Having grown up heating with wood and had more than a few years where it was the only source of heat, I am now, after about 25 yrs without wood heat, ready to get back to a wood stove. Back in the 70's I had my own stove shop. I've fabricated some wood boilers for one-off systems and built a bunch of really neat wood fired saunas over the years. As well, I've represented a manuf of wood and coal combi furnaces and boilers and am a pipefitter/welder by trade. I have been in the hearth industry and represented a number of manuf through the years.
I just moved west and live in an old, old, by western standards, home. We loose power fairly frequently, 20 days last winter. I will probably get a generator I have located a dealer that has some pretty attractive pricing on the VC Encore that I want. It is a close-out, not the 2 in 1 model. That is okay with me. the house currently has a wierdly built stone fireplace with an old Earth Stove insert in it. You can fill that thing to the brim, get the fire rolling and if you sit 3' from the insert, with your hands 12" from the face of the ES, your hands will be moderately warm. I kid you not. Earth Stoves are good units, so I'm assuming the venting/vent connector are not controlled and as I do not think it safe, I cannot run it. I'm fixin' to tear the fireplace down, remove the ES and put in the free standing VC with a proper new Class A chimney. My only question is...how am I going to find the time to do this?
Anyway, I am looking forward to having a good wood stove again, and I hope to bring some positive experience to the forum. At worst, I have a lot of anecdotes, some of which I can share.
I just moved west and live in an old, old, by western standards, home. We loose power fairly frequently, 20 days last winter. I will probably get a generator I have located a dealer that has some pretty attractive pricing on the VC Encore that I want. It is a close-out, not the 2 in 1 model. That is okay with me. the house currently has a wierdly built stone fireplace with an old Earth Stove insert in it. You can fill that thing to the brim, get the fire rolling and if you sit 3' from the insert, with your hands 12" from the face of the ES, your hands will be moderately warm. I kid you not. Earth Stoves are good units, so I'm assuming the venting/vent connector are not controlled and as I do not think it safe, I cannot run it. I'm fixin' to tear the fireplace down, remove the ES and put in the free standing VC with a proper new Class A chimney. My only question is...how am I going to find the time to do this?
Anyway, I am looking forward to having a good wood stove again, and I hope to bring some positive experience to the forum. At worst, I have a lot of anecdotes, some of which I can share.
