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Who else on here uses a wood stove as their main source of heat? I have had a Waterford stove, Erin model, since 1991, they don't import these to the US anymore. A non-catalytic stove with an ash pan was what I wanted, I got one of the last Erins the stove vendor had.
One thing I notice is that of the people I know locally who use a wood stove, more of them have the old "non-rated" low efficiency smoky stoves, than a high efficiency one.
There is a program in my county, sort of a "cash for clunkers" for old stoves, but I don't know anyone who has taken advantage of it.
The modern stoves burn the gases given off by the wood as it's burning, you get about the same heat from 2 cords in a modern stove as you would from 3 cords in an old low tech one.
Where i live there are a lot of orchard prunings - branches removed as part of normal tree trimming in the orchards - and these apple, cherry, and pear limbs make great firewood.
Calling this an environmental disaster if everyone used a wood stove is a bit out there.
If everyone in all the cookie cutter neighborhoods like they have in Los Angeles did it yes it would get smokey with out wind.
A stove is also much more efficient than a fireplace
Do you know why lots of rural areas don’t have smog tests for their cars?
They don’t need them because those areas are not that populated.
Lots of rural areas have no natural gas available.
Sometimes the power goes out and it can get cold.
We live about 90miles away from the closest natural gas source.
I am glad I have a wood stove.
Where i live there are a lot of orchard prunings - branches removed as part of normal tree trimming in the orchards - and these apple, cherry, and pear limbs make great firewood.
Apple and cherry make great smoked salmon in a smokehouse too...
I have a fireplace insert model that I use on occasion, house is so warm, and better yet DRY when using it. My other half doesn't like the mess and occasional small amount of smoke when reloading so I don't run it full time. You can do much to improve efficiency, soapstone stoves the best as they absorb and radiate heat the best. You can line an older stove with soapstone bricks, use fans to distribute heat to more remote areas of the house, etc.
You can get a great deal on a high efficiency stove second hand on Craigslist, etc. At least in my area they are hard to sell because they are heavy and bulky, hard to transport, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yosh01
Still, aren't wood burning stoves environmentally a very dirty source of heat? If everyone used them, wouldn't it be an environmental disaster?
Flatulent cows are worse offenders, lots of methane being released. If everyone just cut back meat consumption by 25% it would likely offset all the woodstoves combined...
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I use a 78,000 btu . Fireplace Xtrordinair® (built-in wood stove) 100% heat source for the last 29 yrs. It is high efficiency, accepts logs, 30+ in length and 12" dia. (Grow my own fuel, whether crops or forest). I welded up another fireplace grate today. It burns through 3/4" steel in about 3 years. https://www.fireplacex.com/product/44-elite/
I also have several stoves I built in the 1970s. They are quite efficient, but not certified.
Next home will have Scandinavian fireplace that you only burn once / week. And it is quite happy burning scrap pallets.
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 02-11-2022 at 08:40 PM..
Looking at getting a new liberator rocket stove. Super efficient, uses only about 25% of the fuel a normal stove does, and can be rigged to use a gravity fed pellet bin that feeds without electricity for when you aren't there to feed in the wood.
Wood is a 100% renewable resource. Burning it adds zero co2 or ch4 to the atmosphere (carbon cycle? ..or were we absent the day they covered that in the 4th grade?)
Direct space heating via a fireplace is the least efficient way to use it...A furnace based on gassfication in conjunction with circulating hot water reservoir is the most efficient way.
Gemstone says he uses 1800 lb of firwod per yr (~5 cords) with a direct air/space heating set up...I have a similarly sized house (one story) and use only 4 cords with a gassification/boiler system. I'm in central WI-- pretty cold, Zone 4
One-size-fits all rarely works... A crowded neighborhood with all wood burning fireplaces would get pretty smokey..The same place with gassification furnaces would produce almost no sooty smoke and could be done without fouling the air....If you live where your nearest neighbor is a mile away, it would make no difference how you do it.
Still, aren't wood burning stoves environmentally a very dirty source of heat? If everyone used them, wouldn't it be an environmental disaster?
They say it is - but not sure if they discuss modern stoves which burn much cleaner.
Generally, the only smoke you could see - is at the very beginning of the burn: after you can not see any smoke coming out.
The key to a cleaner burning is a modern stove with the secondary burn design and a properly designed insulated chimney
Our primary woodstove is a 200kBtu Vogelzang [two barrel]. The upper drum is 50 foot of 5/8 inch copper tubing coiled in it, where we circulate water, which then circulates through a thermal bank in our basement. That heated water then circulates through our radiant heated floor.
Our second woodstove is a cookstove. Kitchen Queen 480 480 kitchen queen
In our town, I doubt if there are any homes that do not heat with wood.
Woodstoves work when the power grid is out.
This state is over 92% forest. When homes are properly distanced apart from each other [say a mile or more between houses] none of your smoke should ever leave your own property.
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