Need Wood Stove Advice

[Baby Grand]

I'm starting to look for a wood stove for supplementing our oil heat. Any brand or model recommendations? We have a 1950's ranch with a partly finished basement, which is where the old stove is.

Old stove's an Ashley C-62 from the 70's I think. Seems to have a leak or crack in the main firebox - you can always smell a little smoke when it's running. Plant Manager says it must go. If I can find the leak & weld it up, then it will have a new home out in the "tractor shed", replacing the old Warner that can't seem to make enough heat. The few times that we fired the Ashley up it did a great job of heating the house. Made the floors upstairs on the ground level comfortably warm and generally seemed to reduce the oil furnace firings by 50 - 70%.

Our house is about 1100 sq ft (upstairs living space) with about the same down in the basement. I'd like to get something that is high quality, burns clean and long on a single load. I'd like to avoid catalysts, if possible. I have no interest in pellet stoves as I have lots of hardwood on our property and a bunch that is cut and ready to split. What do you all think?

 

[Tollster]

We have a good local stove company called Alaska stoves,they are an 6 or 8" flue,and 3/8" to 1/4" plate lined with fire brick.
It may be benifical to get any model without a catalitic converter as I believe the EPA implemented sticter requirements around 04 for cleaner wood burning stoves but not sure asI went to pellets around then. Many of the stoves without the converter and lined with fire brick you could also burn coal in when it got really cold,you just had to ensure the grates where heavy duty,say 1/2 in thick and the rocked or mesh together. The gap between the grate teeth dictated what size coal you could burn,stove, chesnut, or rice. Most where stove coal. It was also against EPA laws for a slaes man to tell you you could burn either, even though the stove could be either,but was being sold as a wood stove.

Also keep in mind you may have a choice between convenction which draws cold air in from the room and circulated it around the fire box and blows warm air out, whcih can be an issue should you loose electric, but you may be able to use it as a radiant, just be sure to ask. Radiant has no forced air fans,and just emits heat, look for heavy gage steel and fire brick lining, typically the heavier the better. Bricks can be replaced, and much of the hard ware as well. Fresh paint can dress up and oldy very well, but the first burn will stink. Just be sure the grates are in good shape as they are hard to replace.

 

[yankeerider]

Do some reading over at Hearth.com forums. Last year we retired our old Vermont Castings Resolute Acclaim and replaced it with a Hearthstone Heritage. My wife and I both love the Heritage, it's easier to operate. No catalyst, butburns clean. Not great at holding a fire for a long time, but the Soapstone levels out the heat ups and downs vs. cast iron. We bought both stoves at Old Hadleigh Hearth in So Hadley, Ma.

 

[Davinator]

Check out the manufacturer, Lopi. They have a wide variety of extremely hi rated stoves, many of which are non-catalytic models. They undoubtedly have a dealer somewhere near you. Good luck!

 

[sadie72]

Try to find a used Vermont Castings Defiant. They are work horses. Cast iron and built to last. I have one and it heats my 1977 raised ranch all winter. No oil burner even with -25F outside. House is 28x48, 2 floors. Large firebox allows burning all night or day (9-10+hrs).

Go stainless steel chimney liner for added peace of mind with respect to maintenance, cleaning and chimney fires.

I just rebuilt the original fireback for $325 and the stove is like new.

 

[300UGUY]

Try to find a used Vermont Castings Defiant. They are work horses. Cast iron and built to last. I have one and it heats my 1977 raised ranch all winter. No oil burner even with -25F outside. House is 28x48, 2 floors. Large firebox allows burning all night or day (9-10+hrs).

Go stainless steel chimney liner for added peace of mind with respect to maintenance, cleaning and chimney fires.

I just rebuilt the original fireback for $325 and the stove is like new.

I have a raised ranch as well. Is your stove in the lower level?

 

[KennyG]

Just a thought. If you smell smoke, it may not be a crack in the stove. If your house is well insulated and sealed, it may have negative pressure in the basement. With the improved house sealing, this is becoming more and more of a problem. I have a two story house with an "airtight" stove (outside air intake) in the basement. It draws great and has no smoke problem when hot, but when I let it cool down, I get ash smell in the basement.

At this point, I'm going to install a constant flow fan to bring air from the upstairs into the basement to increase the basement pressure, but stoves in basements are a challenge.

As a minimum, I would suggest you look into airtight stoves with outside air intakes if you can work it out. The efficiency is very high and it's very clean heat. I have an Osburn (one of the SBI companies in Canada). They aren't cheap but the bay window models are like having a fireplace without the inefficiency.

 

[hr3]

I put in a Englander add on wood furnace that ties into the existing duck work,, I'v had it for 8 or 9 years now and love it.. I have a 4,000 sf ranch and burn 4 cord a winter keeping it 74 as an average..

 

[20 20]

I'll 2nd going with a wood furnace have had mine for years now and when it dies I'll stick with the same type. I didn't use mine as an add on it is my main source of heat, I heat 2000sq feet. They are fair priced and will IMO out heat a regular wood stove.

 

[sadie72]

Yes, the Defiant is in the lower level family room.

The smoke may be eliminated if you crack a basement window or burn the fire hotter.

Check Craigslist for used units. Heavy, but perfect for a well insulated ranch. I've seen them for $450 online. Parts are limited, but fireback kits can still be ordered. Mine says 1975 in the rear of the backplate.

 

[Baby Grand]

Thanks guys - lots of good ideas to think about.
I spent a lot of my youth cutting, splitting & feeding oak to a Vermont Castings Vigilant - it was a great stove. I'll have to see what's out there on CL. My impression is The Plant Manager wants something new, rather than old, but I'll have to see how firm that position is.

Was reading about the Jotul f 50 tl Rangeley, which seems to fit most of my requirements and is very efficient & clean, but man, that thing is expensive. I guess it's not much compared to a new oil furnace, but I'm still geting over the sticker shock.

Someone at work had also suggested that the smoke may have been from inadequate fresh air supply, so I will investigate that, too. But I'm pretty sure there's a breach in the firebox somewhhere as the throttle doesn't control the burn rate very well. I think the breach opens up some when the stove heats up, making the stove run too hot.

Will check out the Alaska & Lopi stoves.

Thanks for the Hearth.com forums suggestion!

I'm going to pass on the furnace for the present - seems like too much work to install and find a way to get the smoke above the roofline.

 

[Ken45101]

If I understand correctly, you are going to have this in the basement? If so, I strongly recommend a wood furnace so that you can duct the heat upstairs.

When we bought this house ten years ago, it had a US Stove Hotblast 1200 (Tractor Supply) in the basement but no ducting. It kept the basement plenty warm (too hot!) but did a poor job of getting the heat upstairs even though there was an open stairwell ten feet away. When I finally ran a single duct upstairs, WOW! the difference it made.

Four years ago, we put in a modern, efficient EPA type stove upstairs (Pacific Engineering Summit). We love it! It uses a lot less wood, has a glass door which makes the fire much more enjoyable. If you are going with a stove instead of a furnace, I highly recommend it as a great unit. But, as others have said, read hearth.com for a while. They also have reviews of individual stove models over there.

I agree with you, avoid the pellet stoves, especially if you can cut your own firewood.

Ken

 

[20 20]

I'm going to pass on the furnace for the present - seems like too much work to install and find a way to get the smoke above the roofline

not really sure what you mean by the smoke above the roof line. No matter which stove you install you'll need to safely move the smoke???

I've also seen the furnaces run in many different ways/configurations, they can be as easy or as hard as you wish to hook up. There is a fellow up the road that has one set in his back room with a 90degree elbow aimed where he wants his heat to travel, No piping except the elbow. He keeps his house close to 90F all winter long. This is also his only source of heat.

 

[Dutch445]

tollster mentioned coal, have you given that a thought?
there was a recent thread about coal burners, (i was one)
and you can find many manufacturers and styles, from
stokers to hand fed, to full furnaces. the coal advantages
are no handling/splitting wood, (if you have it for free, then
obviously that's best), and higher btu output, very efficient
heat, and a much more constant heat for long burn times.
i used a hand fed for 8 winters here in upstate ny, which meant
twice a day i had to load/shake the stove, which was located in
our basement of a ranch house. kept both levels nice and warm
on about 4-5 ton per year average. (certainly not close to that
this past winter)
there is a great forum for that also:
Northeastern Pennsylvania Community Forums, Home of the Anthracite and Bituminous Coal Forums

 

[Baby Grand]

not really sure what you mean by the smoke above the roof line. No matter which stove you install you'll need to safely move the smoke???

I've also seen the furnaces run in many different ways/configurations, they can be as easy or as hard as you wish to hook up. There is a fellow up the road that has one set in his back room with a 90degree elbow aimed where he wants his heat to travel, No piping except the elbow. He keeps his house close to 90F all winter long. This is also his only source of heat.

I already have a central chimney which is how I get the wood stove smoke out of the basement and up above the roofline. I sure don't want to run a flue into the house to get it up the chimney. I also don't want to hook my hot water heat system up to it and then have to run an electric pump to circulate the heat 24/7, nor do I want forced hot air. I also don't want a furnace sitting in my back yard. I want to replace the present stove in the basement. A high quality, long burn time, efficient wood stove is what I want.

 

[Baby Grand]

tollster mentioned coal, have you given that a thought?
there was a recent thread about coal burners, (i was one)
and you can find many manufacturers and styles, from
stokers to hand fed, to full furnaces. the coal advantages
are no handling/splitting wood, (if you have it for free, then
obviously that's best), and higher btu output, very efficient
heat, and a much more constant heat for long burn times.
i used a hand fed for 8 winters here in upstate ny, which meant
twice a day i had to load/shake the stove, which was located in
our basement of a ranch house. kept both levels nice and warm
on about 4-5 ton per year average. (certainly not close to that
this past winter)
there is a great forum for that also:
Northeastern Pennsylvania Community Forums, Home of the Anthracite and Bituminous Coal Forums

Thanks, but no, not interested in buying coal when I have acres of hardwood that provides me with ample fuel. Coal is a commodity, just like fuel oil. I'm trying to avoid reliance on commodity fuels by burning home grown. There is also a carbon footprint aspect to this, but that's another topic, entirely.

 

[KennyG]

I think I understand your setup and it's similar to my situation except my house is two stories which complicates things, but I have forced air which helps. I added vents with dampers above the stove, cut into my furnace return air ducts to help distribute the heat. My problem with that is that it further aggravates my negative pressure problem in the basement, so I have to make sure I close them if the stove isn't hot.

I have only a small stove (36K/72K rated BTU) because any larger one would make the basement uncomfortably warm, even with the ability to move the air.

As you get into this project, I would suggest you look into the potential of adding some air circulation capability. For instance, If you can make a return duct in an interior wall by adding a grille and hooking into the cavity in the basement, you can add a high capacity (say 200 to 300 cfm) in line bathroom fan to bring upstairs air into the basement. This will have the dual advantage of pressurizing the basement to minimize any smoke spillage and will also force more hot air up the stairs. This won't be a lot of additional cost and I think the system would work a lot better if you have a large stove in the basement.

 

[20 20]

I already have a central chimney which is how I get the wood stove smoke out of the basement and up above the roofline. I sure don't want to run a flue into the house to get it up the chimney. I also don't want to hook my hot water heat system up to it and then have to run an electric pump to circulate the heat 24/7, nor do I want forced hot air. I also don't want a furnace sitting in my back yard. I want to replace the present stove in the basement. A high quality, long burn time, efficient wood stove is what I want.

The wood furnace I am writting about would be able to hook into the existing chimney same as wood stove. It has a long burn time 6-8-12hrs depending on how hot one would want it. BUT I see you say no forced hot air so I quess it would be out. If you don't mind me asking why no forced air? Everyone around here that has switched over to the furnace wood stove is VERY happy they did. Here is a link to the type of wood stove I'm suggesting Englander Add-On Wood Furnace it's not very big as you can see from the dimensions. It is made to be in the house without taking up any more room then an average woodstove and IMO is safer. I can touch all sides of mine(not the front) when there is a fire going.

 

[MossRoad]

We just finished our third year with our Napoleon wood stove. :thumbsup:

I really like it. EPA rated. No catalyst. Good burn times with good wood. When it is burning well, ZERO smoke from chimney. :thumbsup:

Last year I ran it for 6 months straight and I beleive I only let it go out 4 times. Just kept feeding it. I empty the ash pan about once every two weeks.

Well worth a look if you have a local dealer.

Napoleon Wood burning Stoves

 

[hr3]

I already have a central chimney which is how I get the wood stove smoke out of the basement and up above the roofline. I sure don't want to run a flue into the house to get it up the chimney. I also don't want to hook my hot water heat system up to it and then have to run an electric pump to circulate the heat 24/7, nor do I want forced hot air. I also don't want a furnace sitting in my back yard. I want to replace the present stove in the basement. A high quality, long burn time, efficient wood stove is what I want.

You should have said this in the first place then..