Suggestions on woodstove/insert

[9th year rookie]

Iv'e finally decided to get a wood stove or insert (for fireplace).
Any comments/suggestions on what to get, where to start looking.

All I know so far is that new stoves are cleaner and more efficient, especially compared to an open fireplace.

 

[Billy_Bob]

I got the largest woodstove they sold in my area and one which has a connection for outside air.

I'm very glad I did both.

With the large size, I can have a fire burning, but have space to put on more wood if I am going to sleep or going to be busy elsewhere in the house. I can control the rate of burn with the damper.

Also you get all sorts of different shapes/sizes of wood and need to add these to an already burning fire. With the extra room inside my woodstove, I can add just about any odd shaped piece of wood. When going to bed, it is desirable to add a large piece of wood to an already burning fire (to burn most of the night). So again the extra room allows me to do this.

Then on those very cold days, it is nice that the woodstove sucks in cold air directly from outside and this cold air does not need to flow through the house.

I installed my woodstove to building codes and this required a new stainless chimney, exact spacing from walls for specific model of stove (per manufacturer specs), and a specific R-value and size hearth pad (per manufacturer specs). This cost a small fortune, but doing this allowed me to add the woodstove to my homeowners policy. I am covered should there be a fire caused by the woodstove. (But installing everything to code pretty much makes sure this will not happen!)

If it is not installed to code and not added to your policy, the insurance company does not have to pay a nickel! (This thought made me fork out the cash...)

 

[NWnewguy]

Insert advice

The thing that I regret the most about getting my insert was waiting a year. I had a propane insert and it was a joke. It took me a while to decide between a pellet and a woodburner, but I am sure I made the right decision. After exhausting every woodburning website on the internet and going to about a dozen shops, and annoying all of my friends that own woodstoves with a lot of questions that they did not know the answer to, I decided to get a Pacific Energy stove. I thought that I would want the largest model made, but was talked out of it by the owner of the shop. His reasoning and I agreed after a bit of thought, was that a stove has to actually burn to be efficient and not clog up your chimney with a bunch of particulate matter. If I had the bigger stove than I would have to damper it down pretty much all of the time. I also live in the Western Washington and the winters are pretty mild compared to the Midwest. As it is my midsized PE Pacific handles all of my heating needs, and I don't feel like I am constantly being over powered by it. I use no other heat source and on the coldest of days (around here) I can still easily get it past warm in my Cedar frame house built in 1976. Anyway I highly recommend doing a lot of research and visiting a lot of shops, so that you feel confident in your decision. Oh and I also put in a 6" stainless steel liner. I attached a picture of the stove I got, but it was taken right after I started the first fir in it, so I wasn't all that proficient in it's use yet. It is really easy to use now though and it stays a lot cleaner than I could have possibly imagined. Anyway, hope all of my runon sentences haved helped at least a little. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Do your self a favor and check out the Quadrafire units. Were going on our third year with ours (5100I) and couldnt be happier!





Beware of manufacturers that claim to be EPA compliant while simultainously telling you that they are EPA exempt. :bang:





.

 

[yukiginger]

Research

Do some research by searching threads here:

http://www.**********/econtent/index.php/forums/


If you decide on a stove, and you consider soapstone be sure to check Woodstock and Hearthstone, both of which are made in your neck of the woods.

MarkG

 

[logbutcher]

Wood Stove Research

Read all the above then:
1. Decide how comitted you want to be --100% wood, just up from the furnace @ 55 F, entertainment fires for romance, weekends, or anything in between. What are your goals ?
2. Realise that you're needing a wood supply :newbie: . It's late in the year to even be thinking about it. Wood burners are at least a year out for firewood: buying, or harvesting.
3. Talk to real time wood burners locally about how they heat with wood. How the stove works for them--catalytic or non-cat. How they enjoy the stove pro and con. Look over their installation setup and use of the stove e.g. ash removal, loading.
4. Care about prettiness ? Important if there's more than one getting warm . Cast stoves look nicer (to me). Porcelain or enamel is easier cleaning and maintenance, but chips. And so on..
5. Remember that even with a fireplace and flue, installation done right can cost more than the stove.
6. Look carefully at the stove's warranty and customer support. A good, honest, competent dealer is worth $$$$.
From many years heating 100% with wood in 2 states: stay away from the Vermont Castings stoves. It isn't the real Vermont company anyhow. Dealers and owners have had too many quality defects with them over the past 12 years of Canadian ownership. I've had 3 of them since the real V.C. company was sold in '95.
Keep asking. You're on track.

 

[Bdog]

I replaced my two sided wood pig/ no heat fireplace with a wood burner three years ago. We went with a Lopi. I have been nothing but pleased with this unit, it's was one of our best decisions switching. It has cut our heating oil bill way back.

The thing is like woodbutcher said , is the wood supply issues. our first year we got our insert we stocked up with wood that we purchased from a local guy who under his definition of seasoned wood was selling seasoned wood. So we bought a few cords. Well the wood was quiet a bit green come fall.
I ended up re splitting most of the wood and mixing with wood I already had that was well seasoned. We now buy tree length and have roughly 2 seasons worth at most times.

My point is to get the most from your wood burner you need to have well seasoned wood. Maybe in your area you might not run into the seasoned problem like we do. I have had guys tell me that Ash will be seasoned, cut from the stump in 3 months...I don't think so.
Good Luck with whatever you choose!

 

[logbutcher]

Ash from the Stump

I replaced my two sided wood pig/ no heat fireplace with a wood burner three years ago. We went with a Lopi. I have been nothing but pleased with this unit, it's was one of our best decisions switching. It has cut our heating oil bill way back.
My point is to get the most from your wood burner you need to have well seasoned wood. Maybe in your area you might not run into the seasoned problem like we do. I have had guys tell me that Ash will be seasoned, cut from the stump in 3 months...I don't think so.
Good Luck with whatever you choose!

It's true. Ash is one of the rare "low moisture" woods that really will burn green from the stump. Better in a few months however. Splits easy too.
Remember that there are 3 kinds of ash in the East: white (the best BTU/pound), then Green and Black. But they all seem to be lighter than say Oaks or Maples.
And yes, the EPA wood stoves do burn cleaner and use less wood for the same heat output as older pre-EPA stoves. No B.S. :greenchainsaw:

 

[lobsta1]

While following this thread, I have a ???? Are there any inserts made that have an ash drawer as well as a blower. For the last 15 years I've been using an old Russo wood stove just set in my fireplace. I would like to get an insert, but I've been spoiled by just pulling a drawer out & dumping it outside in the ash pile. I burn about 6 cords a year.
Al

 

[logbutcher]

Heat Loss from Inserts

While following this thread, I have a ???? Are there any inserts made that have an ash drawer as well as a blower. For the last 15 years I've been using an old Russo wood stove just set in my fireplace. I would like to get an insert, but I've been spoiled by just pulling a drawer out & dumping it outside in the ash pile. I burn about 6 cords a year.
Al

6 cords/year gets you into the serious class Al.
Just "inserting" that metal mass into another fireplace mass makes for some poor heat transfer. Much of that metal heat goes into that mass, then goes up another mass -chimney ( my experience, no science here ). Remember that a wood stove as a stand-alone heater first radiates heat, then convects it thru air flow around the romm (s). Shove the stove into a hole and then what ? Plenty of that nice wood heat gets lost.
So try to extend the hearth so that the stove is at least out in the open, maybe the rear at the mantel line. That give s you the chance to look over stoves that are not made as inserts. Many have good ash removal systems.
Jotul, Woodstock, Morso and others work well. Be sure to try the ash system out in the store, as well as the loading system depending on the stove location. I loved the older Vermont Casting top loads( we still have a catalytic Defiant Encore with a simple top load system from 2001) that heats a 2 story we built for that stove.) The other stove is a non-cat Jotul Oslo heating a cathedral ceiling 400 ft² low insulated space.
Ask around, check out stove reviews ( hearthnet is OK). Blowers frankly are a noisy waste that don't really move heat around if you've got the stove sited correctly. Hey, you're burning wood to be a greenie aren't you ?:hmm3grin2orange:
JMVHO

 

[lobsta1]

Log, thanks for the comments. I am sort of restricted as this is a raised hearth, wall > wall fieldstone fireplace. With a blower, the heat does circulate pretty well. Plus, all the masonry does work as a massive heat sink with the stove goeing 24 x 7.
Al

 

[Pcoz88]

Woodstock soapstone Stove

Woodstock soap stone stove are great.We're on our 3 heating season.We love it.:greenchainsaw: :greenchainsaw: