Has anyone had good experience with the US Stove Logwood stove? I currently have an Englander model 28 CC, however it is not working efficiently.
Welcome aboard Need Heat from wood Have no information on that model stove, but I'm sure someone can provide some info.
it is US Stove - run away as fast as you can, if you are looking for a solid less expensive stove Englander or Drolet Both made on this continent not Chi-com.
looked up your stove made around 1989- ever Replace your cat? depending on where you look a replacement is around $130. new tech in wood stoves since that time.
If you are looking for efficiency that simple log wood stove is nowhere near an answer- actually back tracking - about a 1/4 step better than a 55 gal drum barrel stove - only because it is made from heavier material ( well maybe -it is chi-com mfg after all) If your intent is to get away from pellets then a stove with secondary burn tech would be the starting point, cat stoves next, then the hybrid units which combine secondary burn plus the cat. ( cat = catalytic combustion assemblies) which is the same type of unit in your current pellet stove. Also be aware that any current wood stove ( not pellet type ) is going to require fuel that has a moisture content internally of less than 20% . The only firewood you could acquire now for this up coming winter would need to be Kiln dried to 20% or less moisture content and not something that has only spent apx 4 hours in a kiln to kill bugs. Any thing cut and split now will not be ready until winter of 20-21 at the earliest ( Virginia not being the driest state around). The other way out of this is to purchase the compressed wood logs ( giant pellets) for this season. Cost for a wood stove $900 on up and expect about the same cost additionally for a proper flue assembly- most of which will be a 6" diameter internally - so the basic bottom end cost would be $1800 for a complete assembly.
Just remember that you usually get what you pay for. US Stoves do not have a great name although I've known a few who seem to think they are okay. I remember several years ago when we decided that we were going to finally pull the strings and get us one of the best stoves. Went to Woodstock Soapstone and got a Fireview. Long story short, we used to have to clean our chimney 4-6 times every winter. Now we could probably go 5 years between cleanings and still get hardly anything other than fly ash. It did cost us some dollars but....Consider that we used to burn 6-7 full cord per winter to heat our home. We immediately dropped to burning only 3 cord. Less than half the wood. Before, we were always cold in the winter. No more! We keep our home around 80 degrees all winter with no problem. The coldest night we've had since getting the stove is 24 below zero. When I got up in the morning if I remember right the house temperature was either 74 or 76 (don't remember for sure but one of those temps). It took most of that day to get back to 80 but all was well. We've burned with this stove now for 12 winters and still love it. There are some other stoves on the market that can do really good too. I think the Woodstock Ideal Steel and the Blaze King are perhaps the top biggies but I would not count out the Woodstock Progress.
Thanks for the feedback. I currently have an Englander model 28 CC that a friend gave me. It is missing the cat converter and isn't burning as well as I would like. Would adding the cat converter make that big of difference?
I'd say that it wouldn't be impossible to find dead standing trees, or buy pre seasoned wood ( that actually really is seasoned). Dead standing trees will have less moisture content in them than living trees. Some, depending on a lot of variables, will be really to be burned the same day as cutting. The only way to know it is to buy a moisture meter. You can get them for around $20. There's plenty of great stove brands out there. You can even buy then used to save a lot of cash. Welcome to FHC Need Heat from wood
I think getting the cat in there could improve the efficiency dramatically, but I’ll admit I am no expert and am following the thread to see if there is other responses on the matter. But I think, if the stove was designed to have a cat, than it is going to lose a lot of efficiency not having one.
Yes replacing that cat assembly and gaskets would make a world of difference. That is how that stove was designed to be used- the effect of not having the cat in use/ place would be the same for any of the cat stoves currently on the market. With cat in place a properly run I would hazard a guess that the efficiency would be in the 60-70 % area maybe more - about on par with a lot of current units- but it is a 20+ year old design. Before the EPA got to meddling with things there were some really neat and efficient designs coming on board sans cat- but with the cost of EPA testing and approval a lot of those were lost. My first stove , about the equivalent of a Englander NC 13 was a pre EPA tube stove, the thing I like about it vs what is available now was I could regulate the secondary burn as well as the main combustion air feed - effectively extending the secondary burn time which also extended the overall burn time, sadly the MFG opted to get out of the game rather than play with the EPA- for them it was a side line not their main business.
Adding a cat, I would not be afraid to say you'd burn about half as much wood for the same amount of heat. Or, in other words, you might find yourself more comfortable in the winter months.
Without the cat (as in an empty hole) you must be sending an awful lot of heat and particulates up the chimney. If the US Stove is the same boxwood stove Vozelgang sells it likely won't outperform that old Englander I'd invest in a cat for the Englander and test for gasket replacement before I invested in a low end stove from US Stove or Vozelgang.
Some of the steel stoves from VZ are ok now...not great, but ok. I had a 1.2 cf Defender that I didn't hate, would have kept it but I wanted a larger firebox and found a great deal on a used Drolet 1400i insert stove that maximizes the limited room I have to install a stove in our living room fireplace...which is not the primary heater by the way...the wood furnace is, the stove is more for taking the chill off on a fall day, or a lil extra boost on a cold January night. Not recommending USS, or VZ, just that some of their current models can be ok...probably wouldn't buy anything cast iron though...those are still pretty crappy. I think that includes the logwood...
Hey, I'm still using a Scandia boxwood stove. I don't think I would recommend one and leave a paper trail having done so.
