The available tax credit has sparked my interest in replacing my Wenlock wood/coal combination stove with a EPA efficent wood stove. I have two questions on the stainless steel tubes used to circulate hot air on the exiting gases. Has anyone seen a diagram on the air flow which shows where the air circulates from and how it enters the tubes. What is the life expectancy of these tubes since they live in the hottest part of the stove. Also, do you think I will see a significant improvement in efficency to justify spending $2,000. to replace a stove that does work fairly well.
EPA Efficient Stoves
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Slow1
Minister of Fire
Interesting - there is a whole thread that was opened on this topic just a few days ago (the topic of is it worth replacing a stove or not).
The question seems to come down to what you mean by "worth it". From a pure financial point of view you likely would have to be buying your wood C/S/D at a relatively high price to really ever recover the $ cost. The new EPA stoves will burn less wood (some have stated they cut their wood consumption in half) so you will save money there. IF you pay a sweep to clean your chimney each season (or more than once a season) then you may be able to reduce the frequency of this service and thus save a few more $'s although I don't think anyone is advocating going to less than once a year (even if folks do go less often in practice it seems).
Now some the benefits
- you will burn less wood and get more heat. So, less hauling, cutting, storage space (or you will be more years ahead - all depends on your point of view eh?). That should have an appeal to just about everyone.
- Likely better for the environment, but if you are burning your older stove very well the benefit here may be marginal, however it will be easier to burn cleaner in any case. Don't know how much you care about this, but it is there
- You are likely to get longer burn times (depends on your current stove and what exactly you replace it with of course) but for same size box you will likely be able to get a longer burn
- Many require a smaller footprint for same heat output, this can be nice (especially in off season if you reduce your hearth etc.
- You get a new stove! Hey, new toys are great aren't they?
I can't answer the questions regarding burn tubes life span - I'll bet it may depend on brands etc, but overall it doesn't sound like they are a high wear item from what little I have read.
The question seems to come down to what you mean by "worth it". From a pure financial point of view you likely would have to be buying your wood C/S/D at a relatively high price to really ever recover the $ cost. The new EPA stoves will burn less wood (some have stated they cut their wood consumption in half) so you will save money there. IF you pay a sweep to clean your chimney each season (or more than once a season) then you may be able to reduce the frequency of this service and thus save a few more $'s although I don't think anyone is advocating going to less than once a year (even if folks do go less often in practice it seems).
Now some the benefits
- you will burn less wood and get more heat. So, less hauling, cutting, storage space (or you will be more years ahead - all depends on your point of view eh?). That should have an appeal to just about everyone.
- Likely better for the environment, but if you are burning your older stove very well the benefit here may be marginal, however it will be easier to burn cleaner in any case. Don't know how much you care about this, but it is there
- You are likely to get longer burn times (depends on your current stove and what exactly you replace it with of course) but for same size box you will likely be able to get a longer burn
- Many require a smaller footprint for same heat output, this can be nice (especially in off season if you reduce your hearth etc.
- You get a new stove! Hey, new toys are great aren't they?
I can't answer the questions regarding burn tubes life span - I'll bet it may depend on brands etc, but overall it doesn't sound like they are a high wear item from what little I have read.
deck2
Burning Hunk
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