Wood Stoves/burners

OK, getting way of flashlights (but it does make light), who has a wood stove and how do you like it? We are looking in to getting one professionally installed, maybe a Jotul or ??? Catalytic converters, are they better?

I'm in the market for one too, instead of building a big brick fire place and chimney...someone recommended these http://www.vermontwoodstove.com/ -- I haven't read the whole site yet myself...but will soon...keep me posted!

Brock,

Just a note... make sure that whatever you get, it has good airflow from the blowers to get the heat out into the room.

I have a woodburning insert in my basement. The two 4.5" muffin fans were noisy and didn't move much air so I modded it.

This is a standard upflow furnace blower feeding 2 6" ducts into my woodburner. It's ugly, but really does the job!

Turbo Woodburner

20 minutes after starting the blower, the temp in the basement went from 64 to 80 degrees.

Proof

If the links above don't work, try this:
My Photos on WebShots

The stove is a Shenandoah, but I don't know if they are still in business. With stronger blowers, it's a great stove.

Happy hunting/heating!

My family and I live with wood as our only source of heat (with -40 not uncommon). A couple things to think about: are you looking for looks? do you want to see the fire? do you want to heat your whole house? Are you looking for power failure heat? non electric fans are available.
Catalitic converters are not very good the newer technology is reburning which squeezes a little more heat and still meets EPA guidlines.
I'd be happy to respond to any more posts or e-mail. We live off the grid and have been using LED flashlights for several years. The information on this forum has been very valuable and I would love to re-pay some.

...you mean the 'Eco-Fan' ? I see they have a new larger model, I was thinking of getting one for the (gas) stove top for those 45-50 degree days..the oven set at 300 keeps the place comfortble, a fan would help the circulation..but I don't like noise...about the wood stoves, yes yes and yes -- what do you think of the Vermonts? When I used to live with a regular fireplace I used a thing called a Thermo-Grate, a bunch of pipes that sat in the firepit, kind of wrapped around it, taking air in from the bottom, and emitting hot air out the top -- I'll see if i can find a pic...you could also soup it up by blowing air in the bottom, through a manifold, instead of just relying on convection..

I have a "Country" brand woodstove and love it. It was the best money I have ever spent improving our home. It is a non-catalytic style stove. It re-circulates and re-burns the smoke so it emits very little emissions. I can burn my stove even if there is a "burn ban" in effect, it's that clean. It burns so slow that I can load it before bed and it will burn all night. It has also saved us a lot of money in additon to the warm atmosphere it provides. I will never go back to a fireplace!

Also check out Quadrafire.

What are these non-electric "Eco Fans": please do tell,

lightlover

If you search for "ecofan" you'll find places that sell and describe. It uses thermoelectric power ( temperature difference generates elec) to power fan. Or you can check Free breeze
Thas fan uses a Stirling engine for mechanical power. I've seen the eco fan and wasn't overly impressed, But it does work.
The free breeze looks more solid I just found it but haven't seen one yet. Getting more information.
There are alot of good stoves you are probably best off finding the one that seems to suit your needs and then ask around before you buy.

fivebeans,
the Quadrafire looks great! Thanks! Do you have a url for the "Country" ?
witsend,
and thankyou for the Freebreeze info. It's big though! 22" or so,
but is advertised as virtually silent. I've written the distributer for the price... (Eco Fan is around $110 for the little one, and a bit more for the big one...any one see better prices anywhere?)

witsend we are looking for something to keep the house from freezing and keep the room the burner is in warm. I live near Green Bay so our winters aren't to far from yours. I do have a basic solar system with 10kw of batteries and dual trace inverters for AC backup. I wanted to get either a larger genset, a propane wall heater or wood burner. Guess what my wife opted for. It will go in the basement (walkout on one side) and be in a large family room. It will be free standing (my wife wants feet on it), we were looking at blaze king or Joutul I haven't seen Country. We were looking at the catalytic burning ones for efficiency, but I am confused about what you said about them, do you mean the newer standard ones are just as good? Most of the ones we are looking at are pretty high efficiency and have that low EPA rating with smoke reburning..

In any case I guess a wood burner makes the most since of the choices I mentioned, the wood burner wouldn't rely on generator parts and propane to make heat and I could use it more often, if not always. My father-in-law has a large wood burner and I gave him an Eco-fan last x-mas and he loves it, he swears by it now.

Sorry about the catalitic comment. Relying on what I've heard from others. My understanding is that the CC's burn out after a while and don't handle moisture in the wood. From what I saw when we got a new stove last year the re-burning seems to be the best technology. We've been happy with it. And of course I'll tell you the brand we got... as soon as I go home and look at the stove I've seen every day for the past year .

witsend that makes since about the catalytic comment, I heard the same thing today form a chimney installer yesterday. He said they are great but require more maintenance and will need to be replaced eventually (the platinum part?). He said the smoke burning or re-burning ones are very close in emissions and some are even better. Since the re-burning ones have been around longer they should have the bugs worked out. So I think I am leaning towards the regular re-burning ones. Now just which one? Side loading? Ash box/drawer? Single glass, 3 glass? I think I will look more at the ones with the longer warrantee.

Brock, do these wood burner things need heat guards, I mean like anti-touch devices for baby or child-protection ?

lightlover

Vermont Castings makes some very nice cast iron stoves. The enameled cast iron looks very nice as well. They are very efficient and practical.

A very nice feature is the smokeless top loading. Just open up the top, load it up with logs, close it and adjust the draft.

We had one where I grew up and we would load it up before bed, turn it down and in the morning it would still be going. If you turned it up it could turn out an incredible amount of heat.

Several models have tops that you can cook on if you are so inclined.

When we purchased our home we ended up deciding to get a gas Vermont Castings stove (Radiance/ivory) since getting wood this close to Seattle promised to be a hasle. We had it put on a thermastat. Very good move. We literally don't use the electric heat any more. Heating bills went down. Best improvement we have made to the house.

http://www.majesticproducts.com/vcmp/vci/products/wood_stoves/index.html

-john

Sorry it has been a while since I've been on line. I must have picked up a virus that corrupted my BIOS and disabled my laptop. I am using the computer at the library to do this quickly. A t-1 line is nice . Oh well when you don't have a phone line at home anything is an improvement.
Brock the better stove I have is a Lopi Liberty it is the bigest model they make and does OK with our 24x32 addition (1.5 stories). On real cold nights (below -10 or 15) we leave our Pioneer Maid cookstove going to keep the chill off. Hope that helps.

I may check in before then but I hope that I will be back on-line in mid-January.

Wow, I didn't know Vermont Castings makes a top load unit. That sounds intresting. Vermont Castings is the only one none of the stores around here carry.

We are down to Napoleon 1400 or Jotul F 500 Oslo. The Jotul looks nicer and is cast iron, but the setbacks are bigger, while the Napoleon looks more like a burning box, but has lower setbacks and is way cheaper.

Have you made a final choice?

....well, I like the Napoleon. I think the idea of having the burn box lined with firebrick so it can burn hotter is great. Better than just plain bare naked iron walls.. Also the added heat makes it burn cleaner without a catalytic deal...and you can cook on it. (Hey Brock what's the 'setback'?)

Attn: Ted the LED!

Dude, I'm so sorry. I got so busy after Christmas with my new ARC LE that I forgot to check back on this thread.

Here's the URL you requested exactly one month ago (DOH!) for Country Stoves. The model we have is the S160 Striker. It's awesome. Again, I'm sorry.
www.elconw.com/wood/country/S160.htm

Hi all, well we ordered the Jotul Oslo. It is cast iron. The Napoleon and Jotul are very close in heat output and how clean they burn. The real difference is the price, cast iron being more $. Since the Jotul looks nicer my wife wanted that one

Setbacks are how far away a burner has to be from something combustible. The Napoleon (double wall steel with bricks) is about 9 inches, Jotul (cast iron) is 12 and the soap stone style is about 18 inches.

Here is the info on the one we got. http://www.jotulflame.com/oslo.html

Unfortunately we are on a 6 week waiting list to get the chimney installed, about 4 weeks now.