Wood Stoves: what's new in the world of wood heat.

Good old "Parlor Stove".....that one would have been for a small parlor. They came in all sizes depending of the size of your parlor.

They also came as wood or coal burners, for coal that means a stronger firebox usually and different grates. But many would buy the coal ones and burn wood in them as they were "heavier duty".That one looks like a coaly. When the grates are missing or burned out, you may be out of luck finding replacements altough there are still people restoring them that may even have the grates or even molds to cast new ones.

Not installed yet.....:eek1I bet the PO got a quote for a proper chimney and flipped. That is if the stove itself can even be installed to code. I don't think so up here but a good chimney guy will tell you as he quotes that chimney.:eek1

I had 2 of them, one was burned out only good for decoration/charm, the other burned happily in my friend's shop for a while but he did replace it, he wasn't too happy with the heat output.

If you want info on it, may be easier to look up the foundry first and then narrow down to the stove,or stove type, but there was so many such foundries buying/copying patents or using their own designs, that even confuses the experts. Just read the chapter on "stoves" in my Encyclopedia of Antique Quebec Objects in that vintage, can make your head spin that.

I don't trust old cast iron too much anymore, we had a little stove bust open in a camp once and spill all its burning wood.Sobers you up real quick having to scram to clean up before the camp burns down and then....you freeze all night! Looked good from the outside, rotten inside.

But for some reason, all charming to me them stoves. May be in my genes, my great-great-great uncle started such a foundry in Quebec, in operation until 2004. Anyone familiar with Belanger stoves here???

That's exactly what happened. It was their second flip and they went way over budget and left some things...I tiled the laundry room, landscaping, some broken roof tiles, etc. Small stuff that added up.

Thanks a lot for the info. I'm keeping in mind that the "winter" here in CA is basically a joke....we are lucky if it gets below 35 at night. But owning a home, I am suddenly acutely aware of utility bills and like you guys, love a good wood fire.

I think I will go with getting the Chimney installed, as I will need to do that in any case and see what the Chimney tech has to say.

Thanks again, will update in the future.

^^^^ And check with your house insurances, don't know about you guys but up here some of them companies sure like to add further restrictions of their own.:eek1 Maybe not to the point of refusing to insure but extra charges sometimes.They seem to have their own "code"....

You need better grills for that outdoor fireplace if you plan to use it for cooking, them may bend and dump the food in the fire.:eek1 I'd be hunting around the used kitchen equipment places for that, pretty HD what's in my stoves and we never bent the one we have been using on the large wood fired BBQ.

Almond wood, sounds very interesting for cooking. You can do a burn & sniff test just to make sure. Some of them wood species like cottonwood sure can stink up a neighborhood.:eek1

And shop around. When I bought this house I got an initial estimate and then when I went to closing found that the local ins. agent had found me a 40% lower rate with another company. It seems the first ins. co. did not like wood-stoves and liked them even less in a manufactured home, regardless of how well it is installed.

That agent will probably get more of my business.

^^^ The shop around. They just about drove me nuts a few years back. Log house, primary wood heat, no local fire services....previous forest fires within 15 miles and what else that I don't even want to remember.:huh

Went with a small company not represented at/by the local brokers. I know how much commision the brokers get on some policies. Saved over $1,500/year and got better protection.

Considering my location, sure I expect higher premiums than most,but I sure make up for that on property taxes. But there sure is a limit....local quote was $2,800/year and only one of them big insurance companies was even willing to insure me, almost felt like they were doing me a favor the way the broker was talking.:eek1

I think it depends on the broker.

This local one is (I am pretty sure) from the local farming family that the road I live off of is named after. Plus, my grandfather used to farm some land with that family so it is possible he recognized the name (they still farm just down the road - my family sold our farm, but my family name is well known around here by my parent's generation), or it might be that he just has an efficient and ethical staff (I never talked to him, just his staff who seemed to be very helpful).

Saved me about $500 a year and it is considerably cheaper than my brother pays for his place which doesn't have a wood stove and he has much fewer trees, one fifth the acreage and much better access - he is just a mile outside the city FD boundary.

Works for me.

even with the small box, I managed to keep the fire going through the night without getting up... seems that the air-intake on low is just enough to keep it going for 7+ hours (if the wood is good)

Switched to a pellet stove a few years ago and never looked back. I heated both my entire home with one and then bought one for the cottage.

The best thing about having it at the cottage is the fire burns hot all night long or when were out during the day.

It's a little slower to heat up the cottage from -35c but once it's warmed up, it's fine.

What fun is that?:huh

No chainsaw, no forest outings...and no heat during power outages.

Well, that is why we go both ways. One of each. Pellets are a lot easier to keep at a nice even, low level, the wood stove great for slamming the chill in the AM and on very cold days.

Oh, I see.

That sounds about optimum.

Just found this thread! We opted for a Lopi Freedom Insert for our POS fireplace that was all show and no go for heat. Burned about 3 cords last winter, and saved a ton of dough on fuel oil.



we went with pewter instead of brass. Optional blower on the bottom, and we can stoke it for overnight burns. It basically heats the whole first floor with some additional circ fans in doorways. One of our better choices, really love it.

Hey Dave, NICE house. Great to be out of the rental market, huh?

We really like our wood stove- the one you saw in our LR last time you got up to Sugar Hill.

Good luck with that round stove.

Say Hi to Paula.

John

I have a generator incase we there's a power outage.

Sure beats what was there: An empty hole up which all the heat goes...

I LOVE a good fireplace... but for actual heating... they suck...

An insert with a blower is the way to go... I honestly can't believe there aren't more stoves that have an air channel around the back of the stove with a fan forcing induction... great way to make a lot of warm air if you can move the warm air around the house....

If you don't mind, about how much did that fun ya to purchase and install? I'm looking at doing the same thing.

Masonry heaters. Ten tonnes of thermal mass (brick,stone ) lit once a day with a full bonfire.
Heats the mass and it radiates that heat all day Google it.
Not new though. Been around for centuries. Extreme efficiency.

IDScarecrow has one..which he posted about here: http://advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15029351&postcount=142

I'm really currious how they would work around here (NH) on a day to day basis... seems that sizing them would be pretty critical.. but I guess you could adjust the overall BTU output by adjusting the length of the burn...

The concept is great: hot, efficient fire with no big swings in out-put temperature... but making a new fire every day would be a pain in the balls... Though you could just make a shit-ton of kindling with regular cord-wood to have on hand...

I like those big mass heaters but I do have a lot of questions about how they work during this time of year, when we need a quick fire in the AM and no heat later in the afternoon and evening.

I don't mind lighting a fire every AM - I make cartons of kindling and just light it up every morning. Our place is so small that an all day fire is only required on the very coldest days.

If I lived in a colder climate, more than practical though.

The masonry heaters do work very well even in cold cold climates, but I agree with A-Bone about the invonvenience of having to light a fire (2 when it's really cold out) every single day.

Ideally, I would like a masonry heater on one side of my chimney, with a large soapstone woodstove on the other. The masonry heater would have a pizza oven in it, I think this would be the best of both worlds, although super exensive

Here is a pic I took at a friends house a few weeks ago of one.
Not as pretty as the last one, but probably still close to 10k dollars to build.





On another note, I cleaned out my chimney a few weeks ago, and was pleseantly surprised that after 2 winters of burning, and not sweeping, I only had just over a beer can full of creosote.
I've been wanting to light a fire since then, but it's been too warm. Even during the power outage from the storm I was itching to light the woodstove to cook some breakfast on, but the living room was already 67 degrees. :huh