Kineo steel dome wood furnace

[mainepirate]

I have gotten a lot of good information from reading the posts here, but have never had to ask a question before. In the basement of our very old Maine farmhouse is a kineo steel dome wood furnace made in Bangor ME. Does anyone know anything about them? We know that it has been used for many years until my husband's grandmother got too old to use it. Her father always used it to heat the house also. It probably is original to the house as it is built into a pit in the basement. The pit has steps going down to it. We have been told that it actually kept the house warm in the winter. Something we have failed to do even with two woodstock soapstone fireview wood stoves (love them though)(bought used, but great condition), as well as a monitor heater and a gas heater in two other rooms. Yes, we have been insulating and putting in new windows. I am just getting desperate for staying warm. We have even closed off some of the rooms. Wood is free for us as we have a wood lot and my husband actually likes to go cut wood and wouldn't mind the fact that it isn't efficient. It looks like it has some kind of tube for the smoke to go up through before heading to the chimney. We are told that it lasts the night with a stoking. We would just like some extra heat until we can finish insulating and sealing up the house. (some year) But I don't want to use it till we know more about it. Thanks for any information on this beast in our basement. Sorry about the long post.