Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Hey y'all I'm looking for an old wood stove if y'all know of anything!

Thanks, Travis

You can find some good deals on Facebook market place sometimes , one of my uncles found an insert with blower for $150 for the camp house , but it already had a fireplace . By the time you by the pipe ect new you might as well look at investing in a new stove when you look at the all in price . About the best for the cheapest for heating I've found are small cast iron stoves from Jotul or the Morso little squirrel , $800 to $1000 . I think spending another $500 +- for a stove you know wont smoke up your house is worth it for a long term investment .

I have been looking for an older one. The us stove company ones don't seem to have great reviews. I will check out the ones you mentioned. I definitely don't want smoke in the house. Thanks

My Mom bought a Jotul in the '70s. I was about 6 or 7 but I seem to remember my Dad not happy with the $800 price tag at the time. 50 years and 3 houses later, it was still as tight and efficient as the first day. I would say money well spent.

I have a Drolet Escape made in Canada. It's an excellent stove, and I've never had smoke in the house, and can even be used with the door open. If you have to purchase a new stove, it's definitely well-made and efficient.

Thanks guys.. I found a jutol but it was a long ways away from me.

Mike I'll check those out too!

Do you even need it down there?

My .02

Smoke in the house isn't a function of the stove, it's a function of the flue. As long as the flue is drawing, smoke wont be an issue, even with the door open. The danger of a stove that isn't airtight is preventing it from over-firing. If it's not air-tight it can get away from you, and that's an attention-getting situation.

You can re-gasket/ re-seal many older stoves.

Best of luck with your search !

Thanks VT

What makes it a good flue? Length? Angles?

I know with a flue for hot water heater has to go up in an angle, never 90 degrees etc.

Thers an internet worth of info on this but here are my thoughts:

Just needs to be sized right for the stove, clean, tall enough to clear the roof peak by some prescribed margin, and ideally free of bends. If the flue diameter is too big, it may not be able to develop enough draw to move the volume of air within it, so bigger is not neccassarily better, it needs to be size-matched for the stove.

You need to keep the gases in the flue hot enough where they won't start condensing into creosote. So if it's a long run, you need double wall for some part of it, esp after it exits.

Burning a cool, smoky fire will generate creosote quickly also: you want shorter, hotter fires that heat up the stove. Then let the room draw that heat off, repeat.

Creosote causes 2 issues(or more): can ignite and cause a flue fire, and it can impede draw. If there is smoke in the house, it could be creosote blocking the flue, turning the house into the chimney.

Flue draws best when there is a good temp differential between outside and inside. We tend to use other heat options in milder weather.

The approach in the south may be altogether different due to the mild winter temps.

I've been using wood as a primary for about 20 years in vt and had to learn along the way with a few scary moments and one 911 call that ended up no problem.

A couple of my thoughts.

We had a wood burning insert in the fireplace when we bought the house. Until the insert got hot enough it wouldn't draw properly. I used to have to use a plumbers blowtorch to get the wood burning hot and quick (oak and hickory).
Fast forward a couple of years and new doors, windows, updating the siding, adding wrap and lots of caulk, had to open one of the outside doors to get enough outside air.
So, we asked our chimney sweep guy what he recommended. He got us in touch with a company that does repairs. Two things that made a huge difference. 1 the guy said we need an extension on top of the roof based on height of the chimney, the roof line and the prevailing winds during cold weather. 2 the guy recommended a chimney liner with access to fresh air, double liner IIRC. He said the diameter of the existing chimney was too large and that was one of the reasons it wouldn't draw properly. Once those 2 items were fixed we didn't have any more issues. Luckily it wasn't a huge cost for the appropriate fixes.

So, from what VT_Jeff said, flue height and appropriate size flue are pretty critical.

piperdown wrote: ↑Tue Oct 25, 2022 10:18 am
Fast forward a couple of years and new doors, windows, updating the siding, adding wrap and lots of caulk, had to open one of the outside doors to get enough outside air.

Great point: I would really like my next stove to be externally aspirated. Helps with this issue and also prevents all the warm air in the house from going up the flue!

Picked up this little beauty