Keep it simple how complex does a stove have to be?

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awoodman

Member
Dec 4, 2008
167
K.C. Missouri
After seeing the parts blow up diagram of an Encore model 250 ( http://www.discountstove.com/2550.html ) makes me appreciate the simplicity of the Quadrafire design. Makes me wonder what is the most complex one made?
Like anything else , the cost of replacing broken parts should be a determining factor on what to buy.
If you work on cars this would be a determining factor. So why not wood stoves.

All these type stoves (mine included) miss the mark of efficiency due to the fact of heat loss up the chimney.
We the American people have been sold a bill of incompetent goods. And then like cars they add a bunch of bells and whistles to lure people into more STUFF YOU WANT INSTEAD OF WHAT YOU NEED.

The (Rocket Stove Mass Heater) is the simplest most efficient way to burn wood I have ever seen.......
 
It is rather mazing how many designs for interiors of stove there are. Outside, most look the same. Inside it's another world. And with the current stove I own, the Homestead, I am seeing the differences in draft in /smoke out design quite dramatically.

Indeed, in many ways, design overkill. In other ways design ignorance and lack of common sense. Gov. EPA forced issues to deal with? Advertising hype possibilities for sales?
 
No doubt the part count can get quite high and the interiors are getting pretty complex. The encore is a cast stove so that ups the part count considerably...you basically get 100+ parts - each made as cheaply as possible and assembled as quickly as possible to make a stove. With a steel stove, many of those parts would be a single unitized steel firebox with assorted trim, refractory and air metering parts added in.

Pro's and cons to each I suppose. If you somehow destroy a steel stove firebox (though darned unlikely), it's pretty much totaled unless you know someone handy with cutting and welding. If you crack a plate in a cast stove (seems to happen more frequently) you can always order a replacement and glue it in with a little stove cement.
 
If you had a full breakdown of a Quad Isle Royal it would like similar to that, or a Cumberland Gap. The IR is about as close to a true cast stove as Quad gets, the firebox is mostly all the cast plates with some firebrick, and I think some steel in some places. The Cumb Gap is mostly a steel firebox and each cast piece is screwed to it. I had to replace one of the side pieces which have the legs on them. Used a pump car jack to support the stove, worked pretty slick.

But yeah, the steel Quad units are pretty simple, they did add the ACC system now which adds some more parts to break on there, good feature, but annoying when it wont work right.
 
My century was the most basic stove I've ever seen. Steel and firebrick was all that was in it. There was only one burn tube, really a steel box with 2 rows of holes in it. The Englander is somewhat more complex because it has multiple burn tubes and ceramic boards on top of them.

Matt
 
It's been several years, but prolly the most complex stove I've run is a wood/coal cook oven. There are a couple bypasses that need to be used in the correct sequence. Open for starting, then close one to get the cooktop nice and hot, and once hot, close the other to warm up the oven. It takes a little practice and mistakes can be pretty smokey, but once you get the hang of it, they work nicely.

The T6 is just the opposite, one control, fill, light and burn.
 
Totally agree on simplicity (i.e. low parts count) being desirable, especially in the firebox and up. Where I want to see complicated, as long as it enhances performance and usability, is in the air controls.

For a real eye-opener download the manual for most stoves in the Morso line and look at the exploded parts diagrams. With few exceptions, there's an awful lot going on in the flame path. Way too much. There's a reason their generous warranty doesn't apply to any of the parts in the flame path.
 
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