Woodstove Replacement or Rebuild?

[Hexa Fox]

Hey guys, so I posted before but I have found out a couple things and hoping to prepare in advance for this Winter. So long story short my woodstove is not sealing correctly and for years now it has filled the house and especially the area it is nearest with a nice layer of dust/silt. So I have looked for replacement parts online and on eBay and there does not seem like much. I can post pictures but for now it is an old Huntsman woodstove.

1.) The new issue is that the woodstove is sort of in 'two pieces' and all the way around the sides and bottom there is a tiny gap. I would say it is probably 1/16" but you can see the fire burning in the Winter time if you get the right angle. I was told that this is not normal and I should weld it up or something. I always figured it was how it was manufactured and normal.

2.) There are numerous problems with the door. For instance, the insert inside the door has pretty much always been loose. It has a couple strips of metal that are suppose to hold it in place and at least one of them is broken. The handle is also not in good shape and I always thought messing with it would make it worse.

3.) I also need a new pipe that goes from the woodstove to the wall but that should be easy enough if I can get the other stuff figured out.

Anyway l have gotten awesome help from this community and was hoping you guys could help me figure this out as well. I recently bought a log splitter and have been stocking and stacking wood forever. So if you guys were in my position would you just get rid of the woodstove I have now or would you address the problems I have with it? It would be nice to find one in good shape and swap them out but that could end up a bigger pain than just fixing what I have now. Thanks for any advice in advance.

 

[ericm979]

The gaps will make it hard to control the fire and keep it from over heating.

If you have the money a new EPA stove would be more efficient, heat better and burn longer. It's one of the cases where the EPA regs actually made things besides emissions better. The one drawback is they don't like wet wood but if you're years ahead on your splitting you're set.

You may also need to upgrade the flue pipe. They need an insulated pipe to keep flue temps hot for reduced creosote.

There are federal rebates for installing a new EPA stove and I think some state have them too.

 

[Hexa Fox]

The gaps will make it hard to control the fire and keep it from over heating.

If you have the money a new EPA stove would be more efficient, heat better and burn longer. It's one of the cases where the EPA regs actually made things besides emissions better. The one drawback is they don't like wet wood but if you're years ahead on your splitting you're set.

You may also need to upgrade the flue pipe. They need an insulated pipe to keep flue temps hot for reduced creosote.

There are federal rebates for installing a new EPA stove and I think some state have them too.

Everything I have heard have said to stay away from them. I do not know any better personally as this is the only wood stove we have ever had to compare anything to. I do not want to spend a fortune but I would definitely take recommendations if anyone has them.

I would definitely consider it if it made my environment healthier. So my father got me into wood burning and he always procrastinated until the very last second with wood. It is just me now and I always make it a thing to get it as early as possible. This year I have a bunch of stuff around the property. I have at least a full cord and a half of Ash that I split, approximately one cord of Wild Cherry and I have at least another cord of mixed stuff. So some of the stuff has been split and stacked for well over a year as of right now. The Ash and Wild Cherry is varying some of it will be a year or more old when I start burning this year. I know I have enough here to get me through this Winter and probably next. I still have about half of more of the Wild Cherry waiting to be split.

Anyway my father always made it a bad habit to wait to get firewood until the last second. I am trying to break away from that now. Space is also an issue because I only live on 3/4 of an acre. If I could buy one from a company and get it delivered and possibly even installed then I am definitely interested in that. I could probably give my old woodstove away then.

So why does the wood stove I have now have the gap all the way around it if it was not meant to be like that? Is it so old that they just built them like this at one time? At this point I have some many issues with it, getting a new one may just be the route I need to go. I am definitely not years ahead of splitting though.

 

[Lightning Performance]

Twenty year old EPA stoves are still out there with a dual fire chamber, steel, cast iron and simple rope gaskets are available to rebuild them. When you jave dual air controls, one on the bottom and one on the top your looking at a an early type EPA unit. So it has a second fire area with a fresh air feed with a separate control. The bricks inside is another giveaway to retaining a hot fire box that doesn't smoke out the chimney and waste fuel.

We are not running an insulated chimney. Ours is acually a triple wall hollow air cooled vent pipe. We burn dry wood, no build up in our chimney and no issues at all. Have a pull out ash tray and a shaker grate in the bottom that is a huge bonus. We run a Dovre 400 and will continue to do so. Bought it used for $225 about a decade ago. The owner said it was too hard to start a fire and it didn't put out any heat. Shame he never opened the baffle control for the upper air box control to the inner air tubes up top inside the firebox. Not all EPA stoves early on had a single control lever

Get looking and sell your old smoke box. Now is the time to buy.

 

[ericm979]

You should visit some local stove stores and see what's available.

 

[Lightning Performance]

You should visit some local stove stores and see what's available.

Definitely good advice there. Some here sell reman units and new.

 

[Lightning Performance]

If you can find a stove with a window in the door don't get a square window. Most people I've known with those replaced the glass ever year or ever other year from cracks at the top corners. Arched window seem to never crack. Just an observation over the decades.

 

[sean donato]

More often then not it was over fired and warped. Stove cement can help to fix it, but it a temporary fix and will eventually need redone. Ideally just get another wood stove/furnace. There are plenty of good used wood burners out there.

 

[snobdds]

The newest EPA wood stoves meet the clean air mandates by not allowing the ability to completely damper down the fresh air. I think some companies put little stops on the damper to keep some air always coming in. Basically, they want a hot stove to reburn the smoke.

I think it's better to have the ability to completely shut down the air flow if a chimney fire happens. I think the stops on the dampers can be cut out if one wanted to.

The EPA stoves are probably better than the old smoke dragons due to the fact they reburn the smoke, which contains a lot of useful energy.

 

[lwmibc]

Is this the stove being discussed?

https://pickettauctions.hibid.com/lot/56323-95845-56778/a-250-huntsman-wood-stove

 

[ericm979]

The newest EPA wood stoves meet the clean air mandates by not allowing the ability to completely damper down the fresh air. I think some companies put little stops on the damper to keep some air always coming in. Basically, they want a hot stove to reburn the smoke.

I think it's better to have the ability to completely shut down the air flow if a chimney fire happens. I think the stops on the dampers can be cut out if one wanted to.

The EPA stoves are probably better than the old smoke dragons due to the fact they reburn the smoke, which contains a lot of useful energy.

Some reburn the smoke with air tubes, and some use a catalytic unit. A few newer ones have both. Both technologies work. With some catalytic types (Blaze King is one brand) you can turn the output down really low for a long burn time. The drawback is periodic cat replacement. But the cats are not all that expensive.

I have a reburn type EPA stove. You do need to be a bit careful to not overfire the stove, by not reloading it with small dry splits when there is a big hot coal bank. There's no stop on the damper, it closes all the way. There's another path for the minimum air flow which I think goes to the burn tubes. It's not an adaptation of an old design, it was made for burn tube technology and EPA regs. If I was to do it again I'd seriously consider a cat stove just for the wider range of output.

Once the fire's going the stove burns clean with no visible smoke coming out the chimney.

 

[bkvp]

The gaps will make it hard to control the fire and keep it from over heating.

If you have the money a new EPA stove would be more efficient, heat better and burn longer. It's one of the cases where the EPA regs actually made things besides emissions better. The one drawback is they don't like wet wood but if you're years ahead on your splitting you're set.

You may also need to upgrade the flue pipe. They need an insulated pipe to keep flue temps hot for reduced creosote.

There are federal rebates for installing a new EPA stove and I think some state have them too.

Just to clarify, the 25C is a Tax Credit, not a rebate. Tax credits reduce tax liability for those that pay Federal income tax. The credit is caped at $2,000.00.

The credit can be applied to the stove purchase price, hearth pad, chimney or venting and best of all, labor! Visit EPA's website for approved wood heaters that are 75% or higher. Here is the Excel (pdf format) of that list..narrowed down to 75% or higher.

BKVP

 

[bkvp]

The newest EPA wood stoves meet the clean air mandates by not allowing the ability to completely damper down the fresh air. I think some companies put little stops on the damper to keep some air always coming in. Basically, they want a hot stove to reburn the smoke.

I think it's better to have the ability to completely shut down the air flow if a chimney fire happens. I think the stops on the dampers can be cut out if one wanted to.

The EPA stoves are probably better than the old smoke dragons due to the fact they reburn the smoke, which contains a lot of useful energy.

Some 2020 Approved wood stoves are able to absolutely turn down very low. Look at the test reports on manufacturers websites to see how low temps can go. You are correct however, EPA does require that a stove goes "out". This won't happen very often to stoves with proper draft and dry fuel. So, if you want a stove with incredible turn down rates, they do still exist, just not as many as there were in the 1980's and earlier.

BKVP

 

[Tim in NY]

Hey guys, so I posted before but I have found out a couple things and hoping to prepare in advance for this Winter. So long story short my woodstove is not sealing correctly and for years now it has filled the house and especially the area it is nearest with a nice layer of dust/silt. So I have looked for replacement parts online and on eBay and there does not seem like much. I can post pictures but for now it is an old Huntsman woodstove.

1.) The new issue is that the woodstove is sort of in 'two pieces' and all the way around the sides and bottom there is a tiny gap. I would say it is probably 1/16" but you can see the fire burning in the Winter time if you get the right angle. I was told that this is not normal and I should weld it up or something. I always figured it was how it was manufactured and normal.

2.) There are numerous problems with the door. For instance, the insert inside the door has pretty much always been loose. It has a couple strips of metal that are suppose to hold it in place and at least one of them is broken. The handle is also not in good shape and I always thought messing with it would make it worse.

3.) I also need a new pipe that goes from the woodstove to the wall but that should be easy enough if I can get the other stuff figured out.

Anyway l have gotten awesome help from this community and was hoping you guys could help me figure this out as well. I recently bought a log splitter and have been stocking and stacking wood forever. So if you guys were in my position would you just get rid of the woodstove I have now or would you address the problems I have with it? It would be nice to find one in good shape and swap them out but that could end up a bigger pain than just fixing what I have now. Thanks for any advice in advance.

Keep an eye on Craigslist and FB Marketplace. Our old Hearthstone was worn out after 30 years - in similar shape as your stove. It would have been around 4K to replace it with a new version. I lucked out and found a used stove, exactly what we would have bought if we went for a new one . Ended up paying $1800 for it - it was barely used. 4 or 5 years later it has been trouble free and paid for itself 2 or 3 times over.

Tim

 

[ElevatorGuy]

The epa didn’t help the stoves and surely not the burn times. I have a vc encore cat stove and wished I went a different route. 8 hours is max burn time with 2-3 year old dry oak. It’s not putting out heat at 8 hours but is usually enough to re light the new load with the coals. The epa needs to disappear.

 

[sand sock]

Check out jotuls, look up a hybrid catalytic with return. We put 1 in my mom's place and it's been great. I think we have 3 years down. No manual plates or doors to mess with. You could have the door open and it won't smoke the house up. That is there only heat source and she can get 8+ hours of burn. They burn about 6-7 cords a year. It doesn't get quite as hot as a single wall stove. But it's a thermal mass stove that gets pretty close. Maybe not boil but a controlled simmer

 

[Hexa Fox]

Keep an eye on Craigslist and FB Marketplace. Our old Hearthstone was worn out after 30 years - in similar shape as your stove. It would have been around 4K to replace it with a new version. I lucked out and found a used stove, exactly what we would have bought if we went for a new one . Ended up paying $1800 for it - it was barely used. 4 or 5 years later it has been trouble free and paid for itself 2 or 3 times over.

Tim

So do you look for something in relatively new shape? I have been looking around and they are readily available. I honestly have no clue who I am going to be able to ask to help me with this. I have a truck but man this is not going to be fun. Does anyone have any advice for moving them? Saw a couple stoves on Facebook that look cool.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...wse_serp:f0a76c57-a0ea-44d5-8ea4-a60c0ffa71f4and
https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...wse_serp:f0a76c57-a0ea-44d5-8ea4-a60c0ffa71f4
The second one there has a blower on it which I am not familiar with and do not know anyone who has one.

 

[Tim in NY]

So do you look for something in relatively new shape? I have been looking around and they are readily available. I honestly have no clue who I am going to be able to ask to help me with this. I have a truck but man this is not going to be fun. Does anyone have any advice for moving them? Saw a couple stoves on Facebook that look cool.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...wse_serp:f0a76c57-a0ea-44d5-8ea4-a60c0ffa71f4and
https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...wse_serp:f0a76c57-a0ea-44d5-8ea4-a60c0ffa71f4
The second one there has a blower on it which I am not familiar with and do not know anyone who has one.

As far as moving. The Hearthstones come on a little pallet. I kept the one for our old stove, and the guy I bought the newer one from did also. I borrowed my brother-in-laws bucket forks, and my neighbor was able to move both stoves with his new NH tractor. Dropped the new stove right in the back door on the pallet. Still took 3 of us to get it off the palled and on the hearth, but it was almost 500 lbs of case iron and soapstone.

 

[aokpops]

I have bult barrel stoves. And produce a bunch of heat. To repair or replace? Is a hard question. My wood stove story spans 40 years. The first was a foxfire I bought used for like 150 the first owner overheated it. Had a wrap around the door nothing a slege hammer could not fix. Ran it for decades. In 2014 I bought a Drolet Tundra. To get the same heat with almost half the wood was a nice surprise. The other surprise clean the chimney once a year.