Clarifications on cooking on heating-type wood stove

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LisaInOregon

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Nov 29, 2006
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I'm still shopping for our first woodstove; currently looking at the Morso 8140, but still in sticker shock from that.

I'd like to understand the details cooking on top of a woodstove. The dealer was very helpful about heating but didn't seem to have experience with cooking, and it doesn't seem to get a lot of detail in online discussion, so I'm not sure what to expect.

How hot does it get, how does it compare to an electric/gas range burners (i.e. less than low or more than high - is it going to take 5 minutes or 5 hours to boil water in a teakettle)? Should I only use cast iron cookware since it gets so hot, can I use my copper teakettle or will that burn out?

The Morsos have the non-cat secondary combustion, does that mean the top doesn't get as hot as more simple woodstoves?

I'd want the flue coming out of the back to get a surface for cooking, does that have any negatives (almost all models seem to have a top flue).

I don't mean to do all our cooking or anything, but I do hope to boil water and make stock, etc. on a regular basis in winter.

thanks...
Lisa
 
There are a lot of stoves that one can cook on the top of. Many steel stoves work well for this application. If you stick with a more traditional stove you may keep the price down. I'm thinking more like the Morso 2110 or Jotul Castine (F400) which should be in the $16-1,700 range. Because you want to cook on the stove I'd avoid getting an enameled model. If there is a spillover, it can ruin an enamel top pretty quickly.

Don't worry about the secondary burn system. This is going to be found on almost any new stove if it doesn't have a catalytic convertor. It's how the waste smoke is reburned and actually gets the stove hotter. These stoves get plenty hot as long as the wood is dry. If you get a chance, take a look at the Pacific Energy Alderlea T4. The deeper firebox means a nice flat top for occasional cooking in spite of the top exhaust. Another cute, affordable little stove is the Napoleon 1150P. This has a small cooktop built into the top.

A flue coming out of the back of the stove will work well providing there is enough draft for the stove. Rear exit stoves often require stronger draft. The less elbows on these stoves the better. If you can go out with one elbow to head the pipe straight up and then straight up on the interior for a total flue pipe length of 16 feet or more, that is ideal. If there are a few elbows on the flue system and it's connected to an exterior chimney, it can be harder to start and often will smoke when opening the door. Take a look at the Jotul Castine. Even with the straight up exhaust option (it can go either way), the exhaust collar does not intrude on the top surface, so there is room for a couple pots.
 
The Isle Royal also has a built in cook top, but I doubt if you will see Jags cookin up bacon on it. Also, keep in mind that stove top temps (when in full swing) can get above 550 deg. pretty easy. Thats some hot cookin'. A trivet can be used as a spacer for the slow cook stew and stock, low and slow method.
 
Lisa has a strawbale house in a mild climate. The Esse is a real beauty, but I think it is over-budget and a bit big. She'll likely have to have a window wide open when cooking. If she had an Isle Royale she would have to cook sans clothing which can be a bit hazardous, especially when frying. The more I think about this the more it seems like the small Alderlea or the Napoleon is a good compromise.
 
BeGreen said:
Lisa has a strawbale house in a mild climate.
Click to expand...

Who knew?

BeGreen said:
The Esse is a real beauty, but I think it is over-budget and a bit big.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just googled wood cookstove, and up it popped. It's a beauty, and they're obviously real proud of it!.

BeGreen said:
If she had an Isle Royale she would have to cook sans clothing which can be a bit hazardous, especially when frying.
Click to expand...

Dangerous for the cook, but it's still my favorite cuisine.

BeGreen said:
The more I think about this the more it seems like the small Alderlea or the Napoleon is a good compromise.
Click to expand...

As always, BG, your sage advice is something to consider very carefully. Rick
 
BeGreen said:
If she had an Isle Royale she would have to cook sans clothing which can be a bit hazardous, especially when frying.
Click to expand...

Its never had that affect in my house. I wonder what I'm doing wrong.

As grandma always said, "Don't fry bacon naked".
 
The Napoleon really threw a wrench under the train! That same afternoon a friend came over to give me aesthetic advice on the woodstove, and turns out she has the Napolean gourmet and likes it a lot (although only occassional use, and they have a very large high-ceiling house). But: there's no local dealer and it's top vent only (making it slightly awkward in the space), and it may be too deep - we need a fairly shallow stove (though we could handle wide). I think the Alderlea has this problem too, the pacfic energy models seem fairly deep.

DH is for the morso, his biggest factor seems to be that it not stick out too much into the room. I expect later he will complain about it only taking shorter logs :)

I actually originally wanted a wood cookstove - in fact was drooling over the Esse - but that made this project so much harder, it wasn't a very good fit for the space and the house in general... as well as the cost, and I probably wouldn't cook on it often or generally enough to justify that cost. But I don't want to give up the dream of the teakettle and stockpot either. The dealer seems to say that the morso won't generally cook, but is fine to boil water or simmer stock. He didn't seem that enthusiastic about the alderlea being better for cooking... he did say that steel would heat up a bit faster. But in any case you'd have to build a good size fire to get a lot of heat, and to consider how well that would work for our particular case. I expect overheating to be a problem in our particular circumstances.

After my head spinning for a while, I've been talking to the stove dealer again today (he sells morso and pacific energy, but not napoleon), and read over some other old posts on these forums, and I am thinking more and more that we utterly clueless newbies should have a local dealer who would be willing and able to help us if there are problems (even ones of our own fault). It just doesn't seem worth trying to power through on our own. The whole project cost for the Morso ended up being within the budget (a lot of the cost is dealing with the existing fireplace, as well as a looong flue). Now it's just the decision go or no go on the morso... otherwise I expect it will be back to the drawing board and no woodstove this year...

thanks and will probably keep having questions and worries, this is a great forum!
 
I have a friend that just bought a Morso 2110 for their yurt. It looks like a pretty nice stove, but so far it's not installed. Ask me next winter about how it works. :)
 
Once again as we say at the poker table "Think long, think wrong.". Stoves are a lot like people you meet. The impression in the first few minutes is usually the right one.
 
LisaInOregon said:
The Napoleon really threw a wrench under the train! That same afternoon a friend came over to give me aesthetic advice on the woodstove, and turns out she has the Napolean gourmet and likes it a lot (although only occassional use, and they have a very large high-ceiling house). But: there's no local dealer and it's top vent only (making it slightly awkward in the space), and it may be too deep - we need a fairly shallow stove (though we could handle wide). I think the Alderlea has this problem too, the pacfic energy models seem fairly deep.

DH is for the morso, his biggest factor seems to be that it not stick out too much into the room. I expect later he will complain about it only taking shorter logs :)

I actually originally wanted a wood cookstove - in fact was drooling over the Esse - but that made this project so much harder, it wasn't a very good fit for the space and the house in general... as well as the cost, and I probably wouldn't cook on it often or generally enough to justify that cost. But I don't want to give up the dream of the teakettle and stockpot either. The dealer seems to say that the morso won't generally cook, but is fine to boil water or simmer stock. He didn't seem that enthusiastic about the alderlea being better for cooking... he did say that steel would heat up a bit faster. But in any case you'd have to build a good size fire to get a lot of heat, and to consider how well that would work for our particular case. I expect overheating to be a problem in our particular circumstances.

After my head spinning for a while, I've been talking to the stove dealer again today (he sells morso and pacific energy, but not napoleon), and read over some other old posts on these forums, and I am thinking more and more that we utterly clueless newbies should have a local dealer who would be willing and able to help us if there are problems (even ones of our own fault). It just doesn't seem worth trying to power through on our own. The whole project cost for the Morso ended up being within the budget (a lot of the cost is dealing with the existing fireplace, as well as a looong flue). Now it's just the decision go or no go on the morso... otherwise I expect it will be back to the drawing board and no woodstove this year...

thanks and will probably keep having questions and worries, this is a great forum!
Click to expand...

Do you have a Jotul dealer nearby?

I think I'm going with a Scan 60 (Jotul owns Scan) and it vents through the rear, looks very modern, has a large firebox and comes in around 2k....

Not a bad option IMHO....
 
Lisa, just for kicks I turned on my electric stove (ceramic cook top) to high and let her rip for awhile, and used the digital laser thermometer on it when it was glowing red. It's in the 950ºF + range. Which explains the beans I burned last week when I put it on high and walked away for ten minutes. :)

Poult
 
Lisa,
I just got my Morso 2110 installed yesterday, I'll let you know once CT gets cold enough to light it. The dealer was great, but did not do installs, and actually favored Jotul over Morso (said Morso wasn't worth extra cost) but I am glad I got the Morso, it came with a trivel and kettle, I plan on using my le crueset cast iron for slow cooking on it.

This is a great site, but don't overlook chimney cleaners/installers, Mine (Nayaug Chimney in South Glastonbury) was very helpful in answering questions, getting the right one, etc. I realized they really are in the know on all the different brands of stoves they are installing and how their customers feel about them.

Karen
 
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