Got any recommendations for a good cast iron wood fired stove?

[Col4570]

This little stove in my frontroom puts out a lot of heat using Wood or smokeless fuel or a combination of both.When it gets going we can turn off the central HeatingIt is a Firefox Junior.I do,nt know if it is available on your side of the Pond.

[quilbilly]

They may not be available in your area but we have put Country Stoves wow burners in our homes twice and have been extremely happy with them. Our current one not only gets the house up to 80 degrees without effort but we have used it to cook on (stews and coffee) during power outages.

[w5pv]

Look At the Buck Stoves Had one for about 35 years heats great,my house is about 2800 down stairs with 3 bed rooms and two baths upstairs.keeps everything good and warm,Down here our extreme lows will not get below 17 degrees.One time it got down to 7 degrees.That was in 80-91.

[jonp]

My family has used wood all of our lives. A vermont soapstone is quite the thing if you can swing it

[NWPilgrim]

Vermont Castings and Waterford Irish stoves are the best CAST IRON stoves. There are a lot of really good STEEL stoves out there too...like Lopi, and Regency. I have a lot of experience in this area...so feel free to PM me if you'd like.

We have the Waterford "Ashling" model. It is very well made and beautiful. But in reality our cheaper but well made Country welded steel stove was more efficient.

I recommend getting a larger stove than what you think you need according to it rating. A smaller firebox needs to be reloaded more often and can't take the larger pieces.

[Wag]

Wag,
That is not the Franklin that most people know of as a Franklin.

Yes, I wasn't exactly clear in my comments but that picture is of a pot-belly stove rather than a Franklin. The point I wanted to make is that a Franklin isn't always good for cooking so if you want to use it for that, it may not work as well as you want. Hence, the pot belly as an alternative!

--Wag--

[Circuit Rider]

7Acres, Do you have a basement? Also, what part of the country do you live in? CR

[7Acres]

We have no basement. But we do have a 2nd story. 800sq ft on 2nd, 1400 on 1st floor. Planning on putting the stove centrally located on 1st floor. There's a perfect spot for one there.

[Circuit Rider]

7Acres, PM incoming CR

[steg]

Wag that is one pretty stove, I can smell the pot of soup on it now!

[MT Gianni]

Napoleon 1450 is the least expensive stove of good quality we could find last year. It has firebrick, holds heat and has no converter if that is legal where you are. We have 1500 sq ft upstairs and I start the stove with 3 1/-1/3 pieces of split pine 16" long from a 15-18" log. After it is warm one stick per hour of split 1/3 or 1/4 round pine log keeps the upstairs warm. You can cook on it but it is not designed for it, just use flat bottomed cookware.

[Iowa Fox]

Mine is a Nashua but I'm pretty sure they are no longer made. Its a good stove going into its 33 season for us. The house is 1750 sq ft up & down and it heats the whole house. Its a good looking stove with glass door front, takes 24" logs, jacketed steel construction with a 2 speed squirrel cage blower for the jacket. Once you get spoiled with wood heat its hard to be without it. Sounds like we are really going to need it starting Friday morning here.

[BD]

We've been using a Vermont castings catalytic Defiant for the last 10 years or so. It was pricey, but I'm really happy with it, with one exception; we bought the green enamel version which looked great for 7 or 8 years, then the enamel started going away on the top, so now it looks pretty bad. I'd recommend plain black iron as you can always re-black them and keep them looking good. I see these used locally for $600 - $900 depending on the condition.
The best deal for the $$ right now is probably the cast iron stove at Home Depot, (NC 30?). Some friends of ours just put one in as the only heat source for a 2,000 sq ft house in northern Maine, and they are very pleased with it. I think it was $950 out the door.
BD

[jonp]

Enamal stoves look great but are more for decoration than long term use. We always called them Flatlander Stoves because all of the people from the city and mass, ct, ny etc that just had to move to Vermont bought them cause they looked good.

My dad heated his house with an oil drum stove he made himself. It would get the house so warm you'd have to open the windows in January.

[WILCO]

My wife and I recently agreed that our house needs a cast iron wood fired stove.

Whatever you get, make sure it's libtard compliant:

http://www.epa.gov/burnwise/

[dragonrider]

Look for Harmon stoves. Very well made and efficient. Mine is a coal stove with a magic heat reclaimer on the pipe.

[dragon813gt]

Has anyone put an older one in lately. I'm wondering what your insurance company said? I have an all fuel chimney and will be installing direct vent furnace and water heater soon. I want to install a stove but there is no way I'm going w/ a catalytic.

[TCFAN]

We have been using a Woodstock Fireview stove for the last 7 or 8 years.It is a very good burning wood stove with a catalytic combuster. It is a cast iron frame with double walled soapstone sides top and back. Burn time runs around 8 to 12 hours on one load of wood with plenty of coals left to fire up the next load.This stove is our only source of heat in our house which runs about 1500 sq. feet.
Here is a photo of what one looks like and some info...

http://www.woodstove.com/fireview

[smokeywolf]

Can anyone enlighten a neophyte on how effective and efficient one of the old wood burning cook stoves are if used as either a primary or secondary source of space heating.

smokeywolf

[Duckiller]

They work! In the Army in New Hampshire (1967-68) a group of GIs rented an older farm home. We had a furnace but fuel was expensive and we we gone most of the day. We had a wood burning cook stove in tne kitchen that provided more than enough heat for breakfast and in the evening . Ran the furnace to keep the chill off at night. Also had camp cabin that a drive stove for heat and cooking. Worked very good to dry thing out and warm the cabin. Just have to haul out ashes.