# Cheap Tiny Wood Stove



## conscious (Jan 4, 2005)

Anyone got any ideas where to find one. I'm strictly going to use it as backup, so I just want a cheapy. A used one would be fine. I'm starting to build in the spring and my house is only going to be 400 sq. ft. (and that includes the loft!) so I want a really small one.

Thanks,
Paul


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## dcross (Aug 12, 2005)

I got one out of the local paper for $25.


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=wood+stove


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

hunter63 said:


> http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=wood+stove



The $149.99 one is not air tight, so if you are burning dry wood, you can't control it---------I bought a new one like that----I felt I was going to burn my place down--------took it out. I guess if you had a Big place it wouldn't matter about it Over-heating---------But I have actually opened mine several times and throw a glass of water into it---to slow it down/cool it down---------They are Dangerous in a small Place. Randy


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

How about this one, what your seeing is the difference between cheap and good.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Beautiful-JOTUL...ryZ41987QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Or check you local paper, build one your self.


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## B2bKen (Aug 12, 2002)

I work at Lowes, and their Heaters, etc. are going out at a big discount now (@ 50% off). They had a very small woodburning stove, and do not know what the price was, but you would get a bargain now if you checked them out.


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## Steve L. (Feb 23, 2004)

Fire-Man said:


> The $149.99 one is not air tight, so if you are burning dry wood, you can't control it...


I don't know about your stove, but I've been using non air-tight stoves all my life. I've never seen one you "can't control". Your stove was probably just too big for the space. Common, common problem. Stoves that are too big (whether or not they're air-tight), are the cause of most of the smoke problems, creosote build-up, and consequent chimney fires occurring these days.


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Steve L. said:


> I don't know about your stove, but I've been using non air-tight stoves all my life. I've never seen one you "can't control". Your stove was probably just too big for the space. Common, common problem. Stoves that are too big (whether or not they're air-tight), are the cause of most of the smoke problems, creosote build-up, and consequent chimney fires occurring these days.


"Can't control" to me means if it has a fire in it---and I can't close it up enough to make it burn slow, thats "Can't Control"----Close up all drafts and it gets hotter and hotter till the wood burns out----It's out of Control. I did play with dry and green wood to "Help" it, but If I was going to buy a Heater-----It will be where I can close the draft/'s to cut off the air flow. There are to many places to take in air with the $149.99 heater mentioned to be able to control the fire. I was raised with wood/coal heat as a child--------Always Heated my House and my Work shop with wood heat as a adult. ALL the heaters I have used were tight enough that if you closed all drafts---The fire would go out, except for the one we used when I was a child---But it would close up to a Real Slow Burn. I rented my house out after a divorce---moved into a small place---bought the $149.99 wood heater-------I don't feel the heater was to big, if I could have made it burn slow. The original poster has a Small Place---I feel he doesn't Need that heater. It is Not Safe in a Small Place! Just my 2 cents worth. Randy

I was Told the one that look's like it for $299.99 works good(tighter) but I have never tried it.


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## Steve L. (Feb 23, 2004)

Fire-Man said:


> "Can't control" to me means if it has a fire in it---and I can't close it up enough to make it burn slow, thats "Can't Control"----Close up all drafts and it gets hotter and hotter till the wood burns out----It's out of Control. I did play with dry and green wood to "Help" it, but If I was going to buy a Heater-----It will be where I can close the draft/'s to cut off the air flow. There are to many places to take in air with the $149.99 heater mentioned to be able to control the fire. I was raised with wood/coal heat as a child--------Always Heated my House and my Work shop with wood heat as a adult. ALL the heaters I have used were tight enough that if you closed all drafts---The fire would go out, except for the one we used when I was a child---But it would close up to a Real Slow Burn. I rented my house out after a divorce---moved into a small place---bought the $149.99 wood heater-------I don't feel the heater was to big, if I could have made it burn slow. The original poster has a Small Place---I feel he doesn't Need that heater. It is Not Safe in a Small Place! Just my 2 cents worth.


Well, I've _never_ had one that was "tight enough that if you closed all drafts---The fire would go out".  Sounds like most of your experience has been with air-tights, and, it sounds like your stoves have been too big. :duel: 

I have a small place, too (100 square feet), the stove I've been using for the past 10 years is by no means 'tight', and, until the fire box developed some cracks, I've never had a problem. If the stove is sized right and installed properly, you're a lot better off with a decent fire in the firebox than you are iffen the thing is just sittin' there barely smoldering. 

One of the reasons us wood burners have had the EPA on our backs has been because of yahoos that put in stoves that are too big, stuff 'em full of wood, and keep 'em pumping out unburned gases all day and night! I've got a friend like that - "I can't open up the draft on my stove, it just gets too hot in there!". :soap: 

Non air-tight stoves are exempt from EPA air quality restrictions _because_ you can't throttle 'em so far that they pump out a lot of CO and other pollutants, like the air-tights do. Just my two cents, too.


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Steve L. said:


> Well, I've _never_ had one that was "tight enough that if you closed all drafts---The fire would go out".  Sounds like most of your experience has been with air-tights, and, it sounds like your stoves have been too big. :duel:
> 
> I have a small place, too (100 square feet), the stove I've been using for the past 10 years is by no means 'tight', and, until the fire box developed some cracks, I've never had a problem. If the stove is sized right and installed properly, you're a lot better off with a decent fire in the firebox than you are iffen the thing is just sittin' there barely smoldering.
> 
> ...


Yea you got a Small place too. Tractor supply and others I am sure carry a wood heater in a metal cabinet that looks like a older kerosene/oil heater. You can lift the top at the front and cook or heat water on it. I bought one from Lowes back in the late 70's that looked just like it, but it was air tight. The new ones have several holes drilled around the draft so its not air tight and several or all the other heater I seen there are also made where you can't close them off completely. I wondered why they were being made with extra non-closable holes in them, I have never studied or dug up info on wood heaters, didn't realize the EPA was behind it----Thanks for the info. But Don't buy one of those $149.99 heaters for a Small place-----LOL-----I did mainly have a problem with it when I put several pieces of wood in it to try and get it to burn for several hours during the night. How do you keep a fire going in your wood heater all night? You must get up alot!! Randy


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## Steve L. (Feb 23, 2004)

Fire-Man said:


> How do you keep a fire going in your wood heater all night? You must get up alot!! Randy


My stove's usually out (like in kindling, paper, strike match, out) if I don't give it something to eat at least every two hours. I don't even try to keep it goin' all night. Most nights it never gets all that cold by morning (even in the past few days it's always above 40 or so), and I gotta go to work, then, anyway. On below zero nights I just tough it out. There've been more than a few mornings when I've had to thaw out my water!


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## Jim S. (Apr 22, 2004)

Mine goes all night. I burn ALL hardwood (hickory) and have a damper and precision draft controls. Crank the damper and draft controls till you have no flame but just a red glow from the wood. My stove was custom built by someone. Came with the place. It has screw-type draft controls, so I really get a lot of control over the fire rate. There are solid steel doors, so no heat loss through pretty glass.

It also helps to have the inside bottom and sides lined with firebrick.

By morning, I awake to a pile of glowing coals...perfect for starting the new fire. The house gets down to 55-60 overnight, so the new fire warms it right back to 70 quickly.

Damping down a fire like this does add to creosote, so I just make sure to burn each morning fire hot before I crank it down for the day. When I arrive home from work, I start another new fire and burn it hot awhile before damping it down. It has worked for 16 years, so far.

The best all-night wood I ever burned is osage orange. Start it, crank the stove shut tight, and let it glow. It sparks a lot when it get too much air, but man does it burn hot. Works good as a mix with other hardwoods, too.


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## Explorer (Dec 2, 2003)

I have that $150 stove from Harbor Freight in my wood working shop of about 600 sqft. I have absolutely no problems controlling it, but I do need to tend it every hour or so. I fire it appropriately for the heat required and I never fire it to get really hot. I don't burn it at night, just when I am in the shop.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

With a non-airtight, you control the heat output by not building a big fire. You build a small fire and babysit it adding another stick every so often to keep temp even. Its quite doable, but you do need wood very dry and in small pieces. You only get into trouble if you build a big fire to start with. And yes babysitting a small fire is a pain in the rear but if you dont have anything else to do.... 

Shouldnt be too hard to find a small airtight. With EPA regulation manufacturers for while only made stoves with too small fireboxes. So even airtight, they wouldnt hold fire that long when used to heat area they claimed to be able to heat. Look around as one of these would be a good match for your little house. Oh, and if you can find a 30gal (round door) Sotz airtight barrel kit, put it on a 15 gallon barrel or old water pressure tank and you will be happy. I have used mine in various incarnations since very early 80s and it still works great. The 15 gal barrel finally rusted out and was little on small side anyhow so put it over onto a 20 gallon old pressure tank. Thicker walls and its just right size. Now finding Sotz kit anymore is not that easy as company is long ago defunct, but if you watch on ebay they do occasionally show up. That 30gallon round door version will fit on anything from a 5 gallon steel bucket like you get roofing tar in up to a 55 gallon barrel. The square door version only fits 55gallon barrel or larger tank, but is nicer if you need a bigger stove as its easier to get odd shaped pieces of wood in. The China made cast iron barrel kits as far as I know are not airtight.


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Jim S. said:


> Mine goes all night. I burn ALL hardwood (hickory) and have a damper and precision draft controls. Crank the damper and draft controls till you have no flame but just a red glow from the wood. My stove was custom built by someone. Came with the place. It has screw-type draft controls, so I really get a lot of control over the fire rate. There are solid steel doors, so no heat loss through pretty glass.
> 
> It also helps to have the inside bottom and sides lined with firebrick.
> 
> ...


Thats what I was use to---A heater that will burn all night. In my house I have a Very, Very Heavy fire place insert. I would build a fire in it and it would keep going 24/7 unless we had a warm day, then I would let it go out. I would fill it before bed time, close the damper and draft control's almost all the way, then in the morning I would refill it----let it catch up and burn good while I was getting ready for work---Close it down again till I got back home, open it up---shift coals and wood and remove some ashes----re-fill with wood and again at bed time. It is a Very Good heater/insert. Just the heater weighs over 700lb--1/4" steal every where. Then in my shop I had the one I mentioned above-----I could build a Roaring fire in it and if I close the draft all the way---It would go out. So with this $149.99 heater----I wanted it to hold a fire all night, so I would fill it full of wood-Close the draft---In a hour it would be roaring----Have to open it quick to throw some water into it to keep it from Melting down(I FELT). Thats why I am so much against that heater-----But I could have put 2 or 3 sticks in it every little while------It would have been ok------but then I would have not gotten any sleep----So I took it out-Put in a gas heater, thermostat controlled----I am good to go, But I sure hate having to buy the propane gas--LOL----Expecially when I have a saw mill and just burn all the slabs and limbs in a big pile----to get rid of them. When I get my Cook House built---it will be about 60ft long---I am planning to use a 55 gal barrel heater in it, then I can burn the slabs in it. THanks for all the info again fellows. Randy


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## Jim S. (Apr 22, 2004)

Randy, we burn wood not because we HAVE to, but because we WANT to...I have a full natural gas central heating and a/c unit we installed after buying. We also have wall electric heaters (it's an old house). But we rarely use the central heating, and most winters don't use it at all. It has not been on once yet this winter.

We burn wood for the philosophical and environmental reasons. It is a quickly renewable resource, unlike fossil fuels. I buy my wood, so I am supporting woodcutters in my area who really need the money (cuz cutting wood is hard work, and folks don't usually do it long-term unless they need the money -- I know, I cut mine for a couple years before my career got to be too much a burden to get time to get it done). And the nice fringe benefit is that I heat my 2,500 SF home for about a quarter what it would cost me to do it with gas or electricity.

I have a buddy who has an outside wood burner and works in a pallet factory. He gets all his wood FREE! That would be ideal. I am not much on those outside wood burners, though, because they use a lot of wood compared to an inside stove. You have to keep them going all the time to keep the water hot.

Sounds like the cheap stove is really high-priced over the long run, when fuel cost is added! The guy who built mine made it out of 1/4 steel plate and angle iron, with 3/8-thick doors, and lined the bottom and sides with firebrick. It has screw-down draft vents, and I have a damper in the chimney just behind it. I wish I knew who built it, it was a guy in Virginia. I'd like to shake his hand, he did a beautiful job.

I have a buddy who installed a wood stove this fall without a damper, and it burns up his wood quick, even with the vents closed all the way. Told him if he'd add the damper, it would help that a lot.

If you do the barrel stove, line the bottom with firebricks. Makes the barrel last a lot longer. TSC has the brick on sale right now for like $1.48 each. Like I mentioned, I am building a double-barrel stove kit smoker this spring, so I have been taking advantage of the end-of-season sales to get supplies.

When done, it'll look something like this...


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Jim S. said:


> Randy, we burn wood not because we HAVE to, but because we WANT to...I have a full natural gas central heating and a/c unit we installed after buying. We also have wall electric heaters (it's an old house). But we rarely use the central heating, and most winters don't use it at all. It has not been on once yet this winter.
> 
> We burn wood for the philosophical and environmental reasons. It is a quickly renewable resource, unlike fossil fuels. I buy my wood, so I am supporting woodcutters in my area who really need the money (cuz cutting wood is hard work, and folks don't usually do it long-term unless they need the money -- I know, I cut mine for a couple years before my career got to be too much a burden to get time to get it done). And the nice fringe benefit is that I heat my 2,500 SF home for about a quarter what it would cost me to do it with gas or electricity.
> 
> ...


Hey I like that smoker---Might want one myself. Yea, I plan to line the heater bottom as well as putting a chain link fence around it--LOL-----Well Something like that-----This is going to be a Family Cook House----About 50 people---with 7 kids born in just 2006. I would Not Even Like To Think Of one of the kids getting burnt on it. Randy


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## justmyluk (Apr 28, 2005)

In case any one is interested... that $150.00 stove at Harbour Freight is on sale at Lowes for $73.50... I know because I just bought one...


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## Jim S. (Apr 22, 2004)

justmyluk, everyone keeps saying in a few different threads that Lowe's has them on sale, but they are not at that price on the Web site. It's a good deal if you can get it.

:clap: :clap:


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## babysteps (Sep 11, 2005)

Everyone is talking as if $150 is cheap. I don't know about prices, but I felt like we got a nice little HeatOlater for $400 (shipping included) off of an Ebay dealer. It works great and I really though $400 was cheap for the super job it does. 

:walk:


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

I lived in a house were we used a sheet iron heater fired with old wooden car wheel spokes, and I lived in a house heated with a cast iron kitchen stove fired with oak. I've been around cast iron coal stoves and a world of fireplaces. Now I have an air-tight, catalytic converter, fireplace insert that will burn all night on one loading. Once it gets to 600 degrees the cat does not let any smoke out the chimney, or so little that it appears as a light haze. To work, it requires seasoned wood, and I sometimes burn wood that has been cut two years. Oak and black locust are favorites, though I burn elm and ash as well. I have burned birch, but it is a waste of time in my opinion.

Were I trying to heat a 600 foot home I think I'd look at the stoves made for that purpose; maybe Vermont Casting or one of the soapstone stove makers. The scandinavian stoves are dandies but I have no idea where you would get one in the US. 
Ox

OK, A PS: 
I looked up some of the stove makers. Take a look at the TRIBUTE made by Hearthstone Stoves. It is a bit larger than I'd like in 600 sq feet, and it is no cheapie, but it IS a stove and a beauty. 

Now; back to complaint about air leaks in the cast iron stoves. There is a fire cement made for this purpose; sealing the cracks and joints in bolted-together stoves. Check with your local stove merchant. With this fire-resistant mortar you should be able to make even the cheapies behave. Between the draft on the stove and the damper in the pipe you should be able to squeeze the fire down to almost nothing.


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## Two Cents Worth (Dec 8, 2002)

Here is a url that leads to a very small woodburning stove. I do mean little. I would need to be fed frequently and with tiny pieces of wood. The price is right at about $50.

http://www.nuwaystove.com/products/model965.htm

Edited--oops, the price has raised since I last looked at them. Now about $60.


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## stevesmitty79 (Dec 25, 2005)

I've used the small Vogelzand stoves in the past. Once for a small cabin, about 400 sf, and another in a 34' travel trailer we were using as a hunting cabin.

In the travel trailer, I placed it 12" from the wall and screwed a thin piece of galvanized sheetmetal to reflect the heat into the space and keep the wall cool. I also cut the outlet about 4' about the heater through the wall and installed a double-insulated outlet sleeve to protect that point of penetration. I also drilled a small hole about 1" in diameter next to the wall penetration so I could put my finger against the double outlet sleeve for the exhaust to check the heat. I never felt any heat. I kept it closed with an electrical push plug.

You can put a heater anywhere if it's designed properly. Make sure of certain things, and you'll never have any problems.

As for these heaters being a problem, I've never had any. Once you load it, get it firing right, throttle the intake and exhaust damper for a nice steady warm burn, it worked beautiful.

Matter of fact, I bought another recently from Lowe's for that closeout price. It's a great deal, if you got one.


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