First timer looking to buy a stove

[Pitroff]

Hey everyone, first time post here and I am looking for a little help. I plan on buying a wood stove within the next few months. I have done some research and talked to a few people, but I'm still not sure what stove I am going to buy, so I was looking for some recommendations and help.

I am building a 16x16 cabin insulated with a loft. My only heat source will be a wood stove. I live in Massachusetts, so winters can be long and cold here. I plan to use my stove a lot, and also am going to use it for cooking. I don't really need an oven, so I don't need a wood cooking stove, as they are bulky and don't throw enough heat for my liking (even the newer one I have seen online that is more of a wood stove that happens to have an oven door seems to pricey for what you get). But, I do plan to cook a lot on top of the stove

I don't care about looks, as long as I can see the flames. I need a smaller stove because of my very low square foot area that I am going to be living in. However, I don't want to have to wake up during the night to refill, so I wanted to get something with a longer burn time and bigger wood box (if that is the proper term) than most of the smaller ones offer. I also don't want to overheat myself while I'm in there so I wasn't sure if getting a mid sized stove would be a bad idea. I am willing to spend the money to get a good stove because I plan to use this for years to come and want to have something good. I have done some research online and can't find as many reviews as I would like on some of the stoves I have been looking at. Ideally, I would get a steel stove as opposed to the cast iron, but it isn't a big deal if I find a cast iron one that is good quality and fits all my needs. Catalytic vs. non catalytic is not an issue with me, I don't care either way.

Anyone have any recommendations, comments, ideas, stoves to check out, websites to look at, etc? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[begreen]

Welcome to hearth.com. For long heat in a small space a cat stove is often the best solution. A small Woodstock stove is a good place to start.

 

[Wood Duck]

I think begeen is right that a cat stove is the way to go because you can get a clean burn on a very low setting. If your insulation is decent it seems like any stove,not matter how small, should be more than enough. Perhaps a mid sized cat stove burned on a low setting is the ticket. Small stoves have small fireboxes and won't give an overnight burn. The mid sized stove burned on its high setting will be way too much heat but the larger firebox will give you longer burns. Have you considered a soapstove stove? Stone stoves hold heat well so you might not need the fire to last all night because the stove will get you through. I do not know if anyone makes a small soapstone stove.

Let me be the first to suggest that you should already have your firewood for next winter, and it should ideally be a year old by now. I think cat stoves are particularly sensitive to wet wood. You can burn poorly seasoned wood but it is a big hassle compared to burning well seasoned wood.

I don't really know much about cooking on a wood stove.

Welcome to the forum

 

[begreen]

I'm thinking a Woodstock Palladian or Keystone will do if the place is built leaky. But with just 256 sq ft. most stoves are going to be overkill. Personally I would invest in great insulation, tight design and good windows, then look for alternatives to wood. A small wood stove could be added for supplemental heat, but if the place is designed right, it can be heated mostly by the sun and heat from the refrig, lighting and a small electric, gas or maybe pellet heater? I'd also probably be burning high-density compressed logs to get the longest burntime in a small woodstove.

 

[jeff_t]

Also consider the new, small Blaze Kings. Even that will probably be too much, especially if you try to get the stove top hot enough to cook. There is always the old standby heat regulator-the window. I will say that my big BK is pretty darn responsive to changes in the t-stat setting. It can go from low burn to lots of heat and back to low burn in a relatively short time.

Also consider clearance to combustibles in such a small space.

I just really want to see a new Sirocco, with legs, installed...

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Is the cabin also going to be your permanent residence? Will the stove have to heat the cabin up from 5F to 70 in a short period of time?

Matt