Anyone ever put a wood stove in?

[cowadle]

I have a Country Flame wood stove in my house and paid 400 for it and my rent house next door has one my first renter put in that his grandparents gave him.
I got a free one off craigslist a bigger country flame and I have loaned it to 3 friends and the first one never used it and second buddy i helped him slide it into the fireplace and he heated his home with it all last year.

Now the 3rd friend has it and I installed it the same way I did any of them.
Wire the original flue wide open and slide the wood insert into the fireplace.

Then put the fiberglass insulation and bolt the steel plate trim in place and push the insert in until steel plate sits flush against the bricks.

I never had any issues with the existing chimney.
If it works for an open fire it will work with an insert.

Each type has a learning curve as to how much heat is needed to get a good draw and not smoke up the room when you first light it.

If you open the doors to make a fire and cold air rushes down the chimney into the room
you will get smoke in the room if you try and light it.

That is my issue with my 2 story house and tall chimney.
The fix is i take a propane torch that I anneal with and place it in the fire box with flame pointing up and out of the chimney hole and this heats the air in the chimney and gets it to begin drawing up after 3 minutes or so.

Then I can make my fire.
Now another thing to be aware of is if your clothes dryer is on and venting air out of the house this can draw smoke from the initial starting of a fire in the wood insert.

Things to think about.

You can get glass shipped to your door from places that make glass for these inserts if you find a good one for cheap with busted or missing glass.

Now that BTU rating of firewood is misleading.
If I burn Oak or Hickory or Pecan I can't generate the heat that Pine or Cedar or Fir generates.

Unless I cut the hard woods smaller.
Hardwood burns longer and has more BTU but FLAME is needed to heat that steel box and I get more flame from the quick burning wood.

Mother-in-law had an insert and always burned oak and father-in-law bragged that he could burn 1 log all night.
He did not heat his entire house with his stove just that room and dining area.
Mother-in-law asked what I used to clean the glass in my stove.

I told her I just wipe it with a paper towel if it gets a little sooty.
Dry crumbles on mine.
She said NO I tried that and my glass is always black and is thick and gooey.

Yea you smoldered a log all night not burned it all night and you gooed up the entire chimney and fire box.

I went over to their house with a trash can full of cut dry cedar and told them I will make a fire in this stove and it will be hot and will clean all the goo from everything and it will smoke up the entire yard and down the street.

That cleaned it and they got a lesson in dry vs wet green wood for burning.

Get one you will not regret it.

very much info in this post. burning wood isn't for the unattached mentality. if you run a cold stove you risk a fire that will need fast intervention or the chimney will overheat and the house will catch fire. to many sparks and you risk a roof fire if you have cedar shingles especially. a poorly constructed or to big of a flu will have draft problems etc. a good double or tripple wall stove pipe flu that has a dampner will draft efficiently and the stove and flu will burn will be hotter longer and be easy to lite and the creosote will not collect in the flu as bad. a catalytic in the stove will just get more heat for less money. funny thing is that during the 1970 era inflation event i remember installing all kinds or stoves inserts etc as people tried to get by and stay warm,the modern stoves inserts are so much better safer than those were. i have helped extinguish some chimney fires and once you see just how dangerous one is you will never forget. so pay attention to the installation and learn how to keep a fire. also learn how to sweep your flu.

 

[Kev1Doggy]

I built a house in 1992 that has a free standing Lopi wood stove with a brick wall behind it, it does a good job heating the house. I have Walnut, Hackberry , Ash and Hedgeapple trees all around so i have plenty of wood around . The best by far for producing heat all night is seasoned BeauDarc ( Hedgeapple , OsageOrange) it does a great job.

 

[HFS]

She said NO I tried that and my glass is always black and is thick and gooey.

Yea you smoldered a log all night not burned it all night and you gooed up the entire chimney and fire box.

I went over to their house with a trash can full of cut dry cedar and told them I will make a fire in this stove and it will be hot and will clean all the goo from everything and it will smoke up the entire yard and down the street.

That cleaned it and they got a lesson in dry vs wet green wood for burning.

They are lucky they learned that from you instead of a chimney fire some night.
Thanks for posting this.

 

[emapples]

does anyone have an idea on cost to install?

My quote was 7,000

 

[cowadle]

i used the old steel box woodstoves and got by fine i thought until i bought a catalytic stove. in the old stove i had to keep an orange flame to get hot so i was constantly adding wood. i had to learn a whole new method with the catalytic. now i add wood to a cold stove lite it off and let the fire burn yellow until the box gets up to temp,then flip on the cat and give it a few min to lite off and when it does the stove temp increases a bunch so i have to turn the air down until the flame turns blue. the cat is then cooking the wood and burning the gasses smoke as the wood gives off. when the wood is gassed off hours later the fire wil again turn yellow and all that is left is a bed of red hot coals that again last hours. when the stove gets below 450 500 degrees add more wood and the cat will lite off in a few minutes so start the burn cycle over again. add wood about every 8 hours. i have burned cotton wood in the same stove but it doesn't have enough to burn the cat. elm and o
blackjack are my favorite.

 

[swampratt]

My aunt has a "cat" insert and it is very odd to watch the blue flame up at the top of the stove and no flame on the log.

Witchery!

 

[cowadle]

My aunt has a "cat" insert and it is very odd to watch the blue flame up at the top of the stove and no flame on the log.

Witchery!

yup... it is a whole nuther animal. it burns so much of the smoke that all i see come out of the chimney is just a wisp and no smell.

 

[cowadle]

https://www.woodstove.com/fireview-soapstone-wood-stove
this is the stove i purchased a LOOOOOOOOONG time ago. wow the price sure has increased!

Fireview 205 Parts and you can buy parts for it if needed. all i have done to mine is replacethe top and door gaskets and i re sealed the firebox.

 

[streak]

I have an old slammer instal myself. Sure do love it on those nights with no power and it’s great to heat up the house on those super cold nights. But if I ever replace it you can sure bet it will be with a model that has a liner to be properly sized and be a full cat/gasifier setup

 

[swampratt]

I helped a BIL build one .
He wanted one and did not have the money but had some 3/16" flat plate steel and other various pieces of steel.
Steel box suspended inside a larger steel box.
Larger outer box needs a hole in the top and this needs to be welded to the inner box which should also have a hole there for the smoke to exit.

You know the deal.
Door glass I told him to get a door from an oven.
He took rebar and bent it and outlined the door and the face of the box to give it a western look.

Worked excellent.

Now on the cat stives i seen there was a section of catalyst on the upper portion of the stove where the flue shut off door is. (Damper)
Actually attached to the Damper.

I was thinking I have some catalyst from a V10 Ford cat and may introduce it somehow.