Please, what is a wood burning stove?

[Midas AG]

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Now, I loved our wood stove we had when I was a kid. Nothing greater in the winter than coming home from school, and sitting in front of the wood stove, doing homework. The smell, the heat, everything was great. My parents now have an outdoor wood furnace that uses the heat from the fire to heat water, then pipe it in side, to a water to air interchanger, that blows the air over the hot water pipes, then into the duct work for the vents.

Now, the pellets that you can get for a pellet stove are made of either corn products, like husks, stalks, and the cob, or made of wood by products. The problem with that is you need to buy them. My parents heat their house, and hot water in the winter with wood they cut and haul from a local farmers wooded area. We just clear out the already dead trees, and downed trees. It really is pretty cool, unique, and awesome. Load it once a day. Cutting and hauling all that wood does suck though.

[trix4u]

Thanks everyone who was helpful

[gaduchman]

When we lived out West, we had two stoves - one in the house Cast Iron Stoves by Vermont Castings and the other (homebuilt) in the garage. We used eight cords of wood in winter - winter being October thru April. The pellet stove is kinda worthless unless you have a one room cabin.

The alternative is a hotwater boiler which is outside your home and burns pallets or whole logs up to four feet long. The water pipe enters the home provides hotwater heat which is very efficient. Central Boiler - Outdoor Wood Furnaces

[skygravel]

Google
Type in "wood stove".

[nwcountrygal]

Until now all my adult life I always had wood heat. Now I have the fancy forced air propane heat. With the propane I have to have electricity to heat the house even though propane - power out then have to run a generator. The forced air moves everything in air around with hard wood floors this is my biggest regret. Although I can come home and just touch thermostat and heat there.

I love my wood stoves. I had a cooking one from Ireland -a serperate small box on the side with four burners (or metal round pieces) able to remove to cook on with oven box... slow cooks for the most part but I have done a whole Turkey to bread in oven. Small box on side of stove to cook on - remember my grandmother used to cook on it always vrs fancy new electric.

A normal wood stove - free standing cast iron box basically - the newer ones have a blower for hot air coming off the box along with just he wood heat for an option. A good air tight stove you can stock with wood and go to work come home/still warm or go to bed and wake up still has coals warm in it. I always had a cast iron tea pot with good smellies and water in it to humidify house.

once built a house with a daylight basement surrounded the stove with river rock masonary and vented the entire house from where the stove was and it heated the hot water also. . It is such a nice warm heat that forced air cant compete too. You can cook off of any flat topped wood stove for the most part, either use a soup pot or I have used foil with meat potatoes, veges oil.

A pellet stove must have electricity to move blower on fan, which is its only heat, and the top isn't ever hot so no cooking. A pellet stove is absoultley useless unless you have electric to run and don't provide near the heat or length of a wood stove.

Although you have to start a fire - clean the chimmey at least once a year - you can hire- gather or buy the wood and if it is your only heat your house is really cold depending where you are if you go out of town for a couple of days. Summer time gets used for a alot of days going and gathering - cutting wood for the winter.

In the past living alone I without a good stove used to dream of someone else making me a fire so when I got home from work and have it warm. Instead of chopping kindling, makeing a fire and waiting for the house too warm up. If I could in my house and layout doesn't allow except for wrong location to have one now, I would trade forced air heat in a heart beat!!!