Another "Help ME choose a stove" thread!!

[Brad Stephanie Jurries]

I would sure appreciate some suggestions from folks on this one. Here are our needs:

House: 860 sq foot house built in 1916.
Climate: cool maritime, only occassional subfreezing temps, never below 0F.
At present the house is air leaky and uninsulated so it is very hard to heat. (This should be remedied this spring, however-new windows, siding and insulation.)

We currently have an inefficient wood gobbling Fisher Goldilocks (it was free.) The one good thing about this stove is that we can cook very efficiently on it. We use it to heat all of our water for dishes and showers. (backwoods off grid Alaskans) I also cook on it a lot and that is HUGELY important in a new stove. The stovetop area must be large enough to accomodate large pots of water without the pipe being in the way.

It MUST be EPA certified and NON-CAT

We love the look of the Hearthstone Heritage but wonder about the cookability of its stone surface...

Thank you for any help/advice! Money is not neccessarily an issue.

 

[begreen]

Take a look at the PE Alderlea T5. The swing away trivet top is great for temperature controlled cooking. (broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/pacaldert5.htm)

 

[dougand3]

I just saw a T5 on CL. Good pics here. (broken link removed to http://huntsville.craigslist.org/hsh/3565596530.html)

 

[begreen]

What is your budget? If you have the room another stove to consider is the Esse Ironheart. http://www.woodstoves.net/esse/woodcooker.htm

 

[Brad Stephanie Jurries]

Thanks folks! Will look into these now.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I would sure appreciate some suggestions from folks on this one. Here are our needs:

House: 860 sq foot house built in 1916.
Climate: cool maritime, only occassional subfreezing temps, never below 0F.
At present the house is air leaky and uninsulated so it is very hard to heat. (This should be remedied this spring, however-new windows, siding and insulation.)

We currently have an inefficient wood gobbling Fisher Goldilocks (it was free.) The one good thing about this stove is that we can cook very efficiently on it. We use it to heat all of our water for dishes and showers. (backwoods off grid Alaskans) I also cook on it a lot and that is HUGELY important in a new stove. The stovetop area must be large enough to accomodate large pots of water without the pipe being in the way.

It MUST be EPA certified and NON-CAT

We love the look of the Hearthstone Heritage but wonder about the cookability of its stone surface...

Thank you for any help/advice! Money is not neccessarily an issue.

Welcome to the forum Brad-Stephanie.

Just wondering why non-cat? Have you heard some bad things about them? I know we did and also said non-cat when we bought our last stove. However, we now own a cat stove and love it. It is also soapstone and yes, we can cook on it and/or heat water. It also heats our home very comfortably and is a beautiful stove. And yes, we did look at the Heartstone line, especially the Heritage. I won't say anything bad about them but will say we are very happy we bought from Woodstock!

 

[Brad Stephanie Jurries]

Welcome to the forum Brad-Stephanie.

Just wondering why non-cat? Have you heard some bad things about them? I know we did and also said non-cat when we bought our last stove. However, we now own a cat stove and love it. It is also soapstone and yes, we can cook on it and/or heat water. It also heats our home very comfortably and is a beautiful stove. And yes, we did look at the Heartstone line, especially the Heritage. I won't say anything bad about them but will say we are very happy we bought from Woodstock!

Well, Backwoods Savage, to be quite honest, I just don't think we would maintain a catalytic stove properly. Between maintaining a 50' commercial fishing boat, a 21' boat, two trucks, two acres and an old house, I think the stove would not be taken care of as frequently as it should. We have to have a fire pretty much year round, so it would get a lot of use. My husband could probably give you a more thorough answer but that is part of it.

 

[Brad Stephanie Jurries]

Take a look at the PE Alderlea T5. The swing away trivet top is great for temperature controlled cooking. (broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/pacaldert5.htm)

I really like this one! Thanks for the info! Its definitely on the list.

 

[Brad Stephanie Jurries]

Oh, and one more thing: I know this will give you all heart attacks. We pretty much have no choice but to use rainwashed logs that have spent some time in the ocean. Not driftwood neccessarily, but logs that escaped from the rafts that are taken to the nearby mill. Many of these logs get deposited at high tide and get rainwashed, and we tow them home in our boat, haul them up the beach and split them in front of the house. There is no road access to our house; water access only. Given this, would there be a preference between steel or cast iron stoves?

Also, I keep reading things about using dry wood having a humidity of around 20%? Our average humidity is about 90% and it takes years for wood to get dry enough. Its kind of a PITA. I don't know what difference this makes, if any in our stove choice. But when you can catch king salmon in the front yard and shoot deer in the back yard, there are sacrifices one is willing to make. Again, thanks for help.

 

[Ashful]

We need to see some pictures of this property! Totally irrelevant to the stove situation, but it sounds so cool!

Burning wet wood is challenging, produces less BTU's, and more creosote, but it is doable. The equilibrium moisture content of wood air-dried in Juneau, AK is actually pretty good, hovering 14 - 18% throughout the year:


State City Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
AK Juneau 16.5 16.0 15.1 13.9 13.6 13.9 15.1 16.5 18.1 18.0 17.7 18.1


However, as you already pointed out, your combination of high humidity and low temperatures means it takes a while to get down there. Remember, you can get MC = 20% at nearly 90% Rh, in average temperatures above freezing.

 

[dougand3]

Ya'll sound like Dick Proenneke at Twin Lakes, AK! Like Joful said, wet wood will be tougher on a new EPA stove - the older smoke dragons tolerate it better.

 

[KodiakII]

By the sounds of your house I wouldn't be afraid to go with the T6. The Alderlea has a nice gentle heat that is kind of deceiving. I am sitting in close proximity to mine right now and it is hot enough that I just finished frying some hamburgers for me and my son.

PS. sounds to me like you are living life at its' best in paradise...the way man was intended to live.

 

[Brad Stephanie Jurries]

We need to see some pictures of this property! Totally irrelevant to the stove situation, but it sounds so cool!

Burning wet wood is challenging, produces less BTU's, and more creosote, but it is doable. The equilibrium moisture content of wood air-dried in Juneau, AK is actually pretty good, hovering 14 - 18% throughout the year:


State City Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
AK Juneau 16.5 16.0 15.1 13.9 13.6 13.9 15.1 16.5 18.1 18.0 17.7 18.1


However, as you already pointed out, your combination of high humidity and low temperatures means it takes a while to get down there. Remember, you can get MC = 20% at nearly 90% Rh, in average temperatures above freezing.

Thanks for the info; that's interesting about the MC and Rh ... We get more rain than Juneau, but they are still in the same general region... Lets see if I can figure out a photo or two... NOt sure how to do it...

 

[Brad Stephanie Jurries]

By the sounds of your house I wouldn't be afraid to go with the T6. The Alderlea has a nice gentle heat that is kind of deceiving. I am sitting in close proximity to mine right now and it is hot enough that I just finished frying some hamburgers for me and my son.

PS. sounds to me like you are living life at its' best in paradise...the way man was intended to live.

And the way a WOMAN was supposed to live. ;P

 

[granpajohn]

If that photo is your house/land, you must have at least some land-side wood available.

And your climate may not appear to be particularly cold by AK standards, but at such a northerly latitude, you haven't much solar gain to help the heat.

 

[Ashful]

Nice! Must be one heck of a trip to the grocery store. How much do you have to tip the pizza delivery man?

 

[Brad Stephanie Jurries]

If that photo is your house/land, you must have at least some land-side wood available.

And your climate may not appear to be particularly cold by AK standards, but at such a northerly latitude, you haven't much solar gain to help the heat.

We cleared most of our property to make way for ponds/greenhouse/shop, gardens etc. The adjacent land is all privately owned. The timber that we cut was either a) milled for ourbuilding construction or b) piled into a giant log deck for future firewood. It is almost entirely hemlock. (Once we build a woodshed we will cut/split/dry it) Once that runs out we have no land-based wood options...

 

[Brad Stephanie Jurries]

Nice! Must be one heck of a trip to the grocery store. How much do you have to tip the pizza delivery man?

Town is only 3 miles away, and we have a well-stocked pantry, so its pretty easy to not go to town very often! The garden grows in the summer, and pizza? I can make that! LOL

 

[begreen]

Oh, and one more thing: I know this will give you all heart attacks. We pretty much have no choice but to use rainwashed logs that have spent some time in the ocean. Not driftwood neccessarily, but logs that escaped from the rafts that are taken to the nearby mill. Many of these logs get deposited at high tide and get rainwashed, and we tow them home in our boat, haul them up the beach and split them in front of the house. There is no road access to our house; water access only. Given this, would there be a preference between steel or cast iron stoves?

Also, I keep reading things about using dry wood having a humidity of around 20%? Our average humidity is about 90% and it takes years for wood to get dry enough. Its kind of a PITA. I don't know what difference this makes, if any in our stove choice. But when you can catch king salmon in the front yard and shoot deer in the back yard, there are sacrifices one is willing to make. Again, thanks for help.

You need a well ventilated wood shed. Doug fir under cover will dry in a season. It also has high oil content which helps it burn well.

One thing that will help is having a tall enough flue. The old pre-EPA stoves didn't need nearly as much chimney as the new ones do for proper drafting. Can you vent straight up with no elbows for about 15ft?

 

[Machria]

Thanks for the info; that's interesting about the MC and RhView attachment 94381 ... We get more rain than Juneau, but they are still in the same general region... Lets see if I can figure out a photo or two... NOt sure how to do it...

Ok, I was going to jump in here and help, until I saw that picture. FORGET IT NOW! Your on your own, you don't deserve help! You my lady, are living my dream!


I would not worry about the maintenance of a cat stove, there really is none. You brush it off when cleaning the stove every now and them. Compared to maintenance on a boat (I have a 33' sport fish boat), this does not even register. But I would worry about the salt water infused wood. That might impede the usefulness of a cat, but I would call and ask cat stove manufacturers directly and ask that question. And the reason you should do that is, I think a cat stove will actually be MORE affective burning "wet" un-seasoned wood, and sappy wood like pines and firs with oil. The cat burns and produces heat out of the smoke from the smoldering wood that is not burning good.

So I would research with manufacturers the affects of salt on a cat. Normally, we are told not to burn salt-wood, because of the corrosion it causes on the stove metals, not necessarily a problem with the cat.

Good luck, and meanwhile, I'm jealous!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Oh, and one more thing: I know this will give you all heart attacks. We pretty much have no choice but to use rainwashed logs that have spent some time in the ocean. Not driftwood neccessarily, but logs that escaped from the rafts that are taken to the nearby mill. Many of these logs get deposited at high tide and get rainwashed, and we tow them home in our boat, haul them up the beach and split them in front of the house. There is no road access to our house; water access only. Given this, would there be a preference between steel or cast iron stoves?

Also, I keep reading things about using dry wood having a humidity of around 20%? Our average humidity is about 90% and it takes years for wood to get dry enough. Its kind of a PITA. I don't know what difference this makes, if any in our stove choice. But when you can catch king salmon in the front yard and shoot deer in the back yard, there are sacrifices one is willing to make. Again, thanks for help.

Stephanie, after reading your other posts of why to not get a cat stove it left me scratching my head because it just seems like your reasons for not wanting would actually be reasons for definitely wanting a cat stove. And they take nor more work than any other stove! As for the maintenance, occasionally the cat needs to be cleaned and that is less than a 5 minute job. I've done it in 2 minutes.

However, when you describe your fuel, I agree, you do not want a cat stove. Also I would be hard pressed to suggest any stove because of that wood being in salt water.

Just one more thing is to not confuse the water content of the wood with humidity. They are two different animals.

Good luck.

 

[Waulie]

Not much to add except you have a great place there and how neat that with no road access and being off the grid you are still able to log on to Hearth.com.

You got to do what you've got to do with that wood. A covered but very airy shed is a must. You will need to get your wood to a decent moisture content or there isn't much point in getting an EPA stove. Trying to burn wet wood in an EPA stove will likely be worse than what you have now.

I'd probably go noncat and relatively inexpensive since the salt and year round use could take it's toll. A cat stove is not an issue from a maintenance perspective but you might run through them faster with less than ideal, salty wood. Altough, if price was no real concern I'd probably get a cat stove anyway just knowing that I'd have to replace the cat more often.

 

[Brad Stephanie Jurries]

Thanks again for your help everybody! We really like the concept of that Alderlea...

 

[begreen]

We like ours a lot. Raised some dough nicely yesterday by swinging out the trivets and letting the dough rise to the side. This week I'm going to try and make a Milwaukee Pork Stew in a dutch oven on top of the stove.

 

[Machria]

We like ours a lot. Raised some dough nicely yesterday by swinging out the trivets and letting the dough rise to the side. This week I'm going to try and make a Milwaukee Pork Stew in a dutch oven on top of the stove.

Make sure you post the dough and stew recipes over at:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/recipes-for-the-progress-hybrid.94828/page-2

.