Here's the model I ended up with:
With a stack robber/blower it works even better.
When we built our house this started out as a gas log fireplace. I tore that out and put in a TV where the gas logs were. I could play one of those fireplace DVD's and it looked like a roaring fire. Tore that out and put in this wood stove we found at Tractor Supply they had discounted to about $600. I figure with the brick work and triple insulated chimney pipe we have about a grand into it. It has a built in blower that circulates the hot air out from behind it. We have an open floor plan so it keeps the living, dining and kitchen nice and warm.
MacEntyre
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I am probably in the minority, but I think what the industry came up with in response to the EPA asking for a serious reduction in particulates was good. They did two things. First, they made the exhaust a single diameter from the stove to the top of the chimney. That helps any stove in a huge way. Second, they came up with two methods of continuing the combustion, so that most of the "smoke" is burned up, eliminating almost all of the particulates.
The two methods of attaining almost complete combustion are:
1) excess air, injected through perforated steel tubes at the top of the firebox, underneath the reburner plate. This is an excellent, low maintenance modification.
2) a catalytic converter positioned at the front where the exhaust turns to go over the reburner plate. This is an expensive consumable that will plug up one day.
Unfortunately, the EPA is leaning toward requiring catalytic converters in all new stoves.
If I were building in a wood stove, I would try to get one that has both excess air injection and a catalytic converter. I would run it without the catalytic converter. That way, when someone inspects it (who knows?) you will be in compliance.
Lotsa folks mention that your insurance company may have something to say about how you burn wood, and will certainly want the stove to be EPA certified, and the installation to be inspected. That goes against my grain, but it is good advice. If you don't get it inspected, and document it with the insurance company, then after your house burns up for some other reason, they will blame it on the stove and pay nothing.
The two methods of attaining almost complete combustion are:
1) excess air, injected through perforated steel tubes at the top of the firebox, underneath the reburner plate. This is an excellent, low maintenance modification.
2) a catalytic converter positioned at the front where the exhaust turns to go over the reburner plate. This is an expensive consumable that will plug up one day.
Unfortunately, the EPA is leaning toward requiring catalytic converters in all new stoves.
If I were building in a wood stove, I would try to get one that has both excess air injection and a catalytic converter. I would run it without the catalytic converter. That way, when someone inspects it (who knows?) you will be in compliance.
Lotsa folks mention that your insurance company may have something to say about how you burn wood, and will certainly want the stove to be EPA certified, and the installation to be inspected. That goes against my grain, but it is good advice. If you don't get it inspected, and document it with the insurance company, then after your house burns up for some other reason, they will blame it on the stove and pay nothing.
I've got one that I want to get rid of from our basement.PM me if you want it. I can get you the details after I get home tonight.
We put one similar to this in my parents house. I can't recall the exact model: https://www.woodlanddirect.com/Vermont-Bun-Baker-XL-850-Wood-Cook-Stove
The idea was that it would not only provide heat, but it could be used to cook (and oven bake) in a prolonged power outage. If you let it run hot, you will get virtually no noticeable (smell or sight) smoke out of the chimney. The vents are also designed such that running it hot causes gasses that keep the glass door clear.
With the soap stone, once it's hot, it will put out good heat for several hours after the fire goes out.
They are HEAVY though. The foundation was built with a tick pad and then concrete filled CMUs to hold the it and the stone fireplace built around it.
Edit: Looking back over it, I think we put in the 950. Here is a picture of what we did. Pardon the fact that it's grainy, I took it in a room that was pretty dark. The fireplace is built with brick left over from the outside veneer for the structure along with steel lentils to make the frame. It then has firebrick on the inside and then stone surrounding it. Behind it, is cement backer board (the interior walls are insulated). The chimney consists of triple lined flu pipe inside a 12" square terracotta pipe that is also bricked outside of that for the chimney.
The idea was that it would not only provide heat, but it could be used to cook (and oven bake) in a prolonged power outage. If you let it run hot, you will get virtually no noticeable (smell or sight) smoke out of the chimney. The vents are also designed such that running it hot causes gasses that keep the glass door clear.
With the soap stone, once it's hot, it will put out good heat for several hours after the fire goes out.
They are HEAVY though. The foundation was built with a tick pad and then concrete filled CMUs to hold the it and the stone fireplace built around it.
Edit: Looking back over it, I think we put in the 950. Here is a picture of what we did. Pardon the fact that it's grainy, I took it in a room that was pretty dark. The fireplace is built with brick left over from the outside veneer for the structure along with steel lentils to make the frame. It then has firebrick on the inside and then stone surrounding it. Behind it, is cement backer board (the interior walls are insulated). The chimney consists of triple lined flu pipe inside a 12" square terracotta pipe that is also bricked outside of that for the chimney.
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I have the equal of this but home made. Must weigh at least 500 pounds. This will be installed under the new range Shed for winter use.
Ikarus1
Avtomat Krishna-kov
I've been heating my home with wood for a good while now......
My advice: Skip the wood stove and go straight to an outdoor boiler. No interior air quality issues, bugs, etc and you still get the benefit of HOT heat as opposed to a heat pump blowing tepid air around.
That's the plan for the next domicile. And I can tell one of the ubiquitous teens to go start a fire in the boiler without worrying if they're gonna burn the damn house down
My advice: Skip the wood stove and go straight to an outdoor boiler. No interior air quality issues, bugs, etc and you still get the benefit of HOT heat as opposed to a heat pump blowing tepid air around.
That's the plan for the next domicile. And I can tell one of the ubiquitous teens to go start a fire in the boiler without worrying if they're gonna burn the damn house down
Yeah, I would love a wood-fired water heater fed from a hopper. Hot water baseboard heat is supposed to be way more pleasant than the dry heat from electric baseboard or woodstove.
I miss my soapstone stove, but truth is the one I bought from tractor supply is fine.
Ikarus1
Avtomat Krishna-kov
The ones that put a radiator in the HVAC air handler are the solution. 2 water lines and you're done
It is. My grandfathers house, in NE OH (sub zero winters) had it and it always felt warm. I think it puts off some infrared which feels warm in ways sensible neat doesn't.
My in-laws have an All-nighter in the mountains, equivalent to a mama bear. You can attach a blower and it would def heat an 1800 sq ft house IMO. We have a Century wood heater at our house. I attached a blower to it and it heats our 1500 sq ft house with no problem. Sometimes too much heat. lol It costs me nothing but sweat to heat my house. I have a tree company so wood is free.
Most insurance companies ask if the stove is "professionally installed" and will exclude if not. Find Paco, Alphonso, Guillermo or somebody, get them to form a company for professional wood stove installation, get a nice looking header off the internet and an official looking receipt. Get Manuel or whoever to sign it before he goes back to Guatemala, and keep it in case an adjuster gets all aggressive about paying.What's a UL listing?