New member intro/Upgrading to new wood stove

[klxrelic]

Hi all! New to this forum but not new to wood stoves.

About me first: I am from the east coast of Newfoundland and have been using wood as a secondary source of heat to help reduce oil costs. Stove is located in basement of a one story bungalow. Main source is oil/radiation, but there are no heaters in basement. So, the wood stove keeps everything toasty downstairs and the floor upstairs is nice to the feet.

Anyway...been using a Drolet (model 5153) for the past 15 years. Probably about the smallest you can get. Needless to say, I figure its time to upgrade.

Heres a shot of the my little wood stove...:



this one a little less blurry:



Cant buy em like that anymore I dont think

I have been lurking/reading here, and have decided to go with a new Drolet Austral II. Must be an updated version of the original Austral. Not too sure...
Plan on picking it up tomorrow. Gonna be a bit of a learning curve I think at first, what with all these newfangled secondary burners and all. Cant wait to get it installed and fired up.... I am hoping to get more heat outta the Austral.

Thanks to all those who unknowingly helped me in making my decision. Some fine reading on here.

Relic.

 

[brad wilton]

Hey relic ,welcome to The forum helpful people here.one thing your going to need is dry wood,these epa stoves need it to get the most heat out of them .i miss the beachcombers like relics boat,cheers

 

[Isaac Carlson]

I have looked at the Austral at fleet farm and they are pretty big. You can always get less heat from a big stove but you can't get more heat from a little one.

 

[Huntindog1]

Austral II is a new stove so not alot of info on it.

It has the baffle board and tubes up in the top. The old version had a stainless steel air manifold with air holes.

Austral II was redesigned to meet newer emissions standards. Meet them basically by improving the insulated firebox and using a board that provides some insulative qualities also. By being able to keep the heat in the firebox at a higher level up by the secondary air tubes there is a more complete burn of the smoke gases.

You will be able to load North/South in the Austral II and loading it that way lets you really pack the wood in it. If you have good hardwoods that are well seasoned and dry to less than 20% moisture content you can easily get 10-12 hours of heat out of the stove. That meaning after say 12 hours you can have enough hot coals to start another load of wood easily. 10 hours is the average I get out of my Drolet Myriad which is same size firebox but the older design. But I have hit 12 hours on reloads a few times with a good load of dry hard woods.

What size is your house and basement?

 

[klxrelic]

Thanks for the info...floor size of house is approx. 1100 square feet. Basement is same. 2/3 of basement is unfinished so heat generated by stove has a fair amount of room to disperse. Running an inline fan thru small heat duct to upstairs hall which is in the center of house. Burning mostly black spruce... moisture content unknown..

Just got the crate home and in the basement. Hoping to install sometime tomorrow and start curing the paint. Manual says a couple small fires to start.

 

[brad wilton]

Trust me you'llbe cursing the stove with wet wood

 

[klxrelic]

Yeah...thats what I have been reading. In the process of getting a moisture meter. Looking at a couple on Amazon also one at Lee Valley.

Not sure how dry my wood is exactly. Most of it is small (avg diameter of 2 to 3 inches). Ends are splitting, feels a lot lighter, hollow sounding when hit...thats about all the indications I have. been in the basement for a month or so, humidifier running flat out, plus had the wood stove going a few times. Wood was cut last fall, but didnt saw up until late summer.

I think I am gonna have to change this method. Gonna start sawing off to length in early spring then leave out in sun and wind all summer before bring in.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

If it sounds like a bowling pin, it is pretty dry. If it clunks, it's wet. You can put your hand on it and if it feels warm in a second or two, then it is dry. If it feels cold, it's wet.

 

[klxrelic]

If it sounds like a bowling pin, it is pretty dry. If it clunks, it's wet. You can put your hand on it and if it feels warm in a second or two, then it is dry. If it feels cold, it's wet.

Thats pretty much the high-tech methods I am going by...

Cant wait to get a moisture meter to confirm my technique of testing dryness of wood,,,hahaha.