wood stove advice

[Michael Patrick]

We've been looking for a decent wood stove as the winter approaches... it seems to me that these things simply aren't mad like they used to be (like everything else). In the event that we don't find an old clunky cast iron stove second hand, anyone seen a reasonably priced new wood stove anywhere? I've been looking at Rural King and Northern Tool...

Cheers.

[methusaleh]

Do you have a local showroom you could visit? I admit I thought I knew quite a bit about woodstoves, until I went to a demo at a local store. I was amazed at what I learned and they had a few very nice models there that fit my needs. Now I just need to finish building my house!

[prkchp76]

ok region is key to helping find what you need if you live in nc check out bat cave stoves northern has a small one for a hundred bucks it works thats all ill say. i assume you cannot weld or you would build your own you should check the local swap and shop papers as well as craigs list too if i can be of anymore help pm me

[samuel]

HI have you checked out craigslist in the for sale items antiques for your areashould go for about 75 bucks up to 1200 I'm in NC and they run about all the time

[tbkbtk123]

Welcome the the world of heating with wood! I bought a woodstove in 2000 and it sure did feel good to tell the propane/butane people to shove their $2.50 to $3.00 a gallon fuel where the moon don't shine! *L*
I luckily have enough acreage so as to be able to cut and split my own firewood.

[rsanders]

The best wood stoves I've seen were home made from plate steel and fire brick, and if you want to go high tech you throw a small blower in the back!

ok region is key to helping find what you need if you live in nc check out bat cave stoves northern has a small one for a hundred bucks it works thats all ill say. i assume you cannot weld or you would build your own you should check the local swap and shop papers as well as craigs list too if i can be of anymore help pm me

[plowboy65]

hey have you looked into a rocket stove they burn less wood for the same amount of heat here is what ive found well it won't let me post right now there is more out there what i like is that there is little to no smoke and with a little handy work can heat water hope this helps

[plowboy65]

hey if you all are intersted in them go to you tube there is all kinds all makes some portable and you can heat water with some one guy on there made a steam engine run off of the steam he made with just a hand full of wood any here is one go to youtube 12rocket stove mass heaters- efficient wood heaters. the guy that made them is paul wheaten. some of these are as small they made them out of coffe cans to as big as to be made out of a 55gal barrel. take a look these stoves are pretty neat. some guy made one to heat his bed and couch all i can say is take a look. hope this helps

[slowz1k]

Good call, Plowboy.... Those things are amazing. Anyone interested just do a search on "rocket stove" and you will see endless videos and "how to" information.

[Dracos]

I've been heating with wood all my life and I am old. Its the only way to go. I look at my full woodshed every Fall and know, come hell or high water, I'll be able to cook and keep my house warm. One thing occured to me about thirty years ago. Every cubic foot of air that went into my stove came from air I had already heated inside my house. That air had to be replaced by leaks around doors and windows. It was not a matter of sealing the doors and windows. That air HAD to get in or fire would not burn. So I cut a hole in the wall behind the stove and put a four inch pipe through it. I have a Blaze King with an adjustable air intake on it. I attached the pipe to this intake with a bit of creative pipe fitting. Ever since the house has been draft free and wood consumption is down by one third. From the outside it looks like a cannon sticking out the side of the house, cool.

[slowz1k]

Dracos,
That's awesome!!!
I don't suppose we could get any pics of your setup??????

[prkchp76]

amen drac lets see sme pics sounds awsome

[DizzyLizard]

Couldn't help but put in my 2 cents. We have heated with a coal/wood stove for 14 years. A few years ago I bought a non electric fan from Lehmans. It is great. We never use the blower anymore! It really helps distribute the heat with no electricity! It is a must have.

[m38]

Dracos hit on the one thing I'm surprised more wood stove dealers don't talk about. the simple concept of using outside air for combustion. I have a 10 year old home, over 4,000 sf, that I heat with a 30 year old Earth Stove. I can do it because I did what Dracos did, piped in outside air for the fire box. I live in the mountains of Colorado, out in an open field where the wind blows 75% of the time. So heating a home here is not easy. But drawing outside air makes the difference. I've helped a few friends also do this. We've experimented with pipe size. What we found is that you want an outside air pipe that is 1/2 the diameter of the chimney to get good air flow. In my case my chimney is 8 inches. My air pipe is 4 inches. With that combination the stove can draft all the air it needs to burn efficiently, but not so much that it creates a wind tunnel in one end and out the other.

I buy my wood from local loggers, usually getting the cull logs they can't sell to mills, for a good discount. I can buy all the wood I need for a 9-month burn period for what it would cost me for 2 months of propane. I still have the propane as a backup for those days when we're not home to feed the fire. I put a Mr. Heat heat exchanger on the chimney pipe to capture some of the lost heat going out the chimney. I added some ductwork to the face of the Mr. Heat to carry the heat to an upstairs floor duct. That helps quite a bit with the hot air circulation through the house.

I installed the stove and chimney myself with a friend to help. But before I did, I checked with the county building department to see what restrictions were in effect, and what requirements I needed to meet. Don't just stuff a chimney pipe through the wall and think it's good. I'd hate for your house to burn down, especially in a snow storm. Some places require new wood stoves with catalitic converters for clean combustion. My county doesn't, so my old Earth Stove was OK to install. Someday when I get enough posts to be able to post links or photos I'll put up a photo of our set up.

I absolutely think every wood stove should have outside air piped in for combustion. What a difference that makes!!

[Oscar Wilde]

.... I absolutely think every wood stove should have outside air piped in for combustion. What a difference that makes!!

I appreciate your write up. Looking forward to your photos.

O.W.