Which is the best material for a wood burning stove?

[Tussiemussies]

We want to get a wood burning stove to put one at the fireplace to help with heating costs. I thought soapstone would be the best material to have for the stove since it holds the heat for a long time. DH said they cost around $5,000 and that is without installation. What is your experience with this, what type of stove do you have and why? Thanks!

[bunnys]

Well I have been fantasizing about a wood-burning stove for many years. Here is the website for the soapstone stoves I want:

http://www.woodstove.com/

From what I've read, the soapstone absorbs heat during the fire and then after the fire goes out, continues to radiate heat into the house for many hours as opposed to all iron stoves (or other metal) that cool off pretty quickly after the fire goes out.

Yes, these stoves are very expensive. I think though that you need to think of them as a a new furnace. But this furnace will never break like the furnace you now have for your home.

These are NOTHING in price compare to the ceramic heater/stoves that are as big as a closet and sit in one of your main rooms (or basement.) They are made of soapstone as well and have pizza ovens and all kinds of stuff and cost like $30,000.

[CathyA]

We had a cast-iron one a long time ago. It worked well, but the insurance company said they wouldn't cover a fire with how we had it installed. They wanted us to move it closer to a wood-paneled wall, which I refused to do. (Plus we had little kids and decided to just remove it).
I think if you go with any kind of a good one, its just going to be expensive. but I think its a great investment.
Vermont Castings used to be a reputable brand, but that's been some time ago.
Good luck to you!

[Merski]

We've had 1 vermont castings wood burning stove and two Langes All were good but we purchased them all 20-30 years ago. What I highly rec to you is to get an enamelled one for easier maintenance and cleaning which may cost more but I never regretted it.

[Tammy]

Consider whether anyone in your home has respiratory problems. Wood burning for heat is the worst kind for people like me, with asthma. It's almost as bad as when I'm exposed to second hand smoke.

[bunnys]

Tammy:

I think the wood stoves of today are so tightly sealed there is virtually no smoke escaping into the room. From what I've heard the bigger problem regarding allergies/asthma and wood stoves is the mold you carry into the room when you bring the wood inside.

[Tammy]

That makes sense. Fire places are my enemy ... People have a holiday party and light the fireplace to make it cozy, and I feel awful. New woodstoves are probably ok.

[bae]

Both of my woodstoves are older Vermont Castings, the large one here in the living room a "Vigilant" from 1977, the small one in my office a "Resolute".

Neither smokes particularly, unless I have a seal leak and the wind is funky.

Both are cast iron, and hold heat themselves for "a while". But the way they are installed in the house is what makes them really work well. They sit atop a brick platform, and the wall behind them has a large mass of bricks. The bricks absorb a large amount of heat while the fire is operating, and radiate enough heat to produce significant warmth many hours after the fire is long gone.

That is, I don't think you need to go to the expense of soapstone, if you think through the whole installation.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fxi1wZwl7yU/UJbxxnshsBI/AAAAAAAAGsw/vTRxM6Yn0dU/s640/Awesomized.jpg

[redfox]

We have a Rais, soapstone clad on part of it. I LOVE this stove! DH & I have heated with wood for many years, and we bought this stove and when our nice cozy city home heat system went TU. Trust the Danes to know how to keep warm.

Our model is the Bora. The only downside is that it needs wood no longer than 14". When I lived rurally, I got my own wood, as did DH. Now, in the city, we've struggled to find a decent supplier. We bought a fabulous batch last year, and our guy totally stood us up this year, even after making many calls & plans. I bought a load that is really too green to burn; it's borderline, but I don't burn wood not seasoned for 2 years. It will be great next year. We're working on a back-up plan this year. It may involve ceramic electric wall heaters, sadly.

http://www.americanheritagefireplace.com/products/bora.html

Bae, I love your traditional brick hearth. Ours is a modern blackened steel one, curved in front. Fits the lines of the Bora.

[Tussiemussies]

Thanks everyone for your input. I was looking at them last night and saw some soapstone that were great and could heat the whole house. We will have an open area for living, but what about the bedrooms?

Bae your stone wall is beautiful along with your woodburner, it's so pretty.:)

[freein05]

We have a Waterford wood burning cast iron stove. We have had it for about 7 years and it works great. It is our primary source of heat. We live in the mountains and it gets cold in the winter. As far as location a central location works best. If we want to heat a room we just leave the door open to it. We like our bedroom cool so we keep the door to it closed.

We have many power failures in the winter due to snow. Our stove has a cook top we use to heat water on and cook on during power failures. The key to burning wood is to use dry aged wood. This winter the wood we are burning is two years old. We get our wood 2 years in advance of using it to make sure it is dry.

[Tussiemussies]

Thanks free for the information. If I keep the bedroom doors open I should get a bit of heat there...

We are hoping this will also be our main source of heat and considering one with a cooktop too...:)

[bae]

I use a cheesy electric fan in the hall to the bedroom to move air that way,
.

[Rogar]

I have a Pacific Energy wood burning fireplace insert. It is just the standard construction and materials, but does a nice job and is quality construction. I have some pretty sensitive sinus problems in the cold dry winter weather and just opening and closing the door to add wood sometimes puts enough smoke into the room to affect them.

I put this nifty little Ecofan fan on the top at the recommendation of the store who sold me the stove. It doesn't require any external electricity and figured it would help distribute warm air in a power outage. It doesn't displace a whole lot of air, but gets going pretty good once the stove heats up.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AYXNUY/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

[Tussiemussies]

Thanks Rogar, took a look at it ay Amazon. Do you feel it really makes a difference once the fire gets going? Thanks!

[Rogar]

Thanks Rogar, took a look at it ay Amazon. Do you feel it really makes a difference once the fire gets going? Thanks!

It probably can't match the air displacement of a good electric room or table top fan. And inserts usually come with build in electrical fans. But then again, it doesn't use electricity and could help in a power outage. It does move some air around.

[Tussiemussies]

Thanks Rogar...

[redfox]

The Rais curved front is designed to set up a convection current when it's up to temp, which takes about an hour. At the landing on the stairs, we can feel the cold air rushing down, and warm air rushing up. It's impressive! This stove heats the living room & the upstairs three bedrooms. We keep our room closed off because we like it very cool.

The only part of the house that the heat does not reach is the back wall of the kitchen/dining room, which is one big space. Because we cook a lot, that room is very comfy in the winter, except early in the morning. We also live in temperate Seattle. If I lived in a very cold climate, I'd have fans moving warm air around, or another stove upstairs.