Stan70
New Member
Forgive me if I've missed this thread somewhere else but as a new homeowner who recently purchased his first home with an existing ss external chimney, no stove, and cut down 3 silver maples and split it by hand (for better solar access for the PV panels), I was wondering about people's experience with either of the above type of stoves. I recently split this wood, my sad soft desk worker hands have the blisters and callouses to prove it, and will be building a hearth this summer so the wood will have at least a year to season. We currently have an older metalbestos ss model 8" double walled exterior pre-fab chimney (at least I think this is the O.D. and that it has a 6" I.D. but I'll have to remove the sheet rock in the basement as we get closer to building the hearth) that I want to hook into. I'm really attracted to efficiency and I don't mind the maintenance that I assume comes with a catalytic stove, which I'm leaning towards them as A) they're slightly more efficient, B) burn longer and C) at least in theory they burn at lower temperature and longer on a given charge of wood (possibly safer due to lower temperatures?). I'm curious about people's experience with either of these types of stoves. Here in Northwest New Jersey, I don't think we'll burn too much wood and I certainly don't have a lot of wood so efficiency is definitely a concern. I'll probably mainly burn hardwoods, but would like to mix in some white pine and less energy dense wood as well from time to time. Please tell me your experience and opinions. Signed, a wood-burning newbie.