Woodstove opinion needed

HuskyBoris · #1 09/18/13, 09:23 PM

I am currently using a Jotul Combi fire #4 woodstove to heat my home but there are a few things I don't like about it,,the way the door opens and all the ashes and hot stuff has the ability to fall out and no flat top.
In the barn I have an old Earth stove model 101 (I think) and have been thinking about putting that one in instead,,and no I can't afford to buy a new stove of anykind so thats out of the question.so my question I guess is Jotul or Earthstove?

MichaelK! · #2 09/19/13, 08:47 AM

If you have a telescoping stove pipe like mine, it's just a 15 minute job to swap them out. Do both fit the same size stovepipe? Almost all smaller stoves have a 6" flue.

This will make the swap easy.
http://www.northlineexpress.com/chim...8646-8646.html

If your installed stove however has a 6" flue, but the Earthstove has an 8" flue, the answer is no, you can't do it. You never, ever are supposed to restrict the exhaust of a larger stove with a smaller stovepipe

HuskyBoris · #3 09/19/13, 02:05 PM

yea,the swapping out part is easy and I didn't really think about the reduction from 8 to 6 out to 10,not sure how the draft would react to that or the creaosolte buildup,I was mainly wondering which would perform better,the flat top or the 50 gal drum looking thing."

MichaelK! · #4 09/20/13, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HuskyBoris

I didn't really think about the reduction from 8 to 6 out to 10,not sure how the draft would react to that or the creaosolte buildup,I was mainly wondering which would perform better,the flat top or the 50 gal drum looking thing."

This point should be carefully clarified. A 6" stovepipe has a 6" internal diameter, which should more or less match the hole in the back of the stove. Because you can buy double wall stovepipe, and triple wall chimney pipe, the outside diameters increase proportionally.

It's OK to go from a 6" stove exhaust to an 8" stovepipe, but never, ever in the opposite direction, ie: an 8" exhaust into a 6" stovepipe. That would be an instant violation for which you might get a fine from the fire department, and total nulification of your insurance.

Research it carefully before acting. It is doable however to change out your chimney with a larger one. It's just a one day job. I've already installed two chimney's in my cabin myself. You'll be using triple wall chimney pipe where the flue passes through the roof, and also where-ever the flue passes through a wooden floor. Remember that you'll need 2" of clearance around any triple-wall pipe that passes wood.

bassmaster17327 · #5 09/20/13, 11:55 AM

If you have to pay for your wood then it might be worth buying a newer stove with a secondary burn option. I am using 1/4 the amount of wood with mu Quadra Fire Isle Royale compared to my old stove. My grandpa talked about the stove he made from a 55 gallon barrel back when my grandparents had no money and that he spent all summer cutting wood and making huge stacks because the stove used so much wood

TNHermit · #6 09/21/13, 07:21 PM

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wood...nger/?ALLSTEPS

backwoods · #7 09/21/13, 07:58 PM

I know nothing about a jotul stove, but I do know Earth stove made some mighty fine stoves. Does your stove look like this? We own one of the 2nd stoves pictured(also an earth stove), and it is our main heat source for 18 yrs now. The earth stove has a deeper firebox than about any other stove I've seen. I've cooked pots of beans, made chili, scrambled eggs, and boiled shrimp for Christmas dinner when the power was off, all on our stove.

lemonthyme7 · #8 09/21/13, 09:27 PM

We had an Earthstove - in fact it looked exactly like the first one in backwoods pictures above. I loved that woodburner! The only downside was having to move your burning wood to one side than the other if you didn't want to let your fire go out when you cleaned it as ours had no ash pan. It heated well and we wore the poor thing out which is the only reason we stopped using it. On ours the spring that controls the draft (on the back of stove) got to where it didn't stay closed and it would burn full tilt all the time. We probably could have replaced it but we had another woodstove and just replaced it with that. I would own another again in an instant. The flat top was nice for all kinds of reasons. We would even put a cake cooling type rack on top ( to keep them off the hot surface) and dry gloves on it. I loved that it had such a big door on the front and that it opened down flat - not to the side- this seemed to make it easier when loading the wood and made it less likely for me to bump my arm on the door and burn myself. I do see in the picture above that the newer one has the side door opening. Easy to open and close and easy to replace the stove gasket on.

farmerscotty · #9 10/01/13, 08:48 AM

might consider putting all the mess and fire outside?

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