Wood Burning Stoves

17220 Views 256 Replies 46 Participants Last post by lasers, 2 mo ago

hoplite59

Discussion Starter · Feb 19, 2021

All, starting this thread in order to draw on prodigious Community knowledge we have access to. We are looking to purchase and install a wood burner in our home to have a secondary heat source. In the Generac thread I posted the backlog/shortage of product that manufacture is experiencing so plan B (which was going to be tertiary option) of a wood burner jumped to th front of the line.

In researching wood burners I came across the info of a 26% Tax Credit for the unit (from an approved EPA list) and install. If your unit meets efficiency guidelines you can reduce your outlay by a chunk.

We are leaning towards the US Stove brand . My concern is that we may not be able to cook on the unit. Also assuming electricity goes down, how do I keep the blower going without a generator ?

Woodstove Database | Burnwise | US EPA

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SAM 2021

· #213 · 3 mo ago

hoplite59 said:
I was asking if using paper to start the fire is a good idea after one of the posts above seemed to poopoo the idea.

I use junk mail, Kleenex/Paper towels, cardboard. -- and the carcasses of door to door salemen, that's what will clog up your chimney...

We throw shrimp shells, scraps, and such in the fire. Prevents the critters from getting into the trash outside.

I usually clean out our stove pipes 2x a burning season, but we burn 24/7 in the Winter.
It takes too long to heat up, if the stove goes out, so I split some over-nighters from 20" rounds just split in half, damper down and throw on before bedtime, coals in the morning.

Never had a chimney fire...knock on wood

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SAM 2021

· #215 · 3 mo ago

hoplite59 said:
Found a great firewood operation about 20 minutes from home. Kiln dried hardwoods . Face Cord $275 !!!!! Full Cord $775. Does that seem a bit high ? I figure I'll buy some as I continue to build my pile from cutting my trees and scrounging. Does most of this pile look like ash to you guys ?

I think a unit of 2x4s is cheaper...
I have heard of high prices, but never that!

Shop around for sure.

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SAM 2021

· #218 · 3 mo ago

hoplite59 said:
I'm going to call that place back. Maybe I had a dullard on the phone or maybe he figured he would railroad a wood burning newbie. Kiln dried is great but at double the price ?

Kiln dried is gonna burn like kindling, at least lodgepole and doug fir.
Maybe hardwood won't burn as fast, we do not have hardwoods in our parts, so I can not speak on that. Some of the hardwoods need to dry out for a couple of years though.

I thought $200 a cord was outrageous in our area.

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SAM 2021

· #223 · 3 mo ago

Done4theday said:
I burn bones from dinner on a very hot fire , then when cool I remove them from the ash, crumble in hand and use as a fertilizer. it adds phosphorus to the soil . buying bone meal is expensive.

So you burn the bones of Door to Door Salesmen too...

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SAM 2021

· #227 · 3 mo ago

Split a big round in half only and throw it in for an overnighter, you will have coals in the morning.

See less See more

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SAM 2021

· #229 · 3 mo ago

hoplite59 said:
Do door to door salesmen even exist these days ?

Not too many anymore, I have no idea why they quit sending them around.

Now if we could just start working on those telemarketers...

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SAM 2021

· #244 · 2 mo ago

Potawatomi II said:
I've had this installed for 3 nights now and can give an initial review.

Pros: It looks nice my wife really likes it.
It does burn green wood fairly well. A big surprise from the review, and a real plus for me.
The blower that came with it is more than adequate.
The top does heat up enough to use my heat powered fans on it, and while I haven't been burning real hot during the day one of the times that I checked the surface was a hair over 200* so it would work just fine for a dutch oven of stew or chili.

Cons: This is the first stove I've had that is wider than it is deep and I don't like that. It's awkward to load it for the night.
While the stove has an ash tray you have to let the fire go out to get the ashes down into the tray. Don't know what engineer came up with that idea but I want what he was smoking.
The blower is louder than I was expecting.

That's the quick and dirty from the little bit that I've used it so far.

Does it have to have the blower to work?
Can you still heat/cook if there is a power outage?

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SAM 2021

· #246 · 2 mo ago

Potawatomi II said:
No it works fine without it. Wood stoves don't need blowers like wood burning furnaces do but a lot of them do have blowers to help spread the heat.

OK. Ours doesnt even have anything like that, but they are old fashioned straight pipes, no catalitic combuster or baffles, etc.

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SAM 2021

· #251 · 2 mo ago

Potawatomi II said:
Unfortunately it's 13" and I'm just not ambitious enough to cut everything that short. No worries though, while it's awkward to load it gets easier every time, and I used interlocking bricks as fire resistant flooring so if one rolls out when loading (already happened actually) it's not going to start a fire.

I'm actually happy with the stove for the price that I paid so things could be a lot worse.

Wow, 13" is pretty small. Your gonna have to saw some short logs.
Your stove is only 13" deep or 13" wide?

A hearth pad is solid and no cinders can fall through to your floor and smolder.
You have a backing pad on the wall too?

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SAM 2021

· #253 · 2 mo ago

OK 20" that makes more sense.
I was thinking you had a trash burning stove. They are only about 12" x 12"

I'm thinking about building a mini stove for my camper.
It wouldn't take much to heat a small RV size.
Isaw some folks with one that they set up the stove pipe out a window, then they took it down for travel. But I did not get to see the stove.

A rocket stove size would be fine I think, just be able to control the heat and a safe way to load it while it is burning. Hmm, now you have me thinking.

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SAM 2021

· #256 · 2 mo ago

lasers said:
If you want comfort in a small space put in a full size stove.

Small stoves require small wood. That means constant feeding and cycles of too hot(to the point it is scary) to too cold. Then back to too hot when you feed it again.

A full size stove let's you burn bigger wood and gives a much longer and consistent heat output.

It is also probably safer because you are less likely to let it get out of control.

I do not think a full sized stove will fit in our camper,
if that is what youre refering to

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