# want opinions on wood stoves



## furandfeathersfarm (Jan 21, 2012)

Hubby has asked me y'alls opinion on something. He wants to know what you guys would recommend as far as a wood burning type heater/stove as supplement heating for about 1,500 square feet of house. Thanks!  Oh, and free standing, not an insert, no fireplace.


----------



## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Don't know where you're located but here is a top quality, American made wood stove. We have one of their inserts and I can personally attest to the quality of workmanship. And they're practically in our back yard. 
Shipping may be cost prohibitive if you're on the other side of the country.

http://www.bakerstoves.com/


----------



## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

Buy a good quality heater, don't get one that is too big for your space, a small unit , with a secondary heat exchanger gives a lot of heat for your wood amount, wood needs to be burnt not smoldered. there are links to lots of information in the HVAC section. (we heat our 1950s built house with one wood heater in the basement, we don't need to clean the chimeny because we burn the wood hot. the heater is a simple balanced air unit, no fancy catylists etc simple efficient reliable. I guess we don't have a HVAC section any more so browse this section for related threads


----------



## Ur5hittingMe (May 1, 2011)

We just took delivery on new Pioneer Princess cook stove. Although it wont be getting installed and used until next fall, it seems to be a well built unit and specs say it can heat a 2000sqft home..... We will be using it in a room addition that will be built this summer as our main heat source for the whole house and to cook on though the winter plus heat water.

Currently using a "furnace add on" wood burning heater which we have installed in a small shed outside and have a 6" insulated duct running to house and tapped into ductwork. (our house is only currently about 1400 sq ft and it does a pretty good job all winter cept for 25 degree and below temps and then gotta kick the regular furnace on just to warm up the house in the morning...

Good luck stove hunting.... lots of them to pick from.


----------



## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

You could also check out Lehman's website. I think it's just www.lehmans.com. They have a lot of stoves and could probably provide some help.


----------



## horseman09 (Mar 2, 2010)

Ur5hittingMe said:


> We just took delivery on new Pioneer Princess cook stove. .


Ur, congrats! You'll love it. This is our second winter with our PP, and we love it. We have an old farm house and it heats the whole place.


----------



## Ur5hittingMe (May 1, 2011)

horseman09 said:


> Ur, congrats! You'll love it. This is our second winter with our PP, and we love it. We have an old farm house and it heats the whole place.


Thanks Horseman... Looking forward to using it next year....
Did you adapt the 7" pipe down to a more standard 6" or is yours vented thru a chimney?

Any advice on PP use from your experience would be a help.. Like how many undercooked or overdone meals with I have to choke down before DW figures out how to use it...


----------



## lilmissy0740 (Mar 7, 2011)

Dear UR, you will have to choke down a lot of burnt meals if you keep posting like above!  Better yet, maybe you wont have to choke down any meals!!! :sssh:

All kidding aside: we ordered our PP, thanks to Horseman and others on here for their help. We found an ad in Mother Earth News from a gentlemen in Kentucky that sells the PP. Very helpful and we highly recommend dealing with them.


----------



## Ur5hittingMe (May 1, 2011)

:surrender::surrender::surrender::surrender:


lilmissy0740 said:


> Dear UR, you will have to choke down a lot of burnt meals if you keep posting like above!  Better yet, maybe you wont have to choke down any meals!!! :sssh:
> 
> All kidding aside: we ordered our PP, thanks to Horseman and others on here for their help. We found an ad in Mother Earth News from a gentlemen in Kentucky that sells the PP. Very helpful and we highly recommend dealing with them.


----------



## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Ok, just so I'm straight here... are lilmissy and ur5hitting me a couple?


----------



## Ur5hittingMe (May 1, 2011)

Jason said:


> Ok, just so I'm straight here... are lilmissy and ur5hitting me a couple?


A couple of of ????? 

Yes... UR and lilmissy have been a couple for a long long long long time but I couldn't have got luckier. Married in all that matters since 1999... :2thumb:


----------



## aluminum (Mar 29, 2009)

From my personal experience, I would stay away from the types of woodstoves that REQUIRE a fan (electricity) to get any measurable amount of heat off of.... These would be the typical "insert" type... These usually have a fan underneath and heat outlets along the top front. These are basically useless if the power goes out.

I would instead go for the type that just radiates heat out the top (these type usually have an optional fan on the back, but it is not needed) I believe these would be considered "Franklin" type.. there are still some being manufactured, and they usually are able to burn both wood and coal.

Here is an example of what I would buy :

http://www.ruralking.com/us-stove-wonderwood-circulator-wood-heater.html


----------



## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Thank you, ur5hittingme. I keep trying to get DW to sign on but she hasn't yet.


----------



## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

aluminum said:


> From my personal experience, I would stay away from the types of woodstoves that REQUIRE a fan (electricity) to get any measurable amount of heat off of.... These would be the typical "insert" type... These usually have a fan underneath and heat outlets along the top front. These are basically useless if the power goes out.


I wouldn't say useless. While this is, for the most part true, the fan is small and doesn't draw much power. When our power was out for a couple days last fall, I used 2 deep-cycle batteries and a 450w inverter to keep the fan running. But even without the fan, some heat is better than no heat.


----------



## horseman09 (Mar 2, 2010)

Ur5hittingMe said:


> Thanks Horseman... Looking forward to using it next year....
> Did you adapt the 7" pipe down to a more standard 6" or is yours vented thru a chimney?
> 
> Any advice on PP use from your experience would be a help.. Like how many undercooked or overdone meals with I have to choke down before DW figures out how to use it...


***

UR, yes. We have a 6"stainless steel flu liner, and it draws very well.

A few things about the PP:

That beautiful bright steel stove top will not, cannot stay bright. The heat alone will turn it dark, and cooking on it darkens it even more. Ya might as well jump the other way and use stove black paste on it so you have a nice black surface.

You'll absolutely love that mechanical thermostat, but beware. Being an airtight, it can smolder all night until things cool off, then yee haw! It'll get cookin' in no time! The down side of that is your flu. You will have to clean it regularly or you will certainly have a flu fire.

Cooking on that stove is really nice. Y'all will get used to how it works: hottest on the left above the firebox, cooler to the right. You can even remove the eye and put a wok right into the flames. Steaks, too. I get a good hardwood fire going until there's lots of hot coals, then put the steaks on one of those 2 handled wire racks that clamp together. Remove the eye, open the diverter and set the rack right on top of the eye hole. The draft pulls the cooking smoke into the flu.

The oven requires more of a learning curve and some intuition. You have to adjust the heat about 10 minutes ahead of your target temp. You can open the oven door to cool it, open or close the thermostat or open or close the diverter or a combo of all of the above. Just a matter of practice. Mrs. Horse says the oven heats evenly. No burned cookies in the back and raw in the front.

The only real gripe I have about the PP is the water tank. It rusted out after one season. I can remove it and have a stainless on made, but it should have been stainless in the first place.

Good luck.


----------



## lilmissy0740 (Mar 7, 2011)

HM, we have it in a steel building right now until we get to put it in the addition this fall. Should I be putting stove black on it now so the top wont rust? The building isnt heated, if that matters.


----------



## horseman09 (Mar 2, 2010)

lilmissy, a light coating of Pam or some other light veggy oil would probably give you better rust protection than stove black. 

RE: stove black, we tried the liquid and the paste. The paste gives better coverage than the liquid.

When you get that stove hooked up, you're gonna love it! 

I just thought of something. Just last month I had to replace 2 firebricks on the right side. The Amishman who sold me the stove wanted $100 for a whole set of firebricks. I went to Tractor supply and bought a half dozen for $1.98 each.


----------



## lilmissy0740 (Mar 7, 2011)

On the firebrick, I will have to tell hubby. I know he order some extra.

I will do the oil tomorrow. Dont want it to rust. 

Oh I can not wait until I cook on it. I love to bake so that will be my first attempt. We do a lot of cooking on a campfire, so hopefully it is the same. Although I can make one tough steak over the fire!!!


----------



## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

horseman09 said:


> I went to Tractor supply and bought a half dozen for $1.98 each.


Saw those firebricks for sale at Tractor Supply, and I'm going to put some in storage. Seems like another good prepping item for anyone with a wood stove - inexpensive to put up, but something that might be necessary for 'maintenance' when the SHTF.


----------



## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Tirediron said:


> I guess we don't have a HVAC section any more so browse this section for related threads


This is the new combined HVAC systems and building and construction. The HVAC-zone was a little quiet to it was merged here ....


----------



## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

That makes sense, it was a little slow this seems to get more interest.:2thumb:


----------



## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

furandfeathersfarm said:


> Hubby has asked me y'alls opinion on something. He wants to know what you guys would recommend as far as a wood burning type heater/stove as supplement heating for about 1,500 square feet of house. Thanks!  Oh, and free standing, not an insert, no fireplace.


Our house is about 2400 square feet, about 1500 main floor and 900 on the second floor.

We can almost heat the entire main floor with a $149 Vogelzang Boxwood I bought with a coupon from Harbor Freight. In it I burn Oak and Pecan when I have it, and also Cedar and Hackberry as "filler" wood. The stove isn't airtight, so I have to make "seals" for the door out of aluminum foil. Once the fire is going and I have some coals, I don't even open the front door anymore, I just load from the top. I use a 6" liner all the way to the cap inside my masonry chimney.


----------

