My cabin currently has a wood cook stove. It is a 50s vintage Sears and Roebuck model. I enjoy cooking over it and it's the main source of heat for the two room cabin. My issue is that it's not the best source for heating. It heats it well enough, but it is hard to get more than a couple of hours of burn time on it. I also don't like running it really hot as it was not really designed for that and not real comfortable doing that to a 70 year old stove.

If I shut it down too much, it smokes. Lots of heat goes up the chimney. I am getting to the point where getting a more efficient stove outweighs the cooking part, which I don't do that much of anymore.

I have been looking at wood burning stoves that are in about the up to 2000 square ft , 70-80k btu range. They advertise "up to 6-8 hours burn time". Key words here are "up to"

Something like this

The area I will be heating is only about 800 SF but has no floor insulation and is a bit drafty. I have a ceiling fan that does a good job moving the air.

My questions... Can you really get eight hours of burn time or do you really have to load them up to do that? I am afraid that a loaded up 2000 SF capacity stove might get it too hot depending on the outside temp.

Is there anything else I should be concerned about in picking a stove? Safety is a big concern. I am guessing I will be just fine, but would like opinions for those who have heated with this type stove.

I will miss the old cook stove and wish I had room for both. I won't miss coming back from a cold hunt to a cold cabin.

Lots of factors. How well insulated/drafty is the cabin? Air flow is a major factor affecting burn time. I would guess that you would have to load the stove to get 8 hours of burn time. That said, your fire won’t burn out in 8 hours. We can burn all night by stoking fire at bedtime and again in the morning when we wake up. Look for a high efficiency stove.

I'd definitely say you'll be happier with the length of time the stove throws off heat with a stove designed for heating. I heat my cabin with a Danish cast iron stove I got off of Craigslist, and I get 8 hours out of it...at least i'll have nice coals left. Obviously, the type of wood is important. I burn hard maple. Of course there is always a balance between burn time and cooking yourself out of there...I would rather err on the side of waking up a little cool and kindle a fire while I'm drinking my morning coffee.

One thing I would say is I wouldn't get my stove from Menards. Paying not that much more would get you something like this: Jotul 5602

Agree with the previous two posters. I've got a high efficiency unit, (something like 92%), and If I load up the firebox with decent seasoned wood, then choke the air down a little bit, it's still blowing warm/hot air 6-7 hours later, with enough hot coals left to start up another log.

No advice, but I sure love your cabin and I can see why you'll miss your old stove.

Been heating my home 100% of the time with wood for forty years in northern Illinois with Vermont castings Defiant. You will need an airtight stove with good capacity. An airtight stove can be filled full and still be controlled. I have a Jotul at my log cabin but way too small for yours.

I also heat my house with wood. With the new high efficiency stoves you can easily heat your house for 8 hours. I have a Drolet Myriad. The firebox size is something like 3.5 cf. It has controls for intake air and exhaust. This is most important because it allows you to control the burn.

I burn oak and ash. Just b4 i go to bed i put 4 to 5 pieces into the stove and when i wake up in the morning there is a nice bed of coals.

Drolet woodstove

Maybe there is a way to make your wood stove more efficient. There is a youtuber who adds rock and bricks to the top of her wood stove and around the sides. The stones retain heat and radiate it back all day. Soapstone is another option. It absorbs heat very well. Here is a discussion about adding mass to an existing wood stove

The two stoves I liked the most were the Pacific Energy and the he Quadrafire. I had the biggest PE Stove called the Summit which heated an old two story house. The other is at my sisters place across the lake. Both stoves held or hold fires well and have good control. I installed hundreds of stoves over years of chimney and stove work and by far th best stoves where these and both have glass doors for viewing.

We have also heated our house (2000sq ft 2 story) for forty+ years. A couple things I will reinforce, that folks have already mentioned. The type of wood you burn. You can't beat hard wood for a long burn. The important part is making sure it is cured. Even out here I cure green oak for 2 summers. I rarely burn pine anymore, but will cure it for 2 years also if I cut it green. We have gone through 4 stoves in the time we have heated with wood. All but the one we have now have been cast iron. Our currant stove is soap stone, and is by far the best. It takes longer to heat up but holds heat longer after the fire has gone out. 8 hour burn times (with oak wood) are no problem. I have never been able to get 8 hour burns out of pine. Its important to get a quality stove that is easy to control the draft. We had one stove that had a thermostat that controlled the draft, it never worked.
Good luck finding your stove! You have a great looking cabin. I envy you!

You got much oak up there bill? That is by far the best I agree. Things like birch work ok, but it gets too dry it don’t last, to wet and it can create a lot of creosote. The good thing is it dries quick from green. Smaller you bust it up the quicker it burns. Ash... I learned why they called it ash... but not too bad. I got a load a couple years ago. The bark holds in a lot of moisture. I peel it best I can as I bring it in to dry. Maple is good, but it burns hot and fast too when good and dry. I’m guessing that might be your most prominent firewood up there?
Pine is good kindling and campfire wood. Haha. Most chimney fires are unseasoned wood or pine.
Those soap stone stoves are so nice!
One more note on oak... it’s hard on your truck if it lands across the bed. But easy to cut like that. And your truck is a conversation piece then. How I know that, I don’t know...

Every house I've had since since 1978 has had a woodstove. First one was in an 1,100 square foot 1-story on a slab. Fisher Baby Bear. Loved that stove. Would not keep it heated all night, but if you fired it up high for awhile, you would strip to your underwear, as the house became quite toasty.

Second was a German made "kachelofen (spelling likely incorrect). Hated that one, but the price was right. Had it in a 2400 square foot house. Fire box way too small.

Next house was about 3,000 square feet, and bought a Vermont Castings Resolute Acclaim. Liked that one a lot, had it for close to 25 years until it finally warped too much and I could not control the flame well any more. It would not keep a fire going all night though, even when it was new.

Bought a Hearthstone Phoenix new this last summer (model is discontinued) for the 3,000 square foot house, and it is the closest I've gotten to having a stove being able to last all night. I really don't try to have any stove going all night though, as it produces too much creosote when you burn a stove all night, and I really don't think it is safe to do so. The Hearthstone is a frickin' tank. Weighs about 425 lbs, and it is the heaviest duty woodstove I've owned in the last 45 years. The castings are double the thickness of the Vermont Castings stove I had and the new VC I was looking at. I like that it has an easily replaceable firebrick interior lining. Could have a better air control range, and a better means of ditching the ashes, but neither is a big deal once you get used to it.

I really did like my Fisher stove. The Baby Bear was the smallest one they made. They also made a Mama Bear model and a larger one. You can find them on E-bay. They cost used about as much as a new stove would cost, but they are kick-ass stoves, and would likely out last anything you could buy today.

Tomster

Only thing about anything not ul listed like a fisher or my kingsman is if your insurance would allow it. The guideline there is 3’ to combustibles, with a fire stop and no gap is two feet and a firestop (like I’m putting in a brick wall) with a 1” gap between the wall behind and it you can have it one foot away from the combustible wall. Many ul listed stoves have closer clearances built in. But the more you do to provide protection the safer you are and can feel leaving it burn at night or even while out hunting. That damper they put in the stovepipe between the stove and the chimney is about as bad for buildup as greener wood. Good hearth protection is another buggy. Was on a medical call where the guy had an Earth Stove. Absolutely nothing preventing a spark from landing on the wood floor. Scary! Don’t get me started on chimneys... haha.

nctry: "Only thing about anything not ul listed like a fisher or my kingsman is if your insurance would allow it. The guideline there is 3’ to combustibles, with a fire stop and no gap is two feet and a firestop (like I’m putting in a brick wall) with a 1” gap between the wall behind and it you can have it one foot away from the combustible wall. Many ul listed stoves have closer clearances built in. But the more you do to provide protection the safer you are and can feel leaving it burn at night or even while out hunting. That damper they put in the stovepipe between the stove and the chimney is about as bad for buildup as greener wood. Good hearth protection is another buggy. Was on a medical call where the guy had an Earth Stove. Absolutely nothing preventing a spark from landing on the wood floor. Scary! Don’t get me started on chimneys... haha."

Typed this while loading my stoves... haha!

Thanks for the replies. Lots of good info. I am not looking at heating a whole house, just a drafty old cabin with no floor insulation.....and only for Oct. into early December. My budget is under a thousand bucks. If I were looking to heat my house for a whole winter it would be 3 to 4 times that. I guess my main concern is with control. How much can I shut it down to control heat and length of burn. Not worried at all about creosote buildup, I can easily clean out or replace my pipe. I burn mostly ash, oak, elm with a bit of birch (they are pretty scarce, poplar and a bit of boxelder (good kindling) ...minimum two years cured.

My chimney is pretty simple, out and up as seen in picture below. Airmorse stated he controls both the intake and exhaust. I have always used exhaust. In the cook stove I can close a damper to push the hot air around the oven and that puts out additional heat and also controls the burn. I don't have a damper on the stove pipe. Would that be beneficial with a conventional wood stove? Or would that just be duplicating what the stove does? Maybe a dumb question but does the damper on most wood stoves control the intake, exhaust or both? In an airtight stove with an external intake, is there an advantage to controlling the intake vs the exhaust?

Ben, I am going to have to contract you to come supervise the install. :-)

As you can see by the picture below, it is pretty drafty underneath. I am guessing the cook stove is about 50% efficient at best. I know I sure went through a lot of wood this year.

With an air tight stove with good gaskets the air intake control will allow you have control of the burn rate. Bottom line is how many pounds of dry wood you can put into the stove. A stove with good capacity loaded with a dense hardwood could still be plenty hot after 10 hours in late fall temps.

Type of intake control will determine how even the heat output is over the burn cycle. My Defiant uses a bi-metal coil control spring and will close and open the air intake flap to keep the stove temp the same during the burn cycle. My Jotul has a manual control for the air intake and will burn hotter at some time in the cycle. This is because a bed of red coals needs less oxygen than fresh wood to produce the same BTU's.

I will try to answer your questions. How much can I shut the draft control down? This will depend on how tight your stove is. A stove that has air leaks you could shut the draft control completely down and the stove will continue to burn. A really tight stove completely shut down the fire will go out. So, you just have to experiment with different settings till you get the results you want.
Using a damper in the stove pipe I always thought was used mainly to keep some of the heat from going up the chimney. I have a concern with using a damper, especially in a stove that has a lot of air leaks. If you close down the damper to keep more heat in or to control the burn, you have a chance for carbon monoxide to enter the cabin. If you use a draft control it lessons that chance by controlling the amount of air to the fire. that will cause less smoke going up the chimney.
If you look at all new stove installations none have anything to control the exhaust. At least out here. I don't know about back there. Also, as you mentioned in your original post, if you shut down the damper the stove will smoke. Same with most any stove that has air leaks.
Controlling the intake has worked better. And again I don't like trying to control or hold back the exhaust. That has the carbon monoxide in it. Ben will be more familiar with what is best for your country. Hope this helps. Larry

We have an 800 sq. ft. cabin that we heat with a SBI (?) (Canadian made) woodburning stove which we purchased from Menards. I think it's a 1800 cu. in. (medium size). We have a main living area with a vaulted ceiling and two bedrooms which are down a ten foot hallway along with a mudroom and unfinished bathroom. The living area has a ceiling fan to circulate the air. The stove works great. My greatest surprise is that the fan circulates enough air to heat the two bedrooms along with the other two rooms. We burn mostly oak, along with some ash, maple and birch. Once the stove gets a nice bed of coals we throttle it down so there is just some flame at the top of the firebox. (According to the stove manufacturer this is the condition you want). If we fill it up it'll usually go 4-6 hours and have enough hot coals to restart it. This is not a problem as I'm up doing something else more times at night than the stove needs wood! We couldn't be more happy with it.
I was really interested about adding mass to the woodburner to retain heat. Need to look into that further. Thanks for posting!
Safe travels all.......Mike

I forgot to add that our stove has an air intake control which works well. I also agree with what others have posted especially about the quality of wood being consumed. However, I'm a rookie at this compared to some of the folks who posted, eh Marten?

As far as dampers go- MHS67 brings up some excellent points. I also believe that with very air tight and efficient wood stoves anything (and that includes dampers , heat reclaimers etc) is not a good thing as the stoves themselves are designed so well that they need a good draft and anything that hinders that can produce more cresote just above the damper/heat reclaimer. Around 75F change in stovepipe temp (cooler above a closed damper/compared to below) in the research I have done. Not only that but an obstruction in the stovepipe is not supposed to be there per engineers whom designed the stove and will likely effect stove performance.

I recently did my homework on these heat reclaimers and came to the conclusion they act just like a damper, which is not good, and an uncontrolled damper at that. I'm a firm believer in not obstructing your stove pipe with anything as a good draft is the key to a good burn. Been heating my living place(s) with wood all my life, minus college.

Excellent take on the damper issue guys. I was basically addressing the chimney buildup issue. But there are other concerns as Larry and Jeff stated.

Smoke is basically creosote... I can’t remember and it might vary a little, but smoke is creosote in a gas form. I hope I’m saying that right. When it cools to around 220 degrees or less, it solidifies into the awful tar wood burners hate. Slowing the flow using a damper or heat exchanger in the stove pipe will usually cause this. Burning wet wood or wood with a lot of pitch, like pine, has a denser smoke where it isn’t able to turn to the gas form all the way. If you can leave drafts wide open and burn it hard, you can minimize the creosote buildup, but you burn a ton more wood.

I came back to this thread as yesterday I went into the woods as it’s no longer deer season, and not a lot of snow. I’ve been burning off a load of ash I had delivered a couple years ago and it just didn’t seem that hot. So I went out in my secret oak spot and there was a ton of down ready to burn oak. Some a little past ready.

I tossed in a couple sticks of dry stuff and boy, I could feel the difference. Now I’m back to opening my door to control the heat. Haha. Now the outside temp is creeping above 20 with little wind and good oak just burns so much hotter.

So Larry, yes... now stoves are made to be controlled by the combustion air (air intake) and you kinda have to know your stove, your wood and how they react. You choke it too much and you get buildup and you may lose your fire. Too much air and you just burn a lot of wood and may get kinda warm, but your chimney stays pretty clean.

I'll throw in my two cents. I've been burning wood in a variety of wood stoves and open fireplaces for decades.

Nctry makes a very good point that is very worth taking note of and that is the temperature at which creosote will condense out of smoke. Typically in a chimney/flue, the smoke continues as a gas until it reaches that point where it strikes or passes a surface that is below that condensation temperature. Then it deposits tiny specs of creosote that build up over time.

In a cold flue, this can happen anywhere along the entire length. Once the fire gets established this point is moved up to and sometimes out of the flue. Most frequently, the condensation spot becomes the place where the flue clears the structure and is exposed directly to the cold outside temperatures. If the fire is hot enough and the gas remains above 220 degrees, creosote does not condense out of the smoke onto the sides of your flue.

In an effort to make wood stoves more efficient (i.e. produce the most heat that is possible while burning as little wood as possible) they have provided mechanisms (dampers) to throttle back the speed of the fire. This makes it possible for users to get the maximum BTU's out of the wood that is burnt.

That is all well and good as we like to be efficient with our wood. However, by dampering down the speed of the fire, we essentially cool the smoke(gas) that leaves the fire. The fire lasts longer that way. The downside is that it creates greater opportunity for the smoke to hit the point where it can condense as creosote on the sides of the chimney. That also creates greater opportunity for chimney fires. For efficient wood stoves / fires, frequent cleaning is critical. I've even seen chimneys that get nearly 100% choked shut by creosote (coke) buildup.

I have two wood stoves in my current house. One is a furnace-type in the basement. The other is a fireplace insert in my living room. I have adopted the mindset that I keep the intake dampers pretty much open. This does mean that I have to re-stock the fire more often and it usually means that most of the coals are gone by morning. Sometimes I have to start from scratch in the morning with a new fire. Sometimes, I have enough coals that will start kindling.

By keeping a hotter fire, I am able to keep my chimney much cleaner than I could if I was being totally efficient with my wood consumption. I feel that the peace of mind of knowing that I have a clean flue offsets the fact that I burn more wood each winter than I might need to. (It also gives me more reason to cut, split and stack more wood each year which is one of my most favorite things to do.)

Again, this is my two cents. I sometimes have to laugh at myself at how obsessed with firewood, wood burning and enjoying fires I must appear to others. I always look forward to the first cool evenings when "a fire will feel good tonight!"

Keep the cook stove put in a pellet stove for heat.

Use the cook stove when you like.

We have a wood burning fireplace at my dad's cabin that I helped him install. The thing puts out a ton of heat and does heat the entire cabin in the winter when we are using it. That said, my dad usually does get up in the middle of the night and add some wood. We like to burn mostly oak when we can. It lasts a long time and burns really hot. Soft woods are better for kindling or getting the fireplace warmed up.

I really think you should consider insulating if you are on a budget. That way you can turn down the air flow to make it last a little longer then the cabin will also retain the heat for longer. You could probably do a pretty good job of it if you sprayed foam insulation under the floor. Insulation is cheaper than upgrading the stove and works really well.

Is your stove sealed? We never worry about the fire getting smoky because the smoke only goes out the chimney. When you crack the door it sucks air from the room too so no smoke should enter the room if you open it slowly. The other reason we aren't worried about the smoke is because we do not burn any wood with resin unless it is outside in the fire pit.

I like the idea one person said about keeping the stove and getting a pellet burner too. Get a high efficiency fireplace and make it an add on to an outside wall. It would take no extra room inside and if you do the addition yourself it should be fairly reasonable for price. I know the fire places can be expensive but they can be pretty reasonable if you shop around, I think my dad got his for around 400. If you add a blower then you can really pump out the heat.

riverrunner: "Keep the cook stove put in a pellet stove for heat.


Use the cook stove when you like.
"

I wish I had the room to keep both. I really have no interest in a pellet stove. I like putting up my own wood. The pellet stove might be more functional but really lacks style. :-)

mikedmarsh1: "I'll throw in my two cents. I've been burning wood in a variety of wood stoves and open fireplaces for decades.


Nctry makes a very good point that is very worth taking note of and that is the temperature at which creosote will condense out of smoke. Typically in a chimney/flue, the smoke continues as a gas until it reaches that point where it strikes or passes a surface that is below that condensation temperature. Then it deposits tiny specs of creosote that build up over time.


In a cold flue, this can happen anywhere along the entire length. Once the fire gets established this point is moved up to and sometimes out of the flue. Most frequently, the condensation spot becomes the place where the flue clears the structure and is exposed directly to the cold outside temperatures. If the fire is hot enough and the gas remains above 220 degrees, creosote does not condense out of the smoke onto the sides of your flue.


In an effort to make wood stoves more efficient (i.e. produce the most heat that is possible while burning as little wood as possible) they have provided mechanisms (dampers) to throttle back the speed of the fire. This makes it possible for users to get the maximum BTU's out of the wood that is burnt.


That is all well and good as we like to be efficient with our wood. However, by dampering down the speed of the fire, we essentially cool the smoke(gas) that leaves the fire. The fire lasts longer that way. The downside is that it creates greater opportunity for the smoke to hit the point where it can condense as creosote on the sides of the chimney. That also creates greater opportunity for chimney fires. For efficient wood stoves / fires, frequent cleaning is critical. I've even seen chimneys that get nearly 100% choked shut by creosote (coke) buildup.


I have two wood stoves in my current house. One is a furnace-type in the basement. The other is a fireplace insert in my living room. I have adopted the mindset that I keep the intake dampers pretty much open. This does mean that I have to re-stock the fire more often and it usually means that most of the coals are gone by morning. Sometimes I have to start from scratch in the morning with a new fire. Sometimes, I have enough coals that will start kindling.


By keeping a hotter fire, I am able to keep my chimney much cleaner than I could if I was being totally efficient with my wood consumption. I feel that the peace of mind of knowing that I have a clean flue offsets the fact that I burn more wood each winter than I might need to. (It also gives me more reason to cut, split and stack more wood each year which is one of my most favorite things to do.)


Again, this is my two cents. I sometimes have to laugh at myself at how obsessed with firewood, wood burning and enjoying fires I must appear to others. I always look forward to the first cool evenings when "a fire will feel good tonight!"
"

I am not too worried about creosote buildup. If you look at the picture I have a very simple flue, out and up with a cleanout at the bottom. It is an easy chore to clean. My cook stove did burn hot, It had lots of venting from the bottom via the ash bucket and it was not air tight in any way. I could really go through a lot of wood with that thing. But probably the biggest reason I have for getting rid of it is safety.

A1t2o:
I really think you should consider insulating if you are on a budget. That way you can turn down the air flow to make it last a little longer then the cabin will also retain the heat for longer. You could probably do a pretty good job of it if you sprayed foam insulation under the floor. Insulation is cheaper than upgrading the stove and works really well.
"

Yeah, I have thought about insulating. That would be a bigger job than it looks. Crawling around under that thing isn't a lot of fun. It used to sit closer to the ground but after getting flooded a couple of times I lifted it up.

With the cook stove I really knew how to operate it and get the most out of it. It sounds like with any stove I get I will have to do the same. Figure out what works best.

Marten: "Been heating my home 100% of the time with wood for forty years in northern Illinois with Vermont castings Defiant. You will need an airtight stove with good capacity. "

An excellent stove. I've been heating my house with it for 23 years, but mine is now worn out, falling apart inside around where the catalyst used to be, and the air intake control is broken.

I need to replace the stove, but am not sure what with.

Even if you don't insulate under the house, consider some wood sheathing around the outside of the foundation to keep cold air from blowing underneath. That can make a lot of difference. Our cabin has that plus some gravel up against the siding to keep air flow down, allow water to seep out as it goes downhill, and also keeps animals from under the cabin.

Hobbydog, Don't get rid of the old cookstove, you will miss cooking on that stove. Get another stove in addition to your cookstove that heats the cabin fine. Just can't replace wood cookstove. We still cook on one in our house through the colder months.

andym: "Even if you don't insulate under the house, consider some wood sheathing around the outside of the foundation to keep cold air from blowing underneath. That can make a lot of difference. Our cabin has that plus some gravel up against the siding to keep air flow down, allow water to seep out as it goes downhill, and also keeps animals from under the cabin."

This entirely. Even if you don't do the job 100%, every little bit of insulation helps. You could spray in insulation wherever you can reach then just use rugs and carpeting to add a little more insulation in the center. Preventing drafts helps a lot too. You could always pay a neighbor kid to crawl under the cabin for you too.

arctic: "

Marten: "Been heating my home 100% of the time with wood for forty years in northern Illinois with Vermont castings Defiant. You will need an airtight stove with good capacity. "

An excellent stove. I've been heating my house with it for 23 years, but mine is now worn out, falling apart inside around where the catalyst used to be, and the air intake control is broken.


I need to replace the stove, but am not sure what with."

Might want to ask a dealer about replacement parts.

hobbydog: "


I am not too worried about creosote buildup. If you look at the picture I have a very simple flue, out and up with a cleanout at the bottom. It is an easy chore to clean. My cook stove did burn hot, It had lots of venting from the bottom via the ash bucket and it was not air tight in any way. I could really go through a lot of wood with that thing. But probably the biggest reason I have for getting rid of it is safety. "

Yeah, you can usually catch it and clean it if you realize it is a problem. And your not living up there. Guys that live in cabins are a strange bunch. Haha.
I sorta forget why sometimes creosote glazes on so well. But I have a spray that when sprayed on the fire, turns it to a form that turns it to a cleanable form.
Wow, I’m trying to type but keep falling asleep and it isn’t eight. I gotta move.... haha!

What type of spray is that. I dont have an issue with build up of creosote but its good to have a back up plan.

Of course dry seasoned hardwood is needed. My favorites: black locust,hedge apple (osage orange),hickory,ash, oak (although heavy to load) these hardwoods hold coals well. Maple,pissellum,gum,hackberry,and such DRY trashwoods here in ohio in milder temps because it burns up quicker with less btu. Type of wood makes a big difference on keeping coals overnight.
If you see an Atlanta Homesteader anywhere ....yes! Atlanta stove works closed up but look used in good shape. Some still around. Lily comes to mind too. A stove lined with firebrick is a good thing. A tight stove with the white rope seals are nice to regulate. And personally I don't want a stove without the pipe damper. The one halfway up the stovepipe with the coiled wire "knob". YOU can regulate the burn be it windy or foggy/drizzle.
A chimney brush once a year does me ok. No green wood. No wet wood. A handfull of course or rock salt tossed on a HOT fire helps keep flu clean too.

Most of the stoves talked about here are the pre EPA models, in 2015 the EPA passed a rule that limits the particulates that are allowed to be discharged through the smoke of a wood burner. Many of the new models come with a lot of complaints regarding lower burn times. When I picked up my most recent stove I decided to go the craigslist route to find an older one made before the 2015 ban. I ended up with a Pacific Energy Vista for $300 that someone had installed for the y2k scare that had only been test burned one time then removed.

I knew a guy (passed away years ago) who had a similar setup to you.

He'd get up in the morning, open a can of beans, put it on top of the woods stove and start the fire. Then he'd go back to sleep for a bit.

Maybe it's time to change your routine. ;)

nooneuno: "Most of the stoves talked about here are the pre EPA models, in 2015 the EPA passed a rule that limits the particulates that are allowed to be discharged through the smoke of a wood burner. Many of the new models come with a lot of complaints regarding lower burn times. When I picked up my most recent stove I decided to go the craigslist route to find an older one made before the 2015 ban. I ended up with a Pacific Energy Vista for $300 that someone had installed for the y2k scare that had only been test burned one time then removed."

EPA rules for wood burning stoves...... you have to be kidding............I wonder what there rules are in reguards to the massive wild fires we have had to deal with...?

dr bob

Excellent point about the emission standards making them add a catylist and lower the stove sizes. My Vermont Castings Defiant pollutes with the best of them so became the Defiant Encore. The interior stove back on the original Defiant warps after years of use but replacement parts are still sold. Find one and fix it up for an excellent long burning stove.

I ended up finding a really good deal on a Quadra 3000 stove, It was a mid 80s model but had been used mostly for an occasional recreational fire rather than a regular heating source. It was in excellent condition. I had been keeping a close eye on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. There was a lot of expensive burned out junk on there. When I saw this one on Facebook Marketplace for $300 I jumped on it and went the same day with cash in hand. The guy said he had 13 others interested within hours of the post and thought he priced it too low but was happy to get it out of his house. I rebricked it and it is like new.

Anyhow, I got it up to the cabin this weekend and had enough stove pipe to get it installed. It seemed to hold the fire well but didn't stoke it up too much as I need a new thimble and replace some of the older stovepipe. Thanks for the help.

Congratulations! That is a great stove!