heating with a wood cook stove??

[paddler]

hey folks, i've been heating our place with a wood stove for years. we have recently been talking about swapping the wood stove out for a wood fired cook stove. has anyone had any experience with using one for a primary heater? Could we expect a large wood cook stove to heat as effectively as wood stove?

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Downside would be it would not burn the smoke like a modern Cat or EPA certified burn tube wood stove. That's may be deal breaker for some plus NO fire show.

 

[bholler]

hey folks, i've been heating our place with a wood stove for years. we have recently been talking about swapping the wood stove out for a wood fired cook stove. has anyone had any experience with using one for a primary heater? Could we expect a large wood cook stove to heat as effectively as wood stove?

That depends on the stove you have and the cook stove you are replacing it with bit in general no

 

[Allagash350]

I mean we used one when I was a kid but also had a wood furnace. They don’t usually have a huge firebox, and aren’t super efficient, but they do throw some heat.
Maybe you could make some sort of oven to place on top of your current stove instead

 

[diverscale]

visit http://www.jaroby.com/en/produits.php?cat=15&sec=1

Those wood cook stoves are EPA certified, some even having higher efficiency than many mainstream EPA woodstoves on the market. Those could heat your home as well as a normal wood stove per the numbers. I do not own one, but I do find them very attractive.

 

[jetsam]

visit http://www.jaroby.com/en/produits.php?cat=15&sec=1

Those wood cook stoves are EPA certified, some even having higher efficiency than many mainstream EPA woodstoves on the market. Those could heat your home as well as a normal wood stove per the numbers. I do not own one, but I do find them very attractive.

Those things are nuts! Even the biggest ones are only a medium sized woodstove, but they look like they'd be good cookers and heaters 3 months a year, and passable heaters for shoulder season. I guess you can use all your charcoal from the winter to BBQ outside all summer, because you will NOT want to use the stove!



Bet they're not cheap, but they sure look cool.

 

[weatherguy]

Depends on the size of your house, insulation, climate etc. Could be done, has been done but depends.

 

[Texas123]

Does anyone know of a brand of rear vented cook-stove? Thank you in advance.

 

[Happy Stacker]

Does anyone know of a brand of rear vented cook-stove? Thank you in advance.

(broken link removed to https://cookstoves.net/de-manincor-cookstoves/)

 

[SteveKG]

We have a house with a Woodstock soapstone at one end and an Aga cookstove [see avatar] at the other, in the kitchen. The cookstove stays very warm, after the fire dies out, all night. The kitchen won't be "toasty" next a.m., but it won't be cold. We use the cookstove every day for heat in the winter. No, it isn't a catalytic, but it is an "air-tight," and the firebox is not far off from the Woodstock's in cubic inches. Might be about the same, I have never measured it for that purpose. We had three other cookstoves over the years, and two of them had tiny fireboxes, the other one had a large one but a very small oven. So some cookstoves have large fireboxes, large ovens [ours has two ovens], and can burn for hours on one load. The cookstove we have heats up about as fast as the Woodstock, for comparison. By "heats up," I mean it is putting out welcome heat in about the same time after lighting off the fire.

What you need to consider is how long the cookstove will remain hot. They are large appliances of iron and/or steel and, once hot, remain so for hours. This is good in colder climes, not so great in areas where you only want to knock off a chill in the morning and that's all.

By the way, there is no way our cookstove is as efficient burning the wood as the catalytic Woodstock soapstone, but it is pretty decent at it.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Id go for the one pictured .Probably between 5 and 10 K . looks fantastic!

 

[Joyboy]

There are a wide variety of cookstove designs. Some of the Amish cookstoves have a large fire box and put out lots of heat. I recently bought an Esse cook stove with a small fire box that puts out little heat but is a very efficient cooker. It might heat 100’ with the lids closed or 400 to 600’ with them opened. It is insulated and designed to cook on all year. It has two catylitic combusters in it so when it’s up to temp and cruising you can’t see any any smoke at all. Zero. It is very efficient.

 

[kennyp2339]

Choose a stove that doesn't need to be torn apart to much when doing regular cleaning and maintenance.

 

[Alpine1]

We have a long tradition of heating with cook stoves here (in fact, we own this: https://www.lanordica-extraflame.com/en/products/woodburning-cookers/termosuprema-compact-dsa).
Check De Manincor, Thermorossi or La Nordica-extraflame, Rizzoli cucine, Cadel Srl to see some. All have secondary burn and some reach more than 80% efficiency.
BUT always remember that a wood cooker is engineered for cooking rather than heating so: will a cook stove warm up your space? Of course yes, but seldom as efficiently as a wood stove does.

 

[coaly]

The Kitchen Queen 480 is our only heat source.
We heat just under 2000 sf. in NEPA, it is capable of heating 3000 sf.
Use the search feature at top right with my user name and Kitchen Queen key words for details of how we use it.
The main reason we went with that stove is the circulating direction around oven stays cleaner under oven and it has the largest stainless water heating tank at 25 gallons. They are also built for summer use with a raised summer grate for stove top cooking which doesn't heat the oven or overheat the house. I added a thermostat, but they are now available with one as well as glass firebox door.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/kitchen-queen-cookstove-update.137448/#post-1846902

 

[ToltingColtAcres]

I just use cast iron cookware, and one of these (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009PURJA/?tag=hearthamazon-20) on top of my existing wood stove.

 

[coaly]

I just use cast iron cookware, and one of these (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009PURJA/?tag=hearthamazon-20) on top of my existing wood stove.

No comparison;



Plus all the hot water you need;



We just went through 3 days without power due to severe storms here and was able to run a generator 3 hours daily to keep the fridge cold
and was able to cook on top and open the upper chimney outlet to prevent the stove from heating the house. This cookstove has an opening from firebox directly into chimney for starting, so it eliminates resistance from firebox to chimney. When closed the exhaust exits across stove top. So for summer use, you install a raised summer grate so the flames from a small fire are directly on pan bottoms, and when done cooking, open the vent into chimney to prevent unwanted heat. Cooking on top of a solid top wood stove is like a simmer burner. Removing a lid, you place the pan over firebox for direct contact with flame and they cook faster than a gas range. This is how you can do a massive amount of canning with this range. Most competing Amish brands use gauge metal for range and firebox. This is one of the few made of 1/4 inch steel plate. It is also much heavier. The gauge metal ranges buckle and warp when doing lots of canning. But I am referring to Amish families bringing their goods and doing an all night canning session. This stove will handle it year after year with no damage. With a cook stove you can't control the heat like a gas or electric range, you control heat by moving pots and pans around. With lid (eye) in place it is like a regular wood stove, then you move pans farther over the oven for cooler areas and far right for simmer.
The oven in a cook stove is sealed when closed, so it doesn't use air currents inside like stove top ovens and ranges. It doesn't dry out meats and is difficult to burn things in since it is a very moist heat. To prevent building up pressure when heated, there is a very small vent hole into chimney outlet, and that is the reason you could smell what was in the oven cooking outside. The first thing you learn is when using the oven for meats, the door will be wet when you open it, so have towels on the floor to catch the condensation that drips off the inside of door. All regular ovens dry food out by air circulation compared to a cook stove oven. It is very hard to brown a casserole with so much moisture present, even at higher cooking temperatures. It simply cooks quicker. With oven circulation "on" expect hotter oven temps than stack temp. So 300* surface temp on pipe = 600* internal pipe temp as well as 600* oven. The oven thermometer goes to 1000*f. The oven stays about 300* f without turning it on, so it's always ready. Leaving the oven door open at night increases heating capacity, but we learned NOT to open oven door until it is up to temp since it extracts too much heat and requires more frequent cleaning around oven. It always has a small amount of circulation around oven, so it is pre-heated and ready to turn on when you have a good fire and draft for oven cooking. We thought it would be a huge learning process, but we learned it very quickly.

We had our Fisher stoves in the middle of kitchen and couldn't do anything near what a true cook stove does. We use our antique stove top ovens for brad boxes now. They work great for storing homemade baked goods when not in use.

 

[Wolf1022008]

The stove is the heco 520 I highly recommend it heats the house better than the regular gas furnace and I mean the whole house

 

[coaly]

The stove is the heco 520 I highly recommend it heats the house better than the regular gas furnace and I mean the whole house

I'm glad I found someone with this cook stove.

Can you tell me with the smoke path the normal circulation from top, down side, across bottom, and up the back......Does the Heco have constant circulation or does it stop completely when oven control is closed? I realize the Heco is cleaner burning with secondary tubes and baffle. But the Queen has a certain amount of circulation around oven constantly which keeps it around 300* and ready to use anytime during winter. Leaving the oven door cracked overnight allows more heat into building increasing the heating area which is what the original poster questioned.

I guess my question is how can you cook fast on a cook top with baffles AND without removable eyes?
The ONLY thing we desire in the Queen is different size eyes called a "nest" that you remove a small center one for direct heat on small pans or tea kettle and can remove the rings making a larger open area under pans. I couldn't imagine heating the entire cook top (and house) to cook breakfast every morning.
With no removable lids, have you tried a Wok or round bottom pot for stir fry? I don't see how this stove could do that.

Also are the door gaskets glued in place the conventional way?

Edit; I found the gaskets are the Amish type that fold and insert without cement. It is actually an Amish built Breeo product from Lancaster PA. Which is a VERY close copy of the Kitchen Queen.

 

[Wolf1022008]

I'm glad I found someone with this cook stove.

Can you tell me with the smoke path the normal circulation from top, down side, across bottom, and up the back......Does the Heco have constant circulation or does it stop completely when oven control is closed? I realize the Heco is cleaner burning with secondary tubes and baffle. But the Queen has a certain amount of circulation around oven constantly which keeps it around 300* and ready to use anytime during winter. Leaving the oven door cracked overnight allows more heat into building increasing the heating area which is what the original poster questioned.

I guess my question is how can you cook fast on a cook top with baffles AND without removable eyes?
The ONLY thing we desire in the Queen is different size eyes called a "nest" that you remove a small center one for direct heat on small pans or tea kettle and can remove the rings making a larger open area under pans. I couldn't imagine heating the entire cook top (and house) to cook breakfast every morning.
With no removable lids, have you tried a Wok or round bottom pot for stir fry? I don't see how this stove could do that.

Also are the door gaskets glued in place the conventional way?

Edit; I found the gaskets are the Amish type that fold and insert without cement. It is actually an Amish built Breeo product from Lancaster PA. Which is a VERY close copy of the Kitchen Queen.

 

[Wolf1022008]

When baking the smoke goes down around under the oven and then out the top when you're not baking it goes to the left of the baffle and right off the top the left side of the cooktop stays in about seven hundred degrees so it cooks very well. The oven stays at about 300 350 degrees. The heco has a lot of upgrades that the kitchen Queen does it have like the way it sucks air up from the floor and pushes it out the vents on the stove to heat the house is very nice. The thermostatic draft control on the back is also a really nice upgrade. I like being able to completely take the cooktop off of the stove when I want to clean it. The airwash on the stove is awesome and the size of the glass doors is great too. Also I was able to get my heco from an Amish dealer here in Wisconsin for 3000 bucks which is a lot cheaper than what woody sells his for and cheaper than the kitchen Queen too.

 

[Wolf1022008]

When baking the smoke goes down around under the oven and then out the top when you're not baking it goes to the left of the baffle and right off the top the left side of the cooktop stays in about seven hundred degrees so it cooks very well. The oven stays at about 300 350 degrees. The heco has a lot of upgrades that the kitchen Queen does it have like the way it sucks air up from the floor and pushes it out the vents on the stove to heat the house is very nice. The thermostatic draft control on the back is also a really nice upgrade. I like being able to completely take the cooktop off of the stove when I want to clean it. The airwash on the stove is awesome and the size of the glass doors is great too. Also I was able to get my heco from an Amish dealer here in Wisconsin for 3000 bucks which is a lot cheaper than what woody sells his for and cheaper than the kitchen Queen too.

The heco is extremely easy to control 2 you leave the air wash completely open if your burning wood and you turn the thermostatic draft control to the number you want and that's it

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Might be a good idea in winter , but in summer a wood fire to cook is better outdoors. We dont even use our electric stove in summer very much. use a variety of outdoor grills.

 

[coaly]

Might be a good idea in winter , but in summer a wood fire to cook is better outdoors. We dont even use our electric stove in summer very much. use a variety of outdoor grills.

Wolf and Seasoned Oak;
We have a summer grate for the Kitchen Queen that adds little to no heat to the inside of house all summer.
In the morning we get eggs and the meat ready, usually scrapple, and remove lid over firebox. Dump a small waste basket of paper/ cardboard through the top. Add a few small pieces of kindling and open chimney vent that allows heat directly up chimney. Have the pan ready and light the fire on the raised grate. As it flames, the pan is the lid directly over flames. We like the non-stick aluminum flat griddle by All-Clad. Be ready to add food and keep it moving because it cooks fast. We set a Chinese type tea pot on top for 2 cups and when done leave chimney vent open and open air intake fully. This type cooking is faster than any electric stove top and hotter than a residential gas stove top burner. We have a commercial Garland gas range with star burners that burns twice as hot as a residential range and it is about as quick cooking on either here. We prefer wood for the stove top and only use gas in the summer for oven.*** If you open kitchen windows when cooler outside than inside, as the chimney cools, the draft through open intake (or firebox door) continues to draw outdoor air into the house until draft stops. This takes more heat out of the house than the cooking created.*** This is the same principal as using a fireplace to COOL a space. Open windows and burn paper/ cardboard to heat chimney. The rising hot gasses create enough low pressure in the house to allow more cooler outdoor air in than the heat that radiates inside.

I don't see how you could possibly do all that without removable lids. A wok also fits into the hole over firebox for stir fry. I'd estimate between 50,000 and 70,000 BTU wok burner, and I'm a retired gas man that maintains a Chinese Buffet so I'm familiar with setting up their jet wok burners from 80 to 100,000 BTU.

Our Queen is very easy to control as well, and I thought there would be a learning curve to cook and bake, but it was very easily learned. I added a thermostat as well on the back years ago which is the same design as used on the Heco today.

Look familiar? I designed it after having a talk with Duane the KQ builder. It has been in use for quite some time in the Amish community.

The Queen has the same air vents on the sides for circulation that work well, and we prefer a solid door over glass due to running much cooler. The Queen has a inner baffle plate on inside of door so the incoming air keeps the door cool. You can stand in front of it without roasting your legs. I don't see how you could stand in front of a glass door canning for hours. Adding glass doors to a stove that was purpose built takes away from the original purpose. They were not built to look pretty, much of the Amish religion being "plain" and a more complex term, the rejection of hochmut or not being prideful of oneself or the things we are a steward of while we are here. So the local Bishop agrees with ministers of an area, which products their church district will allow. (such as all the same color silo, buggy, or clothes) This alleviates all competition between anyone having anything "better" than the other, so the appliance that gets the vote is the one approved for the church body to use. When an Englisher (non Amish) makes a suggestion to an Amish company to make changes or do something for looks, there is a lot more to making a change than it appears. A glass door for instance is deemed to be useful to see the fire. If it wasn't for practical purposes, it would be voted down, and you would never see the change. So if you want Amish quality, you will end up with a utilitarian design with nothing fancy.

More info for the original poster asking about area heating; We have the 25 gallon stainless water heating tank on the back and it is advisable NOT to install the stainless water coil in firebox to help heat the water tank. It simply makes too much hot water causing steam and the vented cistern creates too much water vapor in the home. The water tank heats plenty using the edge of stove top where mounted. This is built for Amish use where it is the only water heating source where much more hot water is used. You can then use the firebox coil for a hot water holding tank with circulating system for radiant or baseboard heat in the farthest rooms from the stove. If you have a second floor, you don't need a circulator pump to move it. Be careful with how much baseboard or you will extract too much heat and be into a creosote forming scenario.

 

[Wolf1022008]

Wolf and Seasoned Oak;
We have a summer grate for the Kitchen Queen that adds little to no heat to the inside of house all summer.
In the morning we get eggs and the meat ready, usually scrapple, and remove lid over firebox. Dump a small waste basket of paper/ cardboard through the top. Add a few small pieces of kindling and open chimney vent that allows heat directly up chimney. Have the pan ready and light the fire on the raised grate. As it flames, the pan is the lid directly over flames. We like the non-stick aluminum flat griddle by All-Clad. Be ready to add food and keep it moving because it cooks fast. We set a Chinese type tea pot on top for 2 cups and when done leave chimney vent open and open air intake fully. This type cooking is faster than any electric stove top and hotter than a residential gas stove top burner. We have a commercial Garland gas range with star burners that burns twice as hot as a residential range and it is about as quick cooking on either here. We prefer wood for the stove top and only use gas in the summer for oven.*** If you open kitchen windows when cooler outside than inside, as the chimney cools, the draft through open intake (or firebox door) continues to draw outdoor air into the house until draft stops. This takes more heat out of the house than the cooking created.*** This is the same principal as using a fireplace to COOL a space. Open windows and burn paper/ cardboard to heat chimney. The rising hot gasses create enough low pressure in the house to allow more cooler outdoor air in than the heat that radiates inside.

I don't see how you could possibly do all that without removable lids. A wok also fits into the hole over firebox for stir fry. I'd estimate between 50,000 and 70,000 BTU wok burner, and I'm a retired gas man that maintains a Chinese Buffet so I'm familiar with setting up their jet wok burners from 80 to 100,000 BTU.

Our Queen is very easy to control as well, and I thought there would be a learning curve to cook and bake, but it was very easily learned. I added a thermostat as well on the back years ago which is the same design as used on the Heco today.
View attachment 226986 View attachment 226985 View attachment 226984
Look familiar? I designed it after having a talk with Duane the KQ builder. It has been in use for quite some time in the Amish community.

The Queen has the same air vents on the sides for circulation that work well, and we prefer a solid door over glass due to running much cooler. The Queen has a inner baffle plate on inside of door so the incoming air keeps the door cool. You can stand in front of it without roasting your legs. I don't see how you could stand in front of a glass door canning for hours. Adding glass doors to a stove that was purpose built takes away from the original purpose. They were not built to look pretty, much of the Amish religion being "plain" and a more complex term, the rejection of hochmut or not being prideful of oneself or the things we are a steward of while we are here. So the local Bishop agrees with ministers of an area, which products their church district will allow. (such as all the same color silo, buggy, or clothes) This alleviates all competition between anyone having anything "better" than the other, so the appliance that gets the vote is the one approved for the church body to use. When an Englisher (non Amish) makes a suggestion to an Amish company to make changes or do something for looks, there is a lot more to making a change than it appears. A glass door for instance is deemed to be useful to see the fire. If it wasn't for practical purposes, it would be voted down, and you would never see the change. So if you want Amish quality, you will end up with a utilitarian design with nothing fancy.

More info for the original poster asking about area heating; We have the 25 gallon stainless water heating tank on the back and it is advisable NOT to install the stainless water coil in firebox to help heat the water tank. It simply makes too much hot water causing steam and the vented cistern creates too much water vapor in the home. The water tank heats plenty using the edge of stove top where mounted. This is built for Amish use where it is the only water heating source where much more hot water is used. You can then use the firebox coil for a hot water holding tank with circulating system for radiant or baseboard heat in the farthest rooms from the stove. If you have a second floor, you don't need a circulator pump to move it. Be careful with how much baseboard or you will extract too much heat and be into a creosote forming scenario.

The one thing I wish my heco had was a summer grate I don't think it wold work to well with the baffle plates though.the reason I got the glass doors is because I love watching the fire when I get home at night.