Wood burning stove

[kyler1945]

For our place in Colorado.

Cast iron stove that’s there is in need of repair or replacement.

Cost being split between four people.

Stove being used for fun, but now that we have good air movement capabilities in the house, may start using it for more of the heating. House has propane boiler baseboard heat. Main section of house that would be heated is roughly 2000sqft.

Looks like there’s a 600-1200.00 option of steel stoves available from all the retailers, or a 3-5k cast iron option from the specialists.

Anyone with some insight on which route to take? We’re remote, so the odds I get a competent trustworthy person to evaluate ours now and fix it are very low.

 

[BTaylor]

At the deer camp I grew up hunting at, we used the kit to convert a steel drum to a wood stove. We got a lot of years out of a drum, that would make me lean more towards the steel option rather than the paying the cast iron premium.

 

[Nutterbuster]

We bought the one we've had at our cabin the past decade off of Craigslist. Just checked FB marketplace and it seems like $200 buys you a lot of cast iron stoves.

If you get one, just don't buy one that's cracked, welded, or warped. When it's closed off it needs to be closed. Gaps prevent it from working right and holding fire all night and can also be a fire hazard.

Provided you don't have to fly one from southeast to Colorado that seems the most reasonable option.

 

[kyler1945]

Used also not an option, given the time to evaluate and risk of being wrong, and managing 4 peoples opinions of that.

New is only option.

Building one out of a barrel is also not an option.

Sorry I should’ve been clear - this isn’t for Kyle’s huntin camp budget friendly redneck Jimmy rig special effort.

 

[Nutterbuster]

If you're splitting it 4 ways and want it done right, just buy new cast iron and be done with it. Buy from whoever will consult with you to get the right size for your square footage and preferably install and tell you what not to do when you run it.

I've never know a camp with a good cast stove who ever regretted it.

 

[BTaylor]

What ^^ he said.

 

[Coachschaller]

I have the Ideal Steel from Woodstock Soapstone that heats my entire house (1500 sq ft). They have several selections if you need something smaller. Blaze King is another good brand. Both will let you go overnight without loading!!! You can often get a NC-30 New Englander ( I think that is the brand and model) from the big box stores on a great clearance. That one is one of the best budget ones around.

 

[Nutterbuster]

Overnight runtime is huge. Stoking a fire is cool. Having to stoke one that's gone out at 2am and you realized it because you woke up shivering sucks monkey fingers.

 

[Blacksmith]

I heat a large home w/a wood furnace from Tractor supply co. The thermostat in the kitchen controls a blower and its hooked into the whole house plenum. Easier to control than a wood burner, IMO.

 

[BackSpasm]

Another vote for cast iron, we have 2 that get regular use. However, if it was me I would make someone in charge of the choice by group decision and buy used. Not much can go wrong on those beefy old cast iron wood stoves

 

[Jtaylor]

Get one that'll hold decent sized logs since splitting and cutting sucks (unless you're into that sorta thing). Bigger logs burn longer too. We have an old Englander front load that's more than 40 years old and doesn't show any signs of firebox burn out it's about 1/4" thick steel. Line the bottom and up the sides with fire brick and they'll last forever.
I've never found a cast iron stove big enough to suit the size of logs I like to burn. There's probably one out there but cast iron is expensive for what they are. I guess they do look pretty though.
An occasional use/cheap option is the 50 gallon barrel conversion mentioned earlier which you can also line with fire brick. There's a top kit for a second barrel that'll heat up and provide more warmth too.
If you go the barrel route, burn it outside first to get rid of the paint and whatever was inside, you can always high temp paint it later.

 

[kubes14060]

I always buy the best I can afford. Cast iron is higher for a reason. They retain heat longer which makes them excellent for heating an indoor home. A steel stove will heat up quickly but also cool down quickly in the middle of the night when fires tend to get less attention.
I vote for the nicest cast iron stove you can afford. I have a Jotul in my cabin and we love it. It looks amazing too and to us, that was important. We busted our butts to build the place we have so why not install a beautiful and efficient stove as well!!

An article about the differences between the two

Cast iron vs steel

And also a video

 

[Jtaylor]

I always buy the best I can afford. Cast iron is higher for a reason. They retain heat longer which makes them excellent for heating an indoor home. A steel stove will heat up quickly but also cool down quickly in the middle of the night when fires tend to get less attention.
I vote for the nicest cast iron stove you can afford. I have a Jotul in my cabin and we love it. It looks amazing too and to us, that was important. We busted our butts to build the place we have so why not install a beautiful and efficient stove as well!!

An article about the differences between the two

Cast iron vsteel

And also a video

In almost 40 years of using wood to heat our homes, I've found fire brick is your determining factor in heat retention. The bigger the stove you can get and then line with fire brick, it'll hold heat for a long time.
Ever try to weld cast iron when you drop the stove and break a leg bringing it into the house or pull the stove away to clean the chimney or your kid decides to use the door as a swing set? It can be done but it's a PIA. Steel legs and steel door hinges are repaired much easier.

 

[Nutterbuster]

This doesn't answer OP's specific question, but on the topic of best practices you want as much stovepipe in the house as possible. I see a lot of people route the pipe outside what I consider too soon. Hot air be goin' up the pipe. The pipe be hot. The more of it is inside, the warmer it will be. No sense warming up an exterior wall

 

[Jefferson10940]

At our camp we have a large cast steel stove that can hold up to 2 foot long logs which is the main heating source. This we can load up before bed and burns all night. The "kids" room is much smaller and we have a small cast iron. I would say the most important thing is to get one that can burn large lengths of wood.

 

[Jtaylor]

I didn't realize that the newer cast iron stoves are also pieced together and have seams with gaskets (the youtube videos above explain this) so an older one might be worth looking into if going cast iron. As far as I know, steel stoves are welded and the only seam is your door seal that needs periodic replacement.

 

[arrow30]

cheapest one i could find, takes 23'' logs if you stoke it good and full it will make it all night.

would be nice to have one with glass front just to see fire.

 

[Vtbow]

Lots of more details here needed...

-Where is is it going, i.e. in a fireplace, exposed chimney, exterior wall?
-What kind of efficiency are you looking for?
-Cutting your own firewood, length?
-front load, side load, top load?
-Catalytic or non catalytic?
-Current stovepipe diameter(stepping down or up can change efficiency)
-Do you or anyone like to opeN the front and watch/feel the fire sometimes like a fireplace?
-needed clearance? some jacketed steel stove require very, very little clearance, cast a lot more...

 

[Nutterbuster]

Reread the post.

2k sq/ft is kinda a lot. You burn a lot of wood to truly heat a place. If you have an alternative heating system in place I'd roll with it and buy a cheap stove for anesthetics and percolator coffee.

Colorado is cold and I don't remember it being full of big red oaks.

 

[Plebe]

If I ever build a cabin, Tulikivi.

I have two Vermont Castings stoves sitting in my garage.