6 ms·

This seems neat, but I only run my stove for roughly 3 months out of the year. It seems like a lot of effort and expense for something that seems to make sense

This seems neat, but I only run my stove for roughly 3 months out of the year. It seems like a lot of effort and expense for something that seems to make sense only in the winter. I guess these are more popular in colder climates with short summers?

chrisseaton 6y ago
> I only run my stove for roughly 3 months out of the year Do you not use your stove for cooking as well? I guess most people with a wood-burning stove us it as an oven, a hob, a toaster, things like that, which they want to use during summer as well.
- nerdponx 6y ago
  The people I know with wood-burning stoves also have modern electric or natural gas ranges for their daily cooking. Their stoves are primarily for heat, with cooking as an added bonus. But those stoves are more like a metal box with a chimney, not the large cooking-oriented stoves in the article.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    These wood-burning ranges are not uncommon in the UK https://www.google.com/search?q=wood+burning+aga&safe=active&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO5_-n3o3wAhWSYsAKHaHFB9kQ_AUIwgIoAQ&biw=1680&bih=870 https://www.google.com/search?q=wood+burning+aga&safe=active...
- jandrese 6y ago
  Nope, mine is configured purely for home heating. But even then I don't leave my oven on 24/7. This article runs under the assumption that your heat source is constantly running. In fact he advocates for large tanks that take a long time to warm up in most cases because of the assumption that your stove is always burning.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    > But even then I don't leave my oven on 24/7. This article runs under the assumption that your heat source is constantly running. Yeah that's the way many of these combined heater / oven things work - the oven is literally on all the time. Starting it up can take a full day.
    - jandrese 6y ago
      That seems rather inefficient, especially in the summer. I also thought the lossy boilover system seemed less than ideal, but I guess if it takes all day to get the heat going you don't have good alternatives. Maybe the small tank system would make sense for a bachelor who is ok with taking a shower only at night after cooking dinner. Maybe supplanted with a solar thermal setup to keep the water at an elevated temperature and only topped off with the stove? I have to admit I thought to myself a few times while reading the article: "Is this better than a solar array and electric water heater?" I guess it has fewer failure points, although a solar panel failure doesn't flood your basement. If you are running a wood stove from trees you chop down on your own land this could be very low cost over the long term I guess. Solar is still fairly expensive, especially if you add battery storage, but it has been falling sharply in the past few years and the price for these systems is basically fixed. At the end of the day it's a decent chunk of custom plumbing and a specially designed appliance. Traditionally that combination would be fairly expensive and I wouldn't be surprised if the price has been increasing slowly as the plumbers who know how to do this retire and the wetback stoves become even more specialty equipment.

chrisseaton 6y ago

> I only run my stove for roughly 3 months out of the year Do you not use your stove for cooking as well? I guess most people with a wood-burning stove us it as an oven, a hob, a toaster, things like that, which they want to use during summer as well.

nerdponx 6y ago
The people I know with wood-burning stoves also have modern electric or natural gas ranges for their daily cooking. Their stoves are primarily for heat, with cooking as an added bonus. But those stoves are more like a metal box with a chimney, not the large cooking-oriented stoves in the article.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  These wood-burning ranges are not uncommon in the UK https://www.google.com/search?q=wood+burning+aga&safe=active&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO5_-n3o3wAhWSYsAKHaHFB9kQ_AUIwgIoAQ&biw=1680&bih=870 https://www.google.com/search?q=wood+burning+aga&safe=active...
jandrese 6y ago
Nope, mine is configured purely for home heating. But even then I don't leave my oven on 24/7. This article runs under the assumption that your heat source is constantly running. In fact he advocates for large tanks that take a long time to warm up in most cases because of the assumption that your stove is always burning.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  > But even then I don't leave my oven on 24/7. This article runs under the assumption that your heat source is constantly running. Yeah that's the way many of these combined heater / oven things work - the oven is literally on all the time. Starting it up can take a full day.
  - jandrese 6y ago
    That seems rather inefficient, especially in the summer. I also thought the lossy boilover system seemed less than ideal, but I guess if it takes all day to get the heat going you don't have good alternatives. Maybe the small tank system would make sense for a bachelor who is ok with taking a shower only at night after cooking dinner. Maybe supplanted with a solar thermal setup to keep the water at an elevated temperature and only topped off with the stove? I have to admit I thought to myself a few times while reading the article: "Is this better than a solar array and electric water heater?" I guess it has fewer failure points, although a solar panel failure doesn't flood your basement. If you are running a wood stove from trees you chop down on your own land this could be very low cost over the long term I guess. Solar is still fairly expensive, especially if you add battery storage, but it has been falling sharply in the past few years and the price for these systems is basically fixed. At the end of the day it's a decent chunk of custom plumbing and a specially designed appliance. Traditionally that combination would be fairly expensive and I wouldn't be surprised if the price has been increasing slowly as the plumbers who know how to do this retire and the wetback stoves become even more specialty equipment.