Last year I was lucky to find a good, used wood burning stove to buy and put in my basement. This picture was taken right after it was moved in by a couple of strong guys who did have quite a bit of trouble, since it’s very heavy. That is the hardest thing about buying a stove. It’s not something that you just go and get and bring home, lots of preparation is involved and deciding where to put it is something to consider before bringing one home.
This stove was purchased from a stranger who took out an add in the paper and my landlady is the one who told me about it. The price seemed right, and at the time I didn’t know about the importance of having fire bricks inside. I’d never had a stove with a brick lining. In fact, the previous owner told me it didn’t matter that they were missing. I found out that the bricks are necessary for holding the heat and keeping the sides of the stove from warping when the heat is high and no matter how hard I tried, the fire would occasionally get hotter than it should. I feel that if I hadn’t added the bricks myself, that the structure of the stove would have been affected.
Since buying this stove, I’ve written a page about my experience and all I’ve learned along along the way, including the exact amounts of money I put into the pipe, hook up, and bricks needed to get the stove up and running. And remember that pellet stoves require electricity to run, and that is why I am not interested in them. I need to have heat when the power is out and so went with the wood-burning type.
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New England's Narrow Road 
Hey there, You’ve done an incredible job. I’ll definitely digg it and personally recommend
to my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from this site.
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Thanks!
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well I’ve been heating with wood since 1978.I have two woodstoves a little moe all nighter and a grandpa bear Fisher for those days that get below zero.I also manage 83 acres of forrest and get all my wood free.I most hardly disagree with you on the size of your split firewood. The smaller the size of your wood the faster it burns.My rule of thumb is simple if I can get my hand to lift a round of wood then it does not get split. All my wood is seasoned a minimum of 2 years. The best advice I can give you is to mix your hardwoods when burning and know which woods will provide the right kind of heat for the outside air temperatures. For example if our overnight lows are going to be in the 20s I don’t burn my white oak or hickory which are denser than hard maple.I mix ash and soft maple instead.Remember it is better to push a small stove hard and burn a hot fire than it is to burn a cold fire in a stove that is too big,which when burning at its peak is a fierce-some beast and very difficult and time consuming too cool down.If you can build two woodsheds then you can keep your wood out of the weather and really find out what dry wood is all about.
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Hey, thank you for all that information. I wish I knew about the types of wood I have, but I don’t know which is which. My set up is far less than ideal since I am renting for the time being and must make the best of it. My wood stove is large but in the basement which seems like a waste of heat and since I started the year with only a little over a cord of wood I don’t run it full time. Glad you stopped by. Your blog looks interesting.
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That hot buttered rum does sound like it would hit the spot, alright. Was that the final resting place in your basement…or just the temporary place the two guys set it down? It looks like it’s right up against your stairs. I think you would’ve had a strong case in small claims court against the person who sold the stove to you and told you that the liner bricks were superfluous. They are obviously a very integral and important of the stove.
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Yes, the stove is in the spot where it will stay until I move. In this picture it just needed hooking up.
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Thanks Ken for all that info. Someone with experience will be hookin up my stove for me…and I must say that drink you mentioned sounds pretty good!
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Some stove outlets are ontop or out the back normaly
6″ or 8″, when you use stove pipe the sections should
fit the smaller side of the pipe into your stove and the
next pipe or elbow will fit into the back of that pipe so
any creosole drippings from the dampness in the
wood drip back down the pipe and into the stove, if for
some reason your pipe will not fit into a stove the stores such as tracktor supple sell couplings the
change the smaller end to both sides of the pipe so
any configuration will work, they also have adaptors
that range 6″to8″-6″to7″ and tellascopic pipe also.
Just remember when all your pipe is assembled, use
a small drill and drill bit to drill 3 tinny wholes around
each pipe connection then use 3 sheetmetal screws
to hold each connection together so your pipe will
not come apart when its HOT and burn your house
down, then you have saved nothing by burning wood.
Use dry seasond hardwood for a better longer heat
over 4-8 hours if you use oak,maple,ash,applewood
is for viewing and heat, use a fire screen when leaving
the door open for long periods of viewing and having
a hot toddy-cinnomin/butter/rum hot, don’t forget to
close the stove and set the draft. GOOD LUCK-
KEEP YOUR WOOD DRY-
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