How to Choose a Wood Stove

Wood Stoves are a Good Decision

You’ve made a good decision if you’ve decided to save money on your winter home heating bills by installing a wood stove where you live. Purchasing and installing a wood stove will allow you to use firewood which is less expensive than propane or natural gas to heat your home. You’ll save money on your heating bills when compared to using home heating oil, propane or natural gas. You’ll also get the wonderful feeling of being covered by the warm blanket of heat cast off by a wood stove.

Now Comes the Difficult Part

But you’re not finished yet. You still have three important questions to ask before you call the contractor to install your wood stove. They are: What style of a wood stove do you want? How large of wood stove should you get? What are the wood stove accessories you need?

What Style of Wood Stove Do You Want?

Here you basically have two choices. Cost could influence your decision on which type of wood stove you decide on. Modern, EPA-certified wood stoves give off five times less pollution than wood stoves created before 1992, according to Fireplaces and Wood Stoves . These stoves are usually square in shape and feature a large window that makes your stove seem more like an open fireplace.

And according to Wood Stoves for Homes, modern EPA-certified wood stoves use about 30 percent less wood than their traditional counterparts, such as box stoves or pot-bellied stoves.

But the difference is cost. Modern wood stoves cost nearly three times or $1,000 more than traditional stoves, according to pricing from U.S. Stove . U.S. Stove offers box stoves and modern EPA-certified stoves through Lowes and Home Depot , among other retailers.

See also Pros and Cons of Wood Stoves

The money you save from using the more efficient stoves will make up the difference in about a year or two if you purchase the wood you burn in your wood stove.

How large of an area of your home to you want to heat with your wood stove?

This is important to know because this information will help you determine how large of a wood stove to get. Sizing is important. For example, it wouldn’t make sense to buy a large pickup truck to tow a canoe or to use a small fuel efficient car to tow a large camper. Getting the wrong size wood stove doesn’t make sense either. If you get too small of a wood stove, it won’t heat your house properly. You’ll be tempted to run it too hot, risking damage to your home and your wood stove. Running it too hot could shorten its life.

If you get too large of a wood stove, you’ll end up using too much damper because it will make your home too hot to live in. This will lead to you operating your wood stove with too cold of a fire, causing creosote buildup on the inside of your chimney.

Wood Stoves for Homes offers this advice: Go with small wood stoves if you plan to heat a cabin or a large room. Use a medium wood stove to heat moderately-sized houses. Finally, go with a large wood stove if you plan on heating a large or drafty house.

Don’t be afraid to contact one or two wood stove manufactures you hope to purchase a wood stove from. Ask their advice and go with their recommendation on which size wood stove you should purchase.

What Accessories Should You Get?

When my wife an I purchased our wood stove in 2003, we decided to get some options that made sense. We purchased a wood stove with an ash tray that fits underneath the stove. It makes ash removal easy. Also, we don’t have to wait for the stove to cool in order to sweep out the ash. Also, we made sure we purchased a wood stove with an automatic fan that comes on when the stove reaches the correct temperature. This fan blows across the top of the stove, directing hot air toward the rooms we want to heat. We didn’t get, but would suggest wood stove thermometers that tell you the temperature of your fire. They let you know if you are burning your wood at a temperature that will not cause creosote buildup in your chimney.

Ask yourself these three questions and you will get the right size wood stove that looks good in your home and will save you money on your heating bills for years to come.