What woodstove do you have?

[mn woodcutter]

I have a Pacific Energy Fusion. Its a bit more modern looking than I maybe would have liked but it turns out that we get more compliments on it than anything in our home so it must look good. Most importantly is that it heats our entire 3300 sq ft home unless its below 10 degrees outside. It burns extremely clean and holds heat and coals for well over 12 hours. I have had it for almost 4 yrs and I have been extremely impressed. From Oct-March it never goes cold! We run it 24/7.

 

[Whitespider]

My Pacific Energy Spectrum (one of their "Super" series stoves) has been moved out in the shop... and I hate it with a passion.
I've owned my first, and my last stove that brings primary air in over the top and down the glass door as "air-wash" to a fire burning on firebrick.
If'n it burned on some sort of grate that allowed at least some air under the fire I think it would be a pretty good stove... but as it is, I hate it with a passion.
No air under the fire (or coal bed) is a stupid design as far as I'm concerned... efficiency-be-damned.

 

[ash man]

Vermont castings with catalytic inside and an Earth mountain man 505 smoker outside. We use the one inside just for ambiance anymore.

 

[mn woodcutter]

whitespider, what is it specifically that you don't like? Mine puts out tons of heat, burns clean, keeps the glass clean, is easy to remove the ash from, and is built very well. I know 6 other people that have "name brand" stoves that don't work as well as mine.

 

[cheeves]

Been using a Tempwood ( Big One) since 1976! Slickest stove going! Once it gets cold never have to start a fire all winter! Love it! Downdrafter.
Can't remember how long it's been since the pilot was on on the furnace!
Last winter total bill for gas was $ 148 and thats for the water heater and the gas stove in the kitchen! NStar replaced our meter thinking I was stealing gas! When they found out I wasn't, told us we had the lowest bill in town!
Heard they're building them again!!!

 

[Beefie]

Lopi Answer in the 4 seasons room, does a good job keeping the house warm in early fall and late spring.When it starts really getting cold out or have a strong north wind blowing then I fire up the Hotblast add on furnace in the basement, between those too it can be the bahams in the dead of winter in are house. Have a old Fisher for at the hunting cabin, That may get replaced buy some form of a Lopi soon.

beefie

 

[husky455rancher]

i have just got a blaze king king to upgrade from my previous setup. i have a dutchwest insert that i used to heat the whole living area. it could do it but it did a crappy job. i had to run it balls out most of the time. at best i had to get up twice during the weekend to feed it or it would be 60 or so in the house.

i also have a shenandoah in my unfinished basement. this heated the cellar and living area great. the only bad thing is it simply destroys a load of wood. it could go all night but thats about it.

so far the blaze king is doing great. ive been loading it twice a day so far and thats it. ive been using crappy old wood too just to get rid of it before it gets cold. so far im very happy with it.

 

[Whitespider]

whitespider, what is it specifically that you don't like?

Well first, understand I built a plenum around it and tried using it like a furnace (which I've done with other wood stoves successfully). When it got cold and I needed a ton of heat, for an extended length of time it couldn't produce... once the (short lived) secondary burn shut down and the fire collapsed into a bed of coals the heat output dropped way off. So I'd add more fuel, and then more, and then more... eventually I'd have a huge bed of coals and no more room for fuel. So... I'd shovel out bucket loads of coals (potential, and lost heat) to make more room for fuel. OK... so live and learn, a glass door stove radiates much of it's heat through the glass, it won't work as a furnace.

The thing is... the glass door ain't the problem, it's that stupid design. Air needs to be fed under a fire to keep it hot. Think about it, does a forge feed the air in from the top?? Well, he!! no it don't!!

So I replaced it with a wood-fired furnace and moved it into the shop to be used as a stove. Same friggin' problem... keeping it running at high heat output causes the coal bed to build up leaving no room for fuel. The coal bed alone doesn't make enough heat to maintain the shop temperature... and adding more wood just deepens the coal bed. Once that coal bed ashes-over it ain't getting the air it needs to stay screaming hot. If air could get under the fire that coal bed would produce twice the heat... for twice as long. Yeah, sure, if I keep stirring and adjusting it will heat better... but what a pain-in-the-azz!!

Naw... I absolutly hate that thing. I'll take the ol' fashion firebox any day... one that feeds air under the fire keeping it hot, hot, hot. Sure, that stupid EPA design makes more heat when the secondary is burning, but a whole lot less when it ain't. Just give me a stove, or firebox that produces steady, even heat for near all the burn cycle. I don't give-a-crap about 80% efficiency over a 12 hour burn cycle, I'd rather have 60% efficiency over a 6 hour burn cycle... if ya' do the math, the 60% for 6 hours is a lot more "heat per hour" (average) and there ain't any way around that. Fuel efficiency ain't heating efficiency... they ain't the same thing.

I've been burning wood for heat now goin' on 35 years... the EPA stoves are a friggin' joke (yeah, I've only had one, but I've been around several the last few years). If "supplemental" heat is what you're lookin' for they're likely fine... but if'n you're lookin' to heat 100% with wood... a friggin' joke!!

 

[brenndatomu]

whitespider, what is it specifically that you don't like? Mine puts out tons of heat, burns clean, keeps the glass clean, is easy to remove the ash from, and is built very well. I know 6 other people that have "name brand" stoves that don't work as well as mine.

Oh no you ditin?! Well, heeere we go!

Ah, I see...newbie! Welcome woodcutter! Hang around for awhile, you'll find out that spideys hate for his Pacific energy stove is legendary! It was main source of entertainment here on AS last winter, spidey cussin his EPA stove and arguing with DEL! I wonder if the search function will work so you could find some of those old threads?!

 

[mn woodcutter]

Thanks for the info. I didn't mean to open a can of worms. hahaha However, my stove heats our house great! When I got up this morning it was still 71 degrees in the house!

 

[GVS]

Well first, understand I built a plenum around it and tried using it like a furnace (which I've done with other wood stoves successfully). When it got cold and I needed a ton of heat, for an extended length of time it couldn't produce... once the (short lived) secondary burn shut down and the fire collapsed into a bed of coals the heat output dropped way off. So I'd add more fuel, and then more, and then more... eventually I'd have a huge bed of coals and no more room for fuel. So... I'd shovel out bucket loads of coals (potential, and lost heat) to make more room for fuel. OK... so live and learn, a glass door stove radiates much of it's heat through the glass, it won't work as a furnace.

The thing is... the glass door ain't the problem, it's that stupid design. Air needs to be fed under a fire to keep it hot. Think about it, does a forge feed the air in from the top?? Well, he!! no it don't!!

So I replaced it with a wood-fired furnace and moved it into the shop to be used as a stove. Same friggin' problem... keeping it running at high heat output causes the coal bed to build up leaving no room for fuel. The coal bed alone doesn't make enough heat to maintain the shop temperature... and adding more wood just deepens the coal bed. Once that coal bed ashes-over it ain't getting the air it needs to stay screaming hot. If air could get under the fire that coal bed would produce twice the heat... for twice as long. Yeah, sure, if I keep stirring and adjusting it will heat better... but what a pain-in-the-azz!!

Naw... I absolutly hate that thing. I'll take the ol' fashion firebox any day... one that feeds air under the fire keeping it hot, hot, hot. Sure, that stupid EPA design makes more heat when the secondary is burning, but a whole lot less when it ain't. Just give me a stove, or firebox that produces steady, even heat for near all the burn cycle. I don't give-a-crap about 80% efficiency over a 12 hour burn cycle, I'd rather have 60% efficiency over a 6 hour burn cycle... if ya' do the math, the 60% for 6 hours is a lot more "heat per hour" (average) and there ain't any way around that. Fuel efficiency ain't heating efficiency... they ain't the same thing.

I've been burning wood for heat now goin' on 35 years... the EPA stoves are a friggin' joke (yeah, I've only had one, but I've been around several the last few years). If "supplemental" heat is what you're lookin' for they're likely fine... but if'n you're lookin' to heat 100% with wood... a friggin' joke!!

Draft air dosen't HAVE to come up through a grate to burn off the coals. How many old time fireplaces had a grate?I have 2 brick lined stoves ,no grates.To get the coals to turn to ash you will need to get them toward the front of the firebox and let the draft air pass over them.Works real well for me.

 

[Whiskey_Bravo]

I bought my first wood stove this year. It is a Vermont Castings Vigilant made in 1978 with a navy blue enameled finish. I scored it locally off of Craigslist for a good deal. Just finished hooking it up last night and it is getting inspected tomorrow morning. Hopefully will be having my first fire in it tomorrow night.

 

[Whitespider]

How many fireplaces had grates?? NONE!!
But any fireplace I've ever used had one of these cast iron racks set in it so the fire burned properly!!

And I don't wanna' screw around babysitting my firebox, pulling coals forward, stirrin' them and adjusting the air just to get them to burn... I wanna' load it, and forget it until it's time to reload again. The actual "burning" of firewood should not be a chore or babysitting exercise... I don't wanna' "babysit" my firebox, that's flat ridiculous. When air comes in under the fire all ya' need to do is toss more wood on top, the coals burn hot and into ash under the new fuel load... rather than the new fuel load smotherin' the coals. Besides, washing air over the top don't make the whole coal bed screamin' hot... it just makes the top layer hot (that ain't enough heat to warm your little willy) and takes near forever to burn down so ya' can add more fuel. The design is a step backwards, not forwards... even cavemen were smart enough to build their fires on top of stones so air could get under it. The smartest thing I've done in years was to replace that box with one burning on a grate and air coming in under it... the dumbest thing I've done was believing some stupid EPA design bring air in over the top was gonna' give me more heat with less fuel. So far this year, my current "old school" design furnace is producing way more heat, for longer periods using way less fuel than the stupid design did... and all I remove from it is fine ash.

It was 71° in my house this morning at 5 AM also, I loaded the box last night at 6 PM. That's an 11 hour heating cycle, and all I needed to do to get it goin' again this morning was toss some wood in, slam the friggin' door... and walk away!!

 

[GVS]

How many fireplaces had grates?? NONE!!
But any fireplace I've ever used had one of these cast iron racks set in it so the fire burned properly!!

And I don't wanna' screw around babysitting my firebox, pulling coals forward, stirrin' them and adjusting the air just to get them to burn... I wanna' load it, and forget it until it's time to reload again. The actual "burning" of firewood should not be a chore or babysitting exercise... I don't wanna' "babysit" my firebox, that's flat ridiculous. When air comes in under the fire all ya' need to do is toss more wood on top, the coals burn hot and into ash under the new fuel load... rather than the new fuel load smotherin' the coals. Besides, washing air over the top don't make the whole coal bed screamin' hot... it just makes the top layer hot (that ain't enough heat to warm your little willy) and takes near forever to burn down so ya' can add more fuel. The design is a step backwards, not forwards... even cavemen were smart enough to build their fires on top of stones so air could get under it. The smartest thing I've done in years was to replace that box with one burning on a grate and air coming in under it... the dumbest thing I've done was believing some stupid EPA design bring air in over the top was gonna' give me more heat with less fuel. So far this year, my current "old school" design furnace is producing way more heat, for longer periods using way less fuel than the stupid design did... and all I remove from it is fine ash.

It was 71° in my house this morning at 5 AM also, I loaded the box last night at 6 PM. That's an 11 hour heating cycle, and all I needed to do to get it goin' again this morning was toss some wood in, slam the friggin' door... and walk away!!

 

[Saddle Mander]

Englander NC13.

Brand new as of Nov 2013. Still figuring it out.

I hemmed and hawed about getting the 13 or 30, but the 13 has been keeping our 16'x18' living room at 85-90 degrees, so I think I made the right decision.

 

[GVS]

If you don't want to "baby sit ' the fire box, perhaps adding wood twice or three times a day and carrying wood to the stove then hauling out ashes not to mention cutting downed trees into stove length chunks and then splitting seems like too much of chore go back to an oil or gas fired heater.In my 72 years I've never heard anyone piss and moan about the way a wood stove/furnace burns.

 

[Whitespider]

I said, "The actual "burning" of firewood should not be a chore...", I ain't complaining about the work it takes to make firewood.
And here's some more "piss and moan" for ya'... another stupid thing about that EPA design. In order to clean the ashes out ya' basically need to let the fire burn out... well my "old school" furnace ain't been "burnt out" in over a month 'cause I can pull the ash drawer at any time and empty it . No fuss, no muss, no screwin' 'round... slide the drawer out , dump it in the can, slide it back in, DONE‼ That's what I call "easy" ash removal... "waiting" for the fire to burn out, then shoveling out ashes or poking them down a little hole in the firebox floor ain't easy, and it sure ain't quick. Pullin', dumpin', and replacing the drawer takes 10 seconds max... once every 5-6 weeks I take the trash can out in the woodlot and dump it (ain't done it yet this year).

 

[killahnewton]

Jotul602 for the family, Napoleon S9 for the whole house.

 

[kennyl70]

Heatmor !00

 

[CTYank]

You won't hear me peeing & moaning about "EPA design" as if there were such a thing. With my little Morso, a fire's been going for about a month. Lost track. Ashes drop through the grate, which can be moved in a circle. Dump the tray every couple or three days and keep it cooking. (Didn't know EPA had stove designers on staff.)
Bought another box of wood matches, and haven't opened it yet.
No whining, eh!