Wood Heating Question

[badlander]

We finally settled on a Vogelzang Deluxe box stove to do dual purpose heating/cooking at our homestead, at least until we can get lp installed along with a stove, furnace and on demand hot water heater. The deluxe heats up to 1000 square feet and has two cooking lids. Will have to use a dutch oven to do any baking, but I can adapt. I talked to Vogelzang (great folks btw) told them what our needs were and they suggested either this stove or the Rancher.

There is also a large, Amish built wood furnace that supplements the house heating and heats the shop. It is in the connected shop and vented to the house as well as the shop.

My question is this. Given that we are going to have to depend on wood for awhile to heat and cook (and in the future to supplement the lp for heating, and taking into account that we will be spending a week there in October and probably weekends over the winter, how do you put out a wood fire in a furnace/stove, quickly in order to cool things down before you leave with out causing a big smoke problem?

We want to make sure the fire is out before closing up the property to head back to our commute (we have a business in Western Illinois that needs our attention) but say we leave Sunday afternoon....need to cook breakfast, keep warm, etc, but need the fire out before we leave so there is no fire hazzard in an unattended stove.

I figured you folks with experience would know the best and cleanest method of as the Pennsylvanian Dutch say, outen the fire, without a lot of hassle and smoke.

Also what is the best way to prevent a potential chimney fire? AND what do you keep on hand should one break out?

It's painful being a Newbie in your 50s!

Thanks in advance for any help.

[stanb999]

Originally Posted by badlander

We finally settled on a Vogelzang Deluxe box stove to do dual purpose heating/cooking at our homestead, at least until we can get lp installed along with a stove, furnace and on demand hot water heater. The deluxe heats up to 1000 square feet and has two cooking lids. Will have to use a dutch oven to do any baking, but I can adapt. I talked to Vogelzang (great folks btw) told them what our needs were and they suggested either this stove or the Rancher.

There is also a large, Amish built wood furnace that supplements the house heating and heats the shop. It is in the connected shop and vented to the house as well as the shop.

My question is this. Given that we are going to have to depend on wood for awhile to heat and cook (and in the future to supplement the lp for heating, and taking into account that we will be spending a week there in October and probably weekends over the winter, how do you put out a wood fire in a furnace/stove, quickly in order to cool things down before you leave with out causing a big smoke problem?

We want to make sure the fire is out before closing up the property to head back to our commute (we have a business in Western Illinois that needs our attention) but say we leave Sunday afternoon....need to cook breakfast, keep warm, etc, but need the fire out before we leave so there is no fire hazzard in an unattended stove.

I figured you folks with experience would know the best and cleanest method of as the Pennsylvanian Dutch say, outen the fire, without a lot of hassle and smoke.

Also what is the best way to prevent a potential chimney fire? AND what do you keep on hand should one break out?

It's painful being a Newbie in your 50s!

Thanks in advance for any help.

Why don't you just leave the furnace alone and stove alone?

If you would use it when your there or god forbid when sleeping. You could surely trust it if your not there. Think about it. If your there and it causes an issue you die. If not it burns the house down, sure. But which is the better scenario?

[seagullplayer]

Once we start a fire we keep it burning most of the winter. Most days we are both at work, we stock the fire when we leave the house and bring it back to life when we get home. Wood heat is the only heat we use save a couple of small electric utility heaters.

My answer, don’t worry about it, let the fire run its course.

To keep from getting in trouble with a chimney fire, burn seasoned wood, and clean it before the season starts and about mid winter, more often if you find a buildup.

I have to clean my MIL’s stove pipe almost every month in the winter, she burns trash in the stove, something I get on to her about all the time. And she rarely has a big fire going it is just smoldering fire that does very little good, she uses the stove as “backup” heat. I have a “roaring” fire quite often, I think this helps greatly in keeping soot burn out.

(Perhaps people that are afraid of fire shouldn't use wood heat, like my MIL )

While cooking on a wood stove is a wonderful idea, you will find that having a small camp stove around for quick jobs to be worth a mint.

[artificer]

The answer to most of your questions is fire control. You don't put out the fire, you let it burn down naturally. The only time you would have problems is if you are staying less than 2-3 hours. If so, then why are you heating the place up anyways?

You can get a quick hot fire using small sticks of dry wood. This would be a cooking fire. Once its done, you don't add any more wood. With small tinder sized branches, you should be able to be done with the fire in under 2 hours.

For longer periods, once its warm, you use larger pieces of wood that burn slower. Stop feeding the fire before its time to leave. If you have to add wood, add smaller and smaller pieces, so they burn quickly, and don't have a lot of coals to burn.

ALWAYS burn dry wood. Wet wood means creosote, which leads to fires. As mentioned, clean regularly, or at least inspect it regularly until you can determine how much buildup it gets. No trash in the fireplace.

The only time you would put out the fire would be the emergency, "OHG, he chopped off his toe, so its off to the emergency room? type of situation. If you have planned your departure time in advance, you can let the fire burn down by then.

You can speed the final burning by raking the coals, and leaving extra venting. Killing the fire by totally cutting off air with an airtight stove is one way to stop the fire. You have to be careful, since you can still have embers for a LONG time. Boyscout test is to put you hands in the ash, on the logs. If you can't hold it there, its too hot.

If you're going to burn wood, you need a decent sized fire extinguisher. Personally, I believe every home should have one, but I'm a pyro, and do lots of stuff with fire. (enameling, kilns, forges, welding, casting...)

This is one of those experience will teach you type of things. Others will have different opinions as well. Good luck.

Michael

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Originally Posted by stanb999

If you would use it when your there or god forbid when sleeping. You could surely trust it if your not there. Think about it. If your there and it causes an issue you die. If not it burns the house down, sure. But which is the better scenario?

Always been my philosophy too...


Save your money on the Voglezang and buy a better woodstove. I know the price is attractive, but we found ours gobbled wood and wouldn't hold a fire for more than 4 hours or so, and if you loaded it completely up you risked the chance of overheating your stove because you can't control the draft. If you just want something for an occasional weekend and you are on a budget look for a used one, there are plenty of people willing to part with them. I still have mine if you want to buy it I will make you a deal! But if you plan on being there full time at some point, and have the cash, go ahead and get a good one.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I agree smaller wood and stop feeding it 3-4 hours before you leave that will be fine

[2ndmouse]

I heat with wood, just leave it burn out on its own. With no fuel, the fire can only die, it cant suddenly start up again.

plan on not adding any wood to it a few hours before you leave.
The VZ box stove isnt very big, and wood doesnt last very long in it.

[chickenista]

I sure hope you didn't buy it directly from Vogelzang! I looked at their website and saw their price! You can buy a Vogelzang Deluxe Boxwood of that size at Tractor Supply for less than half that price..or from Harbor Freight!

And think of your Vogelzang as a temporary stove. It really is not a good stove. Like MAtthew Lindsay I used one for a few years until we could get another. The first year all of the 'caulk' in the seams will fall out. You can see fire at all the seams. The sides will overheat and blanche gray. Not pretty.
The slide air flow thingy in the front is a curse. You cannot tamp down the stove. You will always have air roaring through it and eating your wood. Also, the flu control at the top pops off on the inside of the pipe.. then you have no flu control until you dismantle it.
As Matthew said.. it will eat wood! On a cold, cold day you will live in front of it stuffing wood into it. I cooked on mine and found that because of the constant air flow troubles, the stove never saved enough heat to actually cook on. You may be able to fry something briefly if you pop off the eyes and set your pan right on the fire opening.. but it takes well over an hour and constant wood stuffing to heat water enough to steam. After years.. I was never able to boil anything..ever.
Also.. it WILL NOT hold a fire all night. Either set your alarm for 5 hours after the last time you stoke it..or prepare for a cold start fire in the morning.
This year we will be using a Fisher.. $100 off Craigslist !! I cannot wait to use less wood and to not having to see my breath in the morning.. an actual warm house in the morning.. after all these years.. I could cry with joy.

[2ndmouse]

You would be better off with the VZ Potbelly stove. They are better made and can burn coal.

[Spinner]

I agree that it's best to build a small fire that will burn out quick. You might get some pine knot to use. It will burn very hot for a short time then die out. It makes a great cooking fire cause it gets very hot, very fast, and doesn't last a long time. I use it to heat the house very quickly when I walk into a cold house after being gone.

If you plan to spend a short time there, you might want to get a blue flame unvented propane heater and a portable tank so you can let the fire burn out several hours before you plan to leave. You'll have to run some gas line out to the portable tank (like a bar-b-que tank), but it might be worth it to keep you from worrying about leaving a fire burning when you leave.

[badlander]

The Vogelzang is only temporary, until we get the LP installed. We were looking at furnaces last night on line and found several on FleaBay that were reasonably priced Frigidaires, 35-65,000 btus.

The Amish furnace is completely home made and really a remarkable design. I'll take a pic of it when we take possession and post it. We were in the shop in January 50X48 ft and the place was toasty warm just with the furnace fired up. It is vented to also heat the house so the box stove is mainly to supplement and cook on.

No, got a great price on it from our local Ace Hardware. It was on a sale ad on the east coast that I found on line and they matched it for me. Got it for less than half price.

Thanks for the tips Chick and Spinner. We do have the portable lp heater also. Forgot about having that.

[Itilley]

I would just close things down and let it burn. I lower the dampers and let it burn slow through the night and in the morning I can just add wood and the fire burns well. I also believe a good hot fire once a day cleans up a lot of creosote in the chimney. My dh's uncle taught me to do that as he never had a chimney fire. He had used wood heat all his life.


RenieB

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

and watch your clearances , that sove takes huge clearances from combustables

unlike my quadrafire witch can be 3 inches from a combustable wall in the back and 8 inches to the sides

i like the quadrafire it does well on wood it was our primary heat last year thru a very cold winter on 4 1/2 cord
for us a cord of wood is about equal to 100 gallons of fule oil in the oil furnace heat wise

[wvstuck]

I have been heating with wood for years, I used a Fisher for many of those years but finally developed a crack in the stove and decided to try something else. I researched and found an affordable stove with lots of good reviews. I decided to buy it, but the shipping was going to kill me. Then one day while wandering around Lowes I saw the exact stove sitting there on display... Small, compact, heats up to 1800 square feet, air tight, blower kit available, side shields for close tolerances to the walls.... I bought it, took it home and installed it... After the first winter I found this "Little" stove to be much warmer than my old fisher, took up less space and used about half as much wood.... Plus if you damper it just right... 12 to 14 hours of burn time on a single load of wood. Safe enough to leave burning while you are away.

We heat only with wood, warmest heat on earth. Once you live in a wood heated house you will never be happy with forced air heat again... I tried and tried to back up to a floor vent and warm by backside, it just never felt the same

Save yourself some time and trouble, get a better stove, those box stoves simply don't produce the heat you need, and will wear you out stuffing wood into them.

Here's the stove I have used for the past 3 winters.
http://www.summersheat.com/50-snc13.html