Need Wood Stove Advice

[MossRoad]

Here's what i got wrong with mine now:

Baffels are shot. On second set. Will have to replace. Not Warranty.
Most firebrick is cracked.
Need to replace door seal.
Hard to regulate,( when door seal was good)
Paint.
Size recommendations from Napoleon are WAY too generous, so my stove is undersized, even though my house is within Napoleons specs.
Firebox is too small to get a 8hr burn.

Ill admit I run mine pretty hard, but that is because i have to in order to get even close to what Napoleon claims.

I tried to call Napoleon and got nowhere.

They are just plainly inferior to the better stoves. It's partly my fault, I bought a cheap stove. I'll never do that again.

Whats wrong with yours, Moss?

Nothing wrong with mine at all. I was just wondering what was wrong with yours so I could watch out for the same issues. Thanks for the list. I will keep those items in mind when I inspect it daily. :thumbsup:

I will agree with you about the undersize issues. The litterature says it will take a 22" log but that is on a diagonal. Reality is it will take 18" logs nicely front to back or left to right. I cut mine at 16", so its not a problem for me. Also, I bought one size larger stove than they recommended because I had to install it in the basement on an outside wall and pipe heat upstairs with a vent/fan/thermostat I cobbled up. Glad I went with the one size larger. And our house is very old, not insulated well and drafty.

I get honest 8hr burns with good dry hardwood. I put a thermometer on the top of the stove right under the trivet vent. I don't let the stove get over 500 degrees. No paint issues yet. I do have two cracked bricks, but I'm pretty sure that was from me slamming wood into it while it was hot.

I load it up full as I can get it with smaller wood when I get home from work. This makes a quick, hot burn. About 11pm I load it again with larger hardwood pieces, get it up to 500 by midnight, then throttle it back to just under 1 on the damper. When I get up at 6 there is still red hot coals and the temp is still 250ish. I toss in some more larger pieces, get it up to 500 again, then throttle it back again and go to work. Work can be 10 hours some days. When I get home I cannot see red hot coals, but a few pokes with the poker and they are under the ashes. I move them to the middle, and start the process over again.

Also, I use welding gloves and make sure the baffles are pushed towards the back every time I load it. The gap should be at the front. If it is at the back, the heat just goes right up the chimney. Those baffles seem to move forward pretty easy. I suspect it is from me putting in logs and bumping them.

Last winter was mild, but two winters ago I burned 6 months continuos with only 4 days that the fire went out and I had to use a match.:thumbsup:

To get the heat upstairs, I put in a 6" duct over the top of the stove, then ran that to a hallway floor vent in the center of the house. There is a high temperature in-line fan in the duct. I have a greenhouse portable thermostat on the ceiling in the basement near the stove. I have it set for cooling and I plug the in-line fan into the thermostat. Anytime the basement room with the wood stove in it gets to 78 degrees, the fan kicks on and moves the warm air upstairs. When the fire goes out and the room drops below 78 it goes off. Works really well, except the in-line fan is a bit noisy. But the noise drowns out the trains and jets! :laughing:

 

[Scooby074]

Your burn cycle sounds very similar to mine. :thumbsup:

One thing on the baffles, it sounds like you have the original (old) design baffle. Im gessing yours are about 1/2-3/4" or so think?

There is a re-design. These are probably 2" thick. They are MUCH better. Not only are they thicker, but they are longer as well. They stay where they are supposed to.

These are what i got when i replaced my first set. I tried to argue for warranty on the old ones, but no dice. IIRC they were about $45 per side. The new ones havent burned through yet, but are probably 1/2 eroded through over 4 sq inch section where the heat is the highest. Once they are burned through, all your heat goes right up the flue, so they need to be changed. I'll likely get this season out of mine and change in the fall.

My next stove will not have fiber baffles.

 

[Dutch445]

I built a 2 story masonry stove to solve my heating problems. It weighs about 4000 lbs. and you only fire it for 1-1.5 hrs. mess in the basement and heat on both floors. It is a lot more involved than a wood stove but inherently safer. On REALLY cold periods you fire it twice a day. I burn scrap pallet wood I get for free. No creosote problems at all. I don't have and hopefully will not ever have duct work.

I love the look/idea of those huge masonry stoves, it would be awesome
to build a house/cabin around one.

What type of usage does a heater like that use to heat a home? are there any
charts or heating specifications on the masonry heaters?

 

[MossRoad]

Your burn cycle sounds very similar to mine. :thumbsup:

One thing on the baffles, it sounds like you have the original (old) design baffle. Im gessing yours are about 1/2-3/4" or so think?

There is a re-design. These are probably 2" thick. They are MUCH better. Not only are they thicker, but they are longer as well. They stay where they are supposed to.

These are what i got when i replaced my first set. I tried to argue for warranty on the old ones, but no dice. IIRC they were about $45 per side. The new ones havent burned through yet, but are probably 1/2 eroded through over 4 sq inch section where the heat is the highest. Once they are burned through, all your heat goes right up the flue, so they need to be changed. I'll likely get this season out of mine and change in the fall.

My next stove will not have fiber baffles.

Thanks. I'll watch out for that. My baffles are probably an inch or less thick, as I recall. I remove them each spring when the burning season is done and I clean my chimney pipe. I'll inspect then.

 

[ultrarunner]

I love the look/idea of those huge masonry stoves, it would be awesome
to build a house/cabin around one.

What type of usage does a heater like that use to heat a home? are there any
charts or heating specifications on the masonry heaters?

I built a small home around one and it has performed great for the last 29 years...

Fire it twice in the coldest weather when it drops below 32... otherwise once a day.

Most of the info I've found is in German.

The women really like it because there is a small bench in front of it where you rest your back up against the tile and feel the warmth...

 

[schweizer]

We like our masonry stove. We have a 2700 ft2 home w/ the masonry heater in the middle of the great room. Our climate is Southern Oregon where the nights are currently close to freezing and daytime temps in 40's-50's. Burned about 3-4 cords of wood this winter w/ practically no backup heat use. Most of the time the forced air propane heater is turned off -- we only use that to boost the house temps when coming home from vacation when the masonry stove takes 1-2 days to get back up to temp. Each fire takes 2-3 hours to burn down (in ours), then the damper and flue are closed to prevent cold air circulating in the core. We have a heated bench on 3 sides -- it's the most popular spot in the house on cold days. Interestingly enough, the air temp (thermostat) can read about 65 but checking the walls shows them to be up to 75 deg. Different kind of heat. Very pleasant.

Marcus

Our website: Masonry Stove
the core: Masonry Stove Builders - masonry heater manufacturers

 

[ultrarunner]

Scanned two pictures from the album. The quality is not the best with the old photos.

The masonry heater is shown in the living room and behind it is the steps to the basement where the fire box door is located... so the wood never comes into the living space and the fire box is raised on the backside due to the steps so no stooping to load the wood.

It is a very simple design and has worked extremely well and now always has a small bench in front of it making it a very popular place in the home...

The small loft above is carpeted and is always nice and warm... the kids love to spend time up there playing above it all.

 

[Dutch445]

those are beautiful, i can imagine they create a
very nice heat.

thanks for the pics and info

 

[Scooby074]

Those masonry stoves are very nice. I was looking at a Tuvuli soapstone unit the other day... Gorgeous. Massive amount of stone for great thermal storage. Plus you can add ovens and stoves to it too. Then i got the price... STARTING at $10,000.. :confused2:

Soapstone fireplaces with bakeoven | Tulikivi

 

[magicheater]

I love the look/idea of those huge masonry stoves, it would be awesome
to build a house/cabin around one.

What type of usage does a heater like that use to heat a home? are there any
charts or heating specifications on the masonry heaters?

Typically they burn less wood per season than a regular wood stove. Still trying to find the pics I know I took!