Cookstove fuel consumption/ efficiency

[JordyBuck]

In your experience, how much wood do the modern units use? How would they compare to an older style, forced air wood stove? I just bought a Pioneer Dutchess, same fire system as the updated Pioneer Princess. It's billed as "airtight with downdraft efficiency technology". It's a 630 pound stove, seems to burn clean. It's our only cooking/heating option in West Michigan. I'm keeping tabs on usage and we'll have a good idea by May, but I'm hoping to see others' experience.

 

[bholler]

Forced air wood stove?

 

[SteveKG]

A number of factors to how much wood ours uses, such as whether we are baking bread or simply heating the kitchen, etc.

But our airtight stove I believe is 800 lb though I am not looking it up to check can be heated up for a couple hours early in the morning then let alone [no more wood] til bed time when the stove is still warm. [Lots of iron]

Our other heat stove is a Woodstock catalytic and it uses less wood than the cookstove if burned for the same amount of time, but as I said above, the cookstove will heat up and then stay hot to warm all day. The catalytic is also iron and soapstone and will also stay warm, but not nearly as long as the cookstove. On very cold days the stoves, both in use, use about the same amount of firewood, though I have never kept track. Our cookstove is basically a design from the 1940s so it could be considered older technology though ours was purchased new about 15 years ago. These stoves, Aga and the like, were very efficient for their time and still are, I think. We had two different cookstoves prior to my getting this one and both of those were a lot of work to use, small fireboxes and leaky air intakes and needing near constant attention to use for cooking or heating. I wouldn't trade either of our stoves.

 

[JordyBuck]

Forced air wood stove?

The common stove I see has a heat box, blower fan, and ductwork like a gas furnace.

 

[bholler]

The common stove I see has a heat box, blower fan, and ductwork like a gas furnace.

That is a furnace not a stove and generally they are pretty inefficient.

 

[begreen]

The common stove I see has a heat box, blower fan, and ductwork like a gas furnace.

A common stove these days has a secondary combustion system. It may or may not have a blower but definitely no ductwork.

 

[JordyBuck]

A common stove these days has a secondary combustion system. It may or may not have a blower but definitely no ductwork.

The new ones, yes. Most I see in action don't.