wood stove - bang for the buck

[Pat]

fireman, You said, I'm thinking of putting in an antique heat vent in the ceiling of the l/r to get some more heat upstairs. "

When I was in the second half of the first grade and the second grade we lived in Lima, Ohio in an old two story farm house with a coal fired furnace in the basement. It had been converted into a duplex by the old Scottish sheep farmer who owned it and occupied the other half. Each side had its own coal fired furnace. I remember the floor register in the upstairs floor where hot air from the ground floor came up.

For a nosey 6-7 year old boy and his 9-10 year old sister it made for a great listening post to keep abreast of current events in the adult world.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[fireman_dcb]

NICE memories.... we have an old farmhouse and figured that it would fit in nice. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[mfaley]

We have a Lopi stove and really like it. It's been a primary heat source for the last 12 years and there have been no problems. Very solid and well built.

Regards,
Mark

[rbhollabaugh]

Catalytic converters are put in the stoves to meet EPA specs for pollution. I would not get a stove with a catalytic converter. They go bad in time and if you burn something you shouldn't - like plastic - it could ruin the converter.
There are many stoves that have better designs and don't use converters. Many of these brands have been mentioned already.
I chose a Waterford brand of stove. Not the cheapest but will probably last forever.
Rich
NJ

[SLOBuds]

I have a wood stove in our little 600 ft sq cabin in California. It is EPA approved (which all wood stoves in Ca need to be) but does not have a catalytic converter.

I guess you do want to stay away from the catalytic converter if you can. But folks have told me rather compelling arguments that the converters are NOT bad and do NOT give you any maintenance headaches whatsoever.

We are challenged with the aspect of keeping even and constant temperatures. I firmly believe this problem is 'operator error.' But we purchased the smallest and cheapest stove we could which means that its heat control is not as good as a more expensive model could be.

You will need to distribute the hot air somehow. It definitely 'localizes' because it will go where Mother Nature directs, unless you tell it differently.

There are nice models that allow you to hook into a vent system. Or - we just prefer old fashioned fans. We put our fan on the lowest setting which simply keeps the air moving a tiny tiny bit. Other people have schemes to distribute the warm air into further corners. Obviously the larger the house the more challenging it is to dispurse.

If you have a pile of money take a look at masonry fire places. Very attractive and very efficient. And very expensive. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img])

The wood stoves can blast you out of your house with hot air. Very easily. We do it all of the time thinking that 'a bigger fire is a better fire.'

Once it gets to be 78 degrees inside, the big fire isn't so fun anymore. Then the windows and doors are open up and we feel like goofballs for wasting all of that energy!

It is amazing how much enjoyment we get from a little tiny flicker of a fire, looking through a small small window, on the stove. Or even just glowing embers.

If you don't want to mess with the stove much (we do, because the 'messing' is part of the enjoyment to us) then get a pellet stove with an automatic feed. It will keep your temperatures more even and require little attention through the night. Our stove is so small that we have to throw a log in every couple of hours. Or wake up cold in the morning.

[jross]

After the stove is installed get a wood stove thermometer and install it in the flue pipe above the stove. The ideal temp range to minimize creosote deposits is 230 to 460 deg F. Adjusting the outlet damper controls the temperature on our Avalon and I never use the inlet air damper for temp control. When I clean the chimney, all I get is a lot granular stuff that brushes off and vacumms up easily. The thermometer is especially valuable when burning not so seasoned swamp maple as we are presently doing. Without the thermometer, this kind of wood will deposit creosote because of the moisture content unless the flue temp is maintained at above 230 deg F. After a night burn with the stove banked ( outlet flue damper closed), we burn in the a.m. at a high temp for at least two hours to burn off the creosote that has deposited during the night, then throttle the damper back to conserve fuel.

[ConsiderThis]

This is a great thread!

I've been looking for this kind of information for a couple days now. Thanks!!!!!

Early on I was given the impression that catalytic was the only way to go... but then there appeared to be a few (if not many) problems related to them...

So then I was pretty confused for awhile and was beginning to worry this was way too complicated for me...

Now, having read this thread I'm much happier and I think I'm going to get the Lowe's one. Thank you!!!!!

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