Wood Stove newbie

[dennis in se pa]

I got my first wood stove installed the other day and was wondering who else here has one. And what tips would you give a newbie. I got an Osburn 2200 which was made in Quebec. I like the bay window feature and it appears to be very well made. I am breaking it in with mild heat ups. Something to take me back to camping out at the heel of the boot at Watkins Glen during the winter.

[Superman]

Nice avatar.

I think you place the wood inside, behind the doors. And somehow the wood lights on fire. It might be safest to keep the doors closed. Ideally, the smoke goes up the chimney.

Hope this helps.

[notfarnow]

I have an Osburn 1800 fireplace insert. We love it; very well made and tons of heat.

I bought it because it was the only insert with a bay window; I wanted to be able to see the fire when I was laying on the couch at the other end of the room.

We really like a wood fire, and we thought we'd save a few bucks on heat. Turns out we pretty much heat our 2000 sq ft house with it. It is very efficient, mind you the regency & napolean ones are even more so.

A couple issues:
-The fan can be obnoxiously loud on its higher settings. It sounds like a hair dryer. No remedies for this, as far as I have been able to find out.
-If the baffles are the same design as mine, it's a pain to take them apart to clean your chimney (which you MUST do every year)

[Flatbutt1]

In general:

burn well seasoned hard wood, no pine

keep the chimney clean

bank the coals at night so you can flame it up in the morning

if you want to burn it with the door open ALWAYS use a screen

BTW 24 years with wood as my main heat

[Paul K]

Buy one of those old cast-iron kettles, fill it with water and put it on top of the stove. the steam will help the heat to circulate through the room/house. And leave a few inches of ash in the bottom of the stove- helps it burn. Learn how to adjust the damper- from roaring to the kind of fire that will saty 'in' for a couple of days. There's probably a forum for this...

Cheers,

Paul.

[notfarnow]

Here's my Osburn, pic taken 5 minutes ago:


Dry wood is key. I get mine in May and rank it ASAP. Then it goes in my basement in the fall. There are many schools of thought on drying wood... covered vs uncovered, some say to dry for a full year, others say 6 mths is fine. YMMV.

Pretty sure you CAN'T burn with the door open with the Osburn, it gets real hot, real fast.

With good dry wood and the Osburn on slow burn, I can fill it up before I go to bed, and still have a bit of wood burning in the morning. In fact, I still have a really good bed of coals if I leave it for 12 hrs.

[on2wheels52]

Buy a set(?) of bellows, makes starting almost fun.
Re fan noise, install a dimmer switch to use as a reostat.
Jim

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by on2wheels52
Buy a set(?) of bellows, makes starting almost fun.
Re fan noise, install a dimmer switch to use as a reostat.
Jim

Actually the Osburn already has that, and better yet it's hooked up to a thermostat. Fan only comes on when it's good & hot, and switches off automatically.

I think Dennis is gonna love his stove this winter. Make me almost EXCITED for snow.

[NICKG]

we put in a smaller Jotul last year...heats the whole house up.

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

20 yrs wood heat, i think its all said, but throw potpourri into the evaporative water for that fufu smell

[pmajka]

Enjoi your new Tree recycler. I think i am gonna use mine more often too....

also SE Pa.