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Woodstoves

OVEREASYGUY

SPONSOR
New Gloucester, Maine
I purchased a Jotul wood stove - the smallest model they sell - my father in law has managed to melt the ceramic tiles on the sides and a piece of metal baffle on top - i'm not too happy with this stove.
part of the problem maybe overdraft - my chimney is 60 feet tall.
I thought some of you might be strongly opinionated on wood stoves. Anyone out there VERY happy with their wood stove? if so i'd love to know what model and brand you recommend.
And this relates to flying in that if I don't have to keep buying wood stoves, I'll have more to spend on my super cub.
cliff in Maine
 
I bought an Osburn in the early '90s for the Alaska cabin. It is simple to use and clean and has kept us warm with wood as our only heat since then.

Size the stove by the size of the area you will heat.

http://osburnstoves.com/

GR
 
My Jotul 602 has been a fantastic stove for several years. properly installed this stove is foolproof. Improperly installed no stove will work well.

Stewart
 
Been using a Vermont Castings Defiant Encore since 1988. This stove runs 24/7 all winter long. I've had to replace a few parts along the way, but am very satisfied with it. Save's alot on the gas bill, so I have more cash for AvGas. Tom
 
Cliff, I've had this Jotul for 25 years. It's a coal stove, but I burn wood in it. It works so good I can't use it when it's over 40 deg. outside. I can't imagine how you could get it hot enough to melt the coating on it.
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What Cliff needs to do is get his stack issue fixed. Then he should go kiss the Jotul rep right on the lips to thank him because a lesser stove would have burned his house down while the Jotul took the heat. It would be impossible for me to overheat my 602, even stuffed full of seasoned hardwood with the door open.

Stewart
 
Carey Gray said:
On the lips?

You never know what Cliff might do...

Besides, did anybody notice that the chimney is SIXTY feet high?

Cliff, does that interfere with the control tower on top of the house? :D
 
Cliff like some of the guys said jotul is the deal. I also have a 602 and love it. You have way too much draft. Any stove stoked and left wide open will get extremely hot. I also put a flu in my stove pipe, although not recommended in airtights i beleive. I cracked an insulated glass door 4 feet away cause i forgot to turn her down and jumped in the shower. I usually only leave the draft wide open for 5 to 10 mintes if starting her cold. This is the only stove i have had that is a true overnighter. 7 hours later there is a nice bed of coals glowing if i burn the right wood. Cast iron takes a little longer to get going and throw good heat, but they are the best once they get going in my opinion. I have good luck with burning a little green wood mixed with dryer stuff as well. It takes a little while to get used to a new stove,lots like a pretty lady. Once u figure her out u will be fine.
 
Those Jotuls must be just the blazes. But the question was who has a wood stove they love. Tonight I have two tea pots and a Kettle of beans on the Osburn. The flickering flame thru the glass door with the blue and green from the conchs I thru in is great. I got it because of the times in lodges in front of the same stove.

Stack fires are the great fear out here, and I am amazed to hear that the stove ovrerheateded without a stack fire in the chimney.

Think more about the stack and less about the stove.

GR
 
I have a Lumber Jack that works great for heat, but you can't cook anything on it. It is in the basement and I have a blower and ducting running upstairs so I can heat the basement or direct the heat to the upper level. I have been using it for 9 years with no problems other than I had to replace the electric blower motor.
 
Cliff, you need a damper in the stove pipe, and a 2 magnetic thermometers. Stick one on the pipe before the damper and one after. I think you're getting to much draft.

Tim
 
Tim said:
Cliff, you need a damper in the stove pipe, and a 2 magnetic thermometers. Stick one on the pipe before the damper and one after. I think you're getting to much draft.

Tim

Be aware of the terms of your fire insurance. Mine is specifically voided if I install a manual flue damper. I was required to provide photos of my wood stove installations and received a notice explaining the policy coverage would be terminated if I added a flue damper. I have no idea if that's industry standard or just a regional thing.

Ask your woodstove supplier about a UL labeled barometric draft control.

Stewart
 
Woodstoves - Been there ,done that !! Fight with the insurance companies, worry about burning the house down . The best solution to this problem is a Outdoor wood fired hot water stove. Been using mine for 25 years - no fire worries, won't burn your house down, and constant even heat all the time. I fire it in -40* F. once every 16 hours and I'm heating an old 2500 square ft. farmhouse, poorly insulated, and a 24x40 three car garage and a 40x30 steel insulated shop. And the insurance companies love it !!! Burn your stove down and they will buy you a new one- with a big smile !! They don't have to buy your $ 250,000 house. I go to sleep at night and don't worry about Fire. John
 
John,

I don't think your heater will serve a weekend cabin too well!

A typical Friday night in south central Alaska.....

Leave work an hour early. Drive 90 miles in the truck watching the temperature drop along the way. (I'm not sure the thermometer in the truck was such a good idea.) Get to the parking lot and get dressed to go. The weekend provisions are stuffed into the backpacks. We're traveling light tonight. It's -28* and the wind's blowing, but not too bad. Start the snowgo and get moving. Ride 25 miles to the cabin to find the outside temp -26*. A warming trend. Unfortunately it's -32* inside the cabin. Light wood stove #1. Light wood stove #2. Light oil stove. Turn on the oven and prop it open. Go outside because it's warmer. Go back inside to get out of the breeze. Forget drinking the beer you carried inside your coat because it'll freeze as soon as you open it. It's whiskey tonight. :D

This scenario wasn't the case this winter. I think we had more rain than snow this year. Last winter? 5 weeks in a row we went of Friday night and didn't see the temp above -20*. The river's pretty quiet on nights like that. And the night sky is alive with stars and northern lights. I'm looking forward to summer but I love the winter. And a good wood stove....or two!

There are two kinds of heat for me to consider. Initial heat to warm a very cold-soaked cabin, and maintenance heat. The considerations are very different and what's good for one isn't good for the other. I've been a student of hearth products and alternative energy for 20 years. The school of hard knocks....and cold nights.

Stewart
 
Cliff,
I will say this in Plain English and you will need to convert to Chinese
"Are you Nuts"
I agree about going and giving the Jotul salesman a big wet one.
Just like Vermont Castings and many other stove manufacturers you are in control of the firing rate. If you take the standard magnetic stove thermometer I believe the red range (over-fire) starts at 700*F. For your father in law to have melted the stove I believe the casting would have had to be 1200*F or more. Thank your lucky stars that the stove held and did not open up burning down your house.
Listen to Tim Allen and go buy a new Jotul since due to operator error you destroyed this one. It will come with this little white book called installation and operation instructions....... Read Them! buy a magnetic thermometer and if the stove has an adjustable rotary damper use it to keep the thermometer in the green range. Red is bad close damper. If that does not work adequately install a damper in the flue pipe to assist the stove damper.
John
 
Cliff:

Sell the firewood and use the money to buy wood pellets. They work great. Lots of new technology coming out with new kinds of ways to burn them. The Euros are way ahead of us with these things. More and more manufacture plants are being added in New England, it should stabiilize the price in the future. I have an outside pellet boiler hooked to a 4 ton silo to heat my house and repair shop. If you buy in bulk right now pellets are under 200 a ton. Plus your young wife will love you for the mess free pellet stove and will give you special treatment. 8)

Jim
 
What StewartB and FMD said! 100%!

A wood burning stove is more than an awkward looking piece of metal, a guy really has to work that baby, got to know her.

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Siwash,

Do you get your domestic hot water from that system or is it hydronic heat for other rooms? It sure looks good. A friend did a similar thing in his sauna but yours is more professional. I see the bell reducer is black iron. What's the heat exchanger pipe? How do you deal with expansion?

We mostly use a big pot on the oil stove to heat water. I bought my wife a Paloma propane water heater and put a 100 gallon tank in the loft about 8 years ago. The Paloma's still in the box and the tank's never seen water. The big pot on the stove is just too easy!

Stewart
 
Stewart

Thank you for your interest in this system. I think it is referred to as a convection water heater. This set up provides my domestic hot water year round, by domestic I mean for the cabin I live in. Nothing fancy, but clean and warm. And talk about luxury by being able to take a hot shower when its minus 50 below outside.

I have a sand point that goes through the cabin floor, which provides water year round, no matter how cold. I hand pump that water into a 55 gal tank that sits up high (a holding tank, that's all). Whenever I open a faucet (I have two and one shower), the pressure falls below 40 psi and a flo-tec type small water pump delivers great water pressure, basically pumping cold water from the holding tank into the system, extracting hot water from the top of the SS tank by replacing cold water at the bottom of the SS tank.

Water gets heated through a 2 inch black iron pipe that runs through the stove in a U-shaped fashion. The hot water rises to the top, cold water replaces it (convection).

The SS tank has a pressure relief valve on top, that would allow too much pressure to be dumped as hot water via a pipe through the cabin floor. It hardly does that.

The piping is 1/2" copper tubing (what you can see), the rest is 5/8th or 3/4 inch Quest.

Greer in Anc built the tank for me.

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If necessity is the mother of invention, you've come up with a very cool solution. Nice system. Thanks for sharing it.

Stewart
 
Kaboom

As with ANY vessel that heats water, don't forget to install a temp/press relief valve. Steam explosions are a great way to disassemble a house or shop, as well as flay the skin from your bones. I've heard so many horror stories about exploding hot water heaters I could write a book. Instructors at just about every plumbing certification class in the universe love to show the black and white training film from the 40's showing the lab techs blowing up water heaters. Sacred Bovine Ungulator! Who needs dynamite?

:eek:

Be careful out there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF_Wrm-Ns0I

(yes, Siwash, I did read your post, but the photo of your very cool exchanger doesn't show it very well, so I just jumped in - no offense intended)
 
Siwash,

Does the 1/2 diameter tubing (looks great - like the your whole system - by the way) provide sufficient flow with convection to keep the water hot in the tank? Would you have any tank volume or tubing sizing suggestions for someone building another, for a single shower cabin/house?

I'm building something creative at the Airpark this year!

Thanks,
Bob Breeden

www.AlaskaAirpark.com
 
I can't suggest an explicit stove, however I have a The Drolet High-Efficiency Wood Stove. I like the combustor as an element in light of the fact that the stove creates no smoke and barely any obvious smell when it's working at temperature. An element I would by and by research in another stove would be unified with a non-reactant combustor. They're less productive (i.e. additional contaminating) yet less difficult to keep up. I don't know whether you can smell smoke outside when it's raining yet that is essential to me.
If you like to purchase this wood stove you can check it here
https://sortedforyou.com/best-wood-stoves
thanks.
 
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