Is a wood stove insert warmer than a Fireplace, even without the fan?

[Sun]

Is a wood stove insert warmer than a regular fireplace, even without the fan (if there's a power outage)?

[Sun]

We're looking into this, especially with Obama as POTUS, because we might have more blackouts throughout the country.

[lack-of-trust]

yes, My folks had one and it would drive you out of the room if you did not modulate the air intake properly.

it butns more eficciently, doesnt suck as much air up the chimney and all that cast iron radiates heat into the room.

enjoy.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

I’m looking into units that burn spent brass, as there will be an expanding market for that.....

[Sun]

So even if the electricity goes out, the house is very warm, even without the fan?

[Ballygrl]

Hi Sun!

We don’t have either 1 but hubby and I have been around them and wood burning stoves definitely generate more heat then fireplaces.

[umgud]

YES!

[Sun]

Hey Ballygrl!

Somebody told me that the inserts aren’t so warm without a fan, because only the front part is exposed. Have you been around the wood burning INSERTS (without the fan)?

[irishtenor]

Yes, about 80% of the heat goes up the flue without an insert.

[fso301]

We're looking into this, especially with Obama as POTUS, because we might have more blackouts throughout the country.

We have one with a fan. It's an older model that uses inside air and does not have a secondary combustion chamber or catalytic converter. WE LOVE IT! Stoke it up and you have to open the windows and sit outside. In the event of a power outage, it has a shelf that you can place pots on for cooking. We keep a cast iron dutch oven on it full of water to act as a humidifier. The water will quickly come to a boil.

The modern inserts are even more efficient! We are thinking about putting a wood burning stove in the basement and if we do, it will be a free standing modern one.

Modern inserts and free standing stoves are very efficient and I would encourage you to spend the money on a modern one. The units with catalytic converters are a little more efficient that those with secondary combustion chambers but the catalytic converters require more maintenance. Consider a modern unit having a secondary combustion chamber that is feed with outside air.

[incredulous joe]

Yes, if the inserti is tight, you should have a minimum of draft created and your home will be considerably warmer.

I live in central Maryland and we use a woodstove for about 85% of our heat. It’s a bit of work; splitting wood and maintaining heat around the clock.

I’d do it now. I have actually heard ~ and I don’t know that this is really true ~ that the stoves may be required to have a catalytic converter or some such nonsense to measure the amount of carbon that you are creating.

Essentially, even if you collect your own firewood, you may be taxed on it. I remember originally suggesting such a scenario as a joke and someone told me that it would be coming down the line.

Sounds plausible.

Anyway, get the stove! You’ll love it and you’ll be pissing off greenies and won’t be sending your money to the Arabs.

It’s win win win!

[Lancey Howard]

This is the woodstove we have been using for over 20 years.

It is the Coalbrookdale "Darby" model. It is heavy cast iron and rates 2200 btu of heat. It has a removable ashtray so you never have to let the fire go out, and a flip-open cooktop, which can come in handy for making soup, coffee, toast, and other food in case of a long blackout where you don't necessarily want to fire up the backyard grill. It's got the glass doors so you can see the flames, and it also comes with a handy coal conversion kit (although we have never used it since we're in the middle of the woods and free fuel is plentiful).

Great stove, I highly recommend it.

[ModelBreaker]

Yes. You get the radiant heat and the insert is not sucking warm air out of your house like a fireplace does. That’ll do to keep YOU from freezing if you stay in the room that contains the insert. But if its cold and the outage lasts a while and your house is decent sized, your pipes that are not near the radiant heat can freeze and you have a mess when it warms up. The fan puts a LOT more heat into the house than just the radiant heat.

So try buying a marine battery or two and keep them charged. That’ll run the insert fan for a few hours per battery (on my insert at least). For longer blackouts, get a device to hook onto your car battery and convert the DC to household electricity and an extension cord (keep your gas tanks fairly full). That lets you run your fan off of gasoline power even when the power is out and your batterys have gone. If you are judicious, you can make a tank last a few days. (And make sure you have windup electrical light. It is almost impossible to get the car and battery stuff hooked up without light. Power always seems to fail at night. Flashlight batteries always seem to fail at the wrong time and then you are searching for batteries in the dark.)

Of course, recharge the battery when the power comes back on.

[Sun]

“Yes, about 80% of the heat goes up the flue without an insert.”

Wow.

[cherry]

we have a wood stove downstairs and it has no fan and when we are serious our regular heat does not come on, it works that well...not that the upstairs is toasty, but we don't like it too warm anyway....

my question is....with a wood stove downstairs, can the upstairs fireplace (currently with a gas fireplace that works poorly) also have a wood insert?....does two fireplaces mean two chimneys?

[incredulous joe]

Depends on the scale of your house and how you regulate air currents. Our stove keeps what I call “the core”of our home warm. It’s a small Cape Cod, but we have doors on non-essential rooms and to our upstairs.

We lost power for 3 days in an ice storm a couple years back and we stuck it out and kept pretty cozy. Though we did have to sleep in the living room. So, yes if you lose power you stay warm. Our 2 bathrooms are included in “the core” and we did not have an issue with water freezing during the lenght of our 3 day stay with nighttime temps in the 20s outside.

[fish hawk]

Don’t know, I’ve been living here on Maui for 40 years. No need for heat in our houses.

[Sun]

“In the event of a power outage, it has a shelf that you can place pots on for cooking. We keep a cast iron dutch oven on it full of water to act as a humidifier. The water will quickly come to a boil.”

That must come in handy, and you could even put a can of soup to heat on the shelf.

[Sun]

“won’t be sending your money to the Arabs.”

I’m sick of giving money to people who don’t like us.

[Sun]

Your stove is beautiful. I didn’t know they had stoves where you can see the fire 20 years ago.

[incredulous joe]

That’s a beauty Lancey!