A little help from those who know....

Hi all,

I just signed up for hearth.com and I am looking for good advice. I bought my house in 2009 and bought a wood burning insert. I had an open fireplace and wanted to utilize it. The chimney flue was cracked so I lined it with an 8" stainless insulated liner and bought a Napoleon 1101 insert. The stove seems to be well made and does the job as long as the wood is not the least bit wet. I was told that since the stove is EPA certified, the wood needs to be seasoned thoroughly. The first year we burned was horrible! We didn't have time to cut any trees because it was October so we bought 'seasoned' wood for $175/cord. Every time I started a fire it was a mess. I had to take an axe and split the already split wood several times for any type of fire to start. The second year, I had my wood cut and stacked before Memorial Day and everything went smooth smooth smooth for the year.. This past season, we had a baby in mid summer and didn't get to stack any wood until August. As it turns out, it was way too late. The stove had a hard time keeping a good flame all year

This year I was almost ready to switch to a pellet insert but my property is covered with oak and I can't justify it because my fuel is free. I would like to get a new stove. Something with more BTU's and something that just might be able to handle wood a little on the moist side should we have a late start again. I was looking into the Quadra-Fire Grand Voyageur. I heard that QF is a sister company to Harman and I know Harman is a leading brand. I liked the voyageur because of the automatic combustion control. I like the fact that I would be able to start a fire and shut the door and the 20-minute timer would open up the stove enough to start the fire well. Is this marketing at it's best or is this really possible? Also, I am looking to sell my Napoleon...... would the classifieds section work well or is there another site that would work better? Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Rob

webby3650 said:

Welcome, your at the right place! Not to say that a new insert isn't a bad idea, you might definitely be happier stepping up to a higher end unit, but it will have the same issue. All the new stoves require dry wood to perform properly. The Oak on your property is alot of the problem, Oak takes 2 full years to season if it was cut down while it was green, 1 year at least if it was standing dead. Can you spend a few weekends and process enough for 2 years? That way you will always be a year ahead.

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Thanks for the reply! I think a higher end stove would help my issues. I didn't realize that oak took longer to season but it makes sense. I could cut enough to be a year ahead but not two. I don't have the room to stack it. I'm assuming since I'm looking to get a stove with higher BTUs, I will go through more wood? As it stands, my current stove is rated for 40K BTUs and the one I am looking at is rated at 52K.... Would you be able to possibly suggest a non-EPA wood stove or are ALL of the new ones EPA rated? Do the EPA rated stoves burn better? What exactly does the EPA certify stoves for and what are advantages/disadvantages?

BrotherBart said:

The EPA certification process started in 1988. Its sole purpose was the reduction of noxious emissions from wood stoves which were becoming a problem after so many people started burning wood during the oil crisis of the seventies. Along the way there was a surprise. Folks started getting more heat out of less wood and not getting their chimneys as dirty and having as many chimney fires as a result of the cleaner burning stoves.

If you are going to heat with wood you are going to have to figure out how to season and store good dry wood and burn it properly. EPA or non-EPA stove. Period. Otherwise you are better off just turning up the furnace or installing a pellet stove.

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I see. Thank you for the info.... Was it just luck that our 2nd season burned so well? I usually stick to dead standing. I had that wood stacked for only 5 1/2 months and it burned beautifully. Can you make any comment on the quadra-fire or suggest a really good insert?

BrotherBart said:

Lot of good inserts out there. Folks here with Quad inserts, and my neighbor who has one, seem to like'em.

Top covered in lots of sun and wind and Oak can burn pretty good after a year. 99.9% of what I burn is red and white Oak. For many years I cut it in the Spring and started burning it in the Fall. When I started putting it up three years ahead it cut my wood consumption considerably and is a delight to burn. I got religion from the members here on dry wood back when I joined the Forum.

A cheap moisture meter is a great tool to have.

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Thank you. If your letting it season for 2-3 years is it still only top covered? I may be able to stack it for that long if I set some gravel down near my fence. Your saying the longer its seasoned, the more efficiently it burns?

BrotherBart said:

The dryer it is the more efficiently it burns. For sure under 20% moisture and better down around 15%. I top cover it the day it is split and stacked. Any more cover traps the moisture from the ground and doesn't let the wood get dry. In fact it rots it.

Some here never cover their wood. I can't do that too rainy here.

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Thank you very much for the information!! I will get my mind wrapped around cutting for two years and ill pick up a moisture meter.

Sprinter said:

You are not alone in this. Many, many people get disillusioned with their stoves when the only problem is the quality of the wood. The Napoleon may not be upper end, but there's nothing wrong with it. It works basically the same way and they all have the same requirement for wood. Of course, if you want another stove anyway, go for it. You'd be surprised how many people get new stoves every year or two.

There are some workarounds that you can try. There are manufactured wood products like Biobricks and some others that people use to supplement their less than ideal wood. Some use it exclusively if they have to, but I think you could mix it with your other stuff in the right proportions to help a lot. Also, oak is notorious for taking a long time (some even say three years) so maybe you could try another species for awhile also. Splitting the wood small can cut the seasoning time way down as well.

Unless you really want a new stove for other reasons, please be patient.

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Again thank you very much for the info. I really would like a higher end stove but realize now its not necessary. I usually rent a log splitter for one weekend to split and stack three cords.... I need to actually buy a splitter and not try to get it all done in one weekend. I need to concentrate on splitting and stacking six cords this year, burn three and next year use the well seasoned wood. Thank you for your knowledge, it prevented years of trial and error. Any suggestions on a good splitter worth buying?

I can definitely fit a bigger stove. I always stack my wood on pallets and I want to get gravel just to level off a certain area. I have a 2200' two story. It's 2x6 outside walls with standard insulation from 1973. The big problem is that the fireplace isn't centrally located. There was an addition added in 1974 which is a single story 14x25' room and the fireplace at the far end of that room. I installed a thru-wall aireshare unit two years ago. It seems to work well if the stove is cranking out heat for about 4-hours on high (weekends). The stove has a 120cfm blower on it but in most cases the 'family room' is about 7-10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. I was thinking a bigger high end stove with a higher CFM blower may be able to circulate the heat a little easier.

I would love to have the time to split by hand but with 4 kids, full time jobs for my wife and I and not to mention many after school activities for the kids, it's next to impossible.

Here is my floor layout......... The red lines on the walls represent windows. Most are double, few are single and one in the family room is a triple. There is also a sliding glass door in the family room on the bottom part of the drawing. Location #1 didn't happen. I only put the airshare in location number 2.