First post here ... I am on my second winter heating with wood. The house had an allnighter mid moe installed, and I continue to use it. It supplies my heat needs quite well. I burn mostly Douglas Fir, some Tamarack (Western Larch), and fill it out with Lodgepole and Ponderosa Pine. Last year I burnt green wood (mostly pine), cutting it and burning it within days, as I had nothing when I moved here in the middle of the winter. In the spring I cut about 8 cords and split most of it by hand, letting it dry all summer. I will burn about half of it this winter, so I have about a year "jump" on next winter. It is burning really well this winter, next can only be better. In the meantime, I am tighening up this leaky pole barn I call a house. It is much better than it was a year ago, and I am hoping it will again be much better a year from now. Most of my money and time is going there. When it warms up a bit more I will build my woodpile up to about 10 cords for next winter, and the one following. The stove has been modified and repaired as follows: The exit is on top, rather than behind it. The 6 inch singlewall "stovepipe" (actually a standard 6 inch black pipe) goes up through the ceiling. This was done by the previous owner. I replaced the door gasket, and installed new firebricks. I built a baffle of angle iron supporting firebrick. Sorry I cannot post a photo, but it sits on top of the heat tubes going through the fiebox, and seems to do an admirable job at preventing the fire from going right up the flue. I use a magnetic flue thermometer, and have found that 350-400F (18 inches above) works real well on the stove. Last year I had a bit of a problem with the stove overheating (running away), this year with the baffle it is much better. I can get it good and hot, and it stays steady. For an all night burn, I start with a good bed of coals, load it up, let it heat up to about 350 n the flue, then close the vents to about 1/2 turn from fully closed. It will still have some glowing coals in the morning, to start the new fire. So, that is my long story. My question is twofold: Do you have any suggestions for improving my results with this stove? It works fine, but if I can get more heat, longer burn, use less wood, etc., I would be glad to learn it sooner rather than later. What would I really gain by 'upgrading" to a newer EPA stove? I would do it if I thought it would make a significant difference, but I am doubting it. (I get little visible smoke, the firebricks stay clean, can burn for more than a week without cleaning ashes out, etc. I just think there cannot be a lot of improvement. I clean the creosote about twice a season so far.) Looking forward to your input! Greg
This sounds dangerous. Is there any sort of ceiling support box at the ceiling? Does it go into Class A pipe at some point? A couple pics would help. While we're waiting for pics......Welcome aboard the FHC.
I have an allnighter big moe that i use for heat. I added a baffle on the tubes inside the stove. I would like to see the pics of yours, the baffle and the stove pipe. I push all my coals to one side and than load the stove. Lately i've been trying to pull the coals forward and load it that way. I split most of my wood on the larger side. I can get prety good burn times. WeldrDave and Razo could probably add some tips too.
Still no pics yet, sorry. The ceiling (vaulted) and roof penetration looks like this, and the ceiling part has a UL label, Metalbestos Type HT and some other info. The pipe itself is plain black steel pipe, one piece from the stove up to the rain cap, no seams. It goes about 6 feet above the roof. Greg
Oh please, don't call me Bush! (or Clinton, or Obama, or Reagan ...) I am not selective, I dislike them all just about equally. (oh boy, third post, already going political. Done for now.) Back on subject, I hear and read how they are so good, how much does one really save with one versus burning an old airtight as efficiently as they can? I see the efficiency ratings, but I wonder if that is "heat in the room" or a measure of burn efficiency and resultant polution? Can I really reduce wood consumption
The quick answer is yes Check out this post from Backwoods Savage in the thread Advice on stove sizing http://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/posts/275032/ You are looking at some very good stoves but yet, I can't help but wonder why you have not looked at the Fireview. That is a much larger stove than you have and the radiant heat should still do a good job of heating the whole area (not considering the basement). Your main area at 1000 sq ft is smaller than ours and we have an old home with a recent addition and it heats ours just fine. In fact, we keep our home temperature around 80 degrees all winter. Even when it gets colder than -20, we still wake up to a warm house. We also cut our wood needs in half with this stove and average 3 cord per year.
