I have a new Elm stove and we love it.

I bought a new Vermont Iron Elm stove, the Wildfire model and it is a wonderful stove. I live in Northern Michigan and have used it this year enough already to know it will do just fine as things get colder later. I am a beach person that spends most of my precious summer skimboarding in Lake Michigan and the inland lakes up here. I hate winter. I spent huge amounts of time researching wood stoves last spring and was really intrigued by some of the older cool looking wood stoves. I really was attracted to the Elm alone by its looks, but when I saw that it was still being made and in an improved version that was enough for me to dig deeper. I have burnt a Pacific Energy Spectrum for 10 years with excellent results. Moved to a new house and tried coal which sucked but had some merits but, my wife would never say so.

I have to say that my Elm stove is easy to start, throws off alot of heat, has secondary air tubes, there is a soapstone slab on top of it, the cavern of a fire box can hold a huge amount of wood and looks so cool that I really dont care if I missed out on a tax rebate. I can not say anything bad about my old P.E. stove except that is did look like box, a hot box. I was hot but my wife and I agree it was a bit finicky to get going.

Check out the videos on You tube about the Elm stoves. They are real and they are hand made here in the lower 48. I like going to art shows and dig it when you pick up something that not only looks cool but is of high quality and does the job. I have never seen a wood stove at an art fair but the Elm is the only one that I could imagine to see at one. I am a happy owner heating a big house with a 24" Wildfire, easily.

Bushman

It would be nice to see a picture or two. They are a very cool looking stove.

Here it is. Quite a heat shield, eh?

An ad. shows up in Cragslist here once in a while. Are they making new ones or just refurbishing old ones. ?

http://www.vermontironstove.com

http://benchman.smugmug.com/gallery/8441935_7ZeEF#554797827_5ndCF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0UsdWUzYEU

I believe both new and refurbished. Mine was 100% new. New ones have better melaurgical composition of the castings and the steel barrel is 1/4" cold rolled steel welded with one long seam... The only wear piece is the baffle and I guess there is some element added to keep the baffle from burning through now. I can not imagine a more stable design and with two moving parts being the door and draft flapper it seems that maintainance will be a breeze also.

Bushman

Do the sides flap and levitate the stove

Pretty cool looking stove.

Pretty heavy cast aluminum for those warming shelves. I have yet to warm anything up on them yet but they work like heat sinks in the meantime, extra surface area to keep the house cozy warm.

Bushman

Nice lookin stove!

wonder how that thermostat will hold up to the heat.
cool looking for a barrel stove tho.

Hi there, Bushman1, I like to look of that Elm Stove, what was the general cost of it and how long of a piece of wood does it hold, thanks

This is the stove I get when my '83 dies.
Have watched about 10 vids on this stove previously.
Awesome!

Ever consider relocating the alternative heating systems thermostat?

How much did you pay for it?

Stove was about $1,750.00 fully loaded as pictured and a cheaper version is available that does not have the heat exchanger on top. Mine has the 24" long barrel and it eats most anything I want to throw in there. There is a 30" version that is a monster. I have yet to fully load my stove up and see how long it will go, plenty of time for that later on.

Since it came up about the thermometer, I have put the same unit on my smoke pipe with my old Pacific Energy Summit and it worked well. There are some pictures floating around of Elm Stoves that have the thermometers mounted on the heat exchanger also. Does this appear to be a bad location? I picked mine up a Menards store for $7.00 the other day, its a Rutland.

Bushman

I meant your house thermometer when I said; "Ever consider relocating the alternative heating systems thermostat? "

How's the Elm Working out?

Get to load it up yet?

Those are cool stoves. We picked up a 1980 24"er for $100. We have it busted down and cleaned up right now, just waiting for a couple parts and paint. When all is said and done we should have about $200 - $250 into it. The come up on Craig's List every now and then. There is one on the local list for $400 but it's only an 18"er and looks really rough in the ad photo.

I think that the guy adds chromium to the cast mix to keep the cast from burning through and toughening it up some.

Good to here it is working well for you. My boy and me are excited to see how this project turns out for us.

Are they EPA now on the refurbs and new assembled models?



Owl

So....

How are the Elms' working out?

Bushman, I've got a hybrid catalytic Elm coming tomorrow. Just wondering how your stove is working out for you a year and half later?

Great looking heat shield. I like the reflections.

Glad to hear that they have them out west Spotted Owl. I figured that they were a small scale maker and that they would stay out east. I love the simplicity and the utilitarian castings. Looks like they had a domestic water coil in some of them too. I would love to put something like this in the barn/shop.

Love the gunmetal grey color on Bushman's stove too, it would be great to hide the typical ash/dust deposits that make black stoves look grey.

A general comment is that I suspect that they are operating in a "grey area" when it comes to whether its a "new stove" versus an "old" stove. Sort of like the story of owning George Washington's ax, the handle has been replaced three times and the head was replaced twice but its still its represented as a historical item. Granted the owner has done a lot of improvements and has tested the modifications to make sure they are effective, but its probably a lot less expensive and far lower paperwork to "rebuild" old stoves rather than be a "new" stove manufacturer. I expect he can keep his volume down by selling direct rather than having to sell at wholesale to a dealer network. This means that he can sell you a better stove directly at a reasonable cost while having a chance to break even on low volumes.

If I was in a market for a stove, I would definitely consider one as they definitely are distinctive and look a lot less temperamental than a lot of the current designs. I also like that the basic design has been tried and tested for a long time so that there shouldnt be any surprised about parts that fail after a few years due to being underdesigned

Any updates on this stove? I love the looks of it. How easy or PITA to clean out the ashes?