K.I.S.S......

[Seanbear]

Keep It Simple Stupid...........Thats how I look at wood burning. They have been doing it forever, with way less than we have access to. I couldnt even run a modern stove, with the air controls, smoke free glass, huge fire box, and the worst, the Cat......they are expensive for a car , so I figured they are for stoves too, probably more. They look NICE, the enamled ones, but just out of my leauge, and I would probably mess it up. K.I.S.S is my theroy, just my 2 cents.

 

[bholler]

Keep It Simple Stupid...........Thats how I look at wood burning. They have been doing it forever, with way less than we have access to. I couldnt even run a modern stove, with the air controls, smoke free glass, huge fire box, and the worst, the Cat......they are expensive for a car , so I figured they are for stoves too, probably more. They look NICE, the enamled ones, but just out of my leauge, and I would probably mess it up. K.I.S.S is my theroy, just my 2 cents.

You do realize running many modern stoves is no more complicated than running old ones correctly right? You have an air control you get the stove up to temp then shut it back. It really is that simple. The glass door just makes it easier because you can see the fire

 

[bholler]

Also I am not sure what you mean by they are expensive for a car. Comparing new to new the most expensive regular woodburning stoves top out at $5000 but you can get decent ones around $1000 to $1500. Try to find a new car for that. Comparing used to used you can get a really nice used stove for $1500 or less. A used car that costs $1500 is not going to be nice at all without allot of work

 

[clux]

Also I am not sure what you mean by they are expensive for a car. Comparing new to new the most expensive regular woodburning stoves top out at $5000 but you can get decent ones around $1000 to $1500. Try to find a new car for that. Comparing used to used you can get a really nice used stove for $1500 or less. A used car that costs $1500 is not going to be nice at all without allot of work

I think he's talking about the cost of catalysts for cars and stoves, which are expensive because of the price of palladium/platinum.

 

[stoveliker]

He's talking about cats being expensive on a car, and thus for stoves too.


My view is that yes, they cost. It's not crazy though (for under $300 I'll be good for 5-6 years, I estimate.

But it's not a gimmick. It's a tool that expands the BTU output range to lower ranges than otherwise possible. Tools for extra functionality are sometimes worth it.

For me a cat.or tubes are worth it, because I get more heat out of a pound of wood. And because I put less crap in the great outdoors, so me and you can enjoy that longer.

For me the cat is worth it.
If.you only run your stove at the high end of the output range, then a tube stove would be better. (And you should have bought a larger stove.)


Finally, all this technology has resulted in our live spans being longer these days. So the extra (apparently complicated, for some folks) tools on my stove, and all the other complicated technology out there, are worth it for me.

I like my doctor being able to scan for a tumor rather than having to do an autopsy.

That is my "keep it simple" thinking.

 

[bholler]

Ok thanks guys I didn't get that. Stove cats can be pretty expensive but if you don't want to pay for cats get a noncat

 

[EatenByLimestone]

The OPs post is open to all sorts of interpretation.

Wood burning is what you make of it IMO. If you have dry wood and a correct chimney, it’s pretty simple regardless of the stove you run.

Start straying from those 2 things and it gets more complicated… quickly.

 

[ABMax24]

I guess I'm of the opposite mindset of the OP. I like technology and the advancements that come with it. I like fuel injection over carburetors, common rail direct injection over mechanical injection, I like my computer, internet and smart phone. If someone built a stove with electronic controls and a wack of sensors with a cool digital display with live telemetry I'd probably like that too.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Like a pellet stove?

 

[bholler]

I guess I'm of the opposite mindset of the OP. I like technology and the advancements that come with it. I like fuel injection over carburetors, common rail direct injection over mechanical injection, I like my computer, internet and smart phone. If someone built a stove with electronic controls and a wack of sensors with a cool digital display with live telemetry I'd probably like that too.

I am somewhere in the middle. I don't want electronics on my woodstove. But the simple clean burn options are fantastic.

 

[clux]

Like a pellet stove?

They come with high tech fuel too, uniform size, uniform density, kiln dried, clean packaging, what's not to love?

 

[Seanbear]

My Brother Inlaw has a pellet stove. He likes it, but hes already having trouble finding pellets. Then he needs a truck and trailer to get it all home. I think he bought a pallet the other day. It may last him all winter, who knows? But pellets arent free, and wood is sometimes if youre lucky!

 

[stoveliker]

They come with high tech fuel too, uniform size, uniform density, kiln dried, clean packaging, what's not to love?

My fuel is "nature's own"; no packaging material to dispose of, a nice variety for different types of weather, dried without using any (fossil) fuel, and my stove still heats my home well when the power is out.

And while I subscribe to ABMax's philosophy, I would not buy a wood stove with electric controls. The stove is meant to also heat my home when the power is out, without having to hook up a generator. And I see too many posts here about this light is blinking, but that part doesn't do what it needs to do. It would frustrate the h*ll out of me. I prefer a modern stove with the control based purely on mechanical physics (e.g. quantity of secondary air depending on the strength of the draft, or thermostat based on simple thermal expansion coefficients). In that respect, I do like "keeping it simple".

 

[clux]

My fuel is "nature's own"; no packaging material to dispose of, a nice variety for different types of weather, dried without using any (fossil) fuel, and my stove still heats my home well when the power is out.

And while I subscribe to ABMax's philosophy, I would not buy a wood stove with electric controls. The stove is meant to also heat my home when the power is out, without having to hook up a generator. And I see too many posts here about this light is blinking, but that part doesn't do what it needs to do. It would frustrate the h*ll out of me. I prefer a modern stove with the control based purely on mechanical physics (e.g. quantity of secondary air depending on the strength of the draft, or thermostat based on simple thermal expansion coefficients). In that respect, I do like "keeping it simple".

I have a wood stove in one end of the house, pellet stove in the other. They both have their merits.

 

[stoveliker]

Absolutely

 

[kennyp2339]

I generally approach life with the kiss method, the simplest kiss approach with wood is just making sure your ahead with a dry supply, the wheels seem to come off the rails is one shape or another when the fuel isnt as good as it should be with stoves.

 

[Eman85]

Keep It Simple Stupid...........Thats how I look at wood burning. They have been doing it forever, with way less than we have access to. I couldnt even run a modern stove, with the air controls, smoke free glass, huge fire box, and the worst, the Cat......they are expensive for a car , so I figured they are for stoves too, probably more. They look NICE, the enamled ones, but just out of my leauge, and I would probably mess it up. K.I.S.S is my theroy, just my 2 cents.

I think your philosophy is correct. A lot of the technology of woodburning is like the technology of automobiles. People that learned to drive cars with no power everything and gov't mandated safety equipment seem to be more in tune with the actual operating of the vehicle. It's much the same with wood burning. If you burned wood because that was all you had in a basic woodstove you learned from the basics how it all worked. Then if you wanted to put bells whistles and meters on your stove to monitor everything technology helped you. But if you knew how to operate without all of it you didn't worry if your meter quit as you knew how to operate without it.

 

[bholler]

I think your philosophy is correct. A lot of the technology of woodburning is like the technology of automobiles. People that learned to drive cars with no power everything and gov't mandated safety equipment seem to be more in tune with the actual operating of the vehicle. It's much the same with wood burning. If you burned wood because that was all you had in a basic woodstove you learned from the basics how it all worked. Then if you wanted to put bells whistles and meters on your stove to monitor everything technology helped you. But if you knew how to operate without all of it you didn't worry if your meter quit as you knew how to operate without it.

Again the vast majority of modern stoves are still very simple. A simple thermometer is all that is needed to run it properly. Other than a good chimney and good fuel.

 

[ericm979]

I went with a reburn type EPA stove on the theory that they're just as good as the cat stoves without the hassle of the cat. Only later did I find out that cat stoves can run at a lower setting for longer burns. Between my stove's 2.5cf firebox, 35' chimney and the lowest air setting not being that low, it can't go over night without a reload. I'd eagerly trade cat maintenance and occasional replacement for that.

(and yes reading here I could add a damper but it's dual wall insulated pipe and it's sealed up in a chase where I can't get to it without destroying something and having to rebuild it)

Working in tech and seeing how often it fails, I prefer simpler solutions but will trade a bit of complexity for a real performance gain. My ideal now if I had a different house would be a free standing cat stove instead of the EPA ZC fireplace we used for space reasons.

 

[bholler]

I went with a reburn type EPA stove on the theory that they're just as good as the cat stoves without the hassle of the cat. Only later did I find out that cat stoves can run at a lower setting for longer burns. Between my stove's 2.5cf firebox, 35' chimney and the lowest air setting not being that low, it can't go over night without a reload. I'd eagerly trade cat maintenance and occasional replacement for that.

(and yes reading here I could add a damper but it's dual wall insulated pipe and it's sealed up in a chase where I can't get to it without destroying something and having to rebuild it)

Working in tech and seeing how often it fails, I prefer simpler solutions but will trade a bit of complexity for a real performance gain. My ideal now if I had a different house would be a free standing cat stove instead of the EPA ZC fireplace we used for space reasons.

A cat won't change anything you will still have excessive draft leading to controllability issues.

There are benifits to cat stoves as well as noncats. But they all have to be installed to manufacturers specs.

 

[Seanbear]

I like my little cast iron wood burner. It works for my needs. No glass window, but I got it for the free heat mostly.

 

[fvhowler]

I'm all for burning as clean as reasonable. I like the technolgy in new stoves but I don't want burning wood to become so automated that it sanitizes the procress of tending to the stove. Yes, KISS but with some legitimate technological advances, not just bells and whistles. That being said, everyone has their reasons for burning wood.

 

[fvhowler]

Again the vast majority of modern stoves are still very simple. A simple thermometer is all that is needed to run it properly. Other than a good chimney and good fuel.

bholler - if a stove thermometer is essential, why don't manufacturers build them into the the stove? My H300 stove does not have a place for a magnetic thermometer to get an accurate reading. I do have a probe thermometer in my double wall pipe.

 

[stoveliker]

I think the thermometers are not engineered in the stove (other than with good cat stoves, but that is to monitor the cat, not the stove itself), because *flue* thermometers is what is needed imo. Not stove top thermometers.
And flues don't come with the stove.

 

[bholler]

bholler - if a stove thermometer is essential, why don't manufacturers build them into the the stove? My H300 stove does not have a place for a magnetic thermometer to get an accurate reading. I do have a probe thermometer in my double wall pipe.

Because they typically work best in the pipe not on the stove unless it's a cat stove. Which typically do have thermometers. Now I do wish they included remote thermometers with inserts