Wood Stove

[greenemami]

If this isn't the right place, let me know!

We are looking into getting a wood stove-I know the house had one at one point, there is still the (covered up) hole in the wall where the pipe went out lol

Our house is about 1000 square feet, one floor, badly insulated with bad windows and doors in terms of heating.

We can't afford to pay for oil again another winter and would really just not like to be reliant on it in any case.

Where do we start in looking for a wood stove? Our price range is under $500, the further under, the better. Any ideas? We will be visiting local shops, but I was hoping to get some base info, maybe a website or good on-line dealer to get a handle on what is out there. We would prefer to buy new but are open to getting a used one provided we can be sure it is a "good" one.

Thanks in advance for any advice/guidance!

[limette]

Are you installing it yourself? You might be able to get a stove for $500 but you also have to buy all the pipe, have it installed as well as put in a heat buffer on the floor and wall (brick is common). Also make sure you insurance company will insure it.

I have a woodstove that needs upgrading and moving to a new location. It'll cost me $1200 for the cheapest stove, $1000 for stove pipe and brick and at least $1000 to have it installed.

It's usually recommended that you seal up your house as much as possible before going through the expense of installing a new heating system.

[1stimestar]

I know that up here in Alaska, where wood stoves are very common, it would be hard to find one for $500 new. Try craigslist and your local garage sale lists.

[mamadelbosque]

Yeah, woodstoves aren't that cheap, generally. Not unless you have everythign set up and ready to go and you *JUST* need the stove and can/will install it yourself (we have, but my dad built the whole house, and we've had.. 4 or 5 different woodstoves over the years, so he kinda knows what he's doing at this point ). Its not that its hard it just takes some time and knowing what your doing. Also, wood is not cheap - unless you have the acreage (and time. And tools!) to cut your own, depending on where you are, it may or may not be much cheaper, when alls said and done - especially this first year when your putting all the $$ into the stove.

[sparkygirl74]

Do you have a Tractor Supply near you? They seem to have some cheap woodstoves. Make sure it is an efficient stove if you want to save money though. We have a soapstone stove with a catalytic combustor and we heat a 1600 sf house with under 4 cords a winter. I know other people who have a similar size house and a regular iron stove and go through 13-15 cords of wood. It is a huge difference

[Caneel]

Originally Posted by sparkygirl74

Do you have a Tractor Supply near you? They seem to have some cheap woodstoves. Make sure it is an efficient stove if you want to save money though. We have a soapstone stove with a catalytic combustor and we heat a 1600 sf house with under 4 cords a winter. I know other people who have a similar size house and a regular iron stove and go through 13-15 cords of wood. It is a huge difference

Heating by wood is very popular where I live. I know the OP didn't ask but I wanted to chime in that we just had wood delivered this weekend - $125 per cord so the difference between an efficient vs. inefficient stove is huge. The stuff we bought was cut to order for size (18 inches) and is good quality, dried oak. Green wood to use two or three years down the road is $75 per pick-up bed load.

In my area, most people cut their own for their own use and that is very hard work that requires a huge time and monetary commitment if you invest in a splitter.

[Adaline'sMama]

My advice to you is that if you are JUST now deciding this, you may want wait until next year. I know oil is expensive, but not doing this properly could result in a fire. If a wood stove was there years ago, and the chimney is covered, it really needs to be inspected. There is a chance that it could have cracked ceramic piping coated in soot. That is a serious fire hazard.

Heating with wood is something you have to be dedicated to. When you leave your house for 24 hours, you come back to everything being freezing cold. Im not sure where you live, but that could mean no house plants, no goldfish, ect.

My husband installed our 2nd stove after we had the chimney inspected and swept (and had to have it replaced) The piping to get to our 10ft ceiling, plus a flue costs us about $150.00. Also we had to lay a brick platform underneath it and we bought Fiberock to protect the walls around the stove so that we could use the minimum clearance. However, we got really lucky on our stove price. It was an excellent craigs list buy at $650.00, and it is an "Ice Breaker" (thats the name brand..seriously...). Its super effieicient and heats our 900 sf area. However, we have another one that is newer and was purchased from tractor supply for $900.00, and it doesnt heat for crap.

Here is a good resouce for more information: http://hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/wood_stove_clearances_installing_it_safely

[Peony]

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama

I know oil is expensive, but not doing this properly could result in a fire. If a wood stove was there years ago, and the chimney is covered, it really needs to be inspected. There is a chance that it could have cracked ceramic piping coated in soot. That is a serious fire hazard.

Yes! Our last house was older and we redid a lot of it ourselves, the woodstove had been taken out previously and we wanted one back in. We had it inspected and thank goodness we did, the woodstove guys were utterly amazed that the house hadn't burned down years ago. The pipes were all the wrong size, everything was was pieced together. It all had to be redon and cost us 3K and we already owned the woodstove. And on that note, when I called our home insurance company they wanted to know if our woodstove was professionally installed or not. It was, but I asked what if it wasn't, they said that they would not cover it then.

[mamadelbosque]

I'm just having to chime in again here... we have an expensive soapstone stove too. And we *HATE* it. It sucks - its a hearthstone, one of the larger models, and it *SUCKS*. It takes forever to heat up - as in, you build a fire and its starting to put off heat after 2-3 hours. Maybe. It never actaully gets 'hot' either (you can easily sit on it). And, you can't put much would in it, considering how large it is... it burns for, oh, maybe 4-6 hours, tops.

We have an older cast iron stove that we *LOVE*. You can pack that sucker full and cut it way back and have a fire (or at least hot coals) still going 8-12 hours later, easy. And it heats up and starts putting off heat almost immediatly. I would, personally, *NEVER* buy a soap stone stove again. EVER.

[sparkygirl74]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

I'm just having to chime in again here... we have an expensive soapstone stove too. And we *HATE* it. It sucks - its a hearthstone, one of the larger models, and it *SUCKS*. It takes forever to heat up - as in, you build a fire and its starting to put off heat after 2-3 hours. Maybe. It never actaully gets 'hot' either (you can easily sit on it). And, you can't put much would in it, considering how large it is... it burns for, oh, maybe 4-6 hours, tops.

We have an older cast iron stove that we *LOVE*. You can pack that sucker full and cut it way back and have a fire (or at least hot coals) still going 8-12 hours later, easy. And it heats up and starts putting off heat almost immediatly. I would, personally, *NEVER* buy a soap stone stove again. EVER.

I am sorry you don't like your soapstone stove. One of the things you don't like about yours is one of the things we do like about ours. I like that it never gets to hot. We have little kids and I like knowing that they don't have as much chance f getting burned. Ours heats up pretty fast though, and burns forever. The other day I heated the house for the whole day with one log. It works great for us...I don't think I would ever consider another kind of stove. We have actually converted three other woodburning families after they saw ours It is a Woodstock...