wood stoves

Put antifreeze in the pipes...

 

I have gone without any type of central or back up to a woodstove for a number of years but really do not like it. As you mention, leaving for more than 12 hours in the dead of winter is a problem, and having to kick a stove in the butt to get it going and then damp it down too quickly to leave the house for the day is not the best either.

I still heat with wood but now have a new, efficient oil boiler supplying both heating needs (direct, supplimental or emergency) as well as domestic hot water (DHW). With heating oil being $1.70 at the moment, it is nice to let the boiler take some of the load off of me- especially when it is so mild out as it is now.

So absolutely, heating a house exclusively with wood and having no other choice works but is not as pleasant IMO as heating with wood but having an automatic, thermostat system standing by in the wings in case of.... anything to do with wood heat or the stove. They even use different chimneys so are truly independant of each other.

Brian

 

Not a thing wrong with it. it would be my personal preference in a perfect world. I think you might have miss interpreted my post.

 

We leave the house way too much to only have wood. Heat. If I lived farther north I would have to have a back up for when we would be gone for more than 24 hours

 

Cool, more man than I, during ice storms, including last year I went time without power or heat.. but managed.. because it was obvious with pouring rain and temp at 20 ..... Ice was forming.. being a redneck, I filled bathtubs with water... cranked furnace.. lasted 4 days but so glad if it happens again new stove gets more than 3 hour burns..

 

We do exactly as you do. Therm on the oil furnace at 50F and it's there and kicks in when we are gone so nothing freezes. During that time we took winter vacations in the dead of winter a couple times. We had oil delivered this year for the first time in 4 years. It's just a great feeling to have the next 5 or 6 winters covered in the woodshed and we enjoy the heat from a wood stove. Besides, it keeps the old boy busy.

 

That's the largest luminary I have ever seen....!

 

????Anti-freeze in your domestic water supply?? Nope.

 

I would like to try an Englander 30. Great service from manufacturer and sounds like some long burn times.

Decided against anything with a catalytic due to the increased "finicky" of the stove.

 

You hit the nail on the head Dave. That is the single most important factor to consider. Is it a worthwhile trade off for the ability to spread the heat over a longer period of time? There are pros and cons with all stoves. Once the single most important consideration is decided then it is an easy task to go from there. Your wisdom is appreciated.

 

Maybe he is talking the methonal type rv stuff. Its even used somehow in food production I think when I looked up up for filling tractor tires.

 

I think it's propylene glycol that can be used in water systems..

 

Yep thats right PG is the RV one. I used windshield washer fluid cause it was cheaper and it was Methenol

 

Well there are lots of criteria to picking out a stove, like hearth and venting requirements. Ideally, I'd want a stove that doesn't exist. Perhaps the tech and firebox of a BK King, but in a beautiful Gothic-looking cast iron stove similar to the Jotuls, able to vertical or horizontal vent to 6" pipe, and perhaps with a side load option and ash pan setup like the Woodstock Progress Hyb.

Giving my criteria though, I think I already have the best stove on the market that will fit, the Woodstock Ideal Steel: 6" horizontal output, with >3 cuft firebox and very efficient long enough burn for my long workdays.

If we aren't talking about a primary heater, then got to agree with Todd 2 on the cookstove. Would love to have one of those for the kitchen of a log home or home with rustic country interior. Do they have cookstoves that burn pellets? Might make them a bit more practical.

 

Now your cooking with peanut oil.

 

I checked it out on the Home Depot website and it is impressive for a number of reasons. Clean burning 1.63 g/hr, large woodbox 3+cu ft, decently long burn times, nice looking, clean design, non-cat makes operation dead simple (better half friendly), 6" flue, and priced below 1k. Don't think anyone can go wrong with this stove.

 

And you can get it on sale in the spring!!

There are several other stoves made by england stove works that are not the NC30 but other ones made for other customers that are I think the exact same. Go to their site and you can see them. I think northern tool has one this year that is made by england.

 

For sure there may be deals out there. I was on the US website. In Canada pricing is different and distributors also more connected to Canadian manufacturers that negates the premium we pay with our pesos to bring in from US. I have a new large Regency Cat stove. I guess if they made the same stove non-cat that emitted less than 2g/hr particulate I would lean that way for the same reasons given by Yooper Dave. I guess practical, sensible reasons do not compete with the fancy marketing that goes with long burn times and the seldom mentioned practical stuff that goes with it. For instance, it takes a fair bit of time and attention to add fuel to a cat stove. I'd venture half an hour on average before you can walk away and ignore it for 4 or 5 hours. With a good EPA stove it takes about 1 minute. You have to do it twice as often on average. That's the main trade off. Cats are more efficient so on the surface save up to 10-15% on fuel consumption all else being equal. Big cats require 8" flue size. Bucks for chimneys also a lot larger. Like Yooper Dave points out, the Englander 30 just might be a good choice for many of us.

 

I've wanted a masonry stove(Russian stove,masonry heater) ever since I read about them in This Old House back in the early 90's. Given the chance to build my home, I'll be designing my heating around one of these.

If that would not stand, I'd go with another Country Canyon stove. It rocks and does well with different heating settings.

 

Oh Yea I know. My main stove that I burn is a high valley 2500 which is almost just like a buck 91. Its a big 3.5+cuft cat stove. I know how finicky they can be with wood, draft, coals, and time to burn in. The NC30 I have is for a total new hearth install/stove install