Wood stove accessory "new" ideas.

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R

Robbie

Minister of Fire
Jul 5, 2006
610
East Tennessee- Great Smoky Mountains.
Is it me, or is the stove industry lacking in "new" accessory ideas for stoves and related areas ?

I see lots of products, but I have seen these "same" products for several years. Seems like new ideas are hard to come by.

Or...........am I just not looking in the right places ?


Also, is the stove industry any different than anything else when it comes to ideas, patents, protection, marketing etc. ?

I do have a few ideas........... %-P


Robbie Roberson
 
Someone should come up with stove door glass cleaner wipes packaged like baby wipes only designer packaging--perhaps like a tin box that would look good on the hearth. Large enough wipes to really clean that glass, too.
 
MountainStoveGuy, Wrenchmonster, :coolsmile:

Dylan, I actually did consider something similar last year........after searching I found they have had them for years. :)

The problem is I'm usually a year behind with my ideas.

Hey, how about a stove that talks.......tells you when it's too hot or low on wood ? :lol:



Robbie
 
I see two things standing in the way:

1) wood burning has been around for...well, since the discovery of fire. So we've gotten pretty good at it and developed all the required tools (many thousands of years ago)

2) Wood stove / fireplace guys seem to be frugal by nature - we all seem to enjoy saving money on the heating. Consequently, we seem to stick to the basics for the operation.

Everytime someone asks how to clean stove glass, someone whips out the old "damp cloth dipped in ashes' - it doesn't get much more basic than that. I suppose you could try selling a box of baby wipes covered in ashes for $3.99 a box, but I'll bet a lot of us wouldn't pay for that. Likewise for many wood burning gadgets and baubbles.

Corey
 
Corey, I think your exactly right. It frustrates me though when I see certain things that could be improved on that don't seem to be..........or as I said, maybe I'm just not looking in the right show rooms or internet sites.

Example, why hasn't someone designed the "absolute best" most useful tool set for wood burners ? I have seen a few advertised as really good, but they include certain tools that I have never used and honestly don't think they would be.

Though this could be things other people use, so I am not sure if this applies to all the tools included.

An example for this is the broom. Is there anyone who uses these straw brooms next to a fire place or wood stove ? If so, how do they keep from melting the nylon bristles like I did the first time I used mine...........or the straw bristles falling out of the brush faster than I could sweep them up, or even worse catching the straw on fire.

The shovels are all the wrong angles (have you noticed most sides are angled ? they won't get in the corners of my stove), they could design one to fit entirely inside most stoves so you could manuever them around while shoveling.

The deal that looks like scissors........who uses this ? I use my leather gloves to grab a log (though I do see it could be useful sometime).

I just think there could be simple improvements on a lot of the existing accessories that are made for wood stoves.

Honestly, not throwing off on the designs and ideas of those who have traveled before us.........but I think it might be time for some improvements in some of these things.

No it's not high tech I expect (though sometimes nice too), it's function, and something that could be purchased off the shelf and used by any wood stove person, and then found to be VERY useful, instead of going in the trash like several things I have tried since getting my stove.

Sorry for the semi-rant.......... :) I just recently started noticing that a few things just might could be improved on...........of course this is just my opinion.


Robbie Roberson
 
Robbie, you make a good point above. Since I've been actively shopping around for tools, I know full well what you are talking about. I think it would be far better to have an ala-carte menu of individual tools that all matched. It's either buy the entire set for $100 bucks or piece meal together a set of mismatched tools from various sources. And by the time you piece together the tools you want, you've spent so much on shipping that you may have well as bought the $100 set to begin with. Another advantage of purchasing the tools separately would be someone who couldn't afford the whole kit right off the bat could buy the pieces one by one; eventually ending up with matching tools, ash container, log rack, or whatever implements they chose.

The log grabber... yes that thing is a laugh, poorly designed. I can recall trying to manipulate logs in a fireplace I once had with those things... pretty useless. At the very least there should be some teeth at the end of the tongs to provide greater grip.

-Kevin
 
something I would like is a way to tell the temp of my down stairs stove while I am upstairs.

I have a "weather station" in my house that has little remote sensors that report back to it. Like I have one outside, one in a far back bedroom down stairs. That way from one place in the house, I can tell what the temp is in these other areas.

What would be cool is to have a temp guage on the stove that could report back to the central station. It would save me many trips to the stove to check on it.

There are enough home automation products on the market now, that I imagine if I was to get motivated about it, I could make cobble something together as a prototype.

Russ
 
Robbie -

I see your point - seems like you are looking for a "good" set of useful tools...not necessarily the decorative tool sets at most common department stores. I guess my big issue is the I only really use one tool...a poker! (basically a glorified stick from 50,000? years ago!) Of course it can poke and pull wood or coals around in the stove. I turn it on its side and rake the ashes to the center grate then dump the ashes outside. Or use a couple of swipes and pull the coals to the front of the stove in preparation for a night time burn. I guess I never really use a rake, shovel, or broom. Raking the ashes with the poker gets easily 90% of them, and the firebox is just going to get dirty again, so I never worry about getting it any cleaner than that.

It would certainly be neat to see some new tools, but me being a cheapskate...I pretty much just stick with my stick!

Corey
 
I won't go into the instrumentation stuff here, as there are other threads where we are talking about it more than enough.

However on the "hardware tools" I agree, seems like most of the tools are sort of overkill, but I think we would tend to differ on what a "useful" tool was.

I have one of those scissor type grabbers, and don't use it, as it doesn't have enough leverage. For the most part though, I don't really move the wood around that much once it's in the stove - I work hard at getting it in where I want it to start with, and leave it where I put it once it's there. If I do move it around, I'm most likely to push it with the next peice of wood that I'm trying to load. (the ultimate disposable tool... :coolsmile: )

I have a poker, but don't use it for most things, my biggest use is if a log goes into the stove such that it keeps me from being able to close the manual damper I will open the door and use the poker to lever the offending log clear long enough to get the damper closed (working quickly to avoid getting to much smoke in the face when the damper is closed...)

I made a coal rake out of a miniature steel garden rake - took the wooden handle off and replaced it with a length of pipe - and I use that to re-arange the coals sometimes.

I also have a solid blade coal rake that I use, particularly if the ash towards the far end of the stove starts getting deep, as it makes it easier to get the deep down stuff moving. I could probably live with just one of these two rakes, either one.

I have about three different shovels, not really sure where they all came from, and I really only use one or two.

Gooserider
 
CountryGal said:
Someone should come up with stove door glass cleaner wipes packaged like baby wipes only designer packaging--perhaps like a tin box that would look good on the hearth. Large enough wipes to really clean that glass, too.
Click to expand...
These just came out recently...
Well no fancy packaging but they work great...
one wipe takes all the crusty scunge off and the second makes it shine
 

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I have a "weather station" in my house that has little remote sensors that report back to it. Like I have one outside, one in a far back bedroom down stairs. That way from one place in the house, I can tell what the temp is in these other areas.
Russ[/quote]

I too use a version of this idea of yours. Since I have a wood furnace, I put one of those sensors on a wire, down the duct register, in my bedroom. That way at night, I can check the thermometer which is near my bed, to see the temperature of the air blowing through my ducts. This gives me a good indication of the temp of my wood stove(furnace). Beats running down the basement in the middle of the night.
 
Howzabout an automatic log loader?

Something like a pellet stove has, only bigger for logs.

Or maybe something like the toothpick dispensers that you
turn the little wheel on the side -and one toothpick comes out.
(log sized of course)
 

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For the Morso, which has a grate, no special tools are required. But with grate-less stoves, every few days I find myself doing two things: raking to separate ash from coals, and picking out nails/staples with a magnet. A coal rake with magnetized tines could take care of both at once. And the tines should be longer and further apart than the rakes I see in the stores.
 
The nice thing about wood burning is the simplicity of it all. I bought a nice tool set at Lehman's Hardware in Kidron OH. They cater a lot to the Amish and have some neat tool sets. I never thought we would use the ash rake, but we use it all the time now to bring coals to the front of the stove. The entire set is well made and just the right size, so I suspect it will last as long as the stove. Only other thing I have is a magnetic thermometer in the corner above the door. What else do you need?

The more complex things get, the more there is to go wrong.
 
spot said:
Howzabout an automatic log loader?

Something like a pellet stove has, only bigger for logs.

Or maybe something like the toothpick dispensers that you
turn the little wheel on the side -and one toothpick comes out.
(log sized of course)
Click to expand...

The problem with that idea as I see it is that unlike pellets or bio-bricks, or even toothpicks, logs vary tremendously in size, shape, etc. I find often that loading the stove is a bit like assembling a jigsaw puzzle where I need to plan out just how to arrange the half dozen or so splits that I have on the top of the pile to get the best fit in the wood box. I don't see any easy way to automate that . Pellets are easier because they are mostly all the same size or close to it, but even then it seems there are lots of issues with adjusting pellet stoves to feed properly, and it gets even more difficult with corn and some of the other biomass fuels that aren't as uniform in size.

I wish it were feasible, but I don't see a way to do it, especially not that would fit near the stove.

Gooserider
 
precaud said:
For the Morso, which has a grate, no special tools are required. But with grate-less stoves, every few days I find myself doing two things: raking to separate ash from coals, and picking out nails/staples with a magnet. A coal rake with magnetized tines could take care of both at once. And the tines should be longer and further apart than the rakes I see in the stores.
Click to expand...

Well, you're going to miss that next year :(

Something I have been thinking of but it is a bit of a stretch/novelty .
The Morso has a great heat shield on the bottom of the stove and I am toying with the idea of a remote control for the air :) Sit on the couch and play with the fire. Often (though I like the fiddling) I have to jump up and down to adjust air after loading up for the night, sometimes the stack gets too hot so I bank down only to have to make another adjustment later. During 24 this is a PITA ;)

A little servo motor, maybe a dimmer switch type control .................................
 
[quote author="babalu87" date="1172375053
Sit on the couch and play with the fire. Often (though I like the fiddling) I have to jump up and down to adjust air after loading up for the night, sometimes the stack gets too hot so I bank down only to have to make another adjustment later. During 24 this is a PITA ;)[/quote]


TIVO ;-)
 
i want a remote thermostat that sets the temp of the room.

I want a gizmo that beeps, flashes a small light and lets me know when the temp of the stove drops below a settable temp.

i want a small wheeled cart that I can carry a bunch of wood into the house with.

i want a gizmo that uses relative pressure between the room and the chimney to tell me when the chimney needs cleaned.
 
spot said:
Howzabout an automatic log loader?

Something like a pellet stove has, only bigger for logs.

Or maybe something like the toothpick dispensers that you
turn the little wheel on the side -and one toothpick comes out.
(log sized of course)
Click to expand...

Hate to see what happens if the "auger" gets stuck in the on position! :gulp:
 
drmiller100 said:
i want a remote thermostat that sets the temp of the room.

I want a gizmo that beeps, flashes a small light and lets me know when the temp of the stove drops below a settable temp.

i want a small wheeled cart that I can carry a bunch of wood into the house with.

i want a gizmo that uses relative pressure between the room and the chimney to tell me when the chimney needs cleaned.
Click to expand...

Don't know about the other two, but for moving wood, Check Harbor Freight - they make a two wheeled firewood cart that I find works really well. I've talked about it a few times in other threads, so I won't go into detail here beyond saying that it holds a lot of wood (about a day and a half supply depending on how hard I'm burning) and it rolls well - even goes up stairs about as well as one can expect.

Gooserider
 
drmiller100 said:
i want a remote thermostat that sets the temp of the room.

I want a gizmo that beeps, flashes a small light and lets me know when the temp of the stove drops below a settable temp.

i want a small wheeled cart that I can carry a bunch of wood into the house with.

i want a gizmo that uses relative pressure between the room and the chimney to tell me when the chimney needs cleaned.
Click to expand...

sounds like what you need is a furnace ... :)
 
drmiller100 said:
i want a remote thermostat that sets the temp of the room.

I want a gizmo that beeps, flashes a small light and lets me know when the temp of the stove drops below a settable temp.

i want a small wheeled cart that I can carry a bunch of wood into the house with.

i want a gizmo that uses relative pressure between the room and the chimney to tell me when the chimney needs cleaned.
Click to expand...

You'll get nothing and like it :)
 

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