How many of you are running two stoves at once?

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molly1414

Member
Nov 20, 2007
65
Nevada County Foothills
Just wondering how many have two stoves going at the same time. We have a two story home and we are thinking about putting in another stove in the lower half of the house. Not sure I want to tend two stoves all day.
 
We have a 4 level home. The wood insert is on the bottom floor. And on the 3rd floor we installed a direct-vent propane insert. Two wood stoves or fireplaces would be more economical to run. But, yes more work. Decisions,decisions,lol--good luck.
 
molly1414 said:
Just wondering how many have two stoves going at the same time. We have a two story home and we are thinking about putting in another stove in the lower half of the house. Not sure I want to tend two stoves all day.
Just purchase stoves you dont have to tend to all day. Use a stove that gives you a min 8 to 10 hr burn.
 
If you do a search for "two stoves", you'll find that this topic has been tossed around quite a bit. I started a thread not too far back with this exact same issue. We decided to put a pellet stove in the lower level, because the thought of not just running two stoves, but finding, bucking, splitting, and stacking 2x the wood was more than I wanted to tackle. It turns into a part-time job. The pellet stove is great. I check it once every 12 hours. A propane/nat gas hookup would be even easier, but less economical. It's really a personal decision.
 
I did it for a few years, but it got old. Twice the work, mess, etc. By putting a new stove in a more ideal location for even house heat, one stove is now doing the work of two.
 
I have one wood burning stove and one pellet stove. My pellet stove is my back up stove, it's only on to HELP out the wood burner. If I had to run two stoves all day long 24/7 for heat, then i would two wood burners or a wood burning furnace.
 
Two stoves are really not a big deal. With an older home or a horizontal plan such as a ranch, two stoves make sense. Convected wood stove heat doesn't do horizontal well.

The "extra" work is not much more than a single stove: load, if you're home, a few X a day, or once before leaving for a 8-10 hour slow burn. It's all part of a wood routine unless you prefer to pay for fossil fuels. For many of us using wood as a 24/7 100% heat, it's a year-round part-time job. You need the exercise anyhow, right ? And think of the righteousness using a renewable, clean, sustainable, self-harvested fuel. :bug: True ,even buying wood cut, split, delivered for 1/2 the price/BTU of any fossil fuel.
Think: there is more forested land now than before WWII. Woodlands need managing like a garden; one acre of good, mature hardwoods can produce a cord/year. Trees are not Bambi's. %-P
A better way of course would have been to design the house around a masonry stove, a central wood furnace, or a single wood stove.
 
I normally run one stove but when the temps get to the low teens and below, I fire up the second.

Two stoves works until about zero or slightly below depending on the wind then the oil occasionally kicks it.

Two good stoves are not that hard to manage especially if you only have to do it occasionally.
 
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