I had a great time reading forums on this site last weekend, and found tons of useful info about a couple of stoves in paticular. I'm currently running a Lange 6302 which took me a while to figure out, (about two winters). It's in the almost finished basement, and manages to heat the whole house (1000sq per level ranch) except on the coldest days the furnace kicks on in the morning til I can get up and get it fired back up again. There's always enough coals in it to just throw in some kd scraps and it fires right up. A friend of mine gave (loaned?) me an efel montana wood/ coal burner claiming he thinks it might be a better stove. Another friend, a chimney sweep by trade told me the best stove is the one that is working and understood. After last weekends research I came away with the impression that the efel may burn hotter and shorter. Also, I don't think my buddies claim that the efel has a bigger fire box is totally accurate ( it's taken apart at the moment.) I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this.
Lange vs. efel
- Thread starter ahoy30
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Ahoy there matey, welcome aboard! I think you have a wise sweep. You have an excellent old stove. If it's kept in good running condition it should continue to do you well. I would only replace it with a contemporary EPA stove, but that would be a tough decision. Lange made some beautiful stoves. Giving one up could be hard.
Yeah, that's kinda what I was thinking. I suppose having a glass door might be sort of nice ambiance in the finished (someday) basement, but the lange is pretty neat to look at too. I was reading another thread about peoples thoughts on refinishing stoves and I think I'll do that and will probably be happy about keeping it.
Actually, there are still some aspects of the stove i don't quite understand. What is the upper chamber about. At first I thought it was for cooking or something. I don't understand what the round lid is for.
webbie
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The Efel line was not very innovative at the time they introduced that Montana and some other models. The styling was not the best either.
The upper chamber is more surface area for the exhaust to heat up, therefore a higher efficiency and heat output....less heat up the chimney.
Most removable lids are for setting a pot onto. They sometimes have fins on the bottom to pick up a bit more heat. Even if they do not, it is easier to replace a lid than a part of the stove if and when you spill stuff (from a pot) onto it.
The upper chamber is more surface area for the exhaust to heat up, therefore a higher efficiency and heat output....less heat up the chimney.
Most removable lids are for setting a pot onto. They sometimes have fins on the bottom to pick up a bit more heat. Even if they do not, it is easier to replace a lid than a part of the stove if and when you spill stuff (from a pot) onto it.
webbie
Seasoned Moderator
You can find a pretty good description of the Lange by look at the PDF spec sheet here:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Lange_Stoves
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Lange_Stoves
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