Need wood burner recommendations

[Carol K]

We are wanting a wood burner this year and I need some models to check out.
Live in Western NY, read lots of snow, long winters. Have own standing dead wood, so it's dry.
Need to heat 1100 sq ft double wide, no basement, one floor. Want traditional look, no blower and no catalytic burner. Need it to last overnight, maybe an 8 hour burn? Don't mind steel or cast, just want model numbers and manufacturers of ones you are happy with.
Hope you avid wood burners can help. Hope I gave enough info.

Many thanks
Carol K

[Dixie Bee Acres]

Honestly, in my experience, finding a freestanding wood stove, that you can load for an 8 hour burn, my be difficult, if not impossible.

[Molly Mckee]

Quadra-fire, properly sized. We heat 3000 well insulated feet with ours.

[Harry Chickpea]

I agree. The pyrolization that happens makes this just about impossible. What happens is that over such a time span ALL of the free moisture in heated wood is driven off, changing the burn characteristics significantly. Pellet stoves get around that by using a feed auger and exposing small quantities of fuel at a time. Even manually stoked coal furnaces end up having long burn problems.

Also --- if you have a doublewide, you may need to only choose from a list of "approved" stoves if you expect to have insurance.

[jwal10]

Mobile approved models take in outside air. The modern cat models don't lend themselves to long burns. Mobiles don't lend themselves to good distribution to the whole house. You may need to size it for the open living area otherwise get overheated. Your age and temp requirements make a difference. Without a fan and if the mobile is poorly insulated and single pane windows you can feel cold drafts a few feet from the stove....James

[Carol K]

Modular has double glazing throughout, decent insulation, has ceiling fans in every room to move air. kitchen diner is open to living room. yes do need an approved stove insurance wise. How about a 6 hour burn?

CarolK

[JoePa]

I've been burning wood since the late 70s - up until last year I had a Cawley LeMay cast iron stove - it took 24 inch logs - I had it located in my cellar under my den - I put louvers in the den and the heat from the cellar room heated the den and my kitchen where I spend most of my awake time - at night I would cut down the draft and go to bed - in the morning - after 10 hours I had enough hot ashes to just put in more wood and the stove would fire up for the day

Some of the baffels on top of the stove under the top burned out so I decided to buy a new stove - which I did last week - it is a Jotul 600 Firelight - it can take 24 inch logs - is over 75% efficient - is cast iron - non-catalytic - burn time 10 hours and has a max heating capacity of 81500 Btu - I paid $2500 for it - I did a lot of looking and think this is the best unit for what I want it to do -

[Molly Mckee]

Quadra-fire makes modular and Mobil approved stoves, they do have blower and ours will burn six or so hours with larch. It should do at least as well on hard woods and maybe better.

[Carol K]

Thanks Molly, will do some research on Quadra fire. Any others from anyone?

[Harry Chickpea]

If you are going approved, that is the one that I had zeroed in on as well. It almost is as though it is the only real option. Blowers can be powered by a battery and inverter if needs be.

[davel745]

I have a Jotul stove a top loader it only takes 16 inch wood but it heats my space good enough. It is cast iron and no converter. Real good on using wood.

[Waterwheel Farm]

Not sure I'm an avid wood burner, but I've burned a lot. My last place I had a double-wide similar in size to yours. I installed the stove myself. There was a four feet-wide divider wall between the kitchen and living room and that's where I put it. I needed the chimney to be over the peak of the roof so it would draw correctly. The ceiling was a vaulted style (sloped) so I had to build a wood frame on the ceiling to install the ceiling kit....that was the worse part of the job. Anyway, I had a stove from Tractor Supply, smallish, but I don't remember the model....but it was approved for mobile home use. 4-5 hours burn time was best I could get no matter how much I loaded it up. At my current place I have three wood stoves...a Pioneer Maid wood cookstove that I occasionally cook or heat with, another off-beat bigger stove in the main fireplace, and in the back fireplace I have a Vermont Castings Encore. The Encore is by far the best stove I've ever owned as far as burn and draft control and you can load that little sucker to the gills from the top, or front if you want. Will not last 8 hours though. I know they are pricey because I want to put another Vermont Castings to replace the one in the bigger fireplace, but haven't saved enough yet. Kinda gets down to personal preferences really, but I too like the "old fashioned" look. Good luck!

[Nimrod]

Jotuls and Quadrafires are big bucks. If you are not the missing lottery winner you may want to consider something more mid-range in price. Drolet and US Stove make good ones.

It's cold there so get a fairly big one. The way to get an 8 hour or better burn is to have a big firebox so you can put in a lot of wood and control the air coming in so it doesn't all burn at once.

Wet wood won't give as much heat because you are using some of the heat from burning the wood to boil off the water in the wood. On the other hand it does burn longer. When I fill the firebox for an overnight burn I sometimes put in 25% wet firewood. Try to burn dry hardwood for long lasting coals and less creasote. Get a chimney thermometer and keep the fire so the flue gasses are at least 240 degrees and creasote won't form.

Check with your insurance agent. Most times you will have to have a mobile home approved stove and have it professionally installed to keep your insurance. The installer will try to specify the stove and sell it to you. They make money on the sale and may not want to install one you buy.

I put in the Drolet HT2000 but it's not mobile home approved. The Austral is the next size smaller and is mobile home approved. I think it goes on sale for $700 from time to time. http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/drol.../0000000003075

You can put the stove closer to the wall if you put up a heat shield. I put sheets of cement board (Durarock) over the wall and spaced it 1 1/2 inches off the wall by screwing through the old ceramic insulators they used to use to string electrified fence on wooden posts. Since cement board is also used for tile backer board, I tiled the heat shield. It looks pretty snazzy. Don't forget a heat shield for the floor too.

[Cabin Fever]

My recommendation is the Lopi Endeavor or the next larger model (can't remember its name). These stoves are plate steel - which in my opinion is better than cast iron because plate steel does not crack like cast iron can and the sides of plate steel stoves are welded together. The sides of cast iron stoves are bolted together with a gasket between the pieces.

The Lopi stoves use secondary combustion (not a catalyst) are fire brick lined and made in America.

The other thing I like about our Lopi is that its top has two "shelves" for cooking. The top shelf is for slow cooking and keeping things warm and the lower shelf is for frying and boiling.

The Lopi Endeavor requires only a 4.5" clearance from combustibles from the back of the stove which is nice since you don't need to place the stove in the middle of the room or make a special firewall behind the stove.

[JoePa]

CabinFever - that's a nice looking stove - when I bought mime I was looking at one like that - went with the cast iron one - I guess the cast iron vs steel debate goes on - its like picking out the best deer rifle -

[1shotwade]

for what it's worth The only wood stove I would recommend is a lilly. I'm sure there are other good stoves but I'm hooked! Lilly stopped manif. when the catolitic converter became mandatory.(1983 I think)I first saw one in 1980 and was hooked! 1/4/steel with grates and ash pan.Fire brick lined air tight w/ 8" exhaust. It does have a blower on the back but you don't have to use it.
I'm in the ohio valley and heat 3500 square feet with mine and my propane back up only burns 100-150 gallon per year.I have burnt 8 cord(real cord) of mixed wood per year since 1980 and the only expense I have had was to replace the blower. Since I got mine my dad and brothers went to lilly.
To me they are the biggest bang for the buck and well worth searching out. My youngest brother bought one 6 years ago for $550 and had to go 150 miles to get it but was well worth it.If you are experienced in burning firewood and keeping an overnight fire it'll do the job but you really have to know what you're doing.I'm 63 and have been raised on wood heat and sometimes I drop the ball.You must have the right bed of coals and fill with the right type of wood and have the right damper setting to get an all night burn.Equally important is the right distance from the flue to prevent creosote build up and MUST burn out your stove every day or every other or you will get a chimney fire using an airtight.
Good luck,hope this helps!

[ET1 SS]

We use a Vogelzang to heat our 2400 sq ft home. I have 50' of 3/4" copper tubing in the upper chamber which heats water. The heated water circulates through a thermal-bank downstairs, and it flows through our radiant floor.

The woodstove is in the center of the house and direct radiates very well. Plus by heating water it heats our floor too.

I load it up at night in winter and every morning it is still pretty warm. A little stir, throw on some fresh wood, and wait 10 minutes it will be roaring once again.

We are in Northern Maine, what we do up he-ah may not work for folks down South in NY.

[Carol K]

Thanks to all of you for your help, I now have some more research to do.

Carol K

[o&itw]

Having worked on mobile homes in the past as a second job, I would be hesitant to locate a wood burning stove inside. If I was put in the position , I would advise one of the wood burning furnaces that go outside with hot air ducted into the home. There are versions that will burn longer than an inside stove, and they are much safer. Yes, somone has to get up early in the morning and slip on boots to feed it, but all the mess from the wood is outside. In the midwest we burn hardwoods and one tends to get a lot of bark crumbles when bringing it in and laoding the fire.

I am not recommending this brand, only using it as an example of what they are like: http://shop.brutespeed.com/Hopsco-V1...psco-V1500.htm


BTW, If you have standing dead wood you probabaly need to get it cut down and into lengths if you really want it to dry.

[Carol K]

I've had an outdoor wood burner and wouldn't want one again, loved it for the cleanliness etc but it was a wood hog. It took two semi loads a year to heat my log cabin.
Not sure what sort of mobile homes you have worked on but mine had an open fireplace in it, It was manufactured that way. Heck I've seen wood burners in tents, so anything is possible if you do it right.

Carol K