Wood Stove/Heater

[Geewhiz]

I'll throw in a data point for Drolet stoves. Wife and I put one in our house last year and have been very pleased with it. One night last winter got down to -42F and it was 86F inside when I got up in the morning. 2000 sq ft house and burn just about 4 cords of lodgepole.

 

[brancher147]

I have a Drolet also. It is a black stag and comfortably heats our 1200 sf living area from the basement. My only complaint about it is the ash tray is useless. I wish it had a grate for ash to fall through into the ash tray. The stove fills up with ash and doesn’t heat as well until you clean it out. My next wood stove will have a grate for ash to fall through and a sealed ash pan door.

 

[KenLee]

Craft brand insert with a blower is the best I've ever experienced, and I've used many. Sometimes you can find them used cheap when the homeowner doesn't want to fool with wood and is swapping to gas logs.

 

[EdP]

I like a free standing stove with no blower because I don't want to be dependent on power to have heat. The cat Vermont Castings we had was equipped with a blower. It was a waste of money. The stove could be operated with or without the blower installed. Without the blower there were air inlet vent covers that were removed to allow natural circulation to move air through the stove. As the fire burned down and there was less heat, there was less air movement so the stove didn't cool down as much overnight as it did with the blower in operation. This made it faster to get back to cat operating temperature in the mornings.

 

[Fire_9]

I went from an old arrow wood stove to a blaze king and it was well worth the money. Burned far less wood with way more heat.