[PA Engineer]

Four wood stoves! How big is your house?

The house is somewhat large and I have stoves in different zones. Two are Aspens with one in the greenhouse and the other in the master. I really don't fire up the greenhouse stove unless we go subzero and in late March when I begin to layout the seed trays.

The stove in the master is more for prepping and hot water if we lose utilities. Both stoves burn well at about 28K Btus. I have found that if I do a slow burn up, load and damper, the stoves radiate for eight hours without additional fuel.

I use a Dutchwest (medium) in the great room. That will heat the house pretty much down to 10. I did a 14 foot stack of enameled pipe to a vaulted ceiling, outside air intake and squeezed out substantially more than the 85% listed efficiency. The Dutchwest is my favorite and leaves a white powdered ash after the burn. It is catalytic, however the EPA has approved the newer models without. The manual claimed the catalyst was not a "source" of heat, but that area above is great for boiling water. YMMV. The stove can be burned with or without the catalyst.

The final stove is in the kitchen and family room combo. There was originally a heatilator (very inefficient) fireplace there. We installed a Regency insert. The insert is more of a wood furnace (steel and fire bricks) in my opinion than a stove. It does 65K BTUs max output. We inserted a double wall 6" inside of a double wall 10". We generally use that stove for primary heating and get good convection up the two story entrance to the bedrooms. Most of the time my family members would just close the doors to the bedrooms because it was too hot.

My current gripe with the EPA is over the chimney caps. We are in one of the main migration paths of stink bugs. We managed to seal up the home everywhere except the caps. The EPA will not permit the proposed cap replacements to keep the stink bugs out (at least the last time I checked two years ago). Those things swarm in the fall and I have to keep the shopvacs out for two weeks. I can't describe the nightmare of the bug collection between the inserted Regency pipes. Ugly. One thing I learned is stink bugs seemed to be attracted to the infrared spectrum. We replaced all the spots from toxic bulbs to LEDs. That really cut out the bug attraction (not just stink bugs).

My wood storage was a stubborn response to local codes. I took all of our old walkway pavers for the floor on top of a gravel base. The permitting process required numerous regulations for a permanent structure, so I made the entire 10X20 structure out of large bolts, painted pressure treated 4X4 posts and 3 foot post-ups. The structure is now considered "temporary." It can be dismantled and moved in one weekend with air tools. The roof is pressure treated lattice and a 16X24' tarp. It matches the house and barn. I was very ticked off. I pitched mine at 15 degrees which has worked well. I stack it very high in the center and not the standard chord 4 feet. I mostly drop trees in the fall and spring. They are stacked and covered in place till I bring them down from the upper back 5 for splitting.

The 3.5 chord is the maximum estimated required to burn for a bad winter without sun. I am getting there this year.

[woodbutcher1963]

My former neighbor had the large Consolidated Dutchwest stove. His was probably the early 80’s version. I can not remember if it was a cat stove. I remember really liking the side loader because he could get pieces in there almost 2’ long.

My in laws have been using a red enameled Catalytic Vermont Castings Acclaim since the early 80’s. It is a model from back when VC was making the best stoves. His Cat is in the back so it is kind of hard to clean. It is a top loader. Probably one of the prettiest stoves ever made. The enamel finish still looks great after 30 years.

That is the major issue I had with my Jotul. It had the cream color enamel. After a few years it started chipping off. By the time it was 15 years old(when I sold the house) it looked like crap. It needed to be sand blasted and repainted. It still worked just fine. Plus my son knocked over the fake Christmas tree once. So it had a burnt on pine needle look to it. HE also got a little too close with his down coat one time. Therefore, there was a little burn on nylon in spots.

I never worry about building small buildings on my property. I built a 12x16 barn on the last property and never pulled a permit. I rebuilt an in ground swimming pool and never pulled a permit. The town I live in now has a population of about 2500. The building inspector works part time. His office hours are Mondays 5-8pm. He is a finish carpenter fulltime by trade.

I don’t worry too much about the local govt. The only problem is IF you have a nosey neighbor. The last guy with the aforementioned Dutchwest stove was the head of the conservation commission. However, he was also a retired electrical engineer from the local utility company. The only thing he did not like were ATVs and snowmobiles. He was a big cross country skier and said they messed up the trails and went too fast.

Now my closest neighbor’s house is 500 feet away. I have 12 acres. He has 5. He has four horses. We have half dozen beagles. When I logged my property two falls ago, I purposely left most of the timber between the two houses sight line. Privacy makes good neighbors. Although, sometimes my dogs back at his horses when they are running around in their pasture.

My next outdoor project will be to build a medium sized barn on this property. I am thinking a pole barn approximately 16 x 24. I need something that would be big enough to park a 30hp Kubota or John Deere tractor(my next potential machine). Also, something large enough to also park the snow blower, 15HP John Deere tractor, spreader, outdoor furniture, wood chipper and enough room to have my Alpiner Box stove. I used to make maple syrup at the old house. I had two SS pans that fit onto this stove. It is one of those steel stoves the EPA wants to get rid of. When I am making syrup, I am throwing wood in there about once an hour.

We get stink bugs up here but not nearly in the quantity you do. Never knew they migrated like that.

Nice conversing with you.
Jim