Comparing New Wood Stoves with Old and estimating needs.

[Kong]

We have an old wood stove, made by the Earthstove company, we've heated with it for over 30 years. The stove is large and made of heavy steel; 32" tall, 30" wide, and over two feet deep, it uses an 8" stove pipe too. Over they years its been over heated and cooked on, the top is scared and there were cracks. Last summer I welded it back up, straightened the door, put in new gasket material, and it cooked like new, but of course it isn't.

Our stove is inefficient, I know that. It is a wood hog compared to new EPA-mandate stoves, and I am sure it's thermal output is puny for its size, particularly in comparison to modern cast or soapstone stoves.

Here's the problem. Considering how much improved today's are just how do you decide how much stove you really need?

Back when we bought ours you just bought the biggest stove you could afford and fed the beast. But today's stoves burn so much hotter (ours is absolutely blazing at 400 (f.) degrees stovetop temp) that I presume a smaller stove may make more sense. Our stovetop is only 200 degrees when the stove is basically idling as it is now with the outdoor temperature at about 30. We will be burning the stove hot tonight when it drops down into the teens or single digits.

If I buy a new modern stove (we are looking at a Jotul 600) will I be making a mistake buying a large stove and then running it essentially shut down much of the time or would it make more sense to buy a smaller stove that we burned hotter? Oh, and what about the safety issues of having a 400 degree black box in the room compared to our current 200 degree box; we have grandchildren who sometimes get excited and run around like puppies.

When I look at the manufacturer's claims about BTUs and room square footage heating capability I always feel like I'm looking at meaningless sales hype and of course with the old stove I have no numbers so there is really no way to compare.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on replacing old stoves that work well with new stoves? How do you compare them, if the new stoves run hotter can they be run colder or is that a mistake? What about safety issues? Tell me what you know and what you opine; I'm interested to hear both before I go lay down a grand, or two, or three.

 

[lobsta1]

Yes you will cut wood consumption by about 20%. Yes the new stove will run much hotter. No, you don't want to under size the new stove. Most important of all, forget all your ideas on what you consider "seasoned" wood. The new EPA rated stoves MUST have seasoned wood.

Reason I say don't under size is the #1 complaint every one seems to have is the build up of coals. What used to burn fine in the old smoke dragon will burn down to a bed of coals. When in the coaling stage, the stove is throwing off very little heat compared to when it is in the secondary burn stage. I swapped out a Russo for an Englander NC13. With the Russo, I could almost cut a tree down & burn it. I've got ash & maple cut, split & stacked under a lean to for two years that I have trouble burning up the coals. Granted, it is stacked 8'x8'x18' tightly which doesn't allow good air flow.

The NC13 only has a 1.8 cubic foot fire box. That doesn't leave enough room for a coal build up as well as wood when the temp gets into the low teens & I m burning hard. In hindsight I should have saved my money & got a stove with a closer to 3 cubic ft. fire box.

Good luck in what ever you choose.
Al

 

[dingeryote]

When we were shopping for stoves and zero clearance fireplaces we kept bieng told that the ratings for sq. ft heating capacity were about 30% off of reality, and the same for Burn times, and BTU ratings.

I figured they were all trying to sell bigger stoves.

Didn't matter because we were needing more capacity than was available anyhow.

Now that we have run this thing for several seasons, and put in a Hearthstone gasser for the MIL, I see what they were saying.

They run HOT, or they coal up and cool off like Kong says.
If it's colder than hell out and you're running the air WFO to burn down coals, the hooch cools off, so ya gotta burn 'em HOT and with dry seasoned wood.
Forget short seasoned Cherry as you'll never burn more than half it's weight LOL!!
They do save on wood burned though.

Get a size up from what would be perfect for your needs. 30% of what is stated is about right. LOL!!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Kong]

Thank you both very much. I'm learning every day.

We went ahead and bought a used Jotul F600 Firelight last night. Its 4 fire-seasons old and in as-new condition - we got it for about half what a new one cost (got a price yesterday afternoon from a dealer). It is the 'next size up' from what I had figured would be right for us so it fits in with you all's one-size-up recommendations. I have a question about putting fans under one, but I'll ask that in a separate post.

I guess I need to build me a bigger wood shed.

 

[myzamboni]

Kong, as opposed to burning a damped down fire (or trying to in your F600) try burning smaller, but hotter fires.

And as has been said seasoned wood is a must.