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Wood stoves.... thoughts/ opinions

TreeGuy

By TreeGuy,
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TreeGuy Rising Star

TreeGuy

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Looking to move soon and will be replacing my big old hot blast furnace with a large freestanding unit. So far I've found the lopi liberty and the blaze king king to be interesting. Lopi is a tube gasification and the king is a cat stove. Heard good and bad about both just wondering if anyone has experience with them.

I'm mainly looking for a few things, able to heat a very large room / 1500sq ft house, and good burn times, like 10-12 hrs of heat. A lot of my already seasoned wood is in the 18-24" range. A glass door would be nice to look at too... I find myself opening my furnace often cause I want to see the flame.

Anybody ?

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SteveB Enthusiast

SteveB

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The cat is a wear item - it's most efficient day is the 1st time you burn it.

Because of emission standards, the non cats are every bit as good as the cats.

And they are a far nicer fire to watch in the 1st 1/2 of the burn cycle as they are burning

the gases in the firebox rather than a hidden chamber after passing thru the cat.

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growalot Newbie

growalot

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we have both the older dutchwest cat.stove...that is now at camp...and loved it and we bought a soapstone 2 yrs ago...well built but can't give opinion as it isn't installed yet....need to do addition...but have friends with one and it is just a really nice heat...and stays warm even after fire starts to die down in the mornings

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jjb4900 Newbie

jjb4900

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Here's one bit of advice I can offer, whatever you decide to get, wait till after the winter season and see if the dealer has any floor models they are selling............I did that a few years ago and literally got 2 stoves for the price of one, and there was nothing wrong with either of them.

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wdswtr Newbie

wdswtr

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wood heat is great, it keeps working when the electric goes off, you still have heat. I can't say which is the best stoves pick one and hope it fits your needs!

 

This is not true in all cases.   IF the electricity goes out on a wood furnace for example there is no power to supply the blower to force the heat through the heat vents throughout the house, it overheats the plenum, burns up the sensor and this is all not good.  I am considering a battery backup solution on mine.  What good is the generator if no one is home to start it in the winter. 

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Dad 6424 Newbie

Dad 6424

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wood heat is the best because it will heat you more then once some of you are thinking no way let me show you  1 when you cut and load it 2 you unload and stack it 3 you bring it to the house 4 you burn it in the stove and 5 when you clean the ashes and the smoke stack lol we have had a Nasua stove in the house for years best $ 500 ever spent its an older stove late 70s and is air tight to this day last 18 to 20 hours  when they had the add on tv they would toss a stick of dynamite in them and close the door the guy would say so you think your stove is tuff   

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Doc Experienced

Doc

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Quite a few years ago, we gave up on the wood heat. We are surrounded  by a woods so the fuel was basically free, but there were some things that eventually caused us to discontinue using the stove for heat.

 

First of all, there was a constant fight with creosote. The stove pipe was a very short run to outside, and the drastic change from inside temperature to sub-freezing outside temperatures occurred so fast that the condensation of gases caused a creosote build-up in a very short period of time. So the tear-down, scrubbing and reassembling was a frequent pain-in-the-butt, filthy and time-consuming job.

 

Second, there always seemed to be a film of dust on everything. Almost impossible to stay ahead of.

 

Third there was the obvious work involved in cutting, splitting and stacking the firewood every year..... So many other things that I would rather be doing ... lol. Also lugging that stuff into the house and up the stairs was not something that was super convenient to do.

 

Fourth, we occasionally would bring in some multi-legged wood munching critters that rode in on the wood. Wood eating insects are not really something that I wanted to be introducing to my wood framed house.

 

Fifth, there was always the fun job of disposing of the ash. That always found a way of becoming a mess somewhere along its path down the stairs and out the door.

 

Sixth, and the final problem that caused the stove to be shut down for the last time, was the time we were sitting watching TV and heard a loud "Thump". Walked over to investigate and found the floor littered with hot burning embers. I have no idea what the heck actually happened. I assumed that there was some kind of gas build-up that basically caused some sort of explosion. As near as I could tell, the embers blew out the air intake damper and onto the floor. I could only wonder what would have happened if we had not been home, or if we had been in bed sleeping.

 

That little episode finally did it and the wood burning activity ceased. I do understand that stoves may be built differently these days, there are also alternate fuels (wood pellets, corn, etc.), and we did have a unique arrangement where the stovepipe length was extremely short. But the whole experience (about 5 years worth) just finally forced me to believe that it simply was not worth it. It all drove home the reason for the invention of forced air petro fueled heating systems. I decided that we were not so poor that we had to resort to that method of saving money. Also, if I counted my time for anything at all, I'm not so sure that it really was so cheap anyways. Certainly, if it had burnt the house down, the money saved wouldn't have meant a whole lot.

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Adkhunter1590 Newbie

Adkhunter1590

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Coal stove, furnace or boiler. Way easier than wood and safer. Spent 15 years burning wood. Got a coal stove and I love it. Still have a small wood stove for hunting camp but for home you can't beat coal. Burns efficent, hot as hell and no smoke or black dust like you would think. Newer coal stoves are pretty neat and keep everything much cleaner than even wood. I also liked not having to cut and split and stack wood anymore. I have coal in 50 pound bags but you can make a bin and get it delivered in bulk. And you don't have to worry about covering it or keeping it dry. It will burn soaking wet doesn't matter. I love a wood stove like anyone else and I wouldn't give up the one we have at camp. But for the house...it's just so much easier! I encourage some of ya to look into it as you might find it suits you.

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