wood stoves (NGC)

[amamet]

if anyone is looking at wood stoves, i just installed and fired up my jotul f500 Oslo.  i replaced an older vermont castings intrepid.  the difference is extreme to say the least.  this stove is great! and looks good too.   plenty of people are stove shopping now so I'm just putting in my 2 cents
-Allen

[Chuck in Indiana]

if anyone is looking at wood stoves, i just installed and fired up my jotul f500 Oslo.  i replaced an older vermont castings intrepid.  the difference is extreme to say the least.  this stove is great! and looks good too.   plenty of people are stove shopping now so I'm just putting in my 2 cents
-Allen

We heated our house with a Jotul for years. Gave it to Ed the Rocket Scientist when we built Castle Pretentious  and he's still heating his shop with it 30 years later.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  Fortunately the weather here is such that my sidecar does not need a wood stove,  although I miss the romance of the smokey chimney.

[Markcarovilli]

  Fortunately the weather here is such that my sidecar does not need a wood stove,  although I miss the romance of the smokey chimney.

Jim you are such a romantic......

Mark

[lucian]

Cleaned out the flue and spent six hours on the wood splitter today. Nothing like a Jotul, they are premium stoves. Anyone got some extra carbon credits they want to sell?.

[Triple Jim]

if anyone is looking at wood stoves, i just installed and fired up my jotul f500 Oslo.  i replaced an older vermont castings intrepid.  the difference is extreme to say the least.

I  have a Vermont Castings Resolute that's getting somewhat beat up inside from running it hot for many years.  Please describe the extreme difference you noticed.  I would hate to give up the thermostat on the air intake, for example.  Does the Jotul have that feature?

[80CX100]

I picked up and installed that same model Jotul stove, burned it for 5 years. I picked it up cheap because of a hairline crack on the top,,,(be careful not to spill water on the cast iron when really hot) it never got worse and it was a great stove. It was such an efficient stove, that it was a bit fussy on the quality of the wood I burned,,, didn't like green damp wood at all. Also because the stove was so efficient,,, it was fussy on the quality of the chimney as well,,, I've been around good chimneys,,unfortunately my Jotul was hooked up to a poor chimney with poor draft.

If that model still has the 2 doors, side and glass front,,, be very careful that people don't mistakenly open the front door when there's a fire going, my brother opened the front door, oblivious to the fact that the burning coals would fall out,,, I only used the side door to load wood,,, opened the front glass door only for cleaning when the stove was cold.

The Jotul stove itself, is absolutely one of the best quality and design, I've ever been around,,, nothing like heavy cast iron, to hold and throw heat.

Congrats on a beautiful stove

Kelly

[Rough Edge racing]

 We have been heating almost 100 percent with wood for the last 11 years....It's my opinion the placement of stove and type of wood may be more important than the stove provided it's reasonably air tight and constructed from heavy gauge steel...
  We have a Vogelzang Durango bought about 4 years ago online ...When it arrived I was disappointed to see it was made in China..But it appears well made and has not developed problems... About 12-15 face cord to heat this 1400 sq ft house during western NY state winters..

[Penderic]

I like the smell of a good burning fire with good seasoned firewood. 

Cherry, Douglas Fir and ....


Steel Cut Oaks!   

[Chuck in Indiana]

Steel Cut Oaks!   

  I resembled that. Someone logged off an ancient white oak and just left the limbs on the ground. Some of those limbs were bigger around than me. I heated the house and shop with them for years.

[Lannis]

We have been heating almost 100 percent with wood for the last 11 years....It's my opinion the placement of stove and type of wood may be more important than the stove provided it's reasonably air tight and constructed from heavy gauge steel...
  We have a Vogelzang Durango bought about 4 years ago online ...When it arrived I was disappointed to see it was made in China..But it appears well made and has not developed problems... About 12-15 face cord to heat this 1400 sq ft house during western NY state winters..

This is our 22nd year of heating our house almost completely with wood, using an "Englander" stove, strategically placed, with a heat-exchange blower and a catalytic combustor in the smoke outlet.

An insurance inspector was over today (we changed policies) and he couldn't believe it was a 22-year-old stove - it looks like new.   Made in America and built right.

Felling, bucking, hauling, splitting, and stacking wood, and toting it to the stove, is a messy operation, but the only cash involved for the fuel is the mix for the chain saws, and the occasional chain or new saw (1 new saw in 25 years).

Lannis

[OlDogface]

I switched to a pellet stove about 9 years ago and don't miss the mess of "real" wood at all. It is more expensive. One bag per 24 hour period ~ $5/day.

[redrider90]

I switched to a pellet stove about 9 years ago and don't miss the mess of "real" wood at all. It is more expensive. One bag per 24 hour period ~ $5/day.

I have used a Jotul F500 for since 1999 and love it. Its dual burn chamber is high efficient (75%) and negates the need of replacing a catalytic convertor.
Someone complained that it is fussy and will not burn green wood. The Jotul is air tight and the wood has to be seasoned. Add H2O and you loose efficiency.  70,000 BTU  will heat my 1500 square foot house that is 65% floor to ceiling glass. 2 full cords for the winter and maybe it produces 1/2 gallon of creosote. I have a 6" flue and wish I could have fit an 8 flue but the existing chimney was too small. I drilled a couple of extra holes in the draft chamber for faster burns when needed. My only regret is not getting enamel paint but money was tight so we saved $500.

[flyerstill]

I'm using a Wood Master Flex Fuel furnace. They claim a 92% efficiency. Doesn't take much wood. Haven't used two cords a winter, yet. 

[Rough Edge racing]

This is our 22nd year of heating our house almost completely with wood, using an "Englander" stove, strategically placed, with a heat-exchange blower and a catalytic combustor in the smoke outlet.

An insurance inspector was over today (we changed policies) and he couldn't believe it was a 22-year-old stove - it looks like new.   Made in America and built right.

Felling, bucking, hauling, splitting, and stacking wood, and toting it to the stove, is a messy operation, but the only cash involved for the fuel is the mix for the chain saws, and the occasional chain or new saw (1 new saw in 25 years).

Lannis

  Our woods is has a very rugged terrain so we have to fell the trees and buck them on the spot. Then make multiple trips with the ATV and trailer to the wood pile for splitting.. ..So the last few years we have been buying  hardwood and splitting it ourselves...My wife loves to use the splitter and stack it...I believe it takes us about 40 minutes to split a face cord..
 Yes it's quite messy. Our house is all wood so the woodpile is 100 feet away so more exercise to haul it into the house..

[Lannis]

Lannis

  Our woods is has a very rugged terrain so we have to fell the trees and buck them on the spot. Then make multiple trips with the ATV and trailer to the wood pile for splitting.. ..So the last few years we have been buying  hardwood and splitting it ourselves...My wife loves to use the splitter and stack it...I believe it takes us about 40 minutes to split a face cord..
 Yes it's quite messy. Our house is all wood so the woodpile is 100 feet away so more exercise to haul it into the house..

It would probably make economic sense for me to do that, if I value my own time and safety at anything at all ... but with 130 acres of woods here, I just can't stand to pay cash to buy wood.   

Normally I look for deadfall so I don't have to take a saw to a tree in tight hilly woods; that's the most dangerous part of the whole operation.   I know guys that have been killed or maimed by big dead branches coming off of trees they were working on ....

At my age, though, Father Time will be changing things for me after a few years, I suspect, possibly all the way back to gas logs ... !

Lannis

[Triple Jim]

Normally I look for deadfall so I don't have to take a saw to a tree in tight hilly woods; that's the most dangerous part of the whole operation.

Just this week I bought a piece of 5/8" nylon rope because a half dead Red Oak I had cut ended up stuck on a pine tree.  It took driving my Ford 4000 tractor forward and letting it get jerked to a stop by the rope about half a dozen times before the tree finally got un-stuck.

[GearheadGrrrl]

Started burning wood when I put in a new garage next to my 1887 house in the 'hood in Minneapolis around 2001. Nothin' fancy, just a $400 or so Canadian made stove, worked so well that I insulated the garage and pretty much moved in. When natural gas prices shot up in 2005 I put a corn/pellet stove in the house, was a crappy U.S. Stove clone of a American Energy Systems design, but with some baby sitting did the job. When I moved to an earth sheltered house in rural Minnesota in 2010 I put in a real American Energy Systems stove, works great and the factory is only 100 miles away if I need anything. Even in the coldest weather it keeps this huge house and shop toasty on the lowest settings on a $4 bag of wood pellets a day, less the half the cost of the electric furnace that is my seldom used backup. With the warm weather pellet prices down, I pre-bought a ton at $4 per 40 pound bag and picked up as many as the Golf could carry at Fleet Farm for $3.49 a bag on an unadvertised sale. Got 30 bags on hand and another 60 waiting for me to pick up, so with a month or two trip to Florida I'm pretty much good for the winter!

[Triple Jim]

I  have a Vermont Castings Resolute that's getting somewhat beat up inside from running it hot for many years.  Please describe the extreme difference you noticed.  I would hate to give up the thermostat on the air intake, for example.  Does the Jotul have that feature?

Did you see my question, amamet? 

[amamet]

sorry jim, just got to my computer since i posted this.  crazy work week.  anywho, the jotul simply has 1 control and a thats the air flow.  nothing else.  my old vermont castings could almost fit inside the jotul.  the jotul justs seems really well made and keeps a nice steady burn.  i took it apart and cleaned it up before i installed it.  the vermont castings i had was a catalytic model that just never burned steady.  ive only had it going a few days but so far im super happy. plus i only paid $750 for it.  the only thermostat is the magnetic on i put on the top

[LowRyter]

any real world advice for a gas fireplace insert?

[Triple Jim]

Thank you, amamet.  I'll probably need to either find another used Resolute at some point, or go with something different like your Jotul.  In my case I don't need anything bigger, however.  I bought this little stove with the idea of heating about 1,700 square feet, and found it heats my whole 4,600!  At some point the 1,700 will be partitioned off, and it'll go into low heat mode.  :)

The mechanical thermostat on the air intake on this stove really works well to keep the stove's temperature nearly constant.  If I bought a Jotul or other brand, I'd make a similar system for it.

[O]

any real world advice for a gas fireplace insert?

Installed a Kozy Heat insert last winter, and really like it.  Looked at wood stoves, pellet stoves, and the like, but simply don't have the time to deal with the mess of wood.  It's not used as a primary heat source by any means, just to knock the chill out of the family room, and for aesthetics.  I do miss the sounds and smell of burning wood, but convenience won out.  One touch of the remote,and it's on, or off, with zero cleaning, and practically zero maintenance.

My one complaint is the sound of the fan.  Any setting but the lowest is annoyingly loud.  If you have a chance to test gas inserts in a showroom, be sure to check what the fan sounds like on each speed setting. 

[creaky99]

We installed one of these   http://www.heatredefined.com/summers_heat/stove/englander-1800-2200-sq.-ft.-wood-stove1   4 years ago, heats our 2000 sq. ft. home very nicely, very efficient. Made in USA.

[Ncdan]

We heat entirely with wood and use an Earth Stove. It is air right with firebrick lining. The thing has a good dampening system. One word of caution. If you dampen your fire at night like we do you will accumulate a lot of creosote. I just cleaned my chemmey and got 4.5 five gallon buckets full but that was two years. From now on I will clean every year.

[Lannis]

We installed one of these   http://www.heatredefined.com/summers_heat/stove/englander-1800-2200-sq.-ft.-wood-stove1   4 years ago, heats our 2000 sq. ft. home very nicely, very efficient. Made in USA.

That's the same one I've got, except I replaced the glass door panel with the iron one for peace of mind at night.   Ours is 22 years old and heats 2400 sq ft very well ...

Lannis

[Chuck in Indiana]

We heat entirely with wood and use an Earth Stove. It is air right with firebrick lining. The thing has a good dampening system. One word of caution. If you dampen your fire at night like we do you will accumulate a lot of creosote. I just cleaned my chemmey and got 4.5 five gallon buckets full but that was two years. From now on I will clean every year.

I had *one* chimney fire. I was out in the shop and thought I heard a jet engine.    Sure cleaned out the creosote, though..

[redrider90]

We heat entirely with wood and use an Earth Stove. It is air right with firebrick lining. The thing has a good dampening system. One word of caution. If you dampen your fire at night like we do you will accumulate a lot of creosote. I just cleaned my chemmey and got 4.5 five gallon buckets full but that was two years. From now on I will clean every year.

It sounds like you have a pre-EPA stove. The air tight pre-EPA are basically O2 depravation stoves. You shut the damper and air flow and starve the burn chamber hence you end up with an incomplete burn of wood which produces high amounts of particulate some of which is you creosote. Sort of like running an engine rich on the carbs.   My old wood stove produced creosote like you describe. I had a small 1200 sq. ft. log cabin. I moved to this house with major glass windows and 1500 sq. ft. With the high efficiency dual burn chamber I use the same amount of wood as the small very tight log cabin and yet produce 1/2 gallon of creosote compared to 3 gallons per year. When my fire is just right there is no smoke (there is not doubt particulate coming out but in much lower amounts). The old style stove always produced smoke unless I had it burning wide open.
It is interesting to watch the dual burn in effect. Inside the top of the burn chamber the Jotul has a series of pipes with holes in the that run across the stove. Air comes through those holes and you can see the flames burning right out of the air holes.

[redrider90]

I  have a Vermont Castings Resolute that's getting somewhat beat up inside from running it hot for many years.  Please describe the extreme difference you noticed.  I would hate to give up the thermostat on the air intake, for example.  Does the Jotul have that feature?

Jim,
There is an art to packing the Jotul for the night. Depending on the outside temp and the size of the wood and how many hot coals on the bottom of the stove is how I determine how to pack the stove.

[brider]

It sounds like you have a pre-EPA stove. 
It is interesting to watch the dual burn in effect. Inside the top of the burn chamber the Jotul has a series of pipes with holes in the that run across the stove. Air comes through those holes and you can see the flames burning right out of the air holes.

I was going to say.....4.5 5-gal buckets is a _hit-ton of creosote, but everyone's configuration is different. I recall doing research before we installed our stove (Harmon Oakwood), and I saw a lot of pre-EPA used stoves I was tempted to buy because of the low cost, but glad I didn't. But I'll admit I went 3 yrs without cleaning the system a while back, and the secondary combuster system was clogged big time and the chimney didn't draw worth crap. No matter how efficient, there IS maintenance (and mess).

But, the kids, wife, cats and dog wouldn't be without a wood stove now, and my boys will have happy memories of their dad yelling at them to stack wood or fill the rack on the back porch. I tell them their goal in life should be to be successful enough that they don't have to know how to split wood out of necessity (like me), but a man should know how to do such things....just because.