More to go wrong. I chose the old coal fire model over the new higher efficiency outdoor boiler becuse it's less to go wrong, I don't have to split it as small and I can burn anything. Green pine and cherry no problem. Coon, and coyote carcasses done, goat dies toss it in the burner.

I didn't hav seasoned wood the year I bought it and didn't want to worry about testing moisture content. I didn't like the need for smaller wood either. The trais off is I burn at least t 2x more wood.

I like our Blazeking, burn half as much wood, and we cook off of it as well.

I see the benefit of a boiler that you can throw anything including green wood in but I meant for an indoor stove that really should be running dry wood anyways.

We have 3 that are wonderful.
In the cabin a good quality Ben Franklin style. I bought this at a moving sale in the summer. $50.
In the house a large fireplace insert stove with a blower. It is wonderful!
We have a spare that we plan to install in our new house when it is built. It is a large double door sort of cabinet style made of heavy steel plate. I bought it at a garage sale in the summer. $50.

None of these have the EPA restrictions. They all burn and heat well.

I have a 1986 Vermont Castings Defiant Encore. You can burn it with the catalyst engaged or not, which I really like. Really efficient. The price was right too.

My off grid cabin uses a 120 year old little pot belly stove, designed for coal but burns wood during the day. It gets about 10-15 # of coal. I get hard nut coal local for $7 per 50# bag.
When running on coal it burns with a nice blue natural gas like flame. My workshop is heated with a modified boxwood stove. Lots of folks that have heated with wood their whole life often mix green and dry wood at times for a reason.

I don’t like the loss of control that comes with any stove that has automatic combustion control (ACC). I think it is legally required with newer stoves.

Both my Quadra fires are pre-ACC. At the time of their manufacture they were rated the cleanest burning, non-catalytic stoves on the market by the EPA. They are both completely airtight. I can have a roaring fire going in them and when I pull out both air control rods it completely shuts them down to where there’s just a blue flame rolling down the glass. I can throw two, eight-inch rounds on a bed of coals in the morning and throttle them down to where I can easily get 12 hours of burn out of them. They’re not throwing a lot of heat but they’re not going out. And I hate to rebuild a fire. I usually start one at home in November and keep it going until March.

And when they’re damped down like that they really aren’t giving off much smoke or particulates. You can see a few wisps of smoke come out the chimney but you have to look hard to see that there’s a fire going. When I’m burning them at half throttle or hotter there is zero smoke.

We have the extra large dutch west nice big fire box, with ash
pan has 2 doors front door has glass in it side door is all metal
load from the front or the side.

I have seen a locally made wood stove for sale in New Market . It looked like it had a fairly large firebox and I think it was made by Broadway Metals. It didn't look too epa compliant to me. There's ways to get around the EPA compliance, you may have to make your wood stove from scratch though.

We have a Buck model 81 and love it. First thing to decide is whether you want a non catalytic or catalytic stove. We went non cat because I don't like the idea of eventually having to replace the catalyst.

I’ve always been fond of the Fisher stoves. Heating machines !

I have had 3 wood stoves and the best heating one so far has been
The fisher momma bear! Great stove i heat my 1500 sqft house solely on
Wood and I burn Around 3 cord here in northeast wi

I also have a Drolet Austral in the shop. It's real good for the money and has a big fire box (important). A quadrafire 4300 steptop for the house and is just as good or better.

(1) All stoves now are EPA regulated now. When this law went into effect, it put many stove makers out of business. I don't have any issues with either one of mine, however and are hot from about the end of Oct to April.

(2) Don't look at the room rating for size. Look at the size of the firebox instead. Unless you like cutting 6" mini logs. Both my stoves are over rated for the space they heat. You don't have to fill it up. You use airflow to regulate the heat, anyhow.

(3) The ash grate is a waste of money if someone tries to talk you into one (and it's extra money). I never use either of mine...ever.

(4) Get the fan attachment. A fan is a must. Well worth the $100.

(5) it's a great investment. I'd never have another home (or fur shop) without a woodstove.

Four Dog welded titanium if you want light and well built. Seek makes good backpacking stoves, but Four Dog blows them out of the water durability wise.

Jotul Oslo. I particularly like the door on the side of the stove for loading. I never use the front door for anything but my viewing pleasure

I’m actively engaged in trying to figure out a wood stove too in a house I’ve remodeled and will eventually move too.

I like the look of the Quadra Fires but don’t know anything about the details on these newer stoves. I am hoping to keep this thread going.

I have been running a Quadrafire 2100 step top since 2007 , I bough the floor model from the store it was a few years old at that point I replaced a few brick sin about 2009 a couple came cracked from the trip from the store and a full change in 2018 other than fire brick which wear out in any stove door seals every few years and cleaning is all


it is about 3/4 of our heat the furnace gets us through the night

only down side is the fire box is a little small

16 inch wood is about all the longer you want to cut it.

burning dry wood you clean the chimney every other year just to make sure , they burn that clean.

with dry wood you run the primary air wide open the first fire of every day , then you can choke it down safely once the flue is hot

I got an old stove at a cabin.It burns good,but no seal on the door.
It looks like there was a seal at one time,I would like to put one on it.I tried the glue on one I wire wheeled the steel before gluing,but it fell off in a short time.
Is there a better way to attach the seal to the door,or better to attach the seal to the stove?
I was thinking of some small stove bolts and washers and drill the door and use the stove bolts to hold the seal in place.

I could buy a new stove,but that one burns good,just burns a bit hot,lol.

Heat proof fiberglass type woven material that presses in the door groove.. Not sure if thickness and width varies.

I tried that.
The kit I got had a fairly thick woven cord,about an inch at least,and fit the cup around the door fairly well.Just didnt stick in place.