Heating and Cooking

[jtrm]

Hello,
We’re new to this all and we’d like to ask you a quick question. Is it realistic to use an efficient wood burning stove to both heat your home and to also be able to cook regularly on the stove top.

We’re coming from a large city in the desert to a small one in the foothills of Appalachia. The home we found is about 1300 square feet divided into 2 floors and a loft. All we have is an 8’ electric baseboard heater on the middle floor. It is an electric home.... there is no gas connection. We plan on placing a wood stove on the second floor. We have narrowed our choices to the Napoleon 1150 and the Vermont Casting Encore mainly based on net searches and the two dealers we have found here. Our question.... is it realistic to believe that we can cook on these stoves? We’d like to be able to make a pot of tea in the morning, cook beans or maybe make some pop corn. We have read through several threads on hearth.com and have not really found anything that addresses this. We are not looking at straight cooking stoves because we still want to maintain the epa certification and be as efficient as possible. Are we being naive to think we can really use these stoves to both heat and cook. We would appreciate any thoughts.

jt

 

[JBinKC]

I use the top of the stove daily to brew tea. I have also baked potatoes in aluminum foil in the stove with the coals. I also have used the coals from my stove for use with a camp type dutch oven outside.

 

[nshif]

Try this thread
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/9498/

 

[KeithO]

http://www.somomule.com/catalog/item/4600698/4650665.htm#image_1

$320 for the chimney oven. I think there is a catch though... I'm positive it is not UL listed. That may make it complicated to install and to get a building inspectors approval, even if it is safely installed (24" clearance from combustibles with 18" floor protector in all directions).

 

[KeithO]

JT, you should consider a European or Australian cookstove. Some of them are right up with the times and are made to be used every day and are not still using 19th century design.


Here are a few:
http://www.woodstoves.net/esse/woodcooker.htm british

http://www.woodstoves.net/bakersoven2.htm Australian and fairly inexpensive. Made from steel plate, so not as attractice as the cast stoves.

We are not looking at straight cooking stoves because we still want to maintain the epa certification and be as efficient as possible. Are we being naive to think we can really use these stoves to both heat and cook. We would appreciate any thoughts. jt

 

[Vermontster]

KeithO, that first stove is a beauty! Looks like a serious heater and cooker, oh, but what is the clearance of that stove, like 0"? wood underneath a butcherblock table next to it, and.. on the other side, oh that's just a rifle. haha, sweet rig.

 

[Mrs-GVA]

I grew up in a small town in NH and our main source of heat was the wood burning stove. When we would have bad storms and the lights would go out, I remember trying to boil water on the woodstove and it would take forever! I'm not sure it even came to a boil. My parents used to keep a pot of water on it all the time to put some moisture in the air? And the water would evaporate, but it never boiled.

 

[KeithO]

JT, I believe they say 8" clearance to combustibles and 1" to protected (masonry) surfaces. If they have a refractory lining that keeps the outer surface of the stove cool while keeping the fire hot it may be true....

 

[jtrm]

Thank you for the suggestion.... it is a beautiful stove but I think it is more stove than we need (and afford at the moment). Our primary need is to have a good heating system for the house and this type of stove may not be able to carry the heating load. An oven would be neat but may not be worth the sacrifice if it means we might need to supplement the heating of the house. I guess we are just trying to apply a type of permaculture thinking to the system in having multiple functions for home equipment. Just cooking on the top would be enough for now... at least until we become more educated. Thanks again.

 

[senorFrog]

Why not just get good wood stove for heating and forget the cooking?

There are some nice slide in electric ranges out there now that heatup fast. Check out the jenn-air glass tops. If I need to do some serious iron chef type cooking I just go outside and use the base of the turkey fryer which is jetted, 150,000 BTUs and runs off a small propane tank. It wasn't expensive. The webber is sitting right next to it for grilling steaks, burgers, etc. I grill all year long.

A small honda generator may make sense if you loose power frequently. You could plug the microwave in for the tea and popcorn.

FYI re Turkey fryer...
(broken link removed to http://www.turkey-fryers-online.com/turkey_kit/bc1945_stainless_turkey.htm)

 

[Gooserider]

One suggestion, if you are going to be cooking on the stove, you probably will be better off with a painted finish stove than an enamel finish. One of our other members had a poupourri pot boil over on him and it cause the enamel finish to crumble and flake off - the stove still worked but was majorly ugly from the cosmetic viewpoint, and had to have parts replaced because you can't repair the enamel finish. A painted finish can at least be touched up or re-sprayed as needed.

Gooserider