small stoves

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mikey

mikey

Burning Hunk
Dec 4, 2013
190
rhode island
There are a lot of complaints on this site and in the stove reviews about small stoves, their burn times and need for small splits. Folks need to know their needs and research thoroughly, we can help by listening to their needs. I love small stoves they are great but not for everyone.
 
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What would be considered a small stove? Anything with a 2.5cuft firebox or less?
 
Been listening to and replying to their needs, and owning a couple of small stoves, since 2005. Most of the folks that come here with small stove issues have the stove before finding the site. And come wanting to know how to make it heat the whole house all night long.

I usually figure below 1.5cf firebox is small. 1.5cf to 2.5cf as medium and over that large. But that is just me.
 
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BrotherBart said:
Been listening to and replying to their needs, and owning a couple of small stoves, since 2005. Most of the folks that come here with small stove issues have the stove before finding the site. And come wanting to know how to make it heat the whole house all night long.

I usually figure below 1.5cf firebox is small. 1.5cf to 2.5cf as medium and over that large. But that is just me.
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I have a castine, 1.7 cu ft. It heats the living space we spend most of our time in, approx 1000 sq ft with door ways in between. I think smaller stoves sometimes get a bad wrap but this is the first one I have had and am really impressed with what it can do. We considered the Oslo, but decided it would be too much, still I wonder???
 
In my mind a small stove is something like a jotul f100 or a 602,I think that's the size that most people have problems with.
 
I think of small as 1.4 cu ft and under. Medium as 1.5 to 2.4 cu ft and large as 2.5 cu ft to 3.4. Jumbo is 3.5 or larger. Small stoves are not a problem, they burn fine, but need more frequent feeding. I think the longest burn time for a small stove may belong to the Intrepid cat stove.
 
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Larger firebox= more wood needed. My Quad though small is efficient and serves its purpose, but I have longed for longer burn times. That urge is stopped dead in its tracks when I here the amount of wood people are going through in a season. I have used approximately 3/4 of a cord this season, as supplemental heat to my pellet stove and keeps the area around 75::F. Pellets I have used 2 1/2 tons so far. Clean burning, low to no maintenance, automatic feed. My stove is what it is. I bought it for supplementing a small area which the pellet stove won't reach. And I love it! You can keep the behemoths which need 6 8 or 10 cords a season. My back would hate it!
 
Phoenix Hatchling said:
Larger firebox= more wood needed.
Click to expand...

Not needed, just an option. There is only maybe 1 to 1.5 months a year where I need to load my firebox to capacity for 2 out of 3 loads a day. That middle load of the day in our coldest weather, and the rest of the season, the stove only sees partial loads, sometimes as few as 3 splits when it could potentially hold 8 or 9 of that particular size.

In all, it's important to size the stove appropriately to the home and what the homeowner hopes to accomplish with wood heat. In general (as BB mentioned), I've seen many with the "stove too small" problem come from folks who thought they'd only burn evenings and/or weekends but find they really like this wood heat stuff and want to do more than supplement / burn occasionally / ambiance. Or they just didn't know how much stove they needed and picked a pretty one or one with a price tag they liked rather than the right size.

It's a learning experience.

Craig mentioned in a post a while ago how he is seeing the demands of buyers changing. I believe his comment was to the effect of the 90's early 00's being a very popular time for small / med stoves, and as we move closer to the present day the demand is for larger units with more capability and there is less interest in the small stoves.

pen
 
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begreen said:
I think of small as 1.4 cu ft and under. Medium as 1.5 to 2.4 cu ft and large as 2.5 cu ft to 3.4. Jumbo is 3.5 or larger. Small stoves are not a problem, they burn fine, but need more frequent feeding. I think the longest burn time for a small stove may belong to the Intrepid cat stove.
Click to expand...
Have a neighbour who has an outdoor furnace that is 12 ft long by 7 ft wide and 7 ft tall he loads it with a tractor with a grapple hook and it can burn for 2 weeks before reloading. I would consider that a large wood burner!!
 
I think some of the issue is many are first year burners and have a learning curve for stove operation to overcome. Also factors such as less than ideal wood and the dirty chimney it causes compound the issue(s). Unfortunately, many aren't patient enough to fix the issues before they upgrade.
 
A small stove has a shorter learning curve for someone new to wood heating and you can always move up in size, in fact some dealers will agree to a reasonable trade in from the start. I think a beginner will be more likely to stick with it if it's easy. Years ago I traded a small waterford air tight box stove for a great big V.C. cat it was nearly impossible to get a short hot burn to take the chill off. I now have a jotul f100 nordic could not be happier.
 
I'm not sure why it would have a shorter learning curve. It just puts out less heat. Had you gone from the Waterford to a Jotul F400 instead of a cat stove I think you would have found it easy to operate. If less heat is desired, give it less fuel. There's no hassle with a bypass or trying to get the stove up to temp to get the cat to light off with an F400.
 
A shorter learning curve is as I said for the inexperienced, I have been burning wood most of my 63 years and tried to help a lot of friends and family with their first stoves, my experience is those that started small were happier. I don't think burning small fires in a big stove is the most efficient way to go, a hot stove burns cleaner. In Europe where where clean air standards are high small stoves hit fires are the norm. As EPA standards get stricter it may become the new normal for us also. We don't want to end up dealing with burn bans like the ones in Washington state and cites like Aspen.
 
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Ok son, I've got a few years on you then. ;)
 
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I love my little Englander 17 but it's a little too small for me so I'm looking to sell and get the 13. I wish I would've found this site before I bought and installed it but it's all good
 
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I like small stoves, but only have 1200 sq feet to heat. Too large here is more of a problem than too small.

Had a small Waterford that was fine until the temps went south of single digits. Got a VC that was too much and a PITA. Love the Jotul 118cb, but it's a bit larger for our house, nice this winter though!
 
I would love to have a larger stove. Only for the reason of processing wood. It would be 1/3 less cuts if I could use a 24" split instead of 16".
 
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