Hello everyone! I plan to get a wood stove, but am comfused by all the options. Anyone have an opinion on soapstone vs. iron vs. steel? We live where it doesn't get real cold, so it wouldn't get used a great deal in all likelihood. What about the catalytic stoves? Has this been a plus or a big bother? Thanks! Jennifer

-- Jennifer (oortiz@tstar.net), September 25, 2001

Answers

are you going to use mainly for heat,, or cooking,, or as an emergency? How cold does it get and for how long? Can you get wood free or very cheap? I have a small unit,,with a flat top, for emergency cooking, ( but I use it alot) I have a small house, so a small unit works for me. Mine is a "LOPI" brand "PATRIOT" model. My wood is free.

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), September 25, 2001.

Hi again! I plan to use it for heat. We typically have a dozen or so nights per year that get below freezing....average January high temp is in the fifties. My house is about 1000 sq ft, but has a main room with two lofts looking down, resulting in a ceiling height of 20 ft. I can get all the wood I want for free....

-- Jennifer (oortiz@tstar.net), September 25, 2001.

I've been heatiing my 2000 sf home with wood for over 15 years. Soapstone stoves are fine, they take a while to heat up and the hear is even from them, they are however very expensive. My stove is steel triple wall construction with a blower, made by Buck. they offer 3 sizes the smallest would be fine for your size home. What I like about them is that you can put your hand against the side while they are operating and not get burned. This is great when the grandchildren are here.

-- Paul (treewizard@buffalo.com), September 25, 2001.

We love our soapstone stove because it does stay warm even if the fire goes out. We have a metal stove in our workshop/cabin, and it gets cold as soon as the fire's out. Our soapstone stove has a catalytic converter, and although pollution is not an issue where we live, it really does seem to help the wood burn efficiently. We were amazed at how little wood it takes compared to the old stove. And yesterday we cleaned the chimney after two years of use, and there was hardly any build-up on the chimney walls. We think the expense of the soapstone stove was well worth the price (we have a Woodstock stove.)

-- Katherine in KY (KyKatherine@Yahoo.com), September 25, 2001.

Living in Alaska, I know about woodstoves all too well...!I also grew up with a woodstove in the mountains of Virginia -- a more moderate climate. To begin with, I have little experience with soapstone stoves – only cast iron -- so I can’t comment on the soapstone, although I have friends who have great things to say about them. In general, I hear that soapstone stoves hold warmth longer (absorbed and released in the stone), though an iron stove on a stone hearth can also have this effect.

You won’t be able to buy a new stove without a catalytic converter as the EPA now requires them. In my opinion, this is a great thing. A catalytic converter allows you to get more heat value out of the wood by converting more (or sometimes all) of the smoke to carbon dioxide and water – energy that would have otherwise been wasted. A properly operated stove (with converter) reduces the generation of creosote and associated fire hazards while protecting the environment at the same time. Many people here in Alaska have retrofitted older stoves with catalytic stovepipe sections for this reason.

Catalytic converters do have to operate properly, however, to achieve fuel savings. For a converter to work, you have to burn the fire very hot – if you do not, you will still have creosote problems and will not achieve the same level of energy efficiency. Smaller, hotter fires are generally better than slow, large, smoldering ones. When you cut air to the fire (because the house is too hot, etc), you will get more creosote and smoke – and wasted fuel.

The reason I go into this is that you need to consider this when you purchase your stove. You don’t want a stove that is too big for your home as you will never be able to get it hot enough to burn efficiently – unless you enjoy your house at 90-100 degree temperatures! In moderate climates or small homes, large stoves often do not get hot enough to activate the metals on the catalytic converter. Even if your house is huge, I would almost recommend two small stoves rather than one big one. Air circulation is a problem in big homes with a single stove –half the house is extremely hot while the other is cold. For a single stove to work in a large home, you need great air circulation patterns. Blowers installed on the stove itself and ceiling fans do help. Some people augment with by running the blower on their forced air ventilation system.

Other notes: Glass is great – but can get dirty quickly and just be plain ugly, especially if you have creosote buildup problems, as discussed above. Look for a company that is well known as you will need replacement parts, especially catalytic converters which – ideally – should be replaced every few years (not sure of the exact interval).

Hope this helps.

-- Michael Nuckols (nuckolsm@wildak.net), September 25, 2001.

Several manufactures make very efficient and clean burning stoves that do not use catalytic converters. They achieve comparable clean burns and have the added advantage of not have to worry about the maintenance or replacement of the converter. Lopi as well as some other manufactures utilize an air wash system which uses incoming air to wash across the glass and does a remarkable job of keeping the glass clean. I have no experience with soapstone stoves other than lifting one and was pleased I didn't end up with a hernia. I've worked on the big name cast iron stoves and found them to be a money maker for the dealer because of more frequent maintenance than on welded steel stoves. My first two wood, stoves many years ago, were imitations of the quality brands. They were a constant pain, teaching me a good name was worth a few dollars. Lopi is my favorite. We are installing one next month in our home. With the high ceiling in your home, Jennifer a ceiling fan would really help with the heat distribution , I think. good luck

-- jz (oz49us@yahoo.com), September 26, 2001.

Jennifer, a Blaze King or Blaze Queen. They are the only stoves on earth I would bother to move into my house and I have had a lot of stoves, both for heating and cooking. They are expensive but the quality of a stove is not the place to cut corners. Maureen in Alaska

-- Maureen Stevenson (maureen@mtaonline.net), September 30, 2001.

I'd like to reopen this thread if there are folks out there to comment. We are now in the market for a wood stove. Unlike the person who originally asked this question, we live in a huge house (2500 s.f.) - a huge, OLD 100+ year old farmhouse, I might add. We are in southern Michigan where winters are fairly cold & long. We are looking for something to heat our house, after last year's ridiculous natural gas prices. We have about 8 acres of woods from which to harvest the wood for free. We only use about 5 rooms of the main level in winter, to save on heating costs, so it's not necessary to consider all 2500 s.f. of the house when recommending a stove. Our ceilings are a bit high, though - 9' I think? & we do have ceiling fans in 2 of those rooms.

Also, while we're on this subject, we will need to buy wood cutting equipment, so your recommendations on that would be most helpful, also!

Thank you in advance!

Regards, Sarah/MI

-- Sarah Sanders/MI (chilechile@hotmail.com), October 08, 2001.