It's cheap.
It eats wood.
It's inefficient.
It makes some creosote.
Its design is dated.
There are better indoor wood furnaces out there.
And these are all things I've complained about myself about US Stoves Hotblast model I own, a 1557m version.
And those statements are all true. But I'm going to give the old girl her due in this thread! I'm on my seventh year with it now so I think I know it pretty well. Keeping in mind its Cons I've listed above I'm going to list the Pros now:
-Low startup cost to test the waters for the reluctant wife(bought it for $800 end of season clearance).
-Paid for itself in less than 3 months with liner cost included
-Heating basement additional 1000 sq ft to 70+ degrees. Warm floors are nice.
-Although inefficient, the big firebox allows four 22+" long BIG ash splits to give a nice 6-8 hr burn. That's alot less cutting and splitting(which turns out to be efficient for your time! DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THIS PART. If you have wood like I do with the EAB right now, you can rip through the processing fast with big OWB size chunks.
-It does go thru wood like an outdoor boiler somewhat and doesn't heat as evenly or your water either. BUT can you feed your feed your OWB in a 75 degree room while drinking a beer in your shorts like I am?
-Mess stays in the basement so your wife is happy. And if she isn't then you probably need to go down and "check on the fire". Priceless.
-Gets you off the grid for minimal startup cost.
I will leave out that you get to buy a bunch of chainsaws, a good workout, a 4x4 truck and a woodlot like I did because you can do that with any woodburner, but it got me back in the woods which I love. I feel like its almost like owning horses. Its a lot of work but its a way of life. And I love it!
I hope to move to either an OWB or more efficient indoor burner, but in the meantime the old HotBlast will "gitter done". Feel free to share your thoughts; Pro or Con.
It eats wood.
It's inefficient.
It makes some creosote.
Its design is dated.
There are better indoor wood furnaces out there.
And these are all things I've complained about myself about US Stoves Hotblast model I own, a 1557m version.
And those statements are all true. But I'm going to give the old girl her due in this thread! I'm on my seventh year with it now so I think I know it pretty well. Keeping in mind its Cons I've listed above I'm going to list the Pros now:
-Low startup cost to test the waters for the reluctant wife(bought it for $800 end of season clearance).
-Paid for itself in less than 3 months with liner cost included
-Heating basement additional 1000 sq ft to 70+ degrees. Warm floors are nice.
-Although inefficient, the big firebox allows four 22+" long BIG ash splits to give a nice 6-8 hr burn. That's alot less cutting and splitting(which turns out to be efficient for your time! DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THIS PART. If you have wood like I do with the EAB right now, you can rip through the processing fast with big OWB size chunks.
-It does go thru wood like an outdoor boiler somewhat and doesn't heat as evenly or your water either. BUT can you feed your feed your OWB in a 75 degree room while drinking a beer in your shorts like I am?
-Mess stays in the basement so your wife is happy. And if she isn't then you probably need to go down and "check on the fire". Priceless.
-Gets you off the grid for minimal startup cost.
I will leave out that you get to buy a bunch of chainsaws, a good workout, a 4x4 truck and a woodlot like I did because you can do that with any woodburner, but it got me back in the woods which I love. I feel like its almost like owning horses. Its a lot of work but its a way of life. And I love it!
I hope to move to either an OWB or more efficient indoor burner, but in the meantime the old HotBlast will "gitter done". Feel free to share your thoughts; Pro or Con.