Prefer pre-EPA stoves?

[pfettig77]

I love my newer Cumberland Gap because it burns so well I don't have to think about it much. I love my old Jotul 602 because it's nostalgic (when we were tiny kids my brother burned his little butt on one and got a cool lion tatoo) and I don't mind having to fuss with it more because it's fun. It's sort of like having a new Ford Fusion because it's practical, reliable and gets good mileage, but also having an old Corvair around because of fond memories and classic look.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Iv seen friends trying to burn wet wood in a fireplace and it was a constant battle just to keep it lit. Threw almost no heat until it turned to coals and not much after that. Just a waste of wood and a smoky house was the result.

 

[tfdchief]

Burning wet wood is just silly. Even those who do know darn good and well it is not the thing to do. Whether i\t is an old stove or new stove, seasoned wood is and always will be the smart thing to do, along with good burning practices.....you have to maintain good temps. My old Buck burns just as clean as my new Hampton, burned correctly and with seasoned wood. After an entire winter of burning, I checked my flue/chimney on the old Buck just tonight and it is clean, and will yield little when I clean it next fall before the next burning season.

 

[valley ranch]

I think that everyone given the choice would prefer dry wood.

I'm looking forward to installing the Buck, it will have to be in the mountain home, the girls like the Nordic we have here in Nevada. Is the 27000 suited for a 2000 sq ft house?

 

[dafattkidd]

I looked around at different stoves for a bit but my hearth isn't really set up for a freestanding stove unless I want to give up a lot of floor space for it. I would really have to go with an insert. Not that inserts are bad, but the radiant heat won't quite be there. As is, my pre-EPA will throw off a lot of heat.

The other thing is it doesn't make sense for me to spend a ton of money on a new stove. I did a little math with our electric bill, and the most money I'm going to save in a cold winter is about $250/mo. Wood heat is a lot more comfortable than the electric heat pump, so there's that. There's no way for me to pay for wood and come out ahead, at best I could break even. Lucky me I just hit a goldmine of a scrounge today. I'm going to have to see if it's as good as it seems, but apparently this nice tree service guy around the corner from me will stack up bucked hardwood for me for free, all you can eat, all year long. He already filled up a couple of other neighbors until they told him they just can't take any more free bucked hardwood.

I picked up about a cord of oak limbs today. If I'm not mistaken, an EPA stove will choke on all the bark, and the constant opening and shutting of the door will mess with the delicate balance that has to be maintained in an EPA stove. The other wood I have is construction ends that are all full of nails and stuff. It's junk wood. Thing is, it keeps my house warm. If I upgrade, this marginal wood isn't going to burn right.

Spend a bunch of money on a new stove, spend a bunch of money on premium wood, and possibly break even but probably not. Why?

Being a fairly new wood burner (this was my fifth winter), and only burning in EPA units, I cannot offer much to this conversation. But I can say that I regularly burn construction debris, pizza boxes, oddball wood pieces in my EPA unit and it burns very cleanly. So I hope that helps you to understand the range of crap you can burn without harming the unit.

I have really been enjoying this thread. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I cant help but wonder as man has been burning wood for thousands of years,when we actually learned that it had to be dry to throw a lot of heat. Im guessing
the majority of wood burned over those years was not the ideal MC.

 

[tfdchief]

Is the 27000 suited for a 2000 sq ft house?

Yes.

 

[mikey]

Construction debris and pizza boxes, are you proud of that?

 

[Grisu]

Being a fairly new wood burner (this was my fifth winter), and only burning in EPA units, I cannot offer much to this conversation. But I can say that I regularly burn construction debris, pizza boxes, oddball wood pieces in my EPA unit and it burns very cleanly. So I hope that helps you to understand the range of crap you can burn without harming the unit.

I have really been enjoying this thread. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I would be careful with the pizza boxes. We had people here who got the screen of their chimney cap clogged burning cardboard or had glowing pieces fall on their roof. Not to mention that those would be great a igniting some creosote in your flue.

 

[BrotherBart]

Pizza boxes in action in my old wood stove.

 

[Grisu]

Scary. Did it ignite some creosote in the flue or was that really just the boxes?

 

[BrotherBart]

Just cardboard boxes.

 

[dafattkidd]

Construction debris and pizza boxes, are you proud of that?

Apparently I'm NOT exactly embarrassed about it. What's the shame in burning construction debris and cutting pizza boxes to strips to start fires?? Should I be embarrassed about the amount of pizza we consume as a family?

 

[begreen]

Construction debris is a broad term. As long as it means two by x cutoffs no big deal. But it shouldn't include pressure treated or glued woods like chipboard. Here is Osburn's POV:

1. Your Osburn insert is designed to burn CORDWOOD FUEL ONLY. Do not burn coal, charcoal, or trash in the unit. Highly flammable items such as trash may ignite creosote in the chimney, resulting in a chimney fire. Never burn salt wood, beachwood, chemically treated wood, or wood removed from salt water, since the deposits left will deteriorate the firebox. Damage caused by chemicals or salt is not covered under warranty.
   

 

[dafattkidd]

Of course! It's untreated solid wood without glues only. Strips of pizza boxes and junk mail could qualify as trash burning, but it's carefully and strategically used to start fires---I'm not tossing house hold trash in the wood stove. I'm also careful not burn envelopes with the plastic window, glossy paper magazines/ads, etc. I hope that is clear.

My point is: Non cat EPA units are not harmed by burning items other than super dry cordwood as area_man had mentioned was a concern of his. This should not be cited as a drawback to an upgrade from a pre EPA unit to a newer cleaner burning unit.

 

[begreen]

Good deal. Actually EPA stove are tested with doug fir dimensional lumber.

 

[valley ranch]

Interesting, I burned a Pizza Box last night. It had a plastic window, wifey tore it out, when twisted into a twig, they burn like the wood they are mad from, nice fuel.

Bart, Is there a barrel stove under that pipe with the flame coming out of it?

Richard

Do you remember the Title of this thread?

 

[BrotherBart]

Bart, Is there a barrel stove under that pipe with the flame coming out of it?

Nope. This one with a full baffle in it.

 

[valley ranch]

That's a nice looking stove. You're stove rich.

Do you have chairs ringed round it, for summer evenings?

 

[Jags]

Cardboard beer and soda boxes cranked down to the stoves lowest burn setting:

 

[BrotherBart]

That's a nice looking stove. You're stove rich.

Do you have chairs ringed round it, for summer evenings?

It looked better in its former job.

 

[tfdchief]

Pizza boxes in action in my old wood stove.



View attachment 131111

BB tries to one-up-me but I am one-uping him.

 

[tfdchief]

It looked better in its former job.

View attachment 131170

Sweet looking old stove BB! Bet you miss it.

 

[fbelec]

not to mention that a nice dry piece of pine not only lights easier but it can be lit without kindling

 

[Sherumsey]

I prefer my pre-epa stove.
It cost almost nothing ($75), heats our home perfectly (0 oil used) and there are no maintenance parts to replace,
Ya ya, I know its not a popular opinion to hold these days...

I totally agree! We got a nice sized wood stove on Craigslist, cleaned it up and updated our chimney pipe to double wall insulated pipe at the ceiling. It replaced an older and very inefficient fireplace and is our sole heat source in winter. I load it at night, get it going fairly hot and crank down the air intakes before going to bed. It keeps the house toasty until morning, when I add a few more logs so the house isn't freezing cold when we get home from work.