# Favorite wood stove



## charisma (Nov 13, 2007)

Ok s&ep folks... you guys are always amazing for advice (and I know I've asked quite a few questions) So here's another one for y'all.... favorite wood stove?

Where did you order it?
How much did it cost (approx)?
What size space are you heating?
How much wood does it require (cords per winter + what climate are you living in?)

Would love any thoughts/advice y'all can share!


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## Granny Sue (Jan 12, 2009)

We have a Fisher (grandfather) stove, bought in 1977 for $600 and an absolute champ for heating our house (1100 sq ft, then added 300 sq ft). We have to open doors sometimes to cool the place off. We could have bought a smaller Fisher and been warm enough, I think. What I like--no blower so no electricity needed, easy to load, efficient. What's not so good--cleanout. No way to do it except shovel the ashes out the front which can create a lot of dust if you're not careful (and my dh is seldom careful).


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

The best wood stove is a coal stove. Leave the wood to the bugs. Even free wood isn't free. If you have wood sell it and buy coal. 



The second best option IMHO is a Air tight non-catalytic. I've owned two from England's stove works available at lowes. Both the large and small (two different houses). They cost 800 for the small and 1200 for the bigger one. They worked well and easily gave good heat for 6-8 hours. The square footage heated ... well it kinda depends. Is it 10 below with high wind or 32 and you just need to take the chill off. Check the ratings on the stove for the btu's and cut it in half. If you don't know what it will take to heat the house. Borrow a kerosene heater or two and see how it goes. With wood bigger isn't better. Burning it low and build creosote is dangerous. Too small isn't good you may overheat the stove just to be warm. Be like a little bear... Get one that is just right.


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## FreightTrain (Nov 5, 2005)

i now have a older quadrafire that i picked up on ebay for 400... they are like 1800-$2600 new.... heats my 1300sq 100 yr old house just fine.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Our current stove makes me pretty happy.
It is a Fisher Baby Bear that we got on Craigslist for $100.
Just can't beat that.
Nice and airtight, stay warm all night, and our house gets too warm sometimes.
Wish it was a Grandmother Bear, but if we see one on Craigslist we'll get it.

There was a woodstove here wehn we looked at the place that was gorgeous.. tall and curvy like a lady.. but they had a yaredsale and sold it ..after we signed a thingie saying that we wanted everything! that was in the house and barns. Grrr.
And a friend has a Jo?ul. Tiny little wee stove that is so unbearable cute. I want it for the corner in the kitchen.


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## Cascade Failure (Jan 30, 2007)

stanb999 said:


> The best wood stove is a coal stove. Leave the wood to the bugs. Even free wood isn't free. If you have wood sell it and buy coal.
> 
> 
> 
> The second best option IMHO is a Air tight non-catalytic. I've owned two from England's stove works available at lowes. Both the large and small (two different houses). They cost 800 for the small and 1200 for the bigger one. They worked well and easily gave good heat for 6-8 hours. The square footage heated ... well it kinda depends. Is it 10 below with high wind or 32 and you just need to take the chill off. Check the ratings on the stove for the btu's and cut it in half. If you don't know what it will take to heat the house. Borrow a kerosene heater or two and see how it goes. With wood bigger isn't better. Burning it low and build creosote is dangerous. Too small isn't good you may overheat the stove just to be warm. Be like a little bear... Get one that is just right.


I bet my "free wood" is cheaper than buying coal. Nothing against coal but you're in coal country, I'm not. Coal isn't easy around here, wood is. That said, my Shenandoah will burn both.


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

Cascade Failure said:


> I bet my "free wood" is cheaper than buying coal. Nothing against coal but you're in coal country, I'm not. Coal isn't easy around here, wood is. That said, my Shenandoah will burn both.


I don't know... Whats the cost of a cord of seasoned, split, delivered, and stacked. With coal you can get all that for about $275 in Connecticut. You can get it in handy 50 lb bags like pellets for about 300 a ton. Tho coal contains twice the btu's as wood pellets.

Your stove is able to do both poorly. A true wood stove can't burn coal well and the same is true of a coal stove and burning wood in it.


:hijacked:

Also, Who with a wood stove can say they lite it 48 hours ago and it's still putting out heat and it will for 24 hours more with out touching it. And before you say it. This is "hand fired". So it doesn't have a hopper or electronics like a pellet stove for instance. It's just running low and slow. Isn't cold yet still only in the low 30's.... can't wait till the snow flies.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

Shenandoah is what we have at home and camp...my husband sells them at the plumbing heating an electrical store...I love the easily removed ash tray compared to below:

My old house had a fisher momma bear and my parents have 2 Fishers (house and wkshp)

My brother uses coal...both my brother and husband are furnace techs so opinions will vary...I hate coal heat and dust...


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

My favorite is a rocket mass heater -- inexpensive to build (maybe a couple hundred dollars at most); uses twigs and branches for fuel so you don't have to split cords of firewood; doesn't pollute the air (extremely efficient); uses around a third of the wood to heat the same space as a regular wood stove. I'm hoping to get one built in our garage soon (the only down side is they are heavy and need a solid base underneath).

Kathleen


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

BlueJuniperFarm said:


> My favorite is a rocket mass heater -- inexpensive to build (maybe a couple hundred dollars at most); uses twigs and branches for fuel so you don't have to split cords of firewood; doesn't pollute the air (extremely efficient); uses around a third of the wood to heat the same space as a regular wood stove. I'm hoping to get one built in our garage soon (the only down side is they are heavy and need a solid base underneath).
> 
> Kathleen


Will your insurance let you have one? I often thought about using a mass heater in the basement to keep out the damp but the insurance is a pain with just the UL listed items.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

I like the Vogelzang Boxwood Stove. It's both a heating stove and a small cook stove, and is inexpensive.










If you have a doitbest hardware store near you then you can buy it online and get it delivered to your local store for free. Shipping cost is big concern when you're considering shipping a cast iron stove.

http://doitbest.com/Wood+and+coal+h...Co-model-BX26E-doitbest-sku-425370.dib#online

$179.99 isn't bad for a 96,000 btu/hour wood stove.


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

stanb999 said:


> Will your insurance let you have one? I often thought about using a mass heater in the basement to keep out the damp but the insurance is a pain with just the UL listed items.


We probably won't tell them....if it's really a problem, then I'll have to do what I've been wanting to do anyway, and build a tiny house in the backyard. We have an all-electric house with no backup heat other than a kerosene heater and a few gallons of kerosene for it right now.

Kathleen


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## charisma (Nov 13, 2007)

We were looking at the Vogelzang... does it heat well? and how is it for cooking? Will be looking at the Fisher as well.

Keep em coming ;-)


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

The Vogelzang Boxwood is an awful little stove. (Matthew Lindsey will tell you too)
IF you can find one of the very, very old ones it might be ok, but the new ones are truly wretched.
We were broke and needed one when we moved back to the mountains and got one out of desparation.
There is an opening at the bottom of the door that is always open so you can't bank the stove back very well at night.
After a year of steady use the caulking will pop off of all the seams (you need a solid weld woodstove) and you can see the light of the fire from all over it. Again.. makes it impossible to bank it back for a long burn.
Ours ended up staying lit for all of about 4 hours. 
The metal is very thin as well and it will not hold heat to radiate out..
By hour 5 you could lay your hand on the stove and it would feel cool.
This is no good.
The house was soooo cold in the mornings or you will have to get up twice in the night to feed it.
And because of the strong air flow into the stove at all times it eats wood!
When we replaced that heap with the Fisher we used 2/3 less wood. When you are chopping and hauling to only have to do 1/3 of the amount you will smile!

I would strongly urge you to try any other direction..
Craigslist in our are really is the bomb when it comes to finding great woodstoves.

Edited for DH's comments..
the metal is so thin on the Vogaelzang that we had to put it up on blocks to use it because it was scorching our floor!
Our Fisher sits closer to floor, but is thicker and the floor underneath stays cool enough for the cat to sleep under the stove without bursting into flame.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

http://www.outsidewoodheater.com/id3.html
I think if I were to move back to a colder climate I'd try one of these. I hate the mess of a woodstove in the house. Did it for too many years.

For now I have a small stove similar to the box stove. It is on standby, to be installed if I need it. Been here 5 yrs and haven't needed it, but you never know.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

In the cabin we had a knock off Jotul. It was great, took long logs. Here we had a beautiful old stove with all the nickel plating ect. She burned well, and had to load once during the night when it got real cold. The side wall where it has the rolled steel burned out and we need to replace it. Now we have a Green enamled Waterford with glass window, it has a steel plate on top, I guess for better cooking surface.The front opens and has a side door which we use for loading. We got it off Ebay, it was slightly used, local. It also has a blower. It heats this house,1800 sqft quite well, tho I close off the 2 rooms upstairs, unless I'm working up there. Bought a wood furnace last year on clearance(1250 on sale for 800), but haven't decided where to put it, cause it isn't going in the basement. I was thinking of building a little enclosure arroud it and venting the blower into the house, just cause I'm sick of the ash,dirt and dust floating arroud the house.


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## demeter (Jul 15, 2010)

Ditto what Chickenista said about the Vogelzang Boxwood stove. My parents had one and it was just the pits.
However, we have a Vogelzang Heartwood and it is fantastic. We installed it 5 years ago and it is still top notch.

demeter


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

We have a Wonderwood circulating wood stove in our kitchen for back-up for our outdoor boiler which won't keep this old farmhouse really warm enough when we get down in the teens. It has an insulating outer case so safer with kids/pets. You can lift the lid and cook on the top,too....did a turkey one year when the power went off on Thanksgiving! Holds 24" wood, fire will last 12 hrs. or so. Ash drawer is handy,too. They sell for about $500 around here at any farm store. It will keep our farmhouse warm on its own but we like the clean hot water heat best from the outdoor wood boiler(plus the free hot water). Our insurance company has no problem with it; probably as we have one piece stainless liner in our chimney. They aren't the prettiest but reliable, easy to use and that's all we had here for over 1o years. 

Wood usage is, of course, dependent on how warm you like to be. This has a dial damper that can cut the wood usage down to nothing. My DH is a freeze butt so have to watch him or we're opening all the windows. We also have damper in the stove pipe. 
We usually save the knarly cut-offs from the cull logs we get and use in there. Always work up a couple of cords just in case we need it. DEE
We


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Never had a new one... so I wouldn't even know where to start.

For mine, I had a sheet of plate steel (90$ years back for 3/8ths 4'x 8'). Knew what I wanted. Cut out the squares, welded em together. Took a coupla days to figure out a good door hinge and latch setup. Had to buy a welder's 'pick', had the curly metal on the end, that wouldn't heat up as badly as just a piece of steel. Lined the sides and bottom with firebrick. Takes an hour to warm up the sides, but it holds heat for a long time, if the wood burns out. (thermal mass). Course, I ended up 'cheating' by cutting a hole in the back, and installing a natural gas line. Sure beats cutting wood.

I imagine it's one of the deals where you get what you pay for... if you can pick it up and move it around easily, it'll be more flimsy and likely to burn out quicker than a gynormous heavy one.

I'd get one with the largest firebox available... so you could use ugly chunks, instead of only neat and small split pieces.

I have another sheet of plate steel up at the barn.... will probably make stoves out of it eventually.


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## momofseven (Oct 10, 2008)

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new Flame View.....


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

Hearthstone soapstone stove. Mine after 22 years and one inside redo is about to give up the ghost. Wish I could afford the new one at 2500 dollars. When new this stove would still be radiating heat stored in the stone 12 hours after loading with revivable coals inside.


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

Yes the boxwood/vogelzang is a small, un-airtight stove. But you can't beat the price, and you CAN make it work in the right space. No it won't heat a whole house, but it will heat a main room/small cabin. THere is a guy who lives the next ridge over who built his house and uses a boxwood stove to heat in a very trick way. The house is two story, about 1200 sf. The first floor has a concrete floor, then he surrounded the stove(placed in the middle of the house) with cement blocks a few deep. He fires the stove up roaring in the morning, this heats the blocks and the floor and the heat radiates back out through the day. He does tolerate a cooler house(I also prefer a cooler house, 60-65). 

The stove we use was in our house when we bought it, and is 30 years old now. It's a Lopi that takes 16" logs, it's not that big, just a little bigger than the boxwood/vogel stove(which we do have a boxwood stove, we used it outside for smoking stuff). My house is 1500sf(including garage), which is an aframe on three levels. THe basement is half inground, and we dont' heat that, it stays an even 50' when it gets cold(cold for here being 15-30 degrees). THe Lopi heats the main floor and the upper floor VERY well, I get too hot. 

Everyone has their own tolerance for how something like a stove works. Me I'm fine with the stove going out in the night, and having dry kindling to get it going in the morning. For cooking on top of it, stuff that stews or warms up, or say rice etc, or drying jerky is just fine. doing something like pancakes or browning requires a really hot fire, but I don't like the roaring sound in the pipe. 

For SHTF purposes, be sure to get extra fire bricks, and a spare glass or metal sheet thing cut properly that you can put in if the glass breaks. And of course the wire brushes to clean the pipe. We clean our pipe. 

BTW I've really liked the a-frame. It's kinda weird having the slanted walls and working around that, but it's really well designed for handling lots of snow, the roof lasts WAY WAY longer(rain runs immediately off and it dries faster so less rot and leaks, our cedar shake roof is 30 years old--looks awful, but NO leaks! SInce the walls are slanted, the heat stays further down in the room. The sturdy timberframe is very strong, it took a direct hit from a fir with only a little dent in the flashing. It also stays cool and warm because of the large roof area(and how it's oriented).

You definately need to put soem thought into the space the stove needs to heat, and the size of the stove, the wood you have available, etc. In my situation, never ever would I consider a pellet stove or a coal stove.

We burn oak, ash, maple and fir. Mostly the hardwoods(say about half a cord of fir, used for getting the fire going). We put up about 4 cords a year, and probably go through 3-4 depending on how cold it gets. Every other year we get temps around 15 degrees, with a good wind chill to something below--then the stove has a hard time keeping it above 65' on the main floor(our house is also drafty, which I prefer lots of fresh air). On the other hand if there is a lot of snow, and the snow self sliding off the aframe roof has banked up around the outside, then we're very toasty.

hth

ps, if we burned just fir we would go through at least 6-7 cords a year.


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

One more thing, we have lived here 10 years now, and all the firewood we've been cutting has been from our 10 acres. Loggin leftovers, windfalls, standing dead, thinnings. THere is still plenty of wood, I dont' think we'll run out.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I have a Vermont Castings Reliant and it heats my 1600sf Super Good Cents house quite well. I ran about 2-3 cords through it last winter, more while i was learning the stove, less after I had it figured out. All stoves take a little learning curve to figure out the best settings/woods/etc. I figure on using a couple cords this winter, unless we get a really cold winter. I live not too terribly far from Wyld Thang, with similar conditions. Started using the stove this week for more than just a quick fire to take the chill off. 

I bought my stove, about 8' of triple wall pipe and a hearth pad for $130 (iirc) at a garage sale some years ago, and only got it all installed last year. Wish I'd done it the first winter I had the stove...I'd have saved a small fortune over electric heat. Just in the last year, I cut my electric use by about 2/3 in the winter. Wood heat is so much warmer than forced air, too.


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## Qhorseman (Jul 9, 2010)

I have a DutchWest, non-catalytic. Well-made stove, uses about 3-4 cords a year here in Missouri. I heat 900 sq.ft and it does very well, but, the stove will not hold a fire over night, so the house is very cold in the morning.


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

Here is a pic of our little Vogelzang in action. Now we use it for a firebox for the smoker(which is smokin ribs in the pic), and hub uses it to heat up metal to bang in it--like in the pic there is a lawn mower blade in there heating up. It's been out in the weather for 7-8 years now, and the hinges just now popped off when he opened it to make a fire--so now that's a project to fix. I just said put a rock against the door to hold it shut...ANyways, we used the little stove for a few years in a house, jammed in a fireplace(and the fireplace hole filled up with brick around the stove),worked alright to heat about 500 sf of space with a high ceiling--it would've heated more with a low ceililng. BTW that kind of barrel smoker works MUCH MUCH better on top of the stove like that!


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## Pelenaka (Jul 27, 2007)

If I had the money & a proper room for it then a Soapstone stove would be my choice hands down. I have a bbgf who scooped one up for $250 @ an estate sale years ago. She doesn't cook on her's although she could. She mentioned going threw 6 cords a heating season in zone 4/5. She's semi rural homes on each side but none across the road. Appears her home is early 1900s with siding & new windows. No clue as to how much insulation it has. She perfers her home very warm which is why if the 2nd floor isn't warm enough she will turn on her furnace. 
She said she loaded it up in the mornings & @ night before bed.
It's installed in her large dinningroom against an outter wall. Her house must be @ least 1600 sqft.

My brother just installed a Vermont Castings front & top loader no window, bought off craig's list for under $200. His house is 1800 + sqft. Urbanish his hood is more park like. He mentioned that when the stove was filled more than half way they couldn't use the room where it is hearthed. Yeah no duh but he wanted a bigger stove than his older sister. Gave him the warnings about increase in creosite build up when you only have small fires. His eyes glazed over. No my Martha Stewart SIL won't ever cook on it but she could. I can't see them using wood heat once the snow flies since not every nook & crannie is heated with the stove.

We heat with a Jotul F 602 CB which is a very small box style stove. Very Urban in zone 4/5. Last Winter our 1st with wood heat we burned 5 cords of collected firewood.
Mostly Maple, followed by Elm, Walnut, and Oak pallets. Occasionally Lilac. And for a few short days we burned apple. Also some wood we never really got a label on but it wasn't Willow or Pine. The majority of our wood is gleaned off of city streets after a storm.
We heat only 500 sqft - the orginal dinningroom, 1st floor bedroom, livingroom, & kitchen. At bedtime I close off the downstairs bedroom & livingroom so the heat will travel up to the 2nd floor bedrooms & bath. When it's shower time then we use an electric space heater. 
I do cook, bake, heat sad irons & dry laundry with my stove. We also use soap stone bedwarmers. And you know if I could find a working cowboy bathtub well then disconnect the hot water heater.

~~ pelenaka ~~
http://thirtyfivebyninety.blogspot.com/search/label/Hearth


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## Dixielee (Dec 5, 2003)

Pelenaka said:


> We heat with a Jotul F 602 CB which is a very small box style stove.]


That is the same one I have. I heat 700 sq feet without trouble. It is quite efficient and clean. It was in the house when we bought it, but here is a link describing it and it's cost. Scroll down to the 602 CB to see. I had never heard of Jotul before this, but now know it is a popular little stove all over the world.

http://www.woodstovesguide.com/jotul-prices.html


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## Pouncer (Oct 28, 2006)

We have a Blaze King ultra-with catalytic. I love it, I can bank the fire easily for over 12 hours if needed. With the added fans, it heats the entire house-1800 sq ft, with separated bedrooms. I use small fans at the floor to move heat (circulate air, really) from the sides to the main area where the stove is. 

Not sure how many cords we go through, it depends entirely on how cold it gets. At -35, the bugger is pretty well stuffed and fans going on medium-instead of low or off. I do know that we have lit fires, banked well, and still had coals over 30 hours later. 

We'd like to get a multi fuel outdoor wood furnace but they are terribly expensive here. We also use heating oil too (long not so good story about the heating systems we have) and even with firewood being as much as $200 a cord delivered we are saving $$. Latest heating oil delivery: $3.07 a gallon.


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## Pouncer (Oct 28, 2006)

Oh, forgot to add....we don't pay that $200 a cord, lol We buy loads of logs, then my husband cuts, and son and I split and stack. I imagine our woodshed would hold somewhere around 16, 18 cords, completely stacked to the roof line.


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