Do wood cookstoves heat as well as regular woodstoves?

countrykidz · #1 08/14/12, 10:04 AM

We are needing to buy a larger woodstove to heat our home. I found a great deal on a wood cookstove, I was wondering if they heat as well as the regular heating woodstoves. I would like something that we can load up well and that will hold the fire for a few hours. Any input appreciated.

FarmboyBill · #2 08/14/12, 10:23 AM

Put a piece of firewood into a gal can, then put another the same size into a 5 gal bucket. Can you guess the outcome? You can put more in the 5 gal bucket. More wood in a confined space on fire creates more heat.
The wood range isnt/wasnt designed to compete with the wood heating stove. If it had been How could the old time wives made dinner at noon for the threshing crew in July.
A wood range is built to make a small fire do alot of work frying on top of it, and bakeing beside it. I fried 10 eggs on 2 feed sacks today. u couldnt do that on a wood heating stove.

If you need a good cook range, look into your bargain. IF you need a good stove to provide a great amount of heat in the winter time, BUY A WOOD HEATING STOVE.

FunnyRiverFarm · #3 08/14/12, 10:32 AM

No, they don't...cook stoves have really small fire-boxes...not meant to heat the whole house. We do use our heating wood stove for cooking some things though...just not anything that requires a lot of precision. We put soups and stews on the stove to simmer...and when we let it get down to coals, we put foil-wrapped potatoes in there and sometimes "grill" meat on a rack over the coals...we even cooked a frozen pizza in there once when our power was out.

haypoint · #4 08/14/12, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FunnyRiverFarm

No, they don't...cook stoves have really small fire-boxes...not meant to heat the whole house. We do use our heating wood stove for cooking some things though...just not anything that requires a lot of precision. We put soups and stews on the stove to simmer...and when we let it get down to coals, we put foil-wrapped potatoes in there and sometimes "grill" meat on a rack over the coals...we even cooked a frozen pizza in there once when our power was out.

Correct.
However, there are a few new wood cook stoves that are designed to also heat. They have large air-tight fireboxes that can keep a fire over night without trouble. Princess Maid, Bakers Choice, Elmira Oval, etc..

countrykidz · #5 08/14/12, 11:15 AM

Thanks guys, you've helped a bunch, and the comments make good sense. So now I know to find the right heating stove, or trying to decide whether it might be better to keep the little woodstove we have and purchase an outside wood furnace. We have a home that is 1800 sq ft with tall ceilings and as much as I love our little woodstove, it just cannot heat all the space alone. We have some high efficiency electric heaters, but I would rather use wood heat as much as possible.

jim/se kansas · #6 08/15/12, 10:17 AM

I have a Pioneer Maid wood cook stove and it heats our house and cooks our meals. It has a large fire box and keeps a fire all night.

mabeane · #7 08/15/12, 03:57 PM

We have a baker's choice and it heats our home quite nicely.

julieq · #8 08/15/12, 04:50 PM

We had a Sweetheart wood cook stove (from Lehman's) when we lived in Northern Idaho and it heated our entire house and seemed very efficient. It had a water reservoir on the side. Really miss it!