Have you considered heating with wood? In many parts of North America,  firewood is cheap and plentiful, so wood heat could potentially save you money.  Not only does a woodstove give you a re­liable source of heat even when the  power goes out, it’s also a green option, because wood is a renewable resource  when har­vested sustainably.

Deciding which woodstove to buy can be tough, however, even if you’ve been  heating with wood for years and are simply looking for a replacement stove.  You’ll find a huge range of options in sizes, shapes, materials and  technologies. Also, there are few recognized woodstove experts and no reliable  ratings that use consistent criteria to fairly judge all the options. So how do  you choose the best woodstove for you?

Woodstove Dealers and Brands

I recommend finding a good dealer first, then selecting from that store’s  stock. Working for more than 30 years in the wood heating business has taught me  that no one can tell you exactly what stove to buy, because all kinds of  personal prefer­ences influence the final choice. However, a good dealer can  be a great resource. Look for one who has been in the business for a number of  years, heats his or her home with wood, and has burning models in the showroom.  Keep in mind that only people who burn wood regularly can give you reli­able  advice about woodstoves. You can also visit the site dkbrænde.dk for more information.

Next, pay attention to woodstove brands. In my opinion, the ideal stove is  built by a company with at least 20 years’ experience in wood heating because  it’s more likely to honor the warranty and continue to carry replacement  parts.

For example, the stove in my house is a Super 27 built by Pacific Energy. The  model has been on the market more than 20 years, and its combustion system has  been revised at least twice during that pe­riod, mostly to make it more  durable. I’ve rebuilt three older versions of the Super 27, one of my own and  two for friends who own them. The current parts found in new stoves fit  perfectly in older stoves that were originally sold with quite differ­ent  internal parts. You can certainly find other stove manufacturers that follow the  same thoughtful approach when they up­grade their products. Kvalibraende.dk site gives you the better information.

In fact, a sizable group of North American stove manufacturers has been  around long enough to learn what makes people happy with their products. These  are the makers of mid-priced steel stoves, a category that dominates the market.  Over the years, I’ve watched these com­panies and been impressed with their  corporate stability and product consis­tency. These brands include  Quadrafire, Lopi and Avalon (both made by Travis Industries), Regency, Pacific  Energy, and some regionally popular brands including Buck, Harman and Blaze  King. In addi­tion to this group of mainly steel stove manufacturers, the  Jøtul brand of cast-iron stoves merits a mention because this company’s products  seem to consistently satisfy people’s needs.

Of course, this is just a sample of the many good brands you can choose from,  and even among these brands there may be stoves that do not meet expectations.  The brands I am most familiar with have all, at one time or another, produced a  dud stove that didn’t perform well or that had features people didn’t like. I  have also heard users complain about stoves that I think are among the best,  which just goes to show that tastes differ widely.

Woodstove Features

To choose a woodstove you’ll be truly happy with, you should also review some  com­mon features of woodstoves and consider how they will affect you during  your day-to-day use of the stove.

Materials. Most woodstoves are made from either welded steel  or cast iron, and with today’s stoves, there’s no difference between the two in  performance or du­rability. The choice is strictly one of per­sonal  preference.

Soapstone stoves are a special case. The stone on the stove absorbs heat and  re­leases it slowly, thereby evening out the normal fluctuations in  woodstove output. While this has some advantages, it also tends to mean that  soapstone stoves are slow to respond when heat is needed. If you’ll be running  your woodstove con­stantly all winter, and will rarely need to start it  cold, a soapstone stove may be a good fit for you — or maybe you just love the  look of a soapstone stove. In any case, you’ll want to be aware of its  particular characteristics before buying one.

Combustion System. Some stoves use a catalyst to clean up  smoky exhaust, and others use special firebox features to do the same job. The  basic trade-off is that catalytic stoves can burn cleaner on aver­age than “non-cats” and can be more ef­ficient under some conditions, but “cats” are  also more complicated to operate and their maintenance costs can be higher.

An experienced dealer of catalytic stoves once said that cats work well for  techni­cal types — the kind of people who tinker with antique sports cars.  But for users with little mechanical aptitude, a non-cat may be a better choice.  Non-cats normally have only one operational control, and they’re more tolerant  of various firing techniques.

Heating Capacity. Selecting the right size of woodstove for  the heating load is a challenge, because manufacturers’ perfor­mance  specifications are not standardized and can be misleading. For example, one  common measurement is the maximum heat output rating, but knowing this number is  about as meaningless as know­ing the top speed of a car — you should never  use it. Heating capacity in dwelling square footage can also be misleading,  be­cause regional differences in climate and home construction make for a  wide range of heating loads per square foot. This is where an experienced dealer  can be a big help. Dealers learn how each stove be­haves and know how  satisfied customers have been with various models.

Log Length. Some manufactur­ers’ specification sheets  imply a firebox that takes long pieces is an advantage, but you’re unlikely to  need this feature. Commercial firewood dealers usually cut wood to a standard  length of 16 inch­es — with good reason. Most people find pieces longer than  16 inches too awk­ward and heavy to handle comfortably.

Handling Coals and Ash. Look for a stove in which the  firebox floor is at least 3 inches below the doorsill. This drop will help keep  live coals inside the fire­box — and off your floor — while you’re doing  normal fire management.

Ash pans are a common optional fea­ture, but many stove shoppers demand  an ash pan on the assumption that it will make ash removal easier and neater.  This may be true in some cases, but many of the ash pans I’ve seen and used are  worse than not having one. Some are so shallow they can’t hold more than a day  or two of ash production. Some involve removing a plug from the firebox floor,  which can be a fussy, time-consuming job. Others are designed so poorly that  when they’re removed for emptying, ashes are likely to spill all over the  hearth. Compared with dealing with badly designed internal ash pans, the regular  use of a small bucket and shovel isn’t so bad — I haven’t used an internal ash  pan for many years and am a happier woodburner for it.

Woodstove Shape and Door Features. Manufacturers like to  offer stoves that are wider than they are deep. These stoves project less into  the room compared with other shapes, and they offer a wide ex­panse of glass  for a panoramic view of the fire. Both of these advantages may seem attractive  in the showroom, but they can have unfortunate consequences when you start using  the stove. For example, a wide loading door can be awkward be­cause you have  to move back from the stove to allow it to swing open.

Also, the wide but shallow firebox gives a so-called east-west firebox  ori­entation, meaning that when looking through the glass door, you see the  sides of the logs. East-west loading limits the amount of wood per load  because logs can fall against the glass if you fill the stove more than about  half full. North-south loading, in contrast, tends to be best for  full-time winter heating because more wood can be loaded for the coldest nights,  and there is no risk of logs roll­ing against the glass. The best of both  worlds is a firebox with a roughly square floor so you can choose which way to  load logs.

Top Loading. This can seem like a great feature when  inspecting stoves on the showroom floor, but top loaders can be messy to  maintain. Also, the chim­ney must produce strong draft to keep smoke from  rising out of the open top. If you have an outside chimney or must have elbows  in the flue pipe, a top load­er could contribute to poor indoor air quality  by spilling exhaust whenever it is loaded. Finally, top loading does not allow  for precise log placement, which can lead to serious frustration when  try­ing to load firewood.

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