I fired up my wood stove today. Nothing like a pipe and a coffee by the fire on a cool Saturday morning!
Fireplaces and Wood Burning Stoves
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I fired up my wood stove today. Nothing like a pipe and a coffee by the fire on a cool Saturday morning!
Hey!!!! I just fired up mine in the garage two days ago for the first time, since we bought this house almost 2 years ago. Mine is much dirtier than yours though. It was really neat to smoke by the small woodburning stove.
I meant to make a fuller post on some thoughts about wood burning, but I accidentally posted the thread immediately after dragging the jpg picture file into the body of the text.
Anyhow, one of my favorite things about burning wood is the feeling that I could only describe as a combination of independence and coziness knowing that my house will be warm and toasty all winter and I've got everything in place to make it happen, power outages, natural gas, oil, and propane be damned. I also appreciate the fact that firewood chores give me a reason to get me outdoors during the cold weather. In a time of the year that usually doesn't involve much physical activity, I get a sense of accomplishment from hauling, cutting, splitting, and stacking my firewood.
My stove is an Englander VL-17, which is an American family-owned business. Much like the pipe forum here, there is a woodburning forum as well which I frequented when I was learning about burning wood, and one of the members there designed this stove. Installing this stove would be kind of like buying a pipe made buy one of the forum members here. I installed the stove and chimney myself, including redoing some of the shingles and roofing felt where the chimney exits my roof, and I'm really proud of the work since I'm a soft hand office worker by profession. I read up on the fire codes and a bunch of installation guides before hand, and I'm pretty handy (for an office worker) so it wasn't too difficult.
It's a great little stove for my 1,200 square foot house, but even though I bought it only a couple years ago, it's no longer available on the market due to federal regulations. Much like the FDA regulations we are dealing with, wood burners are dealing with the EPA and its new regulations to "protect" the general public from particulate matter, which to be fair really is a concern in more densely populated areas, and in areas with geography and weather patterns that cause smoke to linger. The Englander complied with Phase I of the new regulations, but not Phase II. Old stoves already installed are grandfathered in though, except of course when local state, county, or municipal governments enact stricter regulations.
Anyhow, the net impact of the EPA regulations has actually been to create more efficient stoves, so arguably wood burners have so far benefitted from improved technologies arising out of necessity to comply with the new regulations. On the other hand the Phase II regulations are so strict that they might have more of a prohibitive effect than the first phase.
My final thought is that a lot of wood burners are passionate about burning, and they treat it like a hobby, much like pipe smoking.
Anyhow, one of my favorite things about burning wood is the feeling that I could only describe as a combination of independence and coziness knowing that my house will be warm and toasty all winter and I've got everything in place to make it happen, power outages, natural gas, oil, and propane be damned. I also appreciate the fact that firewood chores give me a reason to get me outdoors during the cold weather. In a time of the year that usually doesn't involve much physical activity, I get a sense of accomplishment from hauling, cutting, splitting, and stacking my firewood.
My stove is an Englander VL-17, which is an American family-owned business. Much like the pipe forum here, there is a woodburning forum as well which I frequented when I was learning about burning wood, and one of the members there designed this stove. Installing this stove would be kind of like buying a pipe made buy one of the forum members here. I installed the stove and chimney myself, including redoing some of the shingles and roofing felt where the chimney exits my roof, and I'm really proud of the work since I'm a soft hand office worker by profession. I read up on the fire codes and a bunch of installation guides before hand, and I'm pretty handy (for an office worker) so it wasn't too difficult.
It's a great little stove for my 1,200 square foot house, but even though I bought it only a couple years ago, it's no longer available on the market due to federal regulations. Much like the FDA regulations we are dealing with, wood burners are dealing with the EPA and its new regulations to "protect" the general public from particulate matter, which to be fair really is a concern in more densely populated areas, and in areas with geography and weather patterns that cause smoke to linger. The Englander complied with Phase I of the new regulations, but not Phase II. Old stoves already installed are grandfathered in though, except of course when local state, county, or municipal governments enact stricter regulations.
Anyhow, the net impact of the EPA regulations has actually been to create more efficient stoves, so arguably wood burners have so far benefitted from improved technologies arising out of necessity to comply with the new regulations. On the other hand the Phase II regulations are so strict that they might have more of a prohibitive effect than the first phase.
My final thought is that a lot of wood burners are passionate about burning, and they treat it like a hobby, much like pipe smoking.
Wow, I had no idea people treated wood burning as a hobby. I should look into mine more. It came with our house, and was already installed in the garage. But our garage was an old school house that was moved from down the road and placed here on our land.
Cool way to get a garage! I've got a funny story about that... Apparently the Amish will buy and move houses off of a foundation pretty regularly, and my wife's grandpa had a buddy who made a deal to sell his house to the Amish. They measured it and made a new foundation, and picked the whole thing up and shipped it away. However, there was a mixup, and they accidentally took the neighbor's house rather than the one they agreed to buy
Another thing to keep in mind about wood stoves, and this is probably the most important thing, is wood stove safety. From what I read, clearance issues (things being too close to the stove) are the number one cause of fires. This could include improper installation too close to a wall, or getting furniture or something else too close. The second biggest issue is chimney fires, which are caused by buildup in the chimney ("creosote"). Chimneys need to be cleaned at least once per season, and some of the hardcore hobbyists do it several times, though that's usually overkill.
Here's a photo that gives a little bit better picture of the wood stove setup in the living room. It makes the living room a great gathering place because it's warm, while the rest of the house, including the bedrooms in the back, are cooler, which works great for me because I like it warm in my living area and cool in my sleeping area. Note my cat in the bottom right hand pic keeping me company wherever I am in the house
In case you find my little plate steel cube of a wood stove uninspiring, some wood stoves can be really beautiful. This one below is a Jotul F3CB, which is what I was first considering.
There is only a limited choice of small stoves that are appropriate for heating a little 1,200 square foot house in a moderate climate that usually has high temperatures above freezing even in the coldest months, so I didn't have many to choose from. Jotul is a well-known Scandinavian company, and the F3CB is a popular small stove. However the F3CB had some mixed reviews, and nearly everyone who had an Englander VL-17 loved it, and the final kicker was a review I saw by a hobbyist who actually replaced his (higher end) Jotul with the (cheaper) Englander, and he liked the Englander a lot better. I got a great deal on the Englander and ultimately paid about a quarter of what the Jotul would have cost, so I went with it, and it's been an excellent stove. I would recommend it without hesitation, and even though it's technically "off the market" they were super common and could probably still be had if you look around.
Having responded to more than a few fires I have a one word reminder for the safe use of a wood burning anything, chimney!
Looks cozy Lawdawg!
I burned woodpellets, corn and sunflower in my old home. Natural gas insert now, just fired it up for the 1st time this season with it hitting 29 last night. Picked up and unloaded by myself 2 ton of wood pellets every fall previous. I have to say the NG is the way to go.
I burned woodpellets, corn and sunflower in my old home. Natural gas insert now, just fired it up for the 1st time this season with it hitting 29 last night. Picked up and unloaded by myself 2 ton of wood pellets every fall previous. I have to say the NG is the way to go.
I am rocking a 1996 Woodstock Soapstone Palladian Catalytic. An amazing stove, 1 quarter round every 90 minutes heats our 1,500 sq ft just fine. Also have an old woodstove insert in our fireplace downstairs, and a homemade beast in our 1,000 sq ft detached shop/garage. To Warren’s note, in addition to chimney maintenance I’d recommend having chimfex on stanbdy at all times. Can put a chimney fire out in a matter of seconds.
I have heated my house for years with two wood stoves, one at each end of the house. I don't even know if the furnace works. I haven't use daily it in years. Burning the right wood helps keep the chimney fires to a minimum. Nothing like a real fire to warm a house in my opinion.
Thanks guys! I appreciate it. It's really just a modest little 3 bed / 1 bath built in the 1950's but we tried to decorate it up nicely. And yeah, no kids... yet.
Thanks. It is! My mom has a natural gas fireplace at her house, and they really like it. They definitely have their benefit, and wood is messy, but I like it anyhow
Very nice. Good looking stove and good looking dog. That is a top-of-the-line wood stove, and I'd get something like it if I lived in Alaska instead of Indiana
For those who don't know, a soapstone stove is known for letting out very consistent even heat over a long period of time instead of getting hot and then cooling down, which is what my steel stove does (though my stove is sized perfectly for my house and climate, so it's never uncomfortable and there are no crazy temp swings or anything).
+1 on burning good wood. Everything I'll burn this year has been seasoned for a least a year, and some it for more than two years.
That they are, and that it does. The soapstone absorbs the heat so well, it will remain hot for quite a while even after the fire burns down. We rarely have to restart a fire in the morning, as there will still be coals and the soapstone is sometimes still hot to the touch. That and the 72% efficiency are ideal, not to mention with the Catalytic we only have to clean the chimney about once a year due to the minimal creosote production. It rocks. We burn 100% birch, unless I have to clear some other trees, and we only go through about 1.5 cords per season. The Catalytic also allows a great amount of control over the burn rate. You can get it hot very fast if need be with a little bypass damper manipulation.
There is a construction clearing company here that will sell semi loads of 100% birch for $1100. Usually amounts to about 11 cords. It takes me two winters to cut and split it, casually as I please, then we are good for 7 or 8 years with extremely well seasoned wood.
This is a huge controversy in Fairbanks, AK, and is beginning to be near where I live, in our neighboring community of Butte, AK.
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Here's a photo that gives a little bit better picture of the wood stove setup in the living room. It makes the living room a great gathering place because it's warm, while the rest of the house, including the bedrooms in the back, are cooler, which works great for me because I like it warm in my living area and cool in my sleeping area. Note my cat in the bottom right hand pic keeping me company wherever I am in the house
In case you find my little plate steel cube of a wood stove uninspiring, some wood stoves can be really beautiful. This one below is a Jotul F3CB, which is what I was first considering.
That's a great setup lawdawg. I like the freestanding lamp to the right of the wood stove.
Definitely a unique lamp and a great spot for it.
Our other (much cheaper) direct vent insert in the kitchen. Rarely used, its only there in case the power goes out and it gets down to -30 or below to make sure our kitchen pipes don’t freeze. Although the dog, obviously, would prefer we fire it up more often, haha.
I have an old potbellied stove in the basement and I make sure I always have at least two cords of seasoned hardwood logs. One thing I look forward to in winter is snow falling outside, I’m sitting by the stove sippin’ some rye with my dog by my side...alone. Now of course I’m adding a pipe of English/Balkan into the scene. Just waiting for it to snow...
Thanks. That's the first lamp I turn on in the evenings if I'm hanging out in the living room. It is kind of an odd lamp since it doesn't have a traditional lampshade, but the compact "lampshade" globe makes it especially suited for tight corners.
I was trying not to complain too much about the EPA regulations, but the truth is that 95% of the geographic area of the country doesn't need these regulations at all, and they are complete overkill, being very hard on people who rely on heat for wood and hard on the wood stove industry. Local areas with unique issues regarding the geography, population density, etc. should make their own rules about burning wood, rather than having an exceedingly restrictive nation-wide standard for particulate emissions.
Besides, as I'm sure you know through many years of heating with wood in Alaska, it's really more about the operator and especially the wood rather than the stove itself. You can burn a dirty smoldering fire of green wood with tons of emissions in a new stove, and you can burn a clean hot fire with properly seasoned wood in an old steel plate baffle stove like a Fischer.
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