Opinions on "Pioneer Maid" wood cook stove

mtnmenagerie · #1 10/20/08, 11:09 AM

hi ya'll

i've been on the hunt for a good wood stove for our new home we're building. i had a fisher (or something like it) in mind - but then we came across the "pioneer maid" for $500

http://stovesandmoreonline.com/StovePioneerMaid.asp

anyone have experience with this kind? any thoughts?

how well would it work to heat a 1600 square foot home? if i understand correctly - you have to leave the oven door open???

thanks!

PlowGirl · #2 10/20/08, 10:05 PM

$500 is a fantastic deal for a cookstove. The firebox is a chamber next to the oven, but not the oven itself, so there should be no worry about an open fire. If you left the oven door closed, you'll get some radiant heat, but minimally compared to with the door open.

Texas_Plainsman · #3 10/20/08, 11:33 PM

It's one of the things I've bought that I feel was worth every penny. I don't think it'd heat your house when it is below 20 degrees outside.

mtnmenagerie · #4 10/20/08, 11:48 PM

thanks for the replies!

how do ya'll feel about a top-load firebox?

Delrio · #5 10/21/08, 05:12 AM

We just bought the Pioneer Princess. My hubby just had to try it out even though I didn't think the house was cold enough. He put in two medium sticks of dead wood and within a half hour we had the doors and windows open because it was 80 degrees in here. We shut up everything when we went to bed and it was still 70 when I got up the next morning.
It takes awhile to get the top hot but when it does thats a lot of "radient" heat! And we didn't have the oven door open.
$500 is a steal for that stove and you will have no problems heating your house. Just remember that they are very heavy. Lots of big men to haul it into the house!!

WisJim · #6 10/21/08, 08:36 AM

Whether or not it can heat your house depends on the house. In Alabama, if your house is insulated at all, it should be able to heat the place. I know people who heat their house in Wisconsin or Minnesota with one, but of course they have a tight well insulated home.

They seem to be a quality, well designed stove.

mtnmenagerie · #7 10/21/08, 10:26 AM

Delrio - is yours a top load? if so, do you find it inconvenient to only be able to load through the top??

thanks for the input everybody!

Delrio · #8 10/21/08, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtnmenagerie

Delrio - is yours a top load? if so, do you find it inconvenient to only be able to load through the top??

thanks for the input everybody!

Mine is a front load.

buck_1one · #9 10/21/08, 03:21 PM

If I had to pick a stove I'd go for the "PIONEER PRINCESS". I really like the idea of putting in firewood without having to open the top up. Can be a pain if you have the top of the stove covered with pots and pans, then have to move things to open the top, put in wood, cover back up, and move things back. Plus I would think opening up the top would let a lot of smoke and Co2 into ones home.

As far as heating with it, I don't see why it could not keep your place warm. The fire box on my little wood stove is smaller then the one on the cook stove and it keeps my 1000sqft home very, very warm/hot.

Best of luck to you if you get it, plus keep us informed as to how well it worked out.

Buck

mtnmenagerie · #10 10/21/08, 05:50 PM

hey! thanks

yeah, i am kinda hesitant off the top load - too bad.... oh well, i'll think about it.
and i'll update ya'll.

CarolynRenee · #11 10/21/08, 07:08 PM

We just got a Pioneer Maid cook stove just last week from a person who originally bought it for Y2K and felt he didn't need it anymore (figured it would be NOW that one would need it, but oh well, his loss, my gain).

Technically, we haven't had it hooked up yet, so I can't really give you an opinion on how well it heats, but I will say that $500 is a STEAL if you can get it for that.

Delrio · #12 10/22/08, 05:45 AM

If you want it strictly for cooking, then a top load would be extremely inconvenient. But if you want it for mostly heat than it would be great. And YES, that price is a steal!! I would get it.

Delrio · #13 10/22/08, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buck_1one

If I had to pick a stove I'd go for the "PIONEER PRINCESS". I really like the idea of putting in firewood without having to open the top up. Can be a pain if you have the top of the stove covered with pots and pans, then have to move things to open the top, put in wood, cover back up, and move things back. Plus I would think opening up the top would let a lot of smoke and Co2 into ones home.

As far as heating with it, I don't see why it could not keep your place warm. The fire box on my little wood stove is smaller then the one on the cook stove and it keeps my 1000sqft home very, very warm/hot.

Best of luck to you if you get it, plus keep us informed as to how well it worked out.

Buck

We love our PIONEER PRINCESS

:banana02:

Helena · #14 10/22/08, 07:31 AM

If you need the stove more for heating and some stove top cooking why not get a wood or wood/coal coal mast stove. We have had one for years and although the little square box isn't really attractive it will heat your house well and you can cook on the top of it. Not at neat as a cook stove but it will surely work for you. I see them at Tractor Supply for around $600 but I would get the one that uses coal also. We have a cook stove also but it really doesn't heat the house well..have 3 in this old farmhouse and without central heat of any kind the little square box does work well. Good Luck with your choice.

mtnmenagerie · #15 10/22/08, 08:59 AM

lol - that's my problem! it's just too good of a price not to consider it.
my wood stove will be my primary heat source - secondary cooking source.

also - technically it will be sitting in the living room. good thing we have an open floor plan. lol

thank you, everyone, for your invaluable input.

mtnmenagerie · #16 10/23/08, 08:47 PM

hi ya'll - just to give you a heads up. we ended up getting a fisher wood stove, so as far as i know, this pioneer maid is still up for grabs - http://nashville.craigslist.org/hsh/885723450.html

i haven't gone to look at it or anything. but if someone is in the area, maybe you'll be interested.

thanks for all of the help. i appreciate it.

jim/se kansas · #17 10/24/08, 01:22 PM

I have cooked and heated our home with a pioneer maid cook stove. We have had no problems at all. Use good dry wood, clean every other month. It has a large cooking surface and a large oven. Blessings, Jim

shellyr44 · #18 10/25/08, 05:03 AM

This has got to be a used stove right? A brand new one is over $2000. If you read more about this stove, you will read that to use this as a heat source also, you have to leave the oven door open. We researched and read alot of books and articles about wood cookstoves before we bought our mealmaster wood cook stove. We had concidered the Pioneer at first but when we read about how to use it as a heat source also, we changed our minds. Leihmans has had these stoves offered for a while now.

Sharon · #19 10/25/08, 10:52 PM

We have had a Pioneer Maid wood cook stove for about 9 years. We love it. The top load feature is not a problem, it has a huge firebox. It also has a huge oven. We open the oven door to help heat the house when it is really cold, otherwise we just prop it open slightly with the lid lifter. We use it to heat our house, cook, bake, and it also has an 11 gallon water reservoir that my husband put a spigot in so we can just turn the handle and get hot water. Ours has the warming oven too; I really use that feature a lot. We have a small Fisher wood stove in our living room (our house is really two log cabins that have been connected and added on to; so it rambles) that we use when it gets really super cold, but for the most part the Pioneer Maid does the whole house. Oh yeah, it also holds a fire overnight with ease.

Pigeon Lady · #20 10/25/08, 11:00 PM

This will be our third winter with the Pioneer Maid. In fact Dh and I just finished cleaning the stove pipe, water reservoir etc tonight. So now it's all spick and span and ready to fire up as soon as the temps drop a bit.

We couldn't be happier with it. Yes, it's a top loading fire box but the cooking surface is so large that usually I don't have anything sitting right on top of the fire plate anyway. I keep the kettle or whatever is boiling just there at the back behind the plate area. I absolutely love having that huge surface. Once something is cooked you just move it over to a cooler area to stay warm while other things catch up. ( I'm the worlds worst at organizing things so that everything finishes cooking at the same time!)

As for heating. We live in an old 100 y/o farm house of about 1800sq ft. We're in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. The stove is in the dining area which is in the "ell" at the back of the house so it's kind of out of the way yet it does heat the living room and center hallway and the heat rises up the stairs to the landing somewhat. The bedrooms we don't worry so much about. If it's extremely cold we just leave the doors open and there's usually enough warmth seeps through to take the chill out of them. Of course the dining room and kitchen stay VERY toasty! We don't like put any more wood in it after about 10 pm but usually there are still some burning embers in the box the next morning. All I have to do is stir them up and add a bit of kindling to get the fire going again.

Does your stove have the Reservoir? We lose our power quite often in the winter, sometimes for days at a time. It's great to always have that hot water on hand.

One hint: if after a a while you notice that the oven isn't getting as hot as it used to. Lift out the rings and scrape all the soot out from over the top of the oven area. When a layer of soot builds up in there is kind of insulates the oven and stops it from heating up properly. I try to remember to clean that space out about once a week. ( the stove comes with a long handled scraper )

Good luck,

$500 is a fantastic price! I don't think you'll regret buying it at all!

Pauline