Best wood stove in the midwest?

Waiting Falcon · #21 10/27/13, 08:16 PM

I had a Country Flame in our uninsulated house. It kept the whole house warm, could hold heat for three days while we were gone with the damper closed.
loved that stove... cooked on top of it and even inside once in a while when the colas were right.

Plendlful · #22 10/27/13, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhambley

We just built a new house and installed a Blaze King Princess (Pedestal Model)

http://www.blazeking.com/EN/wood-princess.html

It's the top selling stove in Alaska and can hold a fire all night long. We bought ours from Swims & Sweeps in Lawrence Kansas.

Hearth.com is a great resource for learning more about a particular stove. They have a very active forum with owners of all the major brands participating.

DH was a member of that forum, and really enjoyed it. However, there was a thread about a group that called themselves the "firewood hoarders club" that were very active, and wanted to make shirts for "club" members at cost. Nearly everyone that posted on that thread was banned from the site when the admins at hearth couldn't make a buck off of the shirts. DH was banned after sending a PM asking after a fellow poster to a friend on there.

Left a bad taste about it for me. Before this DH really enjoyed their site.

MattyNJ1 · #23 10/28/13, 11:32 AM

I run a Napoleon ....although NOT a cast iron stove, (steel) its a work horse...

thestartupman · #24 10/29/13, 05:13 AM

I did find that there is a Look dealer in the town nearest me. Their website must not have been working right the first time I tried it.

Chuck R, its funny that you mention a hearthstone. That is the kind of stove I am trying to get rid of. Mine is a 25 year old model though. It is a catalytic type stove, and am pretty sure the catalytic part of it is messed up. They are good looking stoves though.

jlong2325. · #25 10/30/13, 10:29 AM

How much did the outdoor furnace cost you?

Chuck R. · #26 11/02/13, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thestartupman

I did find that there is a Look dealer in the town nearest me. Their website must not have been working right the first time I tried it.

Chuck R, its funny that you mention a hearthstone. That is the kind of stove I am trying to get rid of. Mine is a 25 year old model though. It is a catalytic type stove, and am pretty sure the catalytic part of it is messed up. They are good looking stoves though.

Sorry to hear it, I'm thinking they made some changes, for instance they've dropped the catalytic. From their site:

Quote:

Current HearthStone stove models are all non-catalytic; they have a series of secondary air tubes under the baffle in the top of the firebox. These tubes draw a precise amount of heated air, inject it into the fire and actually cause any particles, and gas in the smoke to burn. Consequently, while you enjoy the benefit of more heat out of less wood, your HearthStone stove is helping to keep our environment clean.

There is a lot of debate over the question "Which is better, catalytic or non-catalytic?" Both will produce clean, efficient burns. Our preference is non-catalytic for three main reasons:

A non-catalytic stove burns the same throughout its entire lifetime. Catalytic combustors need constant maintenance and replacement about every 5 years. While their initial emission numbers are a bit better than the non-cats, by the time that combustor wears out those numbers are far below. Non-catalytic stoves produce the same, consistent emission numbers over the lifetime of the stove without the maintenance and expense of replacement combustors.
A non-catalytic stove is easier to operate. There is one simple air control. If you want more heat, give it more air, if you want less heat give it less air. Catalytic stoves add a bypass damper that is used whenever the door is opened or new wood has been added to the fire. Flue gas and combustor temperatures must be monitored to know when it is appropriate to close the damper.

\
Chuck

ptegen · #27 11/03/13, 08:27 AM

We have been heating our tiny cabin for the last 3 years with a jotul 602 and was worked great. We liked the quality enough to buy another jotul for our new log home and a used jotul for our metal building. These stoves have no problem keeping us cozy in the cold Wisconsin winters.

craigiri · #28 12/31/13, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plendlful

DH was a member of that forum, and really enjoyed it. However, there was a thread about a group that called themselves the "firewood hoarders club" that were very active, and wanted to make shirts for "club" members at cost. Nearly everyone that posted on that thread was banned from the site when the admins at hearth couldn't make a buck off of the shirts. DH was banned after sending a PM asking after a fellow poster to a friend on there.

Left a bad taste about it for me. Before this DH really enjoyed their site.

Hey Folks,

I'm the founder and admin of Hearth.com and I can assure you and DH that any bans have NOTHING to do with selling t-shirts! That doesn't meet the smell test since hundreds of people do millions of dollars in transactions (person to person, person to company, etc.) through our forums and we don't make a penny on it. We could care less if people make t-shirts, bumper stickers or caps and sell them, give them away, etc...

Rather, a very few (less than 5) members decided that they were entitled to break all the forum rules which they had agreed to and to take numerous other unfriendly and nasty actions....in other words, the old story of some folks hanging around so long they felt entitled to not only tell us what to do, but to then break any and every rule doing it.

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled program. We at hearth.com are always willing to help anyone sort out stove selection issues and questions...and we certainly don't care about T-shirts. But, like this forum, we do care about folks following the rules and the moderators wishes, etc.

Happy New Year, all

bentleywarren · #29 01/01/14, 08:14 AM

I have an older Fisher stove. They are indestructible and last forever. Most of them were sold in the 1970's and 1980's. They are made out of 1/4 inch and 5/16 inch steel with firebrick inserts. I easily heat about 1800 square feet with mine. My dad bought one in 1976 that he uses as his only heat source, and it is basically as good today as it was 37 years ago. I don't think they are sold any more in the US because of EPA concerns, but since they are indestructible, they are still floating around on ebay and craigslist.

jhambley · #30 01/01/14, 06:11 PM

Here's a photo of our BlazeKing Princess now that I have the stone surround built. It's heating 2600 square feet of well insulated (open cell foam) ranch that is over 80 feet wide. The stove is installed in almost the center of the house. With the family room ceiling fan running, the temperature differs about four degree from the stove to the far end of the house. Easily holds a fire all night. I'm using an outside air kit to feed the stove since the house is so tight.

Best wood stove in the midwest? - Homesteading Questions

Best wood stove in the midwest? - Homesteading Questions

Rhoffman · #31 01/23/14, 12:52 PM

we just moved south central mo and heat with a pacific energy. But we have a Fisher baby bear on the back porch that we brought with us from ks that needs sand blasted and painted that I got for free from a guy thaat was using it on his back deck like a chiminea.

Awnry Abe · #32 01/23/14, 01:02 PM

Kozyheat Z42-CD

http://www.kozyheat.com/product/z42-cd

Smallish firebox. You have to be careful with who cuts your wood. But it keeps the BTUs manageable in a location where we often chill. It can blow us out of the room, but with a moderate feed rate of wood, it keeps everything just right.

milkman · #33 01/27/14, 07:36 AM

Buy a MORSO stove, very well built made in Denmark. I know they have dealers in Tennessee. I've owned several wood heaters and it's the best by far for heating.

ET1 SS · #34 01/27/14, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkman

Buy a MORSO stove, very well built made in Denmark. I know they have dealers in Tennessee. I've owned several wood heaters and it's the best by far for heating.

Do these heat water?

So we can store the heat in a thermal-bank?

joseph97297 · #35 01/27/14, 06:15 PM

We use a older Earth Stove and it works great. Picked up from Craigslist and haven't had any issues with it. Did put in external draft since we sealed up pretty good.