im new, on my second stove

[cb550chopper]

i got a wood stocker stove (really cheap) thought it looked great and would heat my house built in heater stove looked huge i only have a 1000 square foot ranch, i used it for a week with a ton of problems i cut my own wood a mix of hard woods and some burch. 1 problem i cut my wood to 18" lengths and the stove burn aera was too small, 2 cause it didnt hold much wood it wouldnt go more than 4-5 hours even with the stove full, 3 it didnt make much heat going threw wood alot it would only make my house 70, its in the basement but i vented it, lastly and the reason i un hooked and sold it it made alot of smoke and build up in the chiminy made me nervous with a non epa stove so i found a deal on a newer stove it looked small but cheap so i grabbed it its a england stove works 18-tr it uses half the wood and im still at 70 in the house, my only issue now is i need a trick to get the stove to go all night. fully packed with wood it will go 5-6 hours. it has no adjustment for the air vent just has a damper i close it up all the time i love this stove just wish i could it it to stay lite 8 hours any ideas

horrible stove

my new stove i need alittle help with

 

[cb550chopper]

you guys think i just need a bigger stove? i paid 25 bucks for the wood stocker sold it for 200 and got the england stove works for 175. should i just try to sell the new stove and go bigger? i could get a fisher papa bear for 200 but its non epa

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Welcome to the forum!

I think getting 5-6 hours of burning from that stove is pretty good. You may be able to stretch it out further with more experience burning it. Sometimes stoves will run a little different if you put wood in a different way, place the wood on a bed of coals arranged a certain way, etc.

I'd try different ways of burning it to see how things go.

Matt

 

[cb550chopper]

one more question with damper open or closed will the stove make more heat? i always keep mine close except when i open door, thinking that i dont wana loose heat out the chiminy, is that correct?

i was also thinking of trying those press wood bricks look like giant pellets just for night time do those burn slow? guy at trctor supply says they burn slow and hot but hes trying to sell them so of corse he says that

 

[Oldhippie]

Basements are hard to heat. You'll read here that a cement basement will suck up lot's of heat that you'll wish would be going upstairs to heat your actual house.

Wood stoves are much more efficient when they are local to the area they are trying to heat. You're heating the whole basement in order to feed some of the heat to the upstairs, which is the real target. I'm not the expert some of these guys are, but it is my guess that is a big part of your problem here. Is there anyway to place that stove on the first floor of the house?

If the stove must sit in the basement, I think a larger stove is needed. I would very much advise a EPA stove for numerous reasons, but primarily because with a large non-EPA you'll waste a lot of wood heating that basement. Which is a shame as it looks like it isn't really your daily living space.

 

[begreen]

Exactly right. About 30+% of the stoves heat is headed outdoors through the uninsulated basement walls.

 

[dafattkidd]

Welcome cb, where are you located? Although it sounds like your biggest problem is trying to heat your living space from an unfinished basement, a little more info may be helpful. How long ago was that wood cut and split? How large are your splits? Do you have any intentions of finishing that space at some point? You've come to the right place for solid honest info, and a great group of helpful woodburners.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum cb.

I can spot at least one problem just from your picture. Possibly two. First, is there any rise in that horizontal section of flue pipe? It looks more like a drop than level or rise. You need at least 1/4" rise per foot of horizontal. We give ours around 1/2" rise per foot.

Second, I see a nice sized round log sitting on the floor. Whoa! Big problem. Question. How long after you cut your wood do you let it dry? How do you let it dry and why do you not split the log? Wood won't dry much at all except on the very ends of the logs until it is split. That is the reason for splitting wood. And it also depends much on the type of wood you burn on how long you need to let it dry. Most wood needs at least a year after being split to dry properly and then it also should be stacked outside in a very windy spot. Sun is good but wind will dry the wood faster than sun will. And if that wood happens to be oak, around our house we won't think about burning oak until it has been 3 years in the stack.

As you no doubt have learned, it is sometimes good to try to save dollars by going cheap but not always. Sometimes it pays to spend a bit more to get it right the first time. Especially with something that has a fire in it, I do not want to go cheap.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

Dennis beat me to it. I saw the horizontal pitch of the flue being less than level with no upwards pitch too. Cool looking stove, tough working space, being in the basement with no insulation. I hope you have alot of dry wood to feed it.

 

[cb550chopper]

i get my wood from property my dad owns theres grapple loads of logs all over been sitting 2-3 years not cut i cut them into 18" lengths and ive been splitting them, i split that one before i used it the wood seems to be very dry some is actually alittle rotted but only a few, but it was free. i do plan on finishing the basement eventualy probly year or 2. id put the stove up stairs but the house is only 996 square feet so theres not a ton of room. im 25 i bought the house on my own and ive been fixing it up slowly as i can. i also have a 3 year old daughter and my wife worries about her around the stove if it was up stairs. i was worried about my chimny being like it is but ive had no problems with it. im in mass and its been in the low 30s for a couple days and this little stove is keeping the house 68-71 so i guess thats not to bad. im just trying to heat the house for free since money is tight. and geting up in middle of night to load stove sucks

and the names zach thanks for the welcomes and the help

oldhippie never seen someone else from ashby mass on a forum lol

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

considering the circumstances and that the wood is readily available you should make out by getting some free heat for this winter.

 

[etiger2007]

Well the kiddo will only touch it once guaranteed. Wood still retains moisture until the wood is cut split and stacked in most cases. Welcome to the forum and good luck you picked a great way to save money and have some self realiance.

 

[cb550chopper]

i havent used any oil this winter so far so good, i hope to finish basement and might switch to pellet heating over the next couple of years.

 

[Oldhippie]

i get my wood from property my dad owns theres grapple loads of logs all over been sitting 2-3 years not cut i cut them into 18" lengths and ive been splitting them, i split that one before i used it the wood seems to be very dry some is actually alittle rotted but only a few, but it was free. i do plan on finishing the basement eventualy probly year or 2. id put the stove up stairs but the house is only 996 square feet so theres not a ton of room. im 25 i bought the house on my own and ive been fixing it up slowly as i can. i also have a 3 year old daughter and my wife worries about her around the stove if it was up stairs. i was worried about my chimny being like it is but ive had no problems with it. im in mass and its been in the low 30s for a couple days and this little stove is keeping the house 68-71 so i guess thats not to bad. im just trying to heat the house for free since money is tight. and geting up in middle of night to load stove sucks

and the names zach thanks for the welcomes and the help

oldhippie never seen someone else from ashby mass on a forum lol

Zach getting the stove onto the main floor would be a mega-benefit in the real winter we're going to have shortly. When my kids were 3ish we put up a screen that wrapped around the stove on 3 sides and prevented them from getting too close. There are places around that sell some nicely reconditioned big "smoke dragons" that you could use in that installation in the basement, given the full supply of wood you have. They are pretty cheap. Or, you could pick you an Englander 30NC from Home Depot that would burn easily burn through the night.. but they're like $900.

What you've got isn't bad, but it is going to need regular feeding when it gets into the deeper winter. It's like cars and bikes, "there ain't no replacement for displacement". Can you or the wifely unit feed the stove during the day time? I know lot's of people that buy stoves and then don't use them much when they find out how much work they are to feed them, so you can find them on CL and places.

Any chance you can eliminate that long horizontal run where you've got it? That isn't doing you any favors either.

What you've got isn't bad, but heating the basement is taking a lot of the oomph out of that nice stove. All the same, keeping the basement warm will help minimize your need to burn oil, it's much better than nothing and will definitely help.

Welcome to the forum. I'm over on Piper Road, feed the woodstoves all winter, ride my scooters all the rest of the time.

 

[dafattkidd]

Zach,

Getting started with a young family is always a challenge. I'm 32 and we're still piecing it together (moving in the right direction, thank God). It's good that you have access to free wood. You will get the best results with that wood by splitting and stacking as much of it as you can. Most of us burn between 3 and 4 cords/year, and try to get at least two years ahead. Of course, working full time, having a young family, keeping up with house repairs etc, doesn't always make for this to be an easy task. I think if you work out the kinks in your chimney and get that wood split and stacked you'll make it ok through the winter. If some how you can scrounge up the cash for an Englander NC30, you'll have a significant improvement. Either way, as most of us have found, heating with wood is a huge improvement over oil heat.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

i get my wood from property my dad owns theres grapple loads of logs all over been sitting 2-3 years not cut i cut them into 18" lengths and ive been splitting them, i split that one before i used it the wood seems to be very dry some is actually alittle rotted but only a few, but it was free. i do plan on finishing the basement eventualy probly year or 2. id put the stove up stairs but the house is only 996 square feet so theres not a ton of room. im 25 i bought the house on my own and ive been fixing it up slowly as i can. i also have a 3 year old daughter and my wife worries about her around the stove if it was up stairs. i was worried about my chimny being like it is but ive had no problems with it. im in mass and its been in the low 30s for a couple days and this little stove is keeping the house 68-71 so i guess thats not to bad. im just trying to heat the house for free since money is tight. and geting up in middle of night to load stove sucks

and the names zach thanks for the welcomes and the help

oldhippie never seen someone else from ashby mass on a forum lol

That part highlighted in red is like a red flag. That would could sit there 10 years and still be full of moisture! However, if it had been cut to length and split then stacked where wind hits it so Mother Nature will do her thing and dry that wood for you, then it would be good. But keep in mind that different types of wood take different amounts of time to dry to the proper moisture content before burning. For example, I'll burn soft maple in 6 months after being split and stacked in the wind but won't touch oak until it has been in the stack for 3 years or more.

As for the 3 year old, I grew up in a family with 4 kids. We also had 2 kids. None of us got burned. I recall too when we would have company and the women would worry themselves sick about the little one getting burned. It takes very little for them to learn! But one can also put up a fence if extremely worried.

 

[dafattkidd]

A lot of guys on here talk about having no problems with kids and the stove. My father in law has a small house, had five kids and a coal stove, and he never had a problem. In fact the only one who ever got burned on that thing is me when I was in collage I literally burned my butt making jokes and playing around.

That said, we put a hearth gate up immediately after installing our insert in our house. I'm not that concerned with my kids touching the stove I'm more concerned about one of them falling into it while flying off the couch or booking around the living room.

 

[cb550chopper]

my problem is the house is soo small putting it up stairs would be in the way big time. and i plan on finishing the basment its on my to do list witch seems to be growing faster than i can keep up. but anyways ive been looking at a blaze king stove lady wants 200 for it and i can get 200 for my stove would it be worth it and could i reduce an 8" flu to a 6"?

this is the stove
(broken link removed to http://worcester.craigslist.org/for/3434072582.html)

 

[Oldhippie]

my problem is the house is soo small putting it up stairs would be in the way big time. and i plan on finishing the basment its on my to do list witch seems to be growing faster than i can keep up. but anyways ive been looking at a blaze king stove lady wants 200 for it and i can get 200 for my stove would it be worth it and could i reduce an 8" flu to a 6"?

this is the stove
(broken link removed to http://worcester.craigslist.org/for/3434072582.html)

 

[Oldhippie]

Zach, we understand about the lack of space upstairs.

You can reduce the size of the flue, I have no idea how that will impact the performance of the stove.. hopefully it wouldn't be an issue. I know nothing about those stoves, but I do know that lots of older stoves have internal damage, particularly to the cat housings that make them pretty useless as heaters. So you really need to take a strong look at it's internals before you bother to buy it, transport it and hook it up.

That said, it looks like it would have more volume and heating capability than your present stove.

Like cars, there may be a reason it's for sale cheap on CL. Just buyer beware is all I'm saying. It is a pretty stove.