Has Anyone Owned or familar with Oil Stoves?

[Val]

I am curious about these oil stoves but they are definately not sold or popular here in Western NY state.
What can you tell me about the Drolet, Godin or Nordic oil stoves? I suppose you use piping like a woodstove and same clearances.

Everything here is natural gas/ propane and pellets are getting popular. Wood is too, but I think many of them are old time wood burners and not new users. In the 1990's, natural gas offered all these "great deals" and tricked people into natural gas conversion...then over time...spiked their rates and NY also adds big taxes on the gas bill. I have always liked oil fuel...it is expensive but it packs a lot of heat and I heat smaller areas. Are these stoves long lasting or problematic in any way-such as flue cleaning?

 

[Simonkenton]

I'll be damned, never heard of such a thing. An oil stove that looks like a wood stove. That green stove looks good.

 

[Cynnergy]

Can you buy these new?

We have a 1950's wood cookstove that was converted to an oil stove in the factory (similar to this: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-image.html?adId=1040092771&image=0&enableSearchNavigationFlag=true). I found the exploded parts diagram for the drolet (http://www.drolet.ca/en/products/oil/yukon-oil-stove-cast-iron-door/parts) and the mechanism kind of looks the same - a carburetor attached to a pot burner. The drolet might have some kind of nozzle burner though - I can't really tell (I'm certainly not an expert in these things!). If it has a nozzle burner, that should be more efficient than our pot burner.

Ours is definitely not efficient (goes through about 2.5 gallons of stove oil per day on low). The pot needs occasional cleaning (it gets clogged up with carbon deposits every few months and we only use it on the weekends). We have a draft regulator on the chimney and it seems to burn clean (it smokes for about 5 min on startup). We need to use actual stove oil (similar to kerosene) because diesel will clog the burner really fast.

Overall, the heat is lower and gentler than our steel woodstove. It's actually really nice to sit around on a mild, drizzly day. Certainly a lot more expensive and a lot less environmentally friendly than wood.

 

[begreen]

I dealt with the old kerosene pot burners and cabinet stoves a long time ago. They were a pain in the butt. Hopefully these are metered better.

 

[Val]

I'll be damned, never heard of such a thing. An oil stove that looks like a wood stove. That green stove looks good.

Check out this site:

http://www.susitnaenergy.com/oilheaters.php

 

[Val]

Can you buy these new?

We have a 1950's wood cookstove that was converted to an oil stove in the factory (similar to this: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-image.html?adId=1040092771&image=0&enableSearchNavigationFlag=true). I found the exploded parts diagram for the drolet (http://www.drolet.ca/en/products/oil/yukon-oil-stove-cast-iron-door/parts) and the mechanism kind of looks the same - a carburetor attached to a pot burner. The drolet might have some kind of nozzle burner though - I can't really tell (I'm certainly not an expert in these things!). If it has a nozzle burner, that should be more efficient than our pot burner.

Ours is definitely not efficient (goes through about 2.5 gallons of stove oil per day on low). The pot needs occasional cleaning (it gets clogged up with carbon deposits every few months and we only use it on the weekends). We have a draft regulator on the chimney and it seems to burn clean (it smokes for about 5 min on startup). We need to use actual stove oil (similar to kerosene) because diesel will clog the burner really fast.

Overall, the heat is lower and gentler than our steel woodstove. It's actually really nice to sit around on a mild, drizzly day. Certainly a lot more expensive and a lot less environmentally friendly than wood.

Check out this site:
http://www.susitnaenergy.com/oilheaters.php

 

[Cynnergy]

I don't know anything about the new ones you've linked to, but I'm guessing that a pellet stove would do everything you want and it would likely be cheaper and less messy to clean. Oil soot is the worst for mess and disgustingness. What sort of area are you looking to heat? You might be able to fit in a nice woodstove that won't run you out of the house.

 

[Ash]

We still have an old oil burning stove in our cabin and it works great, nice even heat. Probably gets used about 25-30 days a year, the pot is still relatively clean and the carburetor has never clogged up. We use regular heating oil.

 

[Val]

I don't know anything about the new ones you've linked to, but I'm guessing that a pellet stove would do everything you want and it would likely be cheaper and less messy to clean. Oil soot is the worst for mess and disgustingness. What sort of area are you looking to heat? You might be able to fit in a nice woodstove that won't run you out of the house.

I have 2 pellet stoves in my small house, Harman ones that are approx 5-10 years old. I also have a vented Toyostove that burns clear kerosene....thus my interest in oil burners. The toyostove is like a regular heater.

What I find is that I love using the pellet stoves but they aren't always 100 percent reliable and there was a year when pellets got scarce and got super-expensive.

My house is very small. I take an interest in the Jotul 602 woodstove and I always like coal stoves, but never came across one that was super-tiny....they are way too massive heat machines.

Best bets for me in practical reality are like the Toyostoves and even small direct vent propane heaters like the Rinnai.

I am a hater of the natural gas company. My hatred of natural gas goes back over 20 years.

I continue to research different types of heat, as I live in a suburban area, and am happy here for now, but I have always wanted to move into a more rural area....unfortunately all I can afford is going into a very much more rural area in which I would have to live very basic as the downside would be not good employment in those areas, not that I dont try to simplify life now.