Newbie Buying wood stove

[bhellman75]

I bought a used Jotul two years ago and it has heated my barn well, but it is very inefficient. I have to add wood to it every hour or so to keep it burning. My chimney sweep guy suggested BK stoves for efficiency and we liked the Boxer design because of the bin and the height of the door (my wife's knees bother her). I found this forum by searching reviews on the BK Boxer and read that thread. Maybe there are other stoves that will also serve my purpose. I am heating a two-story, open plan barn. It has another heating source and we generally keep the room above 50. I believe the room is pretty well insulated. All I know about wood stoves is from managing fires in the stove I own. We have a fire going every evening and generally over the weekend. I like the heat it produces and I like burning wood.

 

[dafattkidd]

Hey, welcome to the forum. Cool set up. What is the square footage of barn? You have lots of options.

How’s your current wood supply? New units require dry wood for good performance.

 

[stoveliker]

How tall is the flue (stove top to chimney cap)? Do you know the flue temperature? I'm asking because you may have too much draft, leading to a lot of heat lost up the chimney. A flue damper might work in that case.

Get a moisture meter and measure on a freshly split surface (parallel to the grain). Best be less than 20 pct, otherwise you need to waste a lot of heat in boiling the water upon the chimney.

 

[EbS-P]

Do you have a key damper on that install? That looks like a lot of height and might need two or three dampers. How old is the jotul? Does it have a baffle?

Evan

 

[bhellman75]

How tall is the flue (stove top to chimney cap)? Do you know the flue temperature? I'm asking because you may have too much draft, leading to a lot of heat lost up the chimney. A flue damper might work in that case.

Get a moisture meter and measure on a freshly split surface (parallel to the grain). Best be less than 20 pct, otherwise you need to waste a lot of heat in boiling the water upon the chimney.

Probably 25 feet, stove top to where the pipe goes out the roof. I'll look into a moisture meter. I don't know what one is at the moment.

 

[stoveliker]

Probably 25 feet, stove top to where the pipe goes out the roof. I'll look into a moisture meter. I don't know what one is at the moment.

I have a general tools mmd4e from home Depot.

I'd look at the moisture content and if that is ok, at a flue damper before spending money on another stove; 25 ft inside plus 5 ft outside (2 for the slope and then 3 ft abo the ridge) is too tall. You likely have too much draft.

 

[begreen]

The Firelight is a large and capable heater. It can heat well, but yes, to do so will eat a lot of wood if being pushed hard. It takes a lot of heat to move a large space and all its mass up from 50º to 65º. What temperature is the stove running at? Is the catalyst in good condition on this stove and is it being engaged? I would add a key damper to reduce draft strength and a probe flue thermometer for tracking how much heat is heading up the stovepipe.

How many sq ft are being heated? How tall is the barn? Have you taken the temperature up high near the ceiling? It could be that is where all the heat is. Are ceiling fans running to reduce the pocketing of hot air near the peak?