Need Suggestion for a Big Heat producing Woodstove

[Scotty Dive]

My situation:
Cape Style house with center field stone chimney with woodstove pad in basement and 8" flue with heat registers into first floor living space. Flue is ~30ft. I have been burning for quite a while (10 years) and had a VC Vigiliant (still have it) that works great but when we added a small addition to the house/basement it was not enough and couldn't keep up with heating the basement and radiating heat upwards. I then moved up to a slightly converted wood boiler (Thermo Control 500). I removed the internal domestic hot water piping of the 500 and am using it as a very large woodstove but I am not a fan of it so far. Just my personal preferences.

So, I am on the hunt for a used woodstove that produces lots of heat (more than the Vigiliant) but still is pretty efficient and affords me the lower maintenance of the VC and the older stoves in general. I don't care about looks, steel or cast. I just want good. I burn hot and not a huge fan of all of the bells and whistles of the newer EPA regulations add ons and of course the cost of the newer stoves.

So, I am going to start looking on craigslist and would appreciate suggestions on models you can recommend that I can look up for reasonable money.

 

[begreen]

How long has the wood been seasoned that is being burned? Is the basement insulated? How many sq ft is the stove trying to heat?

 

[Scotty Dive]

Great questions. I handle all of my wood and its usually cut into log length for about a year and then into rounds and split and dried another year. When it comes into the basement its ~12% moisture. The basement is ~1500 square feet and 80% of it is not insulated concrete.

 

[bholler]

When it comes into the basement its ~12% moisture.

How are you measuring the mc? 12% is very low especially for cut and split one year.

So, I am on the hunt for a used woodstove that produces lots of heat (more than the Vigiliant) but still is pretty efficient and affords me the lower maintenance of the VC and the older stoves in general. I don't care about looks, steel or cast. I just want good. I burn hot and not a huge fan of all of the bells and whistles of the newer EPA regulations add ons and of course the cost of the newer stoves.

if you want more efficent and more heat you want a newer stove that is what they do. A tube style stove doesn't have anything complicated or hard to maintain in it they just work allot better. There are also very good cat stoves out there as well but since you dont want any bells or whistles id go with a basic tube stove

 

[ccmac]

My Timberline puts out tons of heat, is durable, and cheap to buy on craigslist. It is a Fisher knock off, so there are many such stoves out there. Not sure how efficient mine is but it seems to do okay. I also have a PE Summit Classic, it heats real nice but does not put out the heat of my Timberline, but I am sure it is more efficient. Both these stoves work great for me. I keep the Timberline in my shop and the PE in my house. Both do their jobs well and I get a lot of enjoyment from using them.

 

[osagebow]

Judging by the CL prices for used stoves here, (500-600bucks, for a larger fisher clone), you may be better off getting something like the Englander 30NC. 850-900 bucks new. There are probably plenty out there significantly less than that now that spring is almost here. You would probably also burn less wood than an older used stove that may or may not be damaged Where are you at? Members here could help you scope CL if you are set on used.

 

[begreen]

I am thinking an Englander 30NC or Drolet HT2000, but first I think that the major source of heat loss needs to be taken care of - the basement walls. They are soaking up about a third of all heat produced and radiating it into outdoors. That means 1 cord out of three is heating mother nature. Insulate the walls and I think you will have enough heat with the Vigilant or the modern stoves mentioned. The one caveat being, modern stoves need dry wood. Are you measuring moisture content on the freshly split face of the wood and not on the end grain?

 

[Scotty Dive]

Thank you for all of the replies and please keep them coming. It is true that Spring is on its way and I tend to watch for used stoves during the warmer months to get the most bang for my buck. I am in Connecticut, and I swear winter is not giving up at all this year.

I totally agree about the walls needing to be insulated, but that is really not feasible at this time. With the Vigiliant I burned about 4 cords a year and that really did a nice job. Mind you its only to supplement the forced hot air system. With the Thermo Control, I am using a lot more wood maybe towards 6 cords this year but its a challenge to regulate at a constant temp and I am feeding it much more than I think it should be. One of the recent thoughts I had was if I could get a stove that had a blower I could install some tubing and get it to flow through the first floor registers I have. I have seen the Englander at HD and I see that its highly recommended. I also see that its a 6 inch stove and I have an 8 inch flue. Does that pose an issue? I clean my flue myself as needed. Usually once or twice a year. Oh, and I use a cheapy Harbor Freight moisture meter (http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-mini-moisture-meter-67145.html) and I would say its directionally correct. I check it on the end grain when its ready to come into my home. My wood is nice and dry. It seasons in log length for a year and then another 8 months in the sun as split and another 4 months under the protection of a covered deck. I am confident that its dry both using the ring test and the meter.

I will check out the stoves that were suggested and if someone is interested in the Thermo control 500 - which is a wood boiler/wood stove, let me know.

 

[gzecc]

Thank you for all of the replies and please keep them coming. It is true that Spring is on its way and I tend to watch for used stoves during the warmer months to get the most bang for my buck. I am in Connecticut, and I swear winter is not giving up at all this year.

I totally agree about the walls needing to be insulated, but that is really not feasible at this time. With the Vigiliant I burned about 4 cords a year and that really did a nice job. Mind you its only to supplement the forced hot air system. With the Thermo Control, I am using a lot more wood maybe towards 6 cords this year but its a challenge to regulate at a constant temp and I am feeding it much more than I think it should be. One of the recent thoughts I had was if I could get a stove that had a blower I could install some tubing and get it to flow through the first floor registers I have. I have seen the Englander at HD and I see that its highly recommended. I also see that its a 6 inch stove and I have an 8 inch flue. Does that pose an issue? I clean my flue myself as needed. Usually once or twice a year. Oh, and I use a cheapy Harbor Freight moisture meter (http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-mini-moisture-meter-67145.html) and I would say its directionally correct. I check it on the end grain when its ready to come into my home. My wood is nice and dry. It seasons in log length for a year and then another 8 months in the sun as split and another 4 months under the protection of a covered deck. I am confident that its dry both using the ring test and the meter.

I will check out the stoves that were suggested and if someone is interested in the Thermo control 500 - which is a wood boiler/wood stove, let me know.

Unless your burning pine or other softwoods, hardwoods will not be dry enough to give you its maximum heating yield, with your seasoning program.

 

[Scotty Dive]

I really don't want to derail this thread of users suggesting models for me to look for, but what % moisture do the newer stoves need to burn? I could get my wood to dry for a full two years if necessary, but I just went and took a reading on a log I have in the pile and it read 8% on the ends. I split it down the middle and it read 11% in three places. If that is not good enough I am not sure what is. Additionally, and maybe the new stoves are different, but the three stoves I have used in my experience with have yielded VERY little creosote (and a dusty type not the big flaky type) through a 30 foot 8 inch flue wrapped in fieldstone, so someone will have to convince me that my wood is not dry.

 

[bholler]

I split it down the middle and it read 11% in three places

i find it very hard to believe that you are getting to 11% air drying unless you are in the desert most climates 11% is barley possible with air drying. I think your mm might be off. What you want for any stove new or old is 15 to 20% your wood may be fine i get my wood to 20% in a year but many need longer

 

[jatoxico]

I really don't want to derail this thread of users suggesting models for me to look for, but what % moisture do the newer stoves need to burn? I could get my wood to dry for a full two years if necessary, but I just went and took a reading on a log I have in the pile and it read 8% on the ends. I split it down the middle and it read 11% in three places. If that is not good enough I am not sure what is. Additionally, and maybe the new stoves are different, but the three stoves I have used in my experience with have yielded VERY little creosote (and a dusty type not the big flaky type) through a 30 foot 8 inch flue wrapped in fieldstone, so someone will have to convince me that my wood is not dry.

Your wood may be fine but if you pulled it from the pile and it was cold it will read falsely low. Needs to be somewhere near room temp to get an accurate reading. That might explain the very low readings because I agree that's quite low for most temperate regions.

 

[Jags]

And reading from the end grain is not the proper procedure. It should be tested on the newly exposed face of a fresh split and NOT be frozen. Frozen wood will skew your readings. Anything hovering around 20% or lower will make for good fuel.

ETA - trying to duct heat off of a stove is generally frowned upon. Its a safety thing. Any issues such as fire or CO get ducted directly to where you don't want it to be.