EPA stove: still can't make up my mind

Oh man, ya' beat me to it Chvymn99 .
A bit surprised there's anything resembling a horse remaining.
Hey Hoytman , get yourself a Woodstock stove.....they have that 6 month return policy thing.
Pretty much any negative "review" I've seen on the tube isn't worth the bandwidth being used. Most of 'em don't know a firewood split from a banana split. JMHO

 

Whooomppp! There it is!!!

EDIT:
Wher'd you fin' that sum'buck anyways? I couldn't find it.

 

"Now, that right ther's funny...I don't care who ya' are!"

 

It's all good!

 

Hey, that 6 month return policy is a pretty good gig, aint' it?



Papadave,
Love that signature line. Importanter. Ha!

 

Ima enGlihs magur.

 

When you make a reply...click the smiley face...when that opens, go over to the right tab "just for fun"...whoop, there it is!

 

So Hoytman , did ya' get a stove yet?
If not, you'll hafta wait for 2019, ya' know.

 

Hey...they had them hidden from me. LOL! I didn't even see the tabs.

At this rate, it will certainly be 2019.

 

I don’t know about efficiency or performance but I to have always admired those elm stoves.

 

QUOTE="Canadian border VT, post: 906976, member: 2364"]Comparing a Woodstock to an Elm is a JOKE. Hands down. Period!!

Woodstock won a green heat award.

Elm stopped production in 1989 because could not pass EPA standards.
Got family in both towns![/QUOTE]
We’re the elms a popular stove in Vermont at one time sir? I’ve always admired them.

 

Farmchuck .. I've seen them far more Fisher and fake fishers..

FYI warren ie sugarbush to Barre 15 miles 2 places I know elms were made..

I'm not trying to put anybody down oh, I just never saw the fascination with this stove.. a barrel stove, instead of welded its held together by 3 or four 2 foot threaded rods.

Problem with barrel stoves .,, splits are not round. Round firewood. Here not usually dry.

I personally like Fisher better for that time frame. Not a bad stove.. Certainly not a great stove..

 

I’ve never owned/ operated one I just thought they looked neat & liked the idea of a Pyrex plate on the door. When you mentioned them & the fact that you live in Vermont I wondered if they were everywhere years back up in your area. I take it you never owned one either?

 

I've had an older non-EPA stove.....wouldn't go back to that now if you paid me (unless it was a cagillion bucks or so)
I still have my eye on a BK. Funny how the only BK's that show up for sale are (usually) very old rusted out buckets of steel.

 

Unless a person is totally unaware of the significance of certain stove designs a person cannot possibly think of the Elm stove's design without also giving consideration to stove designs that likely sparked the idea of the Elm; Jotul 118's and 602's. This is just a guess and I'm not saying these two stoves played a roll in the design, rather, I am saying it is likely that they sparked the idea of the Elm design. These two Jotul stoves have been copied by many, one design have sold more stoves than any other stove in history so I've read, heralded for their one long log loading, and their "cigar" burn...and thus easy fire starting on the next load. Just rake the coals to the front of the stove, load a log and let it catch, set the air and sit back in the easy chair.

Don't let the threaded rods fool you. The front and rear castings are virtually just a door that cannot be opened...one casting having a door built in to load thru...no different than any other stove. It is also the only stove made since the pot bellied stoves of old where the main body can simply be replaced. Try that with ANY "modern" wood or coal burning stove. Not going to happen...you'd have to buy another stove.

That said, the Elm...whether it passed EPA regs or not...the company likely folded due to costs of testing per their site, actually was a well thought out design. Easy to work on and maintain with proper caution and care in loading. You shouldn't just throw logs into any stove as the castings could break...glass...firebricks, etc. A little common sense goes a long way with any stove.

Try finding a modern stove with glass as thick as a Pyrex plate. Won't happen...won't find one. Had VISW designed a stove that used a Pyrex casserole dish...LOL...they'd have had something there as ambience is designed into many of todays modern stove designs.

Try and find another modern stove design that will allow you to take your stove out of a small 900 sq.ft. house and adapt it to a 3000 sq.ft. home, or vice-versa, simply by getting a bigger or smaller stove body and tie rods...all other parts can be used on either stove. Try that with a modern design!

I'm certainly not going to say they are the best stove, because clearly they are not. However, they were and ARE the most versatile stoves ever designed for and since their time period and as far as adaptability...taking the stove with you from home to home, IMHO.

The barrel design of this stove, as in the material for the barrel, really has zero drawbacks. Strength is there, controlled expansion is there, thickness is there, availability to source a new barrel locally is there...I mean there's really no worries with material or design. Now, when you start talking horizontal design -vs- vertical barrel design...well, then, that's a entirely different focus. Without derailing the thread, I'd always give the nod to the vertical antique stove designs. Those old timers had things figured out, for both wood and coal...and there are a few more modern stoves being built on old principles...designed with modern computers and design tools and graphics...which the old timers had none of...they figured it out the best way...by trial and error. I'd have to say, given that some of the most trending modern stove designs are copying...mimicking the old designs...that what is old is new again. Try researching modern European stove companies. You'll see. The only difference being new down draft technologies being applied to the vertical barrel design. Vertical barrel stoves from the mid-1800's, maybe some earlier stoves as well, were already employing 2ndar air supply into their coal and wood burning stoves...so they already realized the significance of 2ndary air supply and combustion. Fast forward to today, and rather than seeing more CAT stoves, we're seeing more "tube" stoves, or stoves utilizing 2ndary function to burn off volatiles for more efficiency. It's pretty cool to think about how far advanced the old timers thinking was without modern education and computers...perhaps without much more than 8th grade or high school education. Even if they were college educated then, their knowledge wouldn't be on par with today's college education. Funny how in so many ways history often repeats itself.

Fischers...are tanks. Those stoves and others like them, will be around long after our childrens children have crossed over the rainbow bridge.

 

My little north central town, is so full of wood burners, and 9/10ths of them wouldn't pass a new house inspection. But the worst part isn't so much the installations it's the old Smoke Dragons they're still using combined with cut it in October, burn it in December burning. On call fire dept is out weekly on chimney fires. Especially the first couple weeks of burning season.

The concept of being on a 2 or 3 year plan to age the wood is out of the question. They look at me like I have two heads when I mention it, especially the OWB guys... but then they can't understand why they're not getting enough heat.

 

Or having chimney fires.

 

EPA Be dammed ! Come 2020 standards with emission governors on all new stoves, will likely take this wood burning industry to "ornamental heating". Hoytman has obviously done extensive research on ALL aspects of wood stoves...past and present. I respect that. If I could find a good Elm or Fisher, I'd likely be all over it if they would work for my application. Until the "EPA" comes pounding down my door, I'll put a stove in my current application that serves my best interest for my family. Primarily Heat. Dependability. Efficiency. Asthetics important, but with the old stoves, frankly not a worry because they all seem to fit this criteria. All of the above in that order. Watching with interest what you do here Hoytman ! Stay in the hunt !