We Have a New Wood Burning Stove

[Egon]

Thanks Lloyd. We 68 acres but some is swamp and some is mature white pine. There are lots of acres there though to support my meager wood demand. Now If I could just get out and cut some. Maybe tomorrow.

I was thinking originally of wood as a farm crop and wondering which type of trees would deliver the most BTU's per acre per year.

 

[3RRL]

My manual said it will also affect the draft. If you open that up, there is no controlling the draft, as the ash pan is not sealed. As the fire builds, it will suck more and more air, which could lead to overheating the stove and/or chimney.

Moss,
When I first fired up the stove, Loretta read the instructions to me.
I re-read the manual last night and it says exactly as yours. In bold letters "Never run the stove without the plug in it" for exactly the same reasons you stated. It also says never to remove the bricks on the bottom. There must be several kind of stove construction and sounds like yours is built exactly like mine. It also states to let the stove cool down to remove the ashes. So that's what I did.
This morning after letting it burn down to nothing overnight, I emptied a pail of ashes with the small shovel. There were only a few coals in it. I re-lighted the stove after that and it fired right up. Now ready to burn solid for another 3 or 4 days before I do it again.

 

[MossRoad]

I would like to get some sort of shovel that has a grate in it instead of solid. That way I could shake out the coals from the ash and toss them to the other side of the stove, then clean out the cold ash. I have tried it a few times with my solid shovel and it works O.K., but a grated one would be much better. My goal is to use as few matches as possible this winter.

I burned up the last of my locust last night. Not much ash left at all. I could burn that stuff for two weeks before having to clean out the stove. The Oak is really dirty, leaving lots of chunks and ash.

 

[3RRL]

That's a good idea to keep as many coals in the stove. I use my little shovel and push them to one side best I can.
I don't have locust, but I have tons of Oak. I don't have that problem of not burning completely? If I let the stove burn completely out, even the coals turn into pure white ashes. Like when I leave to go back to the other home for a few days, I let the stove run with the air flow a little more open for a few hours to get rid of any coals left and get a complete burn.
This morning when I cleaned out the ashes, I did it while there were still coals left so I could restart the stove easily.

 

[MossRoad]

Well, I ran some duct work from over the stove to the 1st floor. Then I installed a small computer fan to see if it would move air. It did. But I wanted something more permanent.

So, I purchased an in-line duct booster fan from airboosterfans.com. Most duct booster fans appear to have plastic parts and are only rated for 150 or so degrees. This one is rated for 275 degrees. (the 6" model is what I got).

Air Booster Fans.comuct Fan-Inline Duct Fans-Garage Heaters-Electric Garage Heaters-Industrial Fans-Duct Reducers-Attic Exhaust Fans, Garage Heaters and More!

Not that I am going to let the duct work get that hot. I put a meat thermometer into the duct work before the fan and watch it. When the stove top is blazing away at about 500 degrees, the air temp in the duct work maxed out at 150. Most of the time, it is only around 100-105, though. Just right to keep the center of the 1st floor at 70-72 degrees. Perfect for us.

However, the fan runs all the time, and in the morning, as the fire dies down, the basement room that is is in cools off. Then the fan blows cool air. I don't want that. So I started looking around for a thermostat to control it. I found this one at Northern Tool.

Portable Thermostat | Heaters | Northern Tool + Equipment

It works great. It comes wired for heating, but it has instructions to switch it over to cooling by moving one wire inside on a terminal block. Really nice! And I need to cool the basement room. Works great!

I set the thermostat for 75 and mounted it in between the floor joists about 8 feet out and above the stove. When the room temp up there hits 75 it turns on the duct booster fan and when the room drops below 75 it turns the fan off. No more cold air. Fantastic.

I recommend both of these products.

 

[scott_vt]

My goal is to use as few matches as possible this winter.

Good Evenin Moss,
They call me tight as "treebark" up in East wells, I think youve got me beat !!!

 

[MossRoad]

Well, the results are in. November 2008 was considerably colder than November 2007, especially the last two weeks, yet we used only half the gas last month as we did a year ago November. And that was my goal... to reduce our natural gas usage by half during the heating season. Attached are the temp charts for my location for the two Novembers.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon Moss,
Well I allways wanted a stove like " Highbeams", and I bought one today ! The Hearthstone Heritage soapstone stove. It will be used in the basement of our Ct home for a couple of years and then go up to out Vt home and be put in the addition which isnt quite there yet !

The 2009/2010 tax credit gave me the final nudge, and I will use my old stove out in the workshop section of my barn which hopefully is going up this year !

Here is a link...

http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/assets/images/product_photos/product_main_photo_3.jpg

 

[Plow Jockey]

Good looking stove Scott. Hope it works out great for you.
We got a Country 210 5yrs. ago and love it. Easiest stove I ever started.
I also got the blower for ours and man what a difference it made.:thumbsup:
I even had it going again friday and saturday nights, +6 on Saturday morning:confused2:
Here's to many safe years of use.

 

[Dutch445]

They sure do make a beautiful Stove!

good luck with it! but they are calling
for 70's this coming weekend! could be
the end of my coal burning season.

as I say, we burn from Thanksgiving thru Easter, and
this year will be the same, spot on

 

[scott_vt]

Good looking stove Scott. Hope it works out great for you.
We got a Country 210 5yrs. ago and love it. Easiest stove I ever started.
I also got the blower for ours and man what a difference it made.:thumbsup:
I even had it going again friday and saturday nights, +6 on Saturday morning:confused2:
Here's to many safe years of use.

They sure do make a beautiful Stove!

good luck with it! but they are calling
for 70's this coming weekend! could be
the end of my coal burning season.

Good Afternoon Jim and Dutch,
Thanks, Ive been eyeing that stove for years ! Im absolutely looking foward to using it, but as you say, only a hand full of days left for that !

At least I can hopefully get it seasoned in with a few small burns.....

 

[MossRoad]

Good Afternoon Moss,
Well I allways wanted a stove like " Highbeams", and I bought one today ! The Hearthstone Heritage soapstone stove. It will be used in the basement of our Ct home for a couple of years and then go up to out Vt home and be put in the addition which isnt quite there yet !

The 2009/2010 tax credit gave me the final nudge, and I will use my old stove out in the workshop section of my barn which hopefully is going up this year !

Here is a link...

http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/assets/images/product_photos/product_main_photo_3.jpg

Nice looking stove!

 

[dmccarty]

We stopped burning the stove a few weeks back. Just not quite cold enough to start it up and we are low on wood. Last average freeze date is 4/15.

Saturday night we started up the stove again because it had been cold for a couple of days.

Friday we are supposed to be up to 88! Ahhh! It is not summer time!



Later,
Dan

 

[MossRoad]

Since there has been a lot of talk about wood stoves lately, I thought I'd update on how my Napolean P1400 pedestal wood burning stove is working half way through my 5th season. I thought it was only 4 years! :laughing:

Stove still works great. Burns nice a complete. I let it run almost down about every two weeks and push the coals to one side and empty the ash. Then move the coals back to the center, add more wood and it takes right off again. I bought a chimney cleaning brush and poles. At the end of each season, usually around April, I go up on the roof and swab out the chimney. I only get about a half a gallon of soot out of the 17' chimney each spring, so I believe it is working very well. I burn pretty much continuously all winter long. My greenhouse thermostat attached to an in-line duct booster fan really works great. Although the duct booster fan died after 4 seasons of continuous use and I replaced it. I'm going to change my duct work from 6" to 8" to get more air upstairs. During last week's -16F cold snap, the woodburner would keep our house at 69-70 but not any warmer, so I had to fire up the furnace. But at anything 0 and above, the furnace never comes on. Goal was to reduce winter gas usage by 50%. It has been more like 80%. Very nice. I think I will have achieved my energy savings payback completely by the end of this season. Everything after that is gravy. :thumbsup:

 

[ultrarunner]

Great in the field update... sounds like you are doing everything right!