Hello..new member

[Jason721]

Hello everyone. .what a great forum. If it wasn't for this place and all the helpful information here a year ago I would have drug my epa stove out and threw it in a sinkhole on the farm somewhere. I have an old grandma bear fisher in my insulated pole barn and growing up mom and dad had a momma bear fisher. .those were what I was use to using..
Last year the wife and I decided to install a wood stove in our 1100sqft home...so we ended up buying a century s244 figuring it would be nice for supplemental heat. For a couple of months last year I really thought it was a total piece of junk and a waist of money. ..thank goodness for this place...I found out real quick it wasn't the stove it was me and the unseasoned wood I was trying to use..after that I ended up buying some seasoned wood and mixing it with what I had cut to get by last winter. And I still wasn't all that impressed with this tiny stove....this year it's a whole new game. ..I started much earlier in my wood cutting and also got a moisture meter and a stove top temp gauge....wood has been checking 13-17 percent moisture. .the little stove is burning much much better this season. .cruises along at 500* or so. And now I like this stove...just needs a bit more attention than what I'm use to and a bit of a learning curve..but I think I got it now thanks to this place and all the very helpful information here..

 

[moresnow]

Welcome to the crowd! Got a soft spot in my heart for the 244. Used one a couple years. Keep a eye on the door and glass gaskets. Huge influence on burn times. Two 244's in my buddy group. Both stoves nuked the gaskets in 2 seasons. Replaced and all good. Sucker pumps the heat eh!

 

[Jason721]

Thanks for the heads up. .so far everything is looking good.
Where did you get your replacement parts?

 

[Blazing]

Hello everyone. .what a great forum. If it wasn't for this place and all the helpful information here a year ago I would have drug my epa stove out and threw it in a sinkhole on the farm somewhere. I have an old grandma bear fisher in my insulated pole barn and growing up mom and dad had a momma bear fisher. .those were what I was use to using..
Last year the wife and I decided to install a wood stove in our 1100sqft home...so we ended up buying a century s244 figuring it would be nice for supplemental heat. For a couple of months last year I really thought it was a total piece of junk and a waist of money. ..thank goodness for this place...I found out real quick it wasn't the stove it was me and the unseasoned wood I was trying to use..after that I ended up buying some seasoned wood and mixing it with what I had cut to get by last winter. And I still wasn't all that impressed with this tiny stove....this year it's a whole new game. ..I started much earlier in my wood cutting and also got a moisture meter and a stove top temp gauge....wood has been checking 13-17 percent moisture. .the little stove is burning much much better this season. .cruises along at 500* or so. And now I like this stove...just needs a bit more attention than what I'm use to and a bit of a learning curve..but I think I got it now thanks to this place and all the very helpful information here..

Welcome!

 

[moresnow]

My replacement gaskets came from our local farm fleet store.

 

[Woody Stover]

Alright, another southern Hoser! Now, are you a true southern Hoosier, or one of these guys claiming that Bloomington is south.
No doubt, dry wood makes all the difference. When you get to three years split and stacked, it really gets good.
What species of wood are you burning? 13-17% sounds low for just one season of drying. If you have a wood lot to pick over, you can find a bunch of dead stuff out there that will be ready to go, especially small 6-8" dead standing with the bark off. Black Cherry is quite rot-resistant; I've found 12" trunks lying around that had all the sapwood rotted off, but the heart was still in great shape and it was ready to burn. Black Locust is about the longest-burning stuff we have, except Hedge. BL can be lying around forever, yet never rots.

 

[Jason721]

right, another southern Hoser! Now, are you a true southern Hoosier, or one of these guys claiming that Bloomington is south.
No doubt, dry wood makes all the difference. When you get to three years split and stacked, it really gets good.
What species of wood are you burning? 13-17% sounds low for just one season of drying. If you have a wood lot to pick over, you can find a bunch of dead stuff out there that will be ready to go, especially small 6-8" dead standing with the bark off. Black Cherry is quite rot-resistant; I've found 12" trunks lying around that had all the sapwood rotted off, but the heart was still in great shape and it was ready to burn. Black Locust is about the longest-burning stuff we have, except Hedge. BL can be lying around forever, yet never

Wife and I live on a small farm and wood is plenty. my wood I'm burning now I had cut late last winter early spring. Popular, cherry and alot of walnut tops from logs i had sold in the spring. I do split them very very small because of the size of my stove.. i do however have a hard time believing my moisture meter at times but the wood is burning great..much better than last year's mess. Stove top temps are looking good..only get chimney smoke one first fire up and reloads..
Im thinking for the wood I have cut for the house I'm about 2 years ahead now..and still cutting.

 

[Woody Stover]

Tulip Poplar dries really fast, Cherry is pretty fast, Walnut probably a little slower but I haven't dried much. About the only Walnut I've burned was from a 20 yr. old top I found out there..that was bone-dry. White Ash is pretty quick as well, and will burn longer than the others mentioned. Plenty of dead Ash around. Hate to lose that specie but we will have plenty of quick drying, easy splitting wood until it is gone.

 

[Jason721]

This coming week I will be cutting up some red oak and ash. Wish I had some of it ready and seasoned now. .
Walnut burns pretty good for me..I like the popular early season and late season and use it when I first fire the stove. Nice just to knock the chill off..Saturday morning was fairly cool here (27* F) so I mixed walnut with the cherry..got a nice warm fire and a decent burn time as good as can be expected from such a small stove

 

[Woody Stover]

decent burn time as good as can be expected from such a small stove

I see on the Menards website that they are calling it a 1.3 cu.ft. firebox. Those mfgr. claims can be deceiving...I like to measure it myself, counting only usable, easy-to-load space in the firebox. My little Keystone measures about 1.5 or a bit under, but will burn a good long time if load 'er up with Dogwood, Hickory or Black Locust.

 

[Jason721]

That is something I never thought about was measuring the fire box myself. ..until I found this forum. Although I don't regret buying such a small stove. The plan was we were only going to burn some of the time after work in the evening and the weekends..now we find ourselves burning everyday. We just now decided... maybe...to upgrade to a medium size stove...but we do like the look of the s2444 stove and like the looks of it in our small home. So it make it hard to switch it out.

 

[Woody Stover]

The plan was we were only going to burn some of the time after work in the evening and the weekends..now we find ourselves burning everyday. We just now decided... maybe...to upgrade to a medium size stove

That's classic. Seems that quite a few people start out like that, just wanting to supplement. Then they find that they really enjoy heating with wood and want to minimize their use of other fuels as much as possible. There are a lot of good plate-steel non-cats out there. I think I would prefer welded seams to minimize maintenance. One that is intriguing to me is the Pacific Energy line. They may be a bit pricier than some value plate-steel stove. They are supposed to burn long and be easy to service. The Super 27 might be a good choice if it's not too big for 1100 sq.ft. That would depend on the level of air-sealing and insulation in your home. And also how far south you are. Down here, close to KY, it stays several degrees warmer than it does up around Indy.

 

[Jason721]

Winters here isn't to bad..I'm in Jefferson County. .it seems here lately all I do is look at stoves englander, us stove, summers heat, and even the Pacific Energy. The house is fairly open..2 bedroom single bath in the back of the house. Kitchen and our sitting area with the stove is in the front.
It has a half loft with very tall cathedral ceilings. Two ceiling fans down stairs one up stairs. It moves heat nicely throughout the house..our windows was a huge problem last year. This spring we had all new windows installed. ..we really notice a huge difference in heating and cooling with the new windows.
I thing my problem going with a much larger stove would be my chimney. With a 10/12 pitch any more length added would be a real pain. Cleaning it would be a real nightmare. .it's just kinda scary now

 

[redktmrider]

I thing my problem going with a much larger stove would be my chimney. With a 10/12 pitch any more length added would be a real pain. Cleaning it would be a real nightmare. .it's just kinda scary now

The nice thing about a some of the PE stoves is that the baffle comes out as an assembly, making bottom up cleaning with a soot eater very easy.
Just replace the baffle gasket when re-installing the baffle and your ready to go.

 

[Jason721]

sooteater! I had no idea there was such a thing. I had to look that up..looks to be alot better than climbing on a steep roof.
This a great place! Wealth of information. Thanks guys. Opens the door to getting a medium size stove and keeping the chimney cleaned safely.

 

[BKVP]

Alright, another southern Hoser! Now, are you a true southern Hoosier, or one of these guys claiming that Bloomington is south.
No doubt, dry wood makes all the difference. When you get to three years split and stacked, it really gets good.
What species of wood are you burning? 13-17% sounds low for just one season of drying. If you have a wood lot to pick over, you can find a bunch of dead stuff out there that will be ready to go, especially small 6-8" dead standing with the bark off. Black Cherry is quite rot-resistant; I've found 12" trunks lying around that had all the sapwood rotted off, but the heart was still in great shape and it was ready to burn. Black Locust is about the longest-burning stuff we have, except Hedge. BL can be lying around forever, yet never rots.

You know Woody, I,m not certain how you define Southern, but I just spent 5 days in Oldenburg and watched deer run around....Nice country, beautiful homes!

 

[Woody Stover]

Woody, I,m not certain how you define Southern, but I just spent 5 days in Oldenburg

I give the Bloomington guys a little grief but they can get away with calling themselves 'southern' if you divide the state into northern and southern. That's the general area where Oldenburg and @Jason721 are. Not exactly sure where @redktmrider is..
I live close enough to KY that we are required by law to drink bourbon. Shhhh, I just stumbled across some Riverwest Stein beer, named for the Milwaukee 'hood where I was living when I met my wife-to-be. My brother turned me on to this beer several years back at Summerfest on a 90* day. One slug of that draft and I said "OK, this is my new favorite beer!"
By the way redktmrider, how you like burning that Black Cherry, if you were able to get it dry enough over the summer? It's pretty much my go-to low-output wood. Sometimes I will yank the stove door open real fast, just so I can smoke out the room a bit and smell that delicious aroma.

 

[Woody Stover]

just spent 5 days in Oldenburg and watched deer run around....Nice country

I've never been to that area east of Bloomington but there is some beautiful hilly country between the southwest corner of the state and Bloomington..and more deer than you can shake a stick at. Pretty sure that Jason721 has some nice terrain in his area as well..

 

[redktmrider]

I give the Bloomington guys a little grief but they can get away with calling themselves 'southern' if you divide the state into northern and southern. That's the general area where Oldenburg and @Jason721 are. Not exactly sure where @redktmrider is..

I'm in the North Vernon Vernon area, Jennings county.
Is that far enough south Woody?

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm in the North Vernon Vernon area, Jennings county.
Is that far enough south Woody?

OK, OK, I guess I have to give you Bloomington area guys a pass..it's south of Indy anyhow. Us Hosers should be one big, happy family anyway, right? I shouldn't be nit-picking over geography.
Back when I played more golf, my local buddies and I would get up to Columbus at least once a year to play Otter Creek. Another longtime WI buddy owns a house right across from the entrance to the course. He's a member so these days it's a freebee on the rare occasions that I make it up there.