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Other poster covered it well, but one thing to add. There are the kinds of wood burning stove. Old simple, pre EPA mandated high efficiency stove, efficient sto
by anonfornoreason 6y ago
Other poster covered it well, but one thing to add. There are the kinds of wood burning stove. Old simple, pre EPA mandated high efficiency stove, efficient stoves with a catalyst to provide the clean burn, and efficient stoves that use secondary air injection to provide a clean burn. The new efficient stoves are a bit more forgiving for throttling them down for long burns without producing too much creosote they can cause chimney fires.
I just replaced the old stove in my house with a new catalyst model and I burn 30% less wood while providing more steady even heat. I am heating 4000 sqft 2 story with only wood heat, one load every 12 hours, house between 80 and 64 degrees depending on location.
Wood heat is great!
- KMag 6y agoAre you aware of any high-efficiency wood burners that don't require electrical power for the secondary air injection? If they do all require electrical power for secondary air injection, if power is lost, do they quickly foul the burners with soot, or do they just gracefully degrade to running at a lower efficiency?
- nkurz 6y agoThe secondary air combustion for wood burning stoves usually doesn't require electricity. At least, we shopped for an EPA 2020 compliant replacement wood stove a couple years ago, and I don't think I came across that needed electricity for combustion. Pellet burning stoves often do, and there are often add-on kits for wood stoves to provide greater air circulation for the room, but the primary and secondary combustion use the natural "draft" from the chimney. I guess it's possible that even higher efficiency would be possible for bulk wood with a forced air design, but I don't think they are common. We ended up with a Progress Hybrid Soapstone, and have been happy with it.
- anonfornoreason 6y agoOther reply covered it nicely. I am not aware of any conventional high efficiency wood stove that requires electricity to run. I do have blowers on mine to circulate air over the convection deck, which also reduces clearance requirements to the rear of the stove. I opted for a blaze king catalyst stove. It’s probably the nicest stove utilitarian stove you can buy if you want to heat a large space and want to control temp outputs. Downside is cat replacements every 5 or so years, but that’s not a big deal and worth the benefits. Lots of good options out there!